Hawaii Yakuza Pirate Interview – PlayStation.Blog

Scheduled for release on February 28, 2025, Like a Dragon: Yakuza Pirates of Hawaii is the action adventure sequel Like a dragon: Infinite wealth. This new title features the series’ fan-favorite protagonist, Goro Majima, as the sole protagonist. I recently had a conversation with Mr. Masayoshi Yokoyama, Director of RGG Studio and Executive Producer of Like a Dragon Series, along with Mr. Hiroyuki Sakamoto, Like a Dragon Series, Executive Producer of RGG Studio, about the points Highlights of the game and behind-the-scenes stories about its development.

PlayStation Blog: As a fan of the series, I’m most curious about why you chose Majima and the pirates. How did this title come about in the first place?

Yokoyama: Around June or July 2023, long before the release of Infinite Wealth, the development team considered the idea of ​​an Infinite Wealth spin-off. Even when we made Like a Dragon 9, we knew that wouldn’t be enough to capture and tell the story. Towards the end of development on Infinite Wealth, we began brainstorming ideas for a spin-off starring characters other than Ichiban Kasuga. It’s almost as if we’re creating an inflated side story for Infinite Wealth. For quite some time now, I’ve wanted to create a game called Like a Dragon: Tuna, in which Kazuma Kiryu, as a tuna fisherman, goes out to sea to fight against fishing boats. In short, it never came to fruition, but keywords like “ship,” “sea,” and “fight” stuck in my head from then on, having evolved into the concept of piracy.

PSB: The series is known for starring various characters as protagonists. For example, Kazuma Kiryu took on the lead role in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name while Majima stepped into the spotlight in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I have to say that one of the benefits of a spin-off is the freedom to have new characters other than just Ichiban Kasuga.

Yokoyama: I agree. When the main character changes in the spin-offs, you can follow the same story from a different perspective. Plus, the side games are the perfect size for adults. The Like a Dragon chain is like an all-you-can-eat restaurant where you can choose from meat, seafood and anything else you want and eat as much as you want. But as you mature, you begin to appreciate well-balanced, balanced meals. Spin-offs are like that.

PSB: Can you describe who Majima is?

Yokoyama: He hides his emotions and hides his true self. His past is mentioned throughout the series, but the real Majima remains a mystery. He feels the need to live up to the image that others have of him and to get along with them competently. However, in this installment, he suffers from amnesia, revealing his true self as the story unfolds.

PSB: Does that mean we’ll finally find out who Majima really is?

Yokoyama: You will understand who he is through your interactions with a boy named Noah. Turns out he’s just a tough guy who likes to fantasize a lot [laughs]. In Gaiden, when remembering his past, Majima looks at himself objectively and realizes who he really is. This is a novel story development.

However, Majima is not the most conventional choice for the main character. His unpredictability, while not the norm, is what sets him apart and makes him appealing. When a character like Majima becomes the main character, it creates a difference between action and emotion; When you feel bored during a scene but Majima doesn’t even seem to mind, you may feel confused.

To avoid that, we needed a neutral character who could act the way the player expected from the main character. But the downside is that we will have a boring main character. We added personality to Kiryu and Kasuga to establish them as main characters, but if we did that to Majima, he would have become a boring guy. To make him the main character, we only have two options: amnesia or traveling back in time. Without amnesia, Majima would not be able to play the main character.

PSB: Next, I want to ask you about battles. This time, Majima switches between two fighting styles: Mad Dog and Sea Dog. Can you tell us about them?

Sakamoto: In Gaiden, Kiryu also uses two different fighting styles. We think two is the right amount to keep the combat from getting too complicated. Since Majima uses agile moves, we wanted to simplify his battle moves. Players can perform exciting moves simply by pressing buttons. Mad Dog style is based on Majima’s fighting style performing combos, jumping, and other reaction actions.

PSB: I played the demo version at Tokyo Game Show 2024 and experienced some exciting battles. What is the purpose behind introducing jumping?

Yokoyama: Introducing the jumping feature will change the gameplay significantly. For example, in fighting games, players jump even when it is not necessary. Also, you have no defense when you jump, so if you get hit, you’ll be blown away. For that reason, in action games you are often invincible when jumping, but that can cause problems. Introducing a simple jumping game would change the game design, so we’ve avoided doing that until now.

However, the team decided to incorporate jumping into the game because the character Majima looks beautiful when jumping. This is the first time players can control their character’s jumping ability, not just as part of heated battles. This is not a regular jumping action but a form of jumping combined into a combo.

Yokoyama: Combining two fighting styles in one game is quite complicated. If one style becomes much more interesting, players will stop using the other style. It’s easy to label fighting styles as having different characteristics, but it’s hard to make both equally interesting. The Sea Dog style turned out to be more interesting in this case and in the end everyone chose this style. Best of all, the Sea Dog style features some fun outfits.

Sakamoto: In the early stages of development, the Mad Dog style seemed a bit simple and no one used it. So we came up with a way to make this style more engaging, and we’re currently in the fine-tuning phase to achieve the perfect balance between the two fighting styles.

Like a Dragon: Yakuza Pirates of Hawaii launches February 28, 2025 on PS5.