Yakuza

n/a

NTSC-U NTSC-J PAL
Yakuza
System(s): PlayStation 2
Publisher: Sega
Developer: New Entertainment R&D Dept. #1
Supporting companies: Avant (CG animation)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 2005-12-08 ¥6,800 (7,140)6,800 (7,140) SLPM-66168 JP (The Best) 2006-10-26 ¥1,800 (1,890)1,800 (1,890) SLPM-74234 JP (The Best Red) 2007-12-06 ¥1,800 (1,890)1,800 (1,890) SLPM-74253 JP (The Best Red (Rerelease)) 2009-04-15 ¥1,800 (1,890)1,800 (1,890) SLPM-74269 US 2006-09-05 $49.9949.99 SLUS-21348 DE 2006-09-15 SLES-54171 INL-P54171-GE ES 2006-09-15 SLES-54171 INL-P54171-SP FR 2006-09-15 SLES-54171 INL-P54171-FR UK (Promo) 2006 SLES-54171 UK 2006-09-15 £39.9939.99 SLES-54171 INL-P54171-UK IT 2006 SLES-54171 INL-P54171-IT RU 200x AU 2006-09-14 SLES-54171 INL-P54171-AU KR 2006-01-27 SLKA-25342 KR (BigHit) 2008-04-17 ZA 2006-09-18 R 499.99499.99 EX 2006-09-15 SLES-54171 INL-P54171-EX

Yakuza, known as Ryu ga Gotoku (龍が如く lit. "Like a Dragon") in Japan, is an open world action game developed by New Entertainment R&D Dept. #1 and published by Sega for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It marks the start of the Yakuza series, a set of successful first party games centered around the world of Japanese organised crime.

Though not directly related, Yakuza is often seen as a spiritual successor (and lower budget alternative) to Shenmue. It was produced by Toshihiro Nagoshi of Super Monkey Ball and Sega AM2/Amusement Vision fame. During development the project was known as Project J.

Story

Taking place in 1995 in Kamoro-cho, a fictional district in Tokyo (which modelled after Shinjuku) story follows Kazuma Kiryu, a young Yakuza working under Dojima Family of Tojo Clan, a powerful Yakuza organization in the Kanto area of Japan. Kiryu's life changes irreversibly when one day his love interest Yumi is kidnapped by Dojima, leader of the family Kiryu is serving. His close friend Akira Nishikiyama attempts to save Yumi from Dojima and ends up killing him. Kiryu decides to take the blame for killing (Nishkiyama's sister is in deathbed) and spends 10 years in prison for murder.

In prison, Kiryu receives a letter of ex-communication and removed from Tojo Clan. Although he is visited by Shintaro Kazama, his adopter father who is also a Yakuza leader, he doesn't hear anything from either Yumi or Nishikiyama.

Eventually released in 2005, Kiryu attempts to bring his life together and find Yumi. On the way, he meets Haruka, a mysterious little girl. After being targeted by Yakuza families all around the Tokyo for "10 billion Yen" and realizing that Haruka could be the key to finding Yumi, Kiryu takes Haruka under his protection and resolves to solve the mystery.

History

Ryu Ga Gotoku was Sega's largest project since Sakura Taisen in 1996 and Shenmue in 1999. Staff from Sega's high profile Nintendo GameCube (Super Monkey Ball) and Xbox (Jet Set Radio Future) exclusives were brought together, and much external staff for writing supervision, mocap and real world advertising tie-ins, brought in a very large scope. Toshihiro Nagoshi was initially responsible for the concept of a hard boiled Yakuza crime story. However Masayoshi Kikuchi and Masayoshi Yokoyama came in to round out the project, with Kikuchi bringing in a softer and emotional side to the crime story, and Yokoyama writing the script.

A smashing success in it's home country, Sega was quick in expanding the franchise. Yearly entries followed with only a 10 month development cycle of each game. The scope for advertising the franchise itself, as well real world brand tie-ins also expanded rapidly with each entry. Despite the short development cycle, each game earned praise for it's story, quality of gameplay and overall humor, and kept fans engaged.

The original PlayStation 2 Yakuza is the only game in the series to feature a full English voice cast, including Hollywood stars Michael Rosenbaum (Nishkiyama), Michael Madsen (Shimano), Eliza Dushku (Yumi), Rachel Leigh Cook (Reina) and Mark Hamill (Majima). Subsequent entries (and re-releases of this game) have only English subtitles.

The games Western release flopped heavily, despite an overall effort of advertising and high profile voice actors. Due to this, the game's have not had a consistent localization rate, often being delayed, or stuck in limbo in general.

A soundtrack album for the first two games, Ryu ga Gotoku & Ryu ga Gotoku 2 Original Sound Track, was released on 25 January 2007.

The game was later remade for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 using the Yakuza 5 engine under the title Ryu ga Gotoku Kiwami. It was released on 21 January 2016 in Japan, it's unknown if the remake will get a release in western regions.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Yakuza	Yakuza
English (US)	Yakuza	Yakuza
Japanese	龍が如く	Ryu ga Gotoku
Korean	용과 같이

Production credits

Voice Cast

• Kazuma Kiryu: Darrly Kurrylo
• Nishiki: Michael Rosenbaum
• Yumi: Eliza Dushku
• Shimano: Michael Madsen
• Reina: Rachael Leigh Cook
• Majima: Mark Hamill
• Masa: Alan Dale
• Kage: Dwight Schultz
• Haruka: Debi Derryberry
• Date: Bill Farmer
• Fuma: Roger L Jackson
• Jingu: Robin Atkin Downes
• Shinji: Daniel Capellaro
• Lau Ka Long: James Horan
• Saya: Nan McNamara
• Additional Voices Provided By: Andre Soliuzzo, Andrew Bowen, Brian Bloom, Cam Clarke, Chris Edgerly, Colette Whitaker, Dave Boat, Dave Foquette, Dave Wittenberg, Fred Tatascoire, Gary Anthony Williams, Gregg Berger, John Dimaggio, Kari Wahlgren, Keith Ferguson, Kim Mai Guest, Nolan North, Peter Lurie, Quinton Flynn, Skyler Stone, Zane Lamprey

Staff

• Director: Ryuta Ueda
• Chief Designer: Daisuke Sato
• Chief Programmers: Kazuhisa Hasuoka, Tetsuya Kaku
• Chief Planner: Takeshi Tanaka
• Scenario - Production: Masayoshi Yokoyama
• Planning: Jun Orihara, Tadashi Okuda, Mariko Kawase
• Design Section:
  • Chief Character Designer: Takeo Kimata
  • Character Design: Koichiro Tamura, Daisuke Tomoda, Yukie Shimizu, Yoko Yamazaki, Maiko Hagiwara, Akio Sakai, Toshihiro Fujimaki, Chiharu Ariga
  • Chief Motion Designer: Yuichi Higuchi
  • Motion Design: Yuji Saito, Kazuhiro Izaki, Michio Shirako, Takayuki Sorimachi, Kentaro Niina, Nobuya Shimada, Tomoyuki Nishiguchi, Tatsuo Suzuki
  • Stage Design: Tsuyoshi Tsunoi, Kenichiro Yasutomi, Michihiko Hatoyama, Mari Tamayose, Masayuki Shirai, Kohei Simizu, Eiji Hamatsu, Nobuaki Mitake, Naoki Someya, Kenichiro Kimizuka, Kumiko Sakurai, Takahiro Yamada, Maki Kaneko
  • Chief Effects Designer: Takashi Iwade
  • Effects Design: Masaharu Ijichi, Minobu Fujii
  • Chief 2D Designer: Yosuke Karasawa
  • 2D Design: Miho Nakamura
  • Sega Flying Logo Design: Kazuki Hosokawa
• Programming Section:
  • Programming: Koji Tokieda, Norio Haga, Kazunori Oyama, Fumiaki Hara, Yutaka Takeda, Hiroto Horino, Shoji Katsuragawa, Tamotsu Maeno, Yusuke Sekine, Kouta Sato, Daiki Tsuchimoto, Yutaka Ito, Tomoaki Nakamura
• Sound Section:
  • Sound Director: Hidenori Shoji
  • Sound Creation: Hiroaki Funane, Yuri Fukuda
• Assistance & Cooperation:
  • Assistant Planners: Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, Takuma Abe, Masato Tsurumaki
  • Assistant Designers: Tadakazu Aramaki, Hiroyuki Abe, Kunihito Ihara, Kiniko Nakaizumi, Mariko Sanafuji, Hikaru Murakami
    • Neverland co.,ltd.: Tomoki Doi, Kenji Takahashi, Shunsuke Takenaka, Takanobu Tsujihata, Hidenori Machida, Nobuhiro Arai
  • Storyboarding/Script Assistance: Tsuyoshi Furuta
  • Storyboarding Collaboration: Business Design, Inc.
    • Producer: Atsuki Ichikawa
    • Directors: Katsurao Hirano, Yoshinari Fuse

Movie Production: AVANT Inc.

• Producer: Yoshimi Fujii
• Director: Daisuke Fukagawa
• Scene Production Team: Naoki Moro, Kei Jumonji, Tadashgi Tsukahara, Nobuyuki Takahashi, Megumi Nagoya, Rei Katou, Yoshihisa Koizumi, Masami Narita, Tetsuya Yabumoto, Takanori Daito, Akira Fujisaki, Harumi Noguchi, Takafumi Moro, Ken Furuya, Takahiro Abe, Yuki Ito, Takayuki Unemoto, Tomomi Sakuma, Yuki Kato, Makio Ueno, Shiunya Sugai, Yukie Chiba, Takashi Hiramichi, Shoji Sakata, Yuichirou Kanno
• Movie Production Team: Nobuyoshi Satoh, Takahito Minei, Yasuyuki Nakamura, Hiroki Koike Kenta Mizukami, Yukitaka Adachi, Nao Kimura, Yuji Anzou, Masashi Yamaguchi, Yasushi Nomura, Tomoya Tomadechi, Huiroyuki Yagi, Mitsuru Yoshida, Keiko Kato, Shinichi Kawabe, Masato Nozawa, Tomohiro Kuroda, Yoshimitu Saito, Fumihiko Kagawa, Tarou Chousa, Wataru Kawahara, Chika Wada, Masahiko Ogawa, Kenzi Nomura, Tomonori Kawasaki

ORBITAL LINK Inc.

• Producer: Tomoatsu Godai
• Motion Editing: Mitsuhiro Kubo, Isao Matsuda, Seiichi Tanabe, Issei Tokuda, Tatsuya Izumi, Shinya Tazaki, Rie Nagaki, Suguru Watanabe, Kenzi Kumagai

LinksDigiWorks Inc.

• Motion Capture Producer: Kazuhisa Nishimura
• Motion Capture Animator: Ruichi Yamada
• Motion Capture Chief Operator: Shigeaki Nunokawa
• Motion Capture Editor: Hiroyuki Wada, Ryuji Tominaga

EEN Inc.

• Chief Motion Editor: Shinya Kazumata
• Motion Editor: Yuho Arima, Yoshihisa Sasaki, Kazunao Tokuda, Hiroyuki Ikeda, Keito Koda, Ryota Yamaga

Motion Coopration

• Main Actors: Masayoshi Takeshima, Keichi Asada, Taketsugu Ishidai, Shizuka Moriyama, Haruna Sasaki

SEGA Creative Center

• Artist: Takeo Iwata, Hiroshi Tanaka, Yuki Hagiwara

ALPHA STUNTS Inc.

• Action Director: Tatsuro Koike
• Stunt: Makoto Arakawa, Fumihito Minamitsuji, Hormi Sunaoshi, Tomotaro Tobinmatsu, Koichi Funayama, Shingo Monri, HGideki Ichiyama, Toru Miyokawa
• ALL TEMPO INC.
• Dynamo Pictures, Inc.

Localize: Unicon Product Inc.

• Executive Producer: Mike Sakamoto
• Localize Producer: Yoshihiro Ihara
• Localize Director: Keisuke Ichinose
• Voice Director: Michael Rhys
• Localize Manager: Naoko Oomori, Derec Carner
• Localize Engineer: Kentarou Suzuki, Koutarou Yamaguchi
• Translator: Ryu Kuwako, Minako Mori, Riyoko Sakemoto, Demian Ryu Ichinose Smith

Casting, Celebrity Aquisition, Voice Production By Blindlight

• Casting Director: Dawn Hershey, CSA
• Casting Associate: Dave Lieber
• Voice Director: Jack Fletcher
• Additional Voice Direction: Lisa Schaffer
• Blindlight VO Producer: Alexandra Dorris
• Recording & Editing: J. David Atherton & Tal Miller

Sound Cooperation

• Movie M.A.: Tatsutoshi Narita, Seiichi Hamada, Shinichi Goto

Opening Theme

• Vocals: Makototch (From Airstrike)
• Chorus: Tomica Yuri

Ending Theme

• Vocals - Chorus: Eri Kawai
• Manual of Errors Artists, Inc

• Special Thanks: Hideaki Naganuma, Haruyoshi Tomita, Yukio Ogawa, Fumio Ito, Keitaro Hanada, Masao Tsunoda, Saizo Nagai, Mikio Hayashi, Tanase Kenichi, Kota Sano, Hiroko Yokosuka, Yasushi Yamashita, Haruki Satomi, Kazuhiro Asami, Yoshiaki Yamazaki

Technical Research Team

• Chief Leader: Mitsunori Fujimoto
• Development Environment Support: Hiroshi Okamoto, Yukie Hisadomi, Atsushi Suzuki, Wataru Yamanaka
• Chief Leader: Hirokazu Kudo
• Design: Megumi Hatanaka, Junko Yoshida
• Programming: Kazunori Nakamura, Yoshinori Sakamoto

• Product Support Team: Junichi Shimizu, Akira Nishikawa, Hiroyuki Miyano, Kenji Takano, Masashige Otoguro, Tadaomi Fujita
• Manual Production: Yoshihiro Sakuta, Hisakazu Nakagawa, Makoto Nishino
• Localization Support: Shinobu Shindo, Yuka Yoshida
• Director of Overseas Version: Hiroyuki Sakamoto

Sega of America

• CEO Sega of America: Naoya Tsurumi
• President/COO Sega of America: Simon Jeffery
• VP of Product Development: David Cobb
• Producer: Justin Lambros
• Assistant Producer: Kevin Frane
• Production Assistant: Beejey Enriquez
• Senior Publishing Manager: Klayton Vorlick
• QA Manager: Deni Skeens
• QA Supervisor: Josh Morton
• Build Mastering & Duplication: Rhianna Kellom
• Sr. QA Lead: Shawn Dobbins
• QA Lead Tester: Nestor Protacio
• QA Assistant Lead Tester: Chris Rose
• QA Testers: Anthony Banks, Dan Kingdon, Dennis Constantino, Jasper Kaw, Jesse Dunne, Mabel Chjung, Mark Flores, Patrick Tello, Rey Buzon
• Compliancy Team:
  • Compliancy Team Lead: Stephan Akana
  • Compliancy QA Team: Joe Floyd, Jose Venegas, Lawrence Mann
• Vice President of Marketing: Scott Steinberg
• Sr. Brand Manager: Don Mesa
• Assistant Product Manager: Yosuke Moriya
• Creative Services Manager: Jen Groeling
• Production Specialist: Heather Lucchetti
• PR Specialist: Jennie Sue
• Additional PR by One PR Studio: Dana Whitney, Anne Marie Stein, Jeane Wong
• Special Thanks: Erica Mason, David Lee, Lev Chapelsky

Sega Europe Limited Staff Credits

• CEO: Naoya Tsurumi
• President/COO: Michael Hayes
• Development Director: Gary Dunn
• Creative Director: Matthew Woodley
• Director of European Marketing: Gary Knight
• Localisation Producer: Akiko Uchida
• European PR: Kerry Martyn
• Assistant Brand Manager - Japanese Studios: Claire Brummel
• International Brand Manager: Ben Chalmers-Stevens
• Senior Team Lead: Ed Bushell
• Project Team Lead: Dwayne Buck
• TRC Specialist: Imran Yusuf
• Localization Team Lead: Alessandro Irranca
• Localization Testers: Karim Belbachir, Luis Paredes, Maria Chironi, Mirko Stoeckigt, Pedro Ortega
• Testers: Caroline Walker, Richard Haw, Man Lung Cheung, Jamie Joseph

• Marketing Manager: Ken Shimizu
• Executive Management: Masanao Maeda
• Executive Producer: Hajime Satomi, Hisao Oguchi, Hideki Okamura
• In Cooperation With: SUNTORY LIMITED, Don Quijote Co., Ltd, SPA!, ISHIHARA PROMOTION
• Tattoo Design: Horitomo
• Producer: Masayoshi Kikuchi
• Story Editor: Seishu Hase
• General Supervisor - Producer: Toshihiro Nagoshi
• © SEGA Corporation,2005
• Presented By: Sega®

Source:

In-game credits

---

Sega of America

• CEO Sega of America: Naoya Tsurumi
• President/COO Sega of America: Simon Jeffery
• VP of Product Development: David Cobb
• Producer: Justin Lambros
• Assistant Producer: Kevin Frane
• Production Assistant: Beejey Enriquez
• Senior Publishing Manager: Klayton Vorlick
• QA Manager: Deni Skeens
• QA Supervisor: Josh Morton
• Build Mastering & Duplication: Rhianna Kellom
• Sr. QA Lead: Shawn Dobbins
• QA Lead Tester: Nestor Protacio
• QA Assistant Lead Tester: Chris Rose
• QA Testers: Anthony Banks, Dennis Constantino, Jesse Dunne, Jasper Kaw, Mark Flores, Rey Buzon

Casting, Celebrity Acquisition, Voice Production by Blindlight

• Casting Director: Dawn Hershey, CSA
• Casting Associate: Dave Lieber
• Voice Director: Jack Fletcher
• Additional Voice Direction: Lisa Schaffer
• Blindlight VO Producer: Alexandra Dorris
• Recording & Editing: J. David Atherton, Tal Miller

• Vice President of Marketing: Scott Steinberg
• Director of Marketing: Don Mesa
• Marketing Product Manager: Yosuke Moriya
• Creative Services Manager: Jen Groeling
• Production Specialist: Heather Lucchetti
• Associate PR Manager: Jennie Sue
• Additional PR by One PR Studio: Dana Whitney, Anne Marie Stein, Jeane Wong, Barbara Gamlen
• Special Thanks: Erica Mason, David Lee, Lev Chapelsky, Bridget Oates, Don Scotti, Tina Tanen

SEGA CORPORATION (Sega of Japan)

• General Supervisor/Producer: Toshihiro Nagoshi
• Producer: Masayoshi Kikuchi
• Director of Overseas Version: Hiroyuki Sakamoto
• Planning: Mariko Kawase
• Chief 2D Designer: Yosuke Karasawa
• 2D Design: Miho Nakamura
• Programming: Tamotsu Maeno, Kouta Sato
• Sound Director: Hidenori Shoji
• Localization Manager: Yuka Yoshida
• Manual Production: Yoshihiro Sakuta, Hisakazu Nakagawa, Makoto Nishino

Unicon Product Inc.

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Yakuza/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

PDF

Announcement press release

PDF

Celebrity cast press release

PDF

Fact sheet

US print advert

Artwork

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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Dengeki PlayStation (JP) 84 Edge (UK) 80 October 2006, p84 GamesMaster (UK) 85 October 2006, p76 GamesTM (UK) 80 October 2006, p112 95 September 2006, p52 85 October 2006, p72

	85
Based on 6 reviews

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 77 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 93 GameCentral (UK) 70 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 84 Hyper (AU) PAL 86

	82
Based on 5 reviews

Yakuza

PlayStation 2, US
Cover
Disc Manual

PlayStation 2, JP
Cover
Disc

PlayStation 2, JP (PS2 the Best) white
Cover
Disc Promotion DVD

PlayStation 2, JP (PS2 the Best) red
Cover
Disc Promotion DVD

PlayStation 2, JP (PS2 the Best) red (Rerelease)
Cover
Disc

PlayStation 2, EU
Cover

PlayStation 2, UK (Promo)
Cover

PlayStation 2, UK
Cover
Disc

PlayStation 2, FR
Cover

PlayStation 2, DE
Cover

PlayStation 2, ES
Cover

PlayStation 2, IT
Cover

PlayStation 2, AU
Cover

PlayStation 2, KR
Cover

PlayStation 2, KR (Big Hit)
Cover

PlayStation 2, RU
Cover

PlayStation 2, EX†
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 abfb3855 MD5 49744021edc7d94d5d3b49e445f4766c SHA-1 3b390ff621de7409f590d473abd7e2abd9b40c80	4,468,178,944		DVD-ROM (EU)	SLES-54171 (V1.00)
✔	CRC32 9cef539e MD5 08dff8053d27f492c49464d05d0b763f SHA-1 f6d8f3a37bcc4956b2b0cbb4d72423980b2345d8	4,552,491,008		DVD-ROM (JP)	SLPM-66168 / SLPM-74234 / SLPM-74253 / SLPM-74269 (V1.02)
?	CRC32 294babbd MD5 251059e4d54fb61369e1139b5d4d5e6c SHA-1 54697fdb616c7d30327bfc62be3f193eae466f94	4,390,912,000		DVD-ROM (US)	SLUS-21348 (V1.00)
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2006-07-03	DVD-R				Page

External links

• Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): PlayStation 2
• Official website on Sega.com (English)
• Official website on ryu-ga-gotoku.com (Japanese)
• Yakuza on PlayStation.com: JP, JP (PS2 the Best), JP (PS2 the Best Red), JP (PS2 the Best Red Rerelease), US, KR (Big Hit)