Sega has been releasing Yakuza games for a long time now. The first, simply titled Yakuza in North America, was a Playstation 2 game released in 2006. The latest, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, is the 23rd game in the series if you go by some counts, but a more honest count puts it at 20. Sorry, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, but sharing a developer and also an entire game format with Yakuza does not make you a Yakuza title, too, no matter what the series’ Wikipedia page might say about it.
If you’re new to the franchise, it can be overwhelming. So let’s take the (non-Fist of the North Star) Yakuza games released in North America and rank ‘em. Some ground rules: Neither of the Judgment games are included here, as they’re spin-offs with entirely separate casts. The Japan-only spin-offs have also been left off. As much as I’d love to, I cannot justify including Project X Zone 2 on the list, even if it does feature a key battle at the Millennium Tower, which is one of the most Yakuza things possible. And you end up fighting against Street Fighter’s M. Bison and Resident Evil’s Nemesis while you’re up there, too, making it just as ridiculous of a Millennium Tower fight as any other out there. Still! I take my duties seriously.
Finally, before you tear off your shirt, ready to fight: nearly every game on this list is genuinely really (really) good, at minimum. It might feel like hating to see a favorite Yakuza or Like a Dragon game of yours ranked lower than where you would have put it, but it’s more an explanation of preference than a dismissal of what made that game work. They all work! The greatest of them are some of the very best games of their respective generations! What a series, we’re lucky to have it.
13. Yakuza: Dead Souls
Playstation 3
Sega CS1 R&D
2012
The brawler combat is one of the things that truly makes Yakuza games sing. So much is made about the power of a fist and the iron, unbreakable will of the one punching others with it, and while it can be a little goofy at times the whole vibe also completely rocks. So… making a zombie invasion game where you do not get to do all that awesome brawler stuff is a little bit of letdown just from the start. Which wouldn’t be a problem if the replacement third-person shooter mechanics worked and felt good, but they do not. “What if Yakuza was a little bit The House of the Dead, too?” was a question worth asking, but the answer is unsatisfactory.
12. Streets of Kamurocho
Windows
Empty Clip Studios, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2020
Released to celebrate Sega’s 60th anniversary, Streets of Kamurocho is a spin-off that puts a Yakuza coat of paint over classic Sega beat ‘em up Streets of Rage 2. And while Streets of Rage 2 kicks impressive amounts of ass even decades later, Streets of Kamurocho is actually just a remade version of the first level of that game, that loops at higher difficulties until you run out of lives. You get to play as Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima, and, eventually, Ichiban Kasuga, but all three have the same move set—Axel Stone’s—so they’re just skins instead of genuinely different characters like in Streets of Rage 2 proper.
Oh, and there are bicycles everywhere, but you can’t even pick them up to knock your foes senseless with them. That’s just a cruel tease, Sega.
11. Yakuza Kiwami
Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2017
The worst thing you can say about Yakuza Kiwami is that—for all the updated changes they made to the inaugural Yakuza to bring it into the more modern era—is that it still very much has the bones of a Playstation 2 game. Which is not a knock against the Playstation 2 or its games, but Yakuza now is so much bigger than what it was then, and I don’t just mean in terms of game length: Kiwami ends up feeling a little small in the end, in scope, in depth, in its narrative, in its characters. It’s shorter, there’s less to do, the history isn’t as rich, but the Kamurocho you grow to love over the course of many games? Your introduction to it is here, and it’s more than worth the experience for the foundation that gives you.
10. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2018
The Song of Life is genuinely engaging, and there are some narrative beats that really stand out, but it’s also not quite up to par for the series in too many ways. It goes maybe a little too “big” in some places because it felt it had to as the then-wrap for Kazuma Kiryu. He gets involved in some real country-wide nonsense with deep, historic roots in Japan that can feel a little out of place for the more personal tale that ties it all together. And, while the story is extremely personal, it’s now no longer a conclusion for Kiryu since he’s been brought back from “death” again and again and again, which renders it all a little more ineffectual than it was upon release. Not a negative word can be said about Beat Takeshi’s role in the whole thing, however.
9. Like a Dragon: Ishin!
Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2023
The story, which includes some based-on-a-real-person and/or events worldbuilding, is riveting. You’re not playing as Kiryu, just someone with his face who was running around Edo-period Japan just as that era is ending. There’s an assassination, and Not Kiryu dedicates his life to figuring out not just who the killer is, but why the killing happened at all. It takes you to some unexpected (and occasionally very expected) places, but is satisfying and a real change from the usual setup, in terms of presentation and the world you travel in.
However! It’s also a bit easier to be taken out of all of this by the gameplay sometimes, as it’s missing a little bit of the charm that the games set in modern times have. Even with the goofy substories series fans are used to, it all comes off just a little overly serious on occasion. The whole “bloodless revolution” thing doesn’t really work, either, when you’re using a katana to slice people open and pumping ronin full of bullets. Oh, and they all get up after you do all of that to their bodies, lesson learned, unless it happens in a cutscene, in which case the damage means something, usually something fatal. And it’s all just a couple steps beyond being able to suspend disbelief like I can for Kiryu’s fists and all of Japan’s problems that they’ve fixed.
And no one rips their shirts off for big battles: dramatically unsheathing a katana is great and all, but it’s not that.
8. Yakuza 3
Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Sega CS1 R&D
2010
The original version of Yakuza 3 was missing lots of content for its North American localization, but upon its 2019 re-release, practically all of it was added back in, with an improved localization to boot. If you only played the original version, this might seem like too generous of a ranking, but the more recent edition for the Yakuza Remastered Collection is a better game, and not just because of the addition by subtraction of some out-of-character transphobia from the game, as well—removed in all versions, too, not just the North American one.
Spending half of the game in Okinawa, attempting to flee from a life as a yakuza but getting roped right back in because of the orphanage that Kiryu has chosen to run in his new life? Well, I had a better time in Okinawa than many others, from the sounds of it, but seeing Kiryu realize that there is no true escape for him even if he moves, even if he changes careers, even if he tries to go from being the most morally upstanding criminal in the world to running a literal orphanage that would close down without him… it was a lovely, and depressing, little journey, one that managed to keep things fresh with a far different focus than its predecessors, even if so much felt welcomingly familiar.
7. Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2020
Yakuza: Like a Dragon helped launch the series to new heights of popularity, but it’s also loaded with problems. It was an ambitious gamble, to go all-in on the role-playing game focus the series had more than dabbled in for years prior, only now with the brawler elements removed in favor of turn-based combat. Taking everything to an even more absurd conclusion than it had previously been to was a real risk, as well: could it become too absurd via Ichiban Kasuga’s walking hallucinatory state to be taken as seriously as it wanted to be? And did Kiryu really have to return after his “death” in Song of Life? A quality starter Dragon Quest, in a way, but not a better Dragon Quest than many Dragon Quests, and, as Dia Lacina went to great lengths to explain, a game not nearly as grown up as it attempted to be, as well. And don’t even get me started on the pacing, because it’s truly awful, and from a franchise that has previously put on masterclasses in that sort of thing.
All of that being said… boy, there’s a lot to love about this game despite everything to take issue with, and when it hits, it hits. It’s easy to see why it’s so beloved—there just happen to be quite a few better games in the series, even if they’re not as popular as this one.
6. Yakuza 4
Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Sega CS1 R&D
2011
Before the party-based Yakuza: Like a Dragon, there was Yakuza 4 and its four protagonists. They’d eventually come together, paths crossing to intertwine what were once four seemingly separate but parallel stories, and while you were never a party as in Like a Dragon, this was certainly the real start of the opening up of Yakuza as something beyond “just” the story of one Kazuma Kiryu.
Yakuza 4’s greatest sin is that another game in the series would do the whole multiple perspectives thing better in every way, in no small part due to variation that went beyond just fighting styles and relevant backgrounds. The stories of Kiryu, Masayoshi Tanimura, Shun Akiyama, and the hulking Taiga Saejima show that it’s not just Kiryu who is a good man living in a world that punishes that kind of person, and that it’s not just Kiryu willing to stand up and fight to make the world as good as they are, for all of the people who cannot do so themselves. It’s easy to end up skipping a bunch of the classic, optional substories and exploration of this game, if for no other reason than the four tales are all so compelling that you’re going to want to move along in them, station-to-station, to see just where they’re heading and how they’ll eventually come together.
5. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2024
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is positively bursting with just about everything you could think to ask for in a game. It’s a more confident RPG, even adopting the kinds of stories fitting of the genre, but that transformation isn’t as seamless as it could be. Sure, it’s a long adventure with plenty of fun to be had and a lovely party of characters, but there’s also a disjointed feel to its disparate narratives and how they ultimately come together. Along the way, it even loses sight of some of its themes, threads,and characters. But that doesn’t mean Infinite Wealth doesn’t coalesce in some truly outstanding moments every now and then that make the journey worth the highs and the lows. I only wish it better understood that some restraint, as opposed to unlimited growth, can go a long way towards making a better game.—Moises Taveras
4. Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name
Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2023
The Man Who Erased His Name is truly wonderful, to the point that it made me reconsider my annoyance at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio not simply letting Kiryu retire in peace. The brawler combat has never before felt this good, and, for all of the fun that Ichiban Kasuga is, Kiryu is one of the best to ever do it: having him back doing Kiryu things that actually make sense within the story, and not just because he’s a Known Quantity, is tremendous. The spy gizmos and gadgets are also fun to play around with, and if you get tired of messing with those and a more reserved form of combat, you can always bring that Dragon of Dojima back in full force.
While the game begins a little slow, part of that is due to its short runtime: the early hours are used to set the stage and show you all the other things you could be doing besides the main story, and then you’re off to do whatever you’d like for 10-15 more hours. The Man Who Erased His Name isn’t getting extra credit from me for including the first at-home release of Daytona USA 2 (known here as Sega Racing Classic 2) as part of that “whatever you’d like,” but I considered it.
The Man Who Erased His Name also features a satisfying ending, not just for the game itself, but for an entire arc of Kiryu’s life. You will be moved to tears, and I’m a little concerned about the state of your emotions if you managed to get through all of this without that happening.
3. Yakuza Kiwami 2
Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2018
Everything “wrong” with Yakuza Kiwami was rectified here. The combat feels much better, the game less obviously a remake of a Playstation 2 game, instead feeling as if it’s right at home among the more modern series releases this remake landed among. While Yakuza Kiwami was based on Yakuza 0’s systems, those couldn’t completely paper over the comparatively ancient game Kiwami was based on. The Yakuza 6 systems and engine were utilized for Kiwami 2, and those, plus a stronger foundation to build on, made for a superior remake experience that wildly outdoes both the game it’s based on and the one it borrows from.
Kiwami 2 includes the addicting cabaret club management of Yakuza 0, plus the association with New Japan pro wrestlers of Yakuza 6, adds a second city to explore, and an antagonist, Ryuji Goda, that Kiryu continues to consider an equal and worthy of his respect well after defeating him. A true classic, and a splendid update of a game that should have made Yakuza a bigger deal outside of Japan over a decade beforehand.
2. Yakuza 0
Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2017
Kiwami 2 is a masterpiece, yes, but it doesn’t let you play as young Kazuma Kiryu or young Goro Majima, and that’s no small thing. Playing as Kiryu in his younger days is enlightening enough, and his missions, as well as the 1980s version of Kamurocho, are a memorable sight. It’s Majima, though, and his part in the story that turns him into the “Mad Dog of Shimano,” that steals the show. You better understand who these characters are because of your experience with them here: even leaving aside that Yakuza has very rarely been better from a gameplay and substory and optional content perspective than it is in Yakuza 0, it’s the strength of the stories about these two, and how they came to be the characters you know from many, many other games, that gives the title that extra bit of depth to make it nearly the greatest game in the series.
It’s popular to say that starting with Yakuza 0 is a great way to be drawn in to the series, but I disagree on it being the best one: to get the absolute most out of it, you should come into 0 already knowing who these characters are, what they’ve experienced, and then, you can see how it is they got to be the way they were when you found them. It’ll all resonate that much better if you do. There is no wrong way, though, so long as the path you choose involves Yakuza 0 at all.
1. Yakuza 5
Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
2015
Yakuza 5 manages to give you five different playable characters, each with their own unique gameplay scenarios and stories and mechanics. Despite how jarring the transitions could be, and how much time is devoted to setting the table for each, the pacing is unreal: Yakuza 5 is right up there with something like Breath of the Wild for somehow giving you a million hours of things to do but respecting your time and curiosity while keeping it all from feeling overwhelming for the player. It’s a brilliant game.
What stands out is the variety, and how little of the game actually involves what you’ve come to know as “yakuza stuff.” It’s still very much Yakuza, but as often as possible, the small-y yakuza bits are pushed to the side. They’re still vital to the story, with all five tales wrapped up in that as usual, but there’s so much more to it all than “just” the usual fare. Kiryu, using a fake name, is living as a cab driver in a new city. You will drive a lot of cabs, and meet a lot of new people, and maybe take up racing on the highway as a hobby. Shin Akiyama is back, and he’s tied in directly with Haruka Sawamura’s story: you will play as Haruka, too, as she trains to become an idol. Haruka does not fight in the traditional sense. No, her victories come by way of the dance battle. Dance battling kicks (proverbial) ass, and you will do a lot of it—there’s a Hatsune Miku crossover in this game for a reason. The other returning protagonist, Taiga Saejima, will fistfight a bear in the woods. And the newest protagonist, Tatsuo Shinada, gives Yakuza its closest direct link to baseball yet—his downfall is at the center of Yakuza 5’s central plot.
Yakuza 5 is basically four distinct games I would have played on their own if they were separate releases. If you play for 50 hours, you get an immensely satisfying and deep story that also accounts for roughly one-quarter of the time you could be spending with it. Length and quality aren’t an automatic 1:1, no, but Yakuza 5 spends each lovingly crafted moment well, and is one of the rare exceptions where the two go hand in hand. With any luck, we’ll see a better game in the series someday, but if not, at least we got this one.
Marc Normandin covers retro videogames at Retro XP, which you can read for free but support through his Patreon, and can be found on Twitter at @Marc_Normandin.