Even if you’ve never played a single one of Sega’s Yakuza games, you’ve undoubtedly seen the memes — the chicken in the bowling alley, the Friday night boogie at the disco, the profoundly earnest karaoke, the perils of mahjong. These days, there’s no denying that Kazuma Kiryu, the stoic but sweet prince of Tokyo’s underworld, is one of the most iconic characters in video games. And it all started back in September 2006, when the original Yakuza was first released outside Japan on the PlayStation 2.
After serving a ten-year sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, Yakuza sees Kiryu return to his old stomping grounds in Tokyo’s vice district. There, he’s tasked with tracking down 10 billion yen that’s been stolen from the Tojo Clan and investigating the mysterious disappearance of his childhood friend — and longtime crush — Yumi. Along the way, he unravels a conspiracy that threatens the leadership of the Tojo Clan, faces betrayal from his closest friend, and becomes an unlikely father figure to a vulnerable young girl.
Though the series wouldn’t achieve mainstream popularity overseas until the launch of Yakuza 0 in 2017, a lot of what made it great was there from the very beginning. The button-mashing combat is fun and furious, with plenty of over-the-top finishers like hurling a bicycle into a dude’s face and shoving firecrackers into an enemy’s mouth. Before especially important brawls, Kiryu whipped off his suit jacket and button-down shirt in one fluid movement, like an Olympic-caliber stripper. The central storyline was full of deadly serious drama, but also included the whiplash-inducing tonal shifts that have become a series trademark That’s thanks to an abundance of lighthearted with sidequests like “Crisis on the Crapper,” where you have to bring a packet of pocket tissues to an unlucky fellow with a tummy ache in a public restroom.
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