THE LIBRARY

From a rejected 2005 pitch and a 2.4 billion yen budget to the fastest-selling week in series history: the full history of Sega's Yakuza, now Like a Dragon.

Every main Yakuza and Like a Dragon game in release order with Japanese titles and dates, the spin-offs, and how the story order differs from the release order.

The 2005 PlayStation 2 original: Nagoshi's rejected pitch, a 2.4 billion yen budget, novelist Hase Seishu on the script, and a million Japanese sales.

Toshihiro Nagoshi: Sega lifer from Yu Suzuki's AM2 to chief creative officer, creator of Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza, and the man who bet on Japanese adults.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio: the Sega team named after its own game, from Amusement Vision through the Nagoshi era to Masayoshi Yokoyama's leadership since 2021.

Kamurocho is fictional, but its streets are Kabukicho's: the gate, the Don Quijote, the theater, and two more districts mapped from Osaka and Yokohama.

Mark Hamill as Majima, Michael Madsen, a script rewritten to chase Grand Theft Auto, and no room on the disc for the Japanese voices: the 2006 Yakuza dub.

Hostess clubs, 21 substories, mahjong and shogi: what Sega removed from Yakuza 3's 2010 Western release, and how the 2019 remaster put it back.

Yakuza 5's three-year gap, a fan campaign, and Sony funding the localization itself: how the series nearly ended in the West, and who saved it.

A 1988 prequel, bubble-era money, two young protagonists, and memes that traveled: how Yakuza 0 turned a dying Western niche into Sega's flagship.

The series was always called Ryū ga Gotoku,

An April Fools video, a creator's tall tale, and his successor's correction: the real story of how Yakuza traded real-time brawling for Dragon Quest battles.

The 2024 entry: simultaneous worldwide launch, a million copies in a week, Ichiban and Kiryu sharing the lead, Hawaii, and a whole island resort to build.

Ichiban Kasuga: the Dragon Quest-loving ex-yakuza who took over the series in 2020, voiced by the man who once played its first villain.

Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima: twenty years, nine main games, one grey suit, and the most reluctant legend in the medium.

Goro Majima, the Mad Dog of Shimano: Mark Hamill's most forgotten role, Zero's tragic co-lead, and in 2025 the star of his own pirate game.

Judgment and Lost Judgment: RGG Studio's detective spin-offs starring Takuya Kimura, a recasting scandal, and a PC standoff that nearly ended the branch.

The studio's period pieces: the modern cast recast as samurai two centuries apart, Miyamoto Musashi and Sakamoto Ryōma, and the nine-year wait for Ishin's remake.

Of the End in Japan: the 2011 zombie spin-off that quarantined Kamurocho, armed its heroes, and became the series' Western low-water mark.

Four verified Japanese and Western box-art pairs: Kiwami, Kiwami 2, Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth, and what each market was being sold.

Kiwami,

RGG Studio's in-house engine since Yakuza 6: seamless cities, physics combat, measured streetlight, and the one game that left it for Unreal.

Takashi Miike's 2007 film, two Kurohyo TV dramas, the 2015 stage play, Amazon's 2024 Like a Dragon series, and Sega's own Kamutai Magazine.

Karaoke, cabaret management, arcades full of real Sega classics, and a chicken on the payroll: the minigame density is the series' theory of a city.

27.7 million copies by 2024, per entry: the 2005 million, Zero's two million, Like a Dragon's record 3.5 million, and Infinite Wealth's fastest week.