Only on Switch? Buy Yakuza

Yakuza used to be pretty much exclusive to PlayStation. Now, with its release on Switch, the franchise is officially everywhere. See for yourself why it’s one of the best things in gaming.

It’s the kind of success story this industry desperately needs to celebrate. It’s been around for 20 years, starting out on the PS2 and having pretty much a release a year since then. The mainline games are all worth playing, and will offer up hundreds of hours of gameplay each. It’s utterly overwhelming.

And it’s not just that they’re good or that they’re big. This is why they deserve our support. The developers reuse assets, we revisit many of the same characters each time. It feels the better for it. We watch as the world develops from game to game. It’s an epic in a way that few other games achieve, and certainly not over an entire franchise.

With the release of Yakuza Kiwami on Switch, the franchise has become truly multiplatform. It’s also become multimedia, with an Amazon series starting this week too. While it doesn’t quite capture the full insanity of the games, it has been given some decent reviews (and some not so decent).

It’s awesome to see smaller franchises tkae off. Yakuza is the poster child for this. There was a time when a few hundred thousand units in Japan was seen as hugely successful, and that it wasn’t a franchise that was going to make the jump to the west.

Luckily for me and many others, they ended up on Game Pass. I probably wouldn’t have discovered this franchise without it, and I’m glad I did. I’ve since bought each of the games, and am slowly (very slowly) working my way through them. It’s that kind of series.

The Rise of Yakuza

I don’t often write suggestions for purchases. With the exception of the “Should I Buy…?” stuff at Christmas, which will once again be shrouded in the mystery of the Switch 2.

Yakuza is another worthy exception. These are games that have been built as a labour of love, and I have it on good authority that playing it on the move is brilliant. Granted, there are certain mini-games you won’t want to play on the bus. But outside of those, you’re going to have a fantastic time.

Kiwami is a remake of the original PS2 game, made again in the latest Dragon engine. It has its fair share of bells and whistles, and should look great on Nintendo’s little console. It is, of course, just the first in a long franchise, with Yakuza 0 (a prequel) and Yakuza Kiwami 2 (a remake of the second game) undoubtedly on the horizon. I’d expect the latest games will jump to Switch 2.

In the gaming industry, there are few franchises that stand the test of time in the same way Yakuza has. It hasn’t always been the monstrous success that it is today. And yet it kept getting supported, kept getting new games and remakes and remasters. It stands as a testament to better on the smaller games, and on not only relying on massive blockbusters. And I’m glad Switch owners will now be able to celebrate the series too.