Summary

• Pirate Yakuza is set to be the Majima game fans have long asked for.
• As well as familiar maps and minigames, Pirate Yakuza will feature exciting new areas and minigames, such as Madlantis.
• You can dress Majima up like a Barbie. What's not to love?

I was hopping off one train and onto another in London, dragging a suitcase behind me wi🐼th another four hours of travel to go, when the RGG Summit began its broadcast last Friday. Of course, I wasn’t going to miss it. I gripped my phone in my hand and squealed with delight—garnering an odd look from fellow commuters—as it opened with the familiar figure of Majima.

It felt too good to be true. Surely it was just a tease for fans to have Majima introduce the next game? But no. After all these years of waiting, of fans asking, dreaming, and hoping, Majima stans are eating well. Our boy (read: grown man of sixty years) is finally getting his own game: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lik🉐e a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

If you know anything about me, it’s that I flipping love Majima. I have his tattoo inked into my skin, I spend far too much money on Majima merch, and he’s certainly not someone I would kick out of bed. I was surprised by just how many people DMed me to ask for my thoughts on the reveal, but knowing I was set to preview ‘RGG’s next u💫nannounced title𒊎’ just days later, I didn’t want to comment until I saw it properly. Now that time has come.

Let’s face it. It would have to be truly terrible for me to not utterly love it. Anything Majima is good in my books, but I’m going to put my bias aside for a moment to react as a normal, healthy, not utterly obsessed Like a Dragon fan. In case you weren’t aware from the Western translation, Pirate Yakuza is the next Gaiden title, and is titled as such in Jღapan. Immedia༺tely think of what we got with The Man Who Erased His Name (henceforth known as TMWEHN because I don’t want to keep typing all that), and you’re on the right track. It’s set to be a bit bigger than the previous Gaiden, but it’s still a Gaiden title, and so much smaller in size (both in map size and gameplay length) than a fully-fledged LaD title.

We only had a small taste of the narrative, and the hands on slice we played clearly wasn’t from the start of the game. The trailer gave more insight into what was happening than the demo, but I remember the TMHEHN demo being much the same. The point is to showcase what’s on offer in the world rather than a slice of story pie. Given how meaty and in-depth LaD 💯narratives get, I’ve no doubt RGG wants to keep its cards close to its chest this early on as any narrative shown now would likely give a l꧃ot away.

The Honolulu map is re-used from Infinite Wealth in the same way that TMWEHN re-used Yokohama. However, there are brand ne🤡w maps too, such as Madlantis, the quirky, pirate hideout. We also saw a bit of your ship, the Goromaru, upon which you travel to ꦯand from locations.

We were told other areas will be available too, so I reckon another city will feature. If we think of Madlantis as the equivalent of TMWEHN’s Castle and Honolulu as the condensed version of Yokohama we had in TMWEHN, then we need something to rival TMWEHN’s main city. Unless Honolulu is the m💧ain city because it’s larger than Sotenbori anyway… but either way, I f🌟eel we need another locale. I need more areas for Majima to strut his stuff in.

In the demo we played, we didn’t have the full Honolulu map and I’m unsure whether this was just for the demo, or, much like TMWEHN, will offer a ꦿmore limited version of the series’ original map.

Honolulu was much the same. You’ve g💞ot your segway, Noah has a mini segway (cute), and you can do the hand signal to befriend people (so yes, the friend system is back). There were also Most Wanted boss battles across the map, apparently bounties set by Honolulu City Police, and what better man to bag the bad guys than the Mad Dog himself? Majima also has a grappling hook (called a wire hook) that he can use to collect items, or seemingly grapple around a bit, though I didn’t see the latter feature in action.

We had a limited view of Madlantis as none of the minigames were open༺ for the demo, but what little we did see offered a promising taste of a neon-lit, perfectly piratey, suitably bonkers place to roam around as Sea Dog Majima and kick the butt of any scurvy scoundrel daf🔜t enough to cross you.

Similarly, there are some familiar minigames in Pirate Yakuza, such as Dragon Kart, karaoke in Revolve Bar, and Crazy Delivery, but there are also new𝔉 minigames being added, such as the dating game that was teased at the summit. Minigames were limited in the hands on, we didn’t see any of the new ones, but it was incredibly funny to do both Dragon Kart and Crazy Delivery as Majima. Karaoke, as always with Majima, was a treat. As he belted out his screechy Majima tones on the high notes, it made the whole press room laugh.

Let’s get down to the important stuff though: the combat. I love the Like a Dragon series and don’t begrudge the turn-based battles we get in the main series now, but I have always preferred the action combat. I love button mashing, I love the chaos and swift feeling of spinning, slicing, jumping, and screeching in maniacal joy (as Majima does). It felt unbelievably good to be back to action combat, switching up between the Mad Dog an💯d Sea Dog styles, and just causing m𓆉ayhem wherever I went with my blades.

These different fighting styles mean that even thoౠse who are tired of the series’ action combat will find Pirate Yakuza’s return to the old way refreshing – especially given it’s Majima flavoured. Mad Dog style is classic Majima, with a Madness Gauge instead of a Heat Gauge, comboing attacks, and his familiar Doppleganger attack. Sea Dog style gives us the luxury of pirate weapons, and my god are they fun. You have a hand cannon to blast people, a wire hook to pull yourself towards enemies, and your cutlasses, the latter of which you can even boomerang at enemies as well as slice and dice them to oblivion with combos.

Enough of that serious critic stuff, let’s get my fan-girl hat back on. Yes, it looks just like a Majima Construction helmet. Let’s talk outfits. Much like Kiryu in TMWEHN, you can dress Majima up Barbi🥂e-style from a range of hats, tops, trousers, shoes, accessories, makeup, and more, choosing an outfit for both Seadog Majima and Mad Dog Majima. You can even put an eye patch or pirate hat on your tiger 🐻buddy, Goro.

Yeah, he has the same name as Majima (Majima Goro),ไ I don’t know why.

In recent LaD games, I always dress the protagonist as Majima. Kiryu was Majima-dressed in TMWEHN. Kasuga was Majima-dressed in Infinite Wealth. But since I had actual Majima, I gave him a little makeov🔜er with slick-backed hair, earrings, and painte🔥d black nails, and then… well, standard Majima wear because I love him and I hate change.

In fact, we had access to all Majimas past and present. From the hair to the outfits, there was a look for every version of Majima (Goromi included), and even an outfit that resembles Hidenari Ugaki’s (Majima’s Japanese VA) go-to outfit. Hitting preview when changing clo𝕴thes gives a cutscene of Majima strutting down a catwalk like the king he is, so make sure you don’t miss that. You’re welcome.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii feels like it’s set to be such an on-brand game not only for RGG Studio, but for Majima too. I mean, the꧃ game’s detaiꦛls leaked months ago and it was so bonkers no one believed it. If that doesn’t tell you it❀’s suitably chaotic and crazy to be a game where Majima is the protagonist, I don’t know what else will. Oh yeah, me. I’m telling you. This is the Majima game that fans have always wanted. It’s returning to the old combat, it feels on-point for Majima’s personality, and it’s the series taking what it’s learned 🐠from its successes to create something new and passionate for fans.

The only lingering qualm you might have is that it’s not a mainline Majima title. That means we’re not getting a 50+ hour story like Infinite Wealth, but if TMWEHN proved anything,🍎 it’s that RGG Studio can pack an impactful pun🌳ch even in a smaller package. I was already hyped just from the trailer, but after playing some of the game first-hand I’m even more convinced that this is the LaD game I’ve been waiting for. I am ready to set sail with Captain Majima.