So this looks like what I thought it would be after Goro was announced as one of the two Leads (the other being a young Kiryu) Yakuza Zero: (or how I lost my eyeball and learned to love snake skin jackets) probably doesn't have a chance of getting ported but I'd love to try it, the 1988 setting is just close enough to Shenmue I can pretend this is some weird spin-off... right?

It's a bummer that there's zero chance of this ever getting a western release.

Sega, the studio that keeps on breaking hearts.

Thanks for reminding me of theses games, jerk.

I should start Yakuza 3, it's been sitting on the shelf for a while. How is it? I vaguely remember renting Yakuza 1 and I think I liked it.

@baka_shinji17: Fantastic, like every other numbered game in the series.

I should have never played Yakuza 4, because now all of these hurt to watch.

i loved the shit out of 3. but i don't think i can play another one. as awesome as it was it was also extremely taxing.

Me and a buddy once took a leap into the world of Yakuza, playing them all in numbered order.

And we learned to love it. I *HIGHLY* recommend digging out your PS2 and playing Yakuza 1 and 2 before stepping over to PS3 and playing 3 and 4.
It has a Persona-esque quality to it in that you learn to love the characters as you get to hang out with them more and more and learn more about them.

I went ahead and bought 5 while I still lived in Japan, but my reading is simply not up to snuff to that text-heavy game. We were super bummed out because it's absolutely the best game in the series.
I can still dream of 5 and 0 being translated... Right?

Damn. I would love for this to come out here. I really enjoyed the previous games.

LMAO

@asilentprotagonist: I only just now realized that I made a pun. I swear it was unintentional.

From tha trailer, if I didn't know better if think this was some crazy animated movie with a shirtless old man riding a moter cycle wielding a a samurai sword in the sewers.

But really now... I assume the gameplay is fighting people like in the past... But I cannot glean that from this trailer

@perilator666: Yakuza 4 is kind of a letdown for me after playing 3. I dunno, the story is just too fractured trying to flesh out 3 all new playable characters; I couldn't really get excited about what was happening

@welding: I wish they would release the HD collection here either on the WiiU or even just digitally on PSN, want to play 1&2 but I'm generally too lazy to dust off the ps2 from my loft to play it (and 2 is pricey)

@getz: 3's kind of a hard one for me to recommend too though, until you get back to the city all of the orphanage stuff is brutally slow. I ended up really enjoying it for being weird as hell but 4 gets into things a bit quicker.

Yeah i'm with you. I loved the first 3 games but I couldnt bring myself to finish 4 due to just not caring at all about the story. And as awesome as 5 looks, if it makes you play through each character one at time it may have the same effect. (although having 5 different cities may help)

This game looks great though, as do the Kenzan games that will also never be localised. As someone who made peace that 3 was never going to get a release in Europe, and was pleasantly surprised when it did. I think i'll reserve some small amount of hope that I will eventually play this without having to learn japanese or read an FAQ.

I really want this to come out in the West. I tweeted earlier today about having to import it and stumble through the Japanese.

Come on Sega... I'll will gladly give you my money Day 1 if you release this here. Slap some subtitles on this sucker and all is good. Loved the PS3 games! I even kind of liked the dumb zombie game, crappy combat but fun to revisit the characters even in an absurd situation.

digging that 80s style music, but I wish they just showed a bit of the combat. And I'm surprised to see that 10 year anniversary. Has it been that long. Jesus, Sega really took a big risk on the localizing the first game with top tier voice work like Mark Hammill.

im so sad we will never get this game i am crying

Awesome! I can't wait for Yakuza Zerochanceoflocalization.

Playing through Yakuza 4 sucks because I got super attached to Shun Akiyama and I know that Yakuza 5 is hidden behind a language barrier.

Man, SEGA got me fucked up. I bought a Dreamcast back in 1999, man. I don't deserve this shit!

I own 4 but don't think I ever played it. If I did, it didn't leave a very lasting impression.

It's neat in that every character is unique in their playstyle and by the end the stories intersect in a satisfying way. Also this is one of those games that digs deep into the "lore" so to speak. The same set of characters roll through each iteration and you keep learning bits and pieces of their backstory - such as the guy with the eye-patch (sadly all the names escape me).

What was a let down for me was that after all this time we were still playing, in basically, the same area.

UPDATED: They also put out some gameplay for this game we won't get to play... yay? Still seems like there will now be some kind of business management aspects with Kiryu also Idols and DANCE-STYLE fighting? Good to see Yakuza hasn't lost the insanity at least.

I've been slowly playing through 5 with some translated cutscenes, summaries and guides and even despite that the game is pretty damn amazing so far.4 out of 5 of the playable characters are people we're already familiar with in the series so I don't thnk it suffers as much as 4 did in that regard, plus not running through the same places over and over again as each character does certainly help.

I always enjoy the healthy approach to sexual content in Japanese games.

I'd love nothing more than to play as a young Kazuma doing dirt and earning the 'dragon of dojima' nickname. Alas...

@wampa1: Goddamn that all looks fucking amazing, thanks for making me depressed ;(

I wonder how much it would cost to localise Yakuza 5 and dump it straight on the PSN store? Got to make more sense than a retail release.