History VideoGame / Yakuza0

* DubNameChange: The side business games for Kiryu and Majima, "Money Island" and "Nightlife Island", are given the names [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal "Real Estate Royale" and "Cabaret Club Czar"]] in the English localization respectively, [[https://twitter.com/TriggerRedd/status/819584972130373632 so it would make more sense to the English speaking audience]].

* BonusBoss: The game is filled to the brink with them.
** Mr. Shakedowns - gigantic brutes walking around the streets, itching for a fight with you. Fighting them is optional, since they will only ever pursue you at a leisurely stroll. This is a good thing, because they have ''a lot'' of health, deal ridiculous amounts of damage, cannot be staggered or knocked down, are immune to most HEAT actions, and take all your money upon defeat. On the other hand, they give *ridiculous* amounts of money if you defeat them.
** The Five Billionaires in Real Estate Royale and the Five Stars in the Cabaret Club Czar storylines, although only three are fought in the latter. Both storylines reveal a GreaterScopeVillain that must be beaten, and defeating them each unlocks [[spoiler: the Legendary fighting styles for their respective characters]].
** Some of the substories and training missions end with particularly difficult opponents to qualify, such as Guru Munan Suzuki and Hiroya the Debt King.
** As a series staple, members of the Amon Clan become available as bosses when you complete all substories. However, since Jo Amon doesn't fight Kiryu until ''VideoGame/Yakuza1'', Majima does - Kiryu fights his father So Amon instead.
** David Diabol, the strongest fighter in the Bed of Styx.

* LethalJokeWeapon: The Slime, Zap and Smoke Guns were meant to be utility weapons that knock enemies down, but don't work on boss-level characters. However, for some reason, they're the ''only'' firearms that deal anything other than ScratchDamage to said bosses, including even the [[BonusBoss Mr. Shakedowns and the Amon family.]] Zap Guns in particular are obscenely effective, dealing as much damage on a single shot as a top-class weapon Heat Action.

* MirrorBoss: Kiryu's final boss goes through three stages, each imitating one of his fighting styles. [[spoiler:Shibusawa]] starts off with a fast-paced style of quick kicks and punches, like Kiryu's Rush style, then a slow, heavy-hitting style focused on bludgeoning with furniture, like Beast, and finally a more well-rounded style like Brawler. [[spoiler:BonusBoss Jo Amon goes through a similar pattern, imitating the legendary "Dragon of Dojima" and "Mad Dog of Shimano" styles with brutal effectiveness.]]

** The [[MexicanStandoff Mexican standoff]] between Majima and Lee Wen Hai is very similar to a scene in ''Film/TheKiller'', where a hitman and a cop both face off while pretending to have a friendly chat in the presence of a blind woman.

* BoobsOfSteel: Contestants in the women's wrestling minigame generally have their breast size correspond with how high-end their fighting abilities are.

** The Mystery Caller substory involves Majima being [[Film/PhoneBooth ordered around by a shady man who contacts him through a payphone booth]].

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Several opponents in the Bed of Styx use voice clips provided by a native English speaker. The announcer for the same arena is also Lenne Hardt of PRIDE Fighting announcing fame, an American. On the flip side, [[spoiler: the Mafia Boss]] you can recruit as a security guard draws from that same pool of voice clips, adds a few new non-adversarial ones, and even speaks in Japanese with respectable proficiency despite clearly being a native English speaker (playing an Italian).

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Dojima loses the bid to the empty lot to Sera, Kiryu is able to prove his innocence. Meanwhile Makoto recovers her sight and is starting a new, peaceful life in Kamurocho. However, plenty of people died because of the war for the Empty Lot, including Tachibana, who perishes moments before being reunited with Makoto. And while Majima succeeds in returning to the Tojo Clan like he wanted, he is clearly unhappy with how things went down; worst yet, he has to stay away from Makoto (who remembers him but had no idea what he looked like) [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy so she can live a peaceful life]]. On top of that, while Dojima and Shimano's plans failed, they managed to not suffer any direct consequences and able to continue plotting]].

* BittersweetEnding: Mostly on Majima's end. [[spoiler: Makoto is rescued by Kiryu, and Dojima loses the bid to the empty lot to Sera. Makoto eventually recovers and has been living a peaceful life as a civilian in Kamurocho. She's harassed by yakuza punks until Majima comes to her rescue again, but with most of her sight regained, doesn't recognize the man who protected her. Instead of revealing himself, realizing her doctor is also in love with her and will fight to protect her, Majima urges him to act on his feelings for her. Majima then disappears in the crowd, with Makoto wondering who the man with the sad eye was. IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy indeed]].

** During Majima's fight with Nishikiyama, there is a [[PressXToNotDie QTE]] where Reina attempts to [[GrievousBottleyHarm smash a bottle against his head]]. If she succeeds due to you failing the prompt, you get the achievement/trophy "Hitting the Bottle".

** During Majima's fight with Nishikiyama, there is a [[PressXToNotDie QTE]] where Reina attempts to [[GrievousBottleyHarm smash a bottle against his head]]. Miss the prompt and you get the achievement/trophy "Hitting the Bottle".

* AchievementMockery: You are rewarded with "...I Did It For The Trophy" ("...I Did It For The Achievement" on PC and Xbox) the first time you watch something at the adult film store.

** Miracle Johnson's hit song "I'm Gonna Make Her Mine" sounds quite similar to Michael Jackson's "Bad", and is similar in title to "The Girl Is Mine" featuring Music/PaulMcCartney. In addition, "I Wanna Take Her Home" is a dead-ringer for Creator/DavidBowie's "Let's Dance", and "Queen of Passion" is extremely similar to Bananarama's "Venus". "Heartbreak Mermaid" is also extremely similar to Wink's "Sabishii Nettaigyo".

** One of the businesses Kiryu can buy out is named "[[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3zSq-EVUAAZIoa.jpg:large Amusement Game You]]". It's the same name as [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C3ziO9RUkAALdYy.jpg:large the arcade]] from ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}''.
** During one of Yuki's conversations, she denies that she's never dated before, telling Majima there was Sato, Suzuki, and Tanaka. In ''VideoGame/ShenmueII'', a man named Barry Jones mistakes Ryo for someone else, believing all Japanese fall under the very same three names Yuki mentions. However, this might be coincidental, as Sato, Suzuki, and Tanaka are the three most common surnames in Japan, suggesting that Yuki is lying.

** Justified (and historically accurate) as it's rush hour, so the drivers on the busiest street can afford to charge much more. In the cutscene before the final segment you can actually see businessmen waving handfuls of money at the cabs driving past.

* IronicNickname: The substory "Damned Yanki" sees you helping out a band performing for a group of hooligans. Every member of this band has an ironic nickname. "Krazy" Kyo is someone pretending to be a hooligan but is really not, "Sleazy" Tarashi has, in his words, "never even seen a boob," and "Bad Boy" Aku admits that his hobby is caring for elders.

* LonelyBachelorPad: Majima is the host and manager of a ritzy hostess club, but lives in a one-room apartment without any furniture besides a mattress, a mini-fridge, and a hot plate.

* BaitAndSwitch: When the story is shifted to Majima's side for the first time, it's revealed that he's the manager of a prestigious club ''and'' personally deals with rowdy customers. [[AxCrazy Given how he acts later in the series]], you'd expect him to whale on an angry drunk mistreating his employees. Instead, he acts hilariously polite to him and barely ever touches him aside from a toss (done purely in self-defense when the customer comes at him with an ice pick). He even convinces him to pay for everyone's drinks!

* StealthInsult: Kiyu's entire attitude toward Kuze changes after the lieutenant [[spoiler:asks him to spy on Kazama]], with him dropping the honorifics when talking to him, refusing to [[spoiler:cut off his finger when Kuze directly orders him to]] and [[spoiler:refusing to discuss the matter of breaking his oath to the Yazuka and leaving the organization with anyone but Dojima himself as though Kuze weren't worthy to hear his resignation--even after Kuze threatens him with death]]. That's pretty dang disrespectful, without even one open insult.

* AnAssKickingChristmas: Context comments indicate that it's the Christmas season, and a good 75 percent of the game is wailing on bad guys--[[AntiHero Well, worse guys than you]].

* StealthInsult: Kiyu's entire attitude toward Kuze changes after the lieutenant [[spoiler:asks him to spy on Kazama]], with him dropping the honorifics when talking to him, refusing to [[spoiler:cut off his finger when Kuze directly orders him to]] and [[spoiler:refusing to discuss the matter of breaking his oath to the Yazuka and leaving the organization with anyone but Dojima himself as though Kuze weren't worthy hand to his resignation in to--even after Kuze threatens him with death]]. That's pretty dang disrespectful, without even one open insult.