I just finished Yakuza 0 last week, and I can safely say that it is one of the best games I’ve ever played. If you’ve ever wanted a game with far too many things to do, all of which are equally zany and good-natured, then this is the game for you. I’ve also got more than an inkling that it’ll be quintessential to understanding some of the characters in the upcoming Amazon adaptation of the series, Like A Dragon: Yakuza. So please, for the love of god, play Yakuza 0.
The series began with Yakuza in 2005, but 0 wasn’t released for another 10 years. That’s a long time to slowly iterate on a series and its characters, meaning that this prequel, set at the tail end of the 1980s, is informed by a lot of the learnings of that decade. As a result, Yakuza 0 is damn near masterful in its balance of the franchise’s irreverent humor, best-in-class brawler action, and soap-y criminal drama plotlines, and features a bunch of finely tuned side activities that reveal themselves to be full games, such as Majima’s famous cabaret minigame and Kiryu’s foray into real estate management. You turn the money earned via these lucrative detours into skills in Yakuza 0’s progression system, which can be funneled into three different battle styles for each of the game’s playable protagonists: the series’ longtime hero Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, an equally stalwart rival of his.
If you ask me, this game really belongs to Majima, who has been a fixture of the series since the beginning, but greatly benefits from the characterization he’s given in Yakuza 0. In the original run of the games, and in particular the initial release of Yakuza, he was a more straightforward and eccentric Joker-like villain who plagued Kiryu before they eventually became allies in their later years. Yakuza 0 fills in the story of how Majima earns his stripes, not to mention his reputation as the Mad Dog of Shimano by the time that the events of the first Yakuza game occur.
This characterization follows Majima into Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2, remakes of the first two games that followed 0 and remix elements of their stories, while fleshing out others that might’ve been underdeveloped in their initial releases. And it is this renewed version of Majima, as well as Kiryu, that I think we’ll see in the Amazon adaptation.
The show has the benefit of the long series that precedes it, but despite its cast and creators having said that they’re freeing themselves up to do their own thing, it’d be a little foolish not to draw from the perspective of this prequel. Kiryu, the main character of the series, is largely portrayed as this stoic outsider in the criminal world who wants out of that lifestyle, but Yakuza 0 goes to agonizing lengths to paint a picture of his hotheaded nature and youthful recklessness, as well as show the circumstances that drew him to the yakuza and maybe even started him on his path to disillusionment. You even get to see Nishiki, his sworn oath brother, and their remarkably close relationship in Yakuza 0 before they are at odds in the first game.
Considering the fact that the show’s first season is only six episodes long, it’s got a lot of ground to cover, and it makes sense to condense these men’s complicated and storied relationships by pulling from various places. The show seems set to focus on Nishiki and Kiryu’s confrontation in 2005, but I don’t know how well that’ll work without setting up at least some elements of their friendship from Yakuza 0, even if it doesn’t adapt that story wholesale. Majima, who makes a madcap appearance in the show’s trailer saying “Kiryu-chan” in his iconic and deranged manner, benefits so much from the emotional foundation laid out for his character’s arc beginning in Yakuza 0. It’d be much better to play up what a ridiculous character he is if the show also pulls in the backstory that informs that appearance and to not do that would be doing Majima a disservice.
In order to get the full scope of it though, I’d urge you to just play Yakuza 0. The show looks good, but adaptations always gain and lose things, sometimes in equal measure and other times not. I’m sure that there’s a lot that’ll be left on the cutting room floor, but it’ll be interesting to weigh the trajectory of these characters and the differences once you understand the breadth of their backstory as provided by Yakuza 0 while remaining unspoiled for the larger events of the season, which seem to be adapting from Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami. Realistically, you also only have till the end of the month to catch up on the games before the show premieres, so much as I’d like to recommend just marathoning the series, you’re only going to fit one of these gargantuan games in that time and may as well make it the best and most informative of the bunch. For these, and countless other reasons, you’ve really got to play Yakuza 0, and I mean like right now.