Yakuza series
Yakuza 1 | Yakuza 2 | Yakuza 3 | Yakuza 4 | Yakuza 5 | Yakuza 0 | Yakuza 6
Like a Dragon series
Yakuza: Like a Dragon | Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Gaiden series
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name | Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Judgment series
Judgment | Lost Judgment
Other Spin-Offs and Media
Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! | Yakuza: Dead Souls | Like a Dragon: Ishin! | Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007) | Like a Dragon: Yakuza
- Audience-Alienating Premise: In a series geared towards its Japanese demographic, making a spinoff that attempted to ride the popularity of Western zombie shooters resulted in this. While some have argued that this was done in an attempt to appeal to Western audiences in hopes to draw in new fans to the series, it failed to find a new audience and alienated a good portion of its existing fanbase.
- Complete Monster: DD is a Mad Scientist and Arms Dealer using Kamurocho as a testing grounds for a zombie plague dubbed Thanatos. Teaming up with Tetsu Nikaido, their first victim is loyal Omi Alliance hatchet man Hayashi. DD later helps Nikaido kidnap Haruka to lure Nikaido's true target—Kazuma Kiryu—to the city. When Nikaido accepts defeat, DD shoots him full of his enhanced Thanatos, turning him into a monster. Responsible for the death of thousands of innocents, DD makes his mark on Japan's criminal underworld.
- Contested Sequel: An enjoyable game in spite of its flaws? A game that can only be enjoyed by fans of the series? A game that shouldn't be played at all? While few people would ever consider it great, the game's reception is all over the place. The developers themselves seem to at least regard it as a very minor black spot since both 5 and Kiwami take potshots at it.
- Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: The presentation is liked for being full of Fanservice and typical Yakuza zanyness, but the gameplay has been much less well-received.
- Goddamned Bats:
- The monkey boys. They are Fragile Speedsters without the fragile part and they are not only hard to shoot but they also take a lot hits before they finally die.... Again.. They've got a grapple attack the holds you in place for other enemies AND causes damage. They are also the most common of the mutant zombies. The only thing keeping them from being Demonic Spiders is the fact their offensive capabilities are pretty mediocre at best and the fact they're relatively susceptible to kicks.
- Worse than the Monkey Boys are Aggros. If you're going it solo and you're careful with your aim, they won't attack (and if you have Kazuma's anti-material rifle, you can kill it in one shot if you hit the head). If you're unlucky, or have an AI partner who attacks it on sight, you're in for a world of pain: they are very aggressive and, if they knock you down, can proceed to keep you on the ground unless you can dodge it quickly enough.
- Goddamned Boss: The Basan Prototype is a major pain in the ass. The fight is pretty simple early on: whip out the sniper rifle and keep hitting it in its core. Once it summons zombie hordes to bumrush you, though, you'll be praying for the fight to end quickly.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- The IGN review of the game called Majima the "Insane Pirate Gangster". Cut to 2024 where there's a new gaiden game where Majima becomes a pirate. Moreover, one of the costumes Majima could wear was that of a pirate captain.
- For further hilarity, a conversation he can have with one of the hostesses has him scoff at the notion of going to Hawaii. Sure enough...
- Just Here for Godzilla: Being able to play as Majima and Ryuji was a major draw for the game. For the former, seeing him sing his own version of "Get to the Top!" is another major reason to play the game.
- Narm Charm: Ryuji's attempt at singing "Pure Love In Kamurocho"
. He certainly doesn't have the smooth, romantic voice that Kiryu and Akiyama do and definitely over-accentuates, but god damn that doesn't stop him from trying, making it hard to hate his performance even if he clearly can't sing as well as the other two. - Pandering to the Base: It's pretty clear to most players that the playable character roster (Akiyama, Majima, Ryuji, and Kiryu) was effectively decided by popularity polls.
- Sequelitis: Dead Souls is certainly the Oddball in the Series, and is blamed for nearly killing the series in the west. Many didn't enjoy the shift of the series to a third-person shooter and found the controls hard to work with compared to other games with similar gameplay. Although the game also has its share of defenders who enjoyed the gameplay in spite of its flaws, and felt the story was on par with the other games in the franchise, the reception to the game has mostly been negative compared to other games in the series.
- Signature Scene: Majima's Imagine Spot for "Get to the Top". Say what you will about the rest of the game, but seeing Majima go full blown Mad Dog in karaoke is one of the most memorable (and still talked about) moments in Dead Souls.
- That One Boss: The Basan Prototype is one of the hardest boss fight for various reasons. The first is that it will keep flying around which makes it hard to shit it. The second is that it will summon mooks who will never stop respawning and will constantly attack you, which makes it even harder to even shoot with the sniper. The third is that the boss will attempt to heal itself if you don't stop it in time, which can render your progress null and void.
- They Copied It, So It Sucks!: The game was criticized for borrowing elements from other games such as Left 4 Dead and not necessarily improving upon them.
- Vindicated by History: As much as it gets flak for being the game that nearly killed the Yakuza series in the West, following the Newbie Boom brought about by Yakuza 0, some fans who have played Dead Souls have turned around to enjoying the game on its own merits.
