Sega’s Like a Dragon (formerly known in the West as Yakuza) franchise has been wowing gamers for two decades now. With nine mainline games and eight different spinoffs, fans of the franchise have been able to pour hundreds of hours into these equal parts gritty and goofy yakuza tales. Whether you prefer fighting against hundreds of goons or playing through fun minigames, these games have something for you.
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With that many games in the franchise, an obvious question arises: which of the Like a Dragon games is the best? With this many amazing games, it can be next to impossible to choose a favorite. However, if one were to judge the games based on their gameplay, stories, and how they affect the franchise as a whole, then it becomes possible to form the following list of the best Like a Dragon games.
The Place of Oath
Like a Dragon 0: The Place of Oath, also known as Yakuza 0, is the entry which most modern fans of the franchise started with. This has immediately primed fans to be attached to Majima as a character, leading to him starring inhis own solo game. No one can blame them either, as Majima and his story in this title have an incredible hook to draw players in at every opportunity.
While the story and characters of Yakuza 0 are fantastic, the game is greatly held back by its combat and leveling system. Kiryu’s iconic style has been reworked and all but replaced by multiple other styles which are simply less fun to use. In addition to this, everything in the game is centered around gaining money to invest in these styles to make them stronger.
Many classicminigamessuch as baseball have been transformed from relaxing experiences to stressful gambles all to accommodate this battle system which, at the end of the day, is nowhere near as fun as the one in previous games. For these reasons, Yakuza 0 ranks at the very bottom of this list.
Heirs to the Legend
Placing eighth on this list is Like a Dragon 4: Heirs to the Legend (localized in the West as Yakuza 4). This was the first entry in the franchise to feature multiple playable characters. This would be a trend that nearly every mainline game would continue, so the impact this entry had on the franchise in that regard cannot be overstated. The introduction ofnew protagonistslike Akiyama and Saejima allowed the writers to breathe new life into several plots to come.
Unfortunately, Yakuza 4 is held back greatly by its gameplay. Similar to how the developers didn’t perfect Kiryu in his first appearance, the new playable characters in Y4 do not feel fully developed yet, an issue that would be corrected in future appearances for some of them. Combine that with Yakuza 4 having the least amount of side content in the series, and you have a recipe for a game that just isn’t as fun to revisit as the others.
Started it All
Next up on the list is the game that started it all: Yakuza. This story about an ex-Yakuza who went to prison for his friend and gets caught up in a bizarre conspiracy, sets the stage for every game which came after. Not only were players introduced to characters like Kiryu and Majima, but several emotional cores of the series, like Kiryu’s relationship with Haruka, all began with this game.
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While Yakuza is greatly appreciated for kicking off the franchise, it is also, unfortunately, the worst-aged game in the series even when compared to Yakuza 2 on the same console. While an HD Remaster of the game was released for the Wii U and PlayStation 3, it unfortunately never reached Western shores. For this reason, Yakuza 1 ranks near the bottom of this list.
A Flawless Transition
As the PlayStation 2 era came to an end and many companies moved to the PlayStation 3, Sega actually made the smart decision of producing a spin-off under the title of Like a Dragon: Kenzan before transitioning the main LaD franchise to the console. Thanks to this decision, Yakuza 3’s development team was able to flawlessly transition the main series to HD consoles. Seeing Kiryu with the face players would forever associate with him for the first time is an experience that can’t be matched.
While Yakuza 3’s combat has been criticized by some modern fans due to Kiryu’s slower speed and enemies being willing to block your attacks, gamers who are willing to play around with and learn the game’s combat system will have a great time fighting in this title. Many series failed to transition to the HD era of gaming, so for successfully transplanting Like a Dragon to the new age, Yakuza 3 places near the halfway point of this list.
Secured the Foundations
Following the decent success of the first Yakuza, Sega would release a sequel exactly a year later in the form of Yakuza 2. This game refines the combat of Yakuza 1 to make it actually decent and features a much more interesting plot where Kiryu faces off against one of the best antagonists in the series: Ryuji Goda. For many fans, this was when the Like a Dragon fans finally found its footing.
Although a remake of Yakuza 2 was released in 2017 under the title of Yakuza Kiwami 2, most fans would recommend avoiding this remake due to changed content, removal of cutscene music, and a green filter which covers the entire game, which has become ameme online. While it’s a shame it didn’t get a proper remake (and its PS3 HD Remaster was Japanese exclusive), Yakuza 2 still lives on in the hearts of fans.
The Song of Life
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
As the Like a Dragon franchise moved from the PlayStation 3 to the PlayStation 4, the gameplay of these titles would receive a massive overhaul via Sega transitioning them from their previous engine to the new Dragon Engine. For many people, Yakuza 6 was not a good introduction to this new combat system as they felt Kiryu was too slow and the framerate would dip too often. This would be slowly reworked as more games in this engine were released.
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Yakuza 6: Song of Life was initially released as the grand finale of Kiryu’s saga. While the circumstances around that have changed via his inclusion in Infinite Wealth, this game is still an emotional journey from start to finish and was a fine conclusion to the story up to that point. While it does lose some points for being the first Dragon Engine game and thus having some gameplay quirks to work out, it’s still a fantastic entry in this wonderful series.
Be advised that the English version of this title had many songs removed from cutscenes.
3Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Infinite Fun
Next up on the list is the most recently released title in the Like a Dragon franchise,Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Ichiban’s newest adventure saw him travel from Japan to Hawaii with a refined version of the previous game’s combat, multiple new jobs to play as, and even more side content for the player to participate in than before!
With the amount of content available in Infinite Wealth, players will be able to put dozens upon dozens of hours into this JRPG adventure. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a strange case where despite the game being incredibly lengthy, the climax of the story still comes across as rushed. While this docks it some points on this list, if gamers are wishing a game was even longer than it is, then it must be doing something right.
2Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Start of a New Saga
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Yakuza: Like a Dragontransitioned the franchise from its traditional action combat to a new turn-based JRPG battle system. While some fans were upset by this change, many embraced it and the new main character: Ichiban Kasuga. For many people, this was the game that turned them from casual fans of the series to life-long fanatics. The turn-based combat in this title was heavily influenced by titles like Dragon Quest and featured a very in-depth job system for players to experiment with during combat.
Of course, being RGG Studio’s first attempt at crafting a JRPG, the game wasn’t perfect and had multiple flaws, such as being unable to reposition your party members in combat. Many of these small problems would be worked upon in the game’s sequel, similar to how Yakuza 2 greatly improved on the foundations of the first Yakuza. So while Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a fantastic game which deserves to be high on this list, there are a few games placed above it.
Fulfiller of Dreams
Placing first on this list is a game that could have potentially been the franchise’s swan song: Yakuza 5. This title featured nearly every gameplay and minigame idea RGG Studios could think of, topped off with a perfected version of Kiryu’s combat style that always feels amazing during battles. It’s rare to see a title that tries to do so much actually succeed at those ideas.
Yakuza 5, also known by its proper name Like a Dragon 5: Fulfiller of Dreams, used to be the largest game in the series. While it’s nowhere close to that now, it’s amazing to transition from a game like Yakuza 4 which had next to no side content, to a game with minigames everywhere. This style of world design would affect nearly every entry afterward as they attempted to up the ante set by Yakuza 5. If you ever wanted to see what the Kiryu saga was at its peak, then Yakuza 5 is waiting for you.
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