The Best Yakuza Game I Never Got to Play - Yakuza 0

Considering that you guys know that I play Yakuza and that I'm a big fan of it, I have a confession to make to you all. Unlike most Yakuza fans, I wasn't able to start with 0. Why? Well, the copy I got was glitched. The game crashed every time I did a finishing blow, which made the game unplayable. It was a huge disappointment since all the videos I saw on Yakuza 0 showed some pretty nifty features. So here's a rundown on all the things I missed and the things you should expect in Yakuza 0. I'll try to keep this "spoilerless" as possible, though you should still expect spoilers. Let's go!

1.  Mr. Shakedown

Before Majima Everywhere, there was the Mr. Shakedown system. In Yakuza 0, Kiryu and Majima each encounter 2 Mr. Shakedowns in their story respectively. For Kiryu (above, bottom right corner), he encounters Hiroya Egashira (above) and Yuki Sato, with the latter encountering Naoya Kawahashi and Kenji Oe. What are Mr. Shakedowns, you ask? Well, they are huge, burly guys who shake you down for money for various reasons. They also have slow, but strong attacks and tons of health, so it's suggested that you grind before you fight these tough dudes. Otherwise, you might risk losing all your yen. I won't spoil why each Mr. Shakedown shakes you down. You'll just have to find out for yourself.

2. KUUUUUZEEEEEE!!!!!!

And here we have one of the most favored and respectable villains of the series, Daisaku Kuze, a Lieutenant of the Dojima Family. You fight him a lot in Kiryu's story (5 fights in total), which can get annoying at times. Though, once you defeat Kuze, you might just wish to be half the man as he is.

3. Playable Goro Majima

Not including Yakuza: Dead Souls, Yakuza 0 is one of the first 2 games where you can canonically play as Goro Majima. And not only that, but by the time you reach Majima's part in the game, you'll instantly fall in love with him. Why? Because of his funny antics and his charm, of course!

4. Unlocking Styles

In Yakuza 0, you can unlock various fighting styles as you progress through the game (3 styles respectively for each character, including their iconic Legend styles). You start out in the game with their basic and balanced style. Kiryu starts out with Brawler style, which is a basic version of his iconic Dragon of Dojima style. Majima, on the other hand, starts out with Thug style, which is a hand-to-hand and basic version of Majima's iconic dagger style, the Mad Dog of Shimano.

You can unlock and level up other styles through certain substories. However, you can easily unlock 2 of their 3 unlockable styles during the beginning of their parts. For Kiryu, you can unlock Rush style (which relies on speedy evasion and light, but fast attacks) and Beast style (which relies on slow, but heavy hits and endurance). For Majima, you can unlock Slugger (a style that focuses on Majima's mastery with blunt weaponry) and Breaker (a fast style that has breakdancing moves that could punish any enemy in its path).

You can unlock their iconic styles if you finish substories that focus on their in-game jobs. If you finish all the substories that focus on Kiryu's real-estate business, you could unlock the fast and powerful Dragon of Dojima style. On Majima's side, if you finish all substories relating to his cabaret club business, you could unlock the agile and dagger-wielding Mad Dog of Shimano style. Unlocking those styles is pretty worth it, trust me.

Closing

That's all what Yakuza 0 would've offered to me if I had played it. It makes me sad that I never got to experience these fun features. If you ever get to chance to play the game, tell me how you liked it! - JJ