Every single Yakuza game has over-the-top action and high-octane fights. These are the most badass moments from the Yakuza games, excluding the Judgment games and other spin-offs.
Keep in mind that this article contains spoilers for all the mainline Yakuza games released up until now. If you haven’t finished any of the series (from Yakuza 0 to Like a Dragon), please click off if you want to avoid spoilers.
Jo Sawashiro is not to be trifled with (Like a Dragon)
After the mysterious assassination of Masumi Arakawa, the family’s Captain, Jo Sawashiro gets down on his hands and knees to beg for forgiveness from the seniors for his failure to protect the family’s name. He looks quite weak and helpless at this moment and he utters not a word.
That is until Reiji Ishioda bribes the senior officers into not cutting ties with the Arakawa family. The old bosses are quick to accept the money and not cut ties with the family.
Captain Sawashiro sees this as a weakness, and he starts laughing. His helplessness and weak demeanour disappear completely, as he lets every boss around know that weakness is not a trait of a powerful Yakuza. He grabs the head of a senior officer with his hand before slamming his head into the wall and proceeding to kill him by gouging his eye with his bare hand.
This makes everyone flinch in fear. Captain Sawashiro takes the reigns as the second patriarch of the Arakawa family, and the founder and first chairman of the Tokyo Omi Alliance.
Goro Majima attacks the Dojima Family headquarters alone (Yakuza 0)
After Lao Gui shoots Makoto Makimura, Goro Majima takes it upon himself to wipe out the entire Dojima Family by himself. His aim is to ultimately kill Lao Gui and Sohei Dojima. He shocks the goons of the Dojima Family with his utterly unpredictable, irrational and incendiary behavior, and fights his way to Sohei Dojima’s office. Here, he defeats Hiroki Awano and Lao Gui before attempting to kill Sohei Dojima. This feat makes him notorious, and attacking this HQ all by himself and completely wrecking it is part of why he’s so terrifying.
Hiroki Awano is stronger than he looks (Yakuza 0)
Throughout Yakuza 0, Hiroki Awano is an intimidating yet playful man who rarely engages in fights. But at one point in the game, he casually blocks a punch by Kazuma Kiryu like it was nothing at all. That was the first moment that he lets everyone know that he’s way stronger than he looks.
At the end of the game, when Majima attacks the Dojima Family, Awano faces the Mad Dog of Shimano in battle. In this fight, Awano reveals that he’s superhumanly strong by cracking a wall with his punch. This explosive move makes Majima flinch, and he compliments Awano after defeating him.
Kazuma Kiryu defeats an army of Tojo Clan members alone (Yakuza 5)
After being retired from a life of crime, Kiryu spends his days as a taxi driver in Nagasugai. His life was peaceful until he was drawn back into the complications of the clan. An all-out war was to break out between a Yakuza organization from Nagasugai and the Tojo clan.
The former-Fourth Chairman arrives at the battleground and taunts the Tojo Clan, saying that he’ll fight all of them by himself. Even though everyone knew he was a legend, they assumed that more than a hundred men armed with swords, guns, and even rocket launchers would be enough to stop them. They were wrong. Kiryu defeats every Tojo Clan member there and finishes the war by himself.
Ichiban Kasuga goes beast mode
At the end of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Ichiban Kasuga changes. His fantastical and childish view of the world remains. He’s as goofy and childlike as ever, but he comes up with a genius plan to bring down Ryo Aoki. By utilizing acting and deception, he exposes Ryo Aoki for what he really is.
In all honesty, this was unexpected from someone who’s as silly as him, but he pulls it off. Along with his friends, he traverses the Millenium Tower from the bottom to the very top before facing off against one of the most powerful people in Yakuza history: Yosuke Tendo.
Tendo stood at 6’5” and his knockout punch could eviscerate almost anyone unlucky enough to stand in his path. This hulk of a man was a foe that even Kiryu himself would have some trouble against. Ichi and his friends defeat him and he finally emerges a hero, just like he wanted.
