What are the Yakuza Kiwami remakes?
Not remasters: the PS2 games rebuilt from the ground up in the modern engine, and loaded with new connective tissue.
Kiwami means "extreme", and Sega means it literally: Yakuza Kiwami (Japan January 21, 2016; the West August 29, 2017) rebuilds the 2005 original in Yakuza 0's technology, re-records its script with the original cast, and adds new scenes for Nishiki that the PS2 game never had. It sold 1.5 million copies.
THE LINE SO FAR
Remakes and remasters
Ryū ga Gotoku Kiwami · Japanese box (PS4)
The remake of a 2005 game, dressed in the same painting the West would get a year later: the first release of the post-Zero settlement between the two markets.
Kiwami 2 · 2017
The second game rebuilt in the Dragon Engine (Japan December 7, 2017; the West August 28, 2018), with an added Majima saga campaign resolving his Zero storyline. 1.3 million copies.
Majima Everywhere
Kiwami's signature addition: Majima ambushes Kiryu across Kamurocho, from manholes, traffic cones and hostess disguises, to restore his lost fighting styles. A progression system disguised as a decade-long prank war.
The Remastered Collection · 2019-2020
Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 were remastered rather than remade: restored content, new translations, released digitally from August 2019 and as a physical collection in February 2020, reaching PC and Xbox in January 2021.
Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties · 2026
Announced in September 2025 for February 12, 2026: a full remake of Yakuza 3 paired with Dark Ties, a prequel campaign starring its antagonist, Yoshitaka Mine, the first wholly new story material of the remake line.