Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was originally intended to be a fishing spinoff starring longtime series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama has revealed.
In a new interview on the PlayStation Blog, Yokoyama says that for “quite some time”, he’s been wanting to make a game titled Like a Dragon: Tuna, which would star the Dragon of Dojima himself as a tuna fisherman.
Yokoyama says this game would revolve around Kiryu “fight[ing] against fishing boats” at sea. His dream (that’s Yokoyama’s, not Kiryu’s) never saw the light of day, but ideas from it evolved into the piratical story of Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
In the interview, Yokoyama also reveals that the ideas for Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii were percolating as early as last summer, long before latest mainline installment Infinite Wealth was released.
He says spinoffs are “perfect in size for adults”, comparing the mainline series to “an all-you-can-eat restaurant” in which you can gorge yourself on whatever you like. Spinoffs, by contrast, are “well-balanced, good-proportion meals”, according to Yokoyama.
We also learn how Yokoyama is dealing with Majima’s “unpredictability” as a character; he says that’s the reason behind the ex-yakuza’s amnesia.
Maijma’s unpredictability makes him “intriguing”, Yokoyama says, but it also creates a disconnect between players’ emotions and Majima’s emotions. To transform him into a more conventional protagonist, Yokoyama says, it was either amnesia or time travel. I guess the series isn’t quite that ridiculous…yet.
When it comes to combat, Yokoyama says the new jump move was introduced “because the character Majima looks good while jumping”. That’s right; it wasn’t for any concrete gameplay reason, but just because the devs thought it looked cool.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches on February 28th across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Stay tuned for more, and while you wait, you can read our Infinite Wealth review here.
