Heh, it seems that the minds behind the Yakuza series have stopped playing Dead Rising and have been playing Crazy Taxi and Cabela's Outdoor Adventure instead!

The random element to the Yakuza games is what makes them so interesting, I own 1-4 and Dead Souls, so I'll be picking up Yakuza 5 (albeit not at launch) and also the Yakuza HD remakes, which will allow me to run through 1-5 all on my lovely little PS3. Happy days.

I have owned Yakuzas 1-4 at various points, and keep selling and rebuying them... Currently just at a Yakuza 1 stage... Oddly enough, manage to pretty much always sell them for the price I get them so it's not so scary...

Only actually played about 20 minutes of the first though, really keen to get into the series at some point though. Any suggestions on best place to start?

Yakuza HD Collection (1 & 2) are coming at the end of the year, so there. Means you can play them all on PS3 now and it won't have the game fault Yakuza (1) had when playing on a backwards compatible PS3.

Plus, it's still a totally great game, so wait for that then run through them all.

Is the HD collection coming to the west for sure?

I've only played 3, 4, and a little bit of Dead Souls. Loved 3 and 4 to pieces, though. Would love to play the first two, sometime.

Sean wrote:Is the HD collection coming to the west for sure?

I've only played 3, 4, and a little bit of Dead Souls. Loved 3 and 4 to pieces, though. Would love to play the first two, sometime.

It was reported as such on UK media sites and given that Yakuza 3,4 and 5 (plus Dead Souls) have all had Western releases (or are going to in the case of Yakuza 5) then it makes sense that the HD Collection will too.

Is Yakuza 1 and 2 HD a retail release, or downloadable only? Sincerely hope it's a retail release as Christ knows how big a download file that would be.
Loved the Yakuza series since 3, so very much want to get 1 and 2 played through as well. And needless to say Yakuza 5 will be a Day One purchase

It's on disc in Japan.

I'd forgotten about a HD collection... I'll be sure to pick that up then!

I'm in the process of replaying the first two games which I loved the first time around. Such great daft, macho silliness.

Plus I'm getting a PS3 next month and have the last two games waiting ready to be enjoyed. A wonderful series.

Yakuza 5 is out at the end of the year so you will actually have 3 main series games and the Dead Souls spin-off. Not bad!

It's a pity that Sega were reluctant to release Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! for the West. Unsure of the exact reasons as to why, but it as it was the first Yakuza game on the PS3 and positioned awkwardly between 2 & 3 and before the fans in the West petitioned for the release of 3 I guess didn't help. I also suspect that due to some of the content being cut from the Western version of 3 due to it being "too Japanese", they would have thought (wrongly) that a Yakuza game set during the Edo period would have been to strange for Westerners tastes.

Two of them on the PSP aswell, unsure they're canon but noted the same environments there again.

Kenzan is the big gap in my playthrough of the series but I wonder if it's too late to localise.

mikeleddy83 wrote:Kenzan is the big gap in my playthrough of the series but I wonder if it's too late to localise.

I would say not, it may lack some of the refinements of the later games but the story kinda stands on its own so releasing it wouldn't upset the applecart with a release between the more recent titles in the series.

Maybe they should do a special pack where they have HD versions of the PSP games as well as a copy of Kenzan?!

This is by far my fav gaming series of all time, i love these games and finished every one of them. Not played the PSP version as its PSP and no one cares about it.

Loved every moment, they have a great story and there funny as well. Im very much looking forward to playing 5 when its out and im buying the HD collection as well when its out.

Enough said

(I hope thats not to big, its still showing big on my screen)

Surely if you love the series that much you'd want to play all the games in it regardless of platform? I would anyway. I'm looking forward to getting a Vita to catch up with a lot of PSP stuff I missed out on.

As regards to Yakuza I'm going to get the HD versions of 1 & 2 and start from there.

TomFum wrote:Not played the PSP version as its PSP and no one cares about it.

Don't think that's strictly true. I know several people who continue to play on their PSP and it's one of the reasons that the Vita was so anticipated; because the PSP was that good.

Surely if you really love the franchise you'd be all over the PSP versions too? Seems odd to me.

I love the Outrun series, i love it more than Yakuza, does that mean i should go out and buy every copy on every system ever made.....No.

I wouldnt go and buy a PSP just to play Yakuza, it isnt that good of a game from what ive seen and heard, i dont like the PSP full stop, its a terrible console.

Sorry if you find that strange. maybe im not elitist enough to post on this forum anymore, seems everything i post gets nick picked at. I dont like the PSP thats just my opinion sorry.

Get a grip, man. You made a sweeping statement "no-one cares about [the PSP]", that's bound to get picked up on on a forum that embraces platform agnosticism. It's nothing to do with elitism whatsoever. And if you'd just said "I don't like the PSP" that would have been fine. Having said that, while you and everyone else is entitled to their opinion, blanket statements saying that one format is shit aren't really what we're trying to encourage here. It's untrue and shortsighted because every console has its great games. There are plenty of forums where fanboyism and trolling are welcome, so you're likely to find more likeminded type posts there than on Cane & Rinse.

On the subject of the Yakuza pack, it isn't listed on Amazon yet. Out in Japan in November do we know it's actually coming out in Europe in 2012?

I am sure I saw it reported on VG247 as having a 2012 release, but you never know, especially where Sega are involved, especially as their annual profit release is just out the door.

Now that that's out we may here more on it.