In a new interview with Famitsu, Yakuza Kiwami 3 director Ryosuke Horii was asked questions about the development of the remake with a focus being on the new expansion, “Dark Ties.” A prequel story that details the rise of antagonist Yoshitaka Mine, it appears that the plan was originally not to include a full side game, but a movie players could watch. While that would stay true to the series’ inspiration from V-Cinema films, RGG Studios figured this might be its last chance to make Mine a playable character.
Per Google Translate, Horii said, “Initially, there was an idea to make it something that could be viewed as a video. But we wanted to make Mine move, and we thought that if we were to tell his story, it would be best to make him playable. We thought that would increase player satisfaction, and it was a subject that we wanted to try as well. We also thought, ‘If we miss this opportunity, we won’t have another chance,’ so we decided to go in that direction.”
Why was Mine chosen instead of giving another character a shot? It comes down to popularity. Series producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto added, “Although he only appears a few times, Mine is so popular that he always ranks in the top five of the series’ favorite characters. In a story themed around the underworld, a character like Mine, including his personality, must really resonate. His model is also cool.”
As for changes players can expect, it seems that Kiwami 3 will deviate more from the original game than the previous Kiwami remakes. As Horii mentions, players can still buy the original Yakuza 3 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Since it is readily available, RGG Studios felt it could try newer things without being slavishly stuck to the original framework. It will be interesting to see the tweaks made, the least of which is Kiryu’s new shirt.
More Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 3 announced for Switch 2 with new expansion ‘Dark Ties’
Sega shares new footage of Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 running on Switch 2
Yakuza Kiwami getting a physical release from Limited Run Games
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
