Recent video game set in Tokyo about mafia and a pop star?

January 28, 2017 10:46 AM

Can you help me find this video game set in Tokyo, about mafia and a popo star? I read about it on some top-20-games-of-2016 list recently. It's...

- a video game (not sure whether console, PC, or both)
- the 4th or 5th sequel in a series, with more future installments planned
- set in Tokyo
- with a story that is a weird combination of mafia plotlines, and that of an up-and-coming (female) pop star

Anyone know what game this is?

(Bonus points - anyone know the top-20 list this might have appeared on?)

Thanks..

posted by mark7570 to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Best answer: The Yakuza series? Yazkua 0 just came out (prequel set in the 80s) but was preceded by Yakuza 1-6. i don't know the games well enough to know if they had a pop star character.
posted by bluecore at 11:20 AM on January 28, 2017

Response by poster: That's it! It was Yakuza 5... I was able to use that name to find the top-20 list that eluded me: BoingBoing's 20 games you shouldn't miss in 2016. Thanks, bluecore.
posted by mark7570 at 11:50 AM on January 28, 2017

Best answer: In Yakuza 5, Haruka (the series' lead character surrogate daughter) tries to become a pop-idol.
posted by lmfsilva at 11:50 AM on January 28, 2017

I dug my PS3 out of storage just to play Yakuza 5, mostly for the pop star segment, and it's pretty fantastic. One correction - the pop star segment takes place in Osaka (in a neighborhood based on Dotonbori), not Tokyo. Other parts of the game are set in Fukuoka and Sapporo, and it seems like the final segment is going to be set in the series' famous recreation of Kabukicho in Tokyo but I haven't got that far yet.
posted by Gortuk at 2:15 PM on January 28, 2017

I have only played Yakuza 2 (no PS3 or PS4), but it's easily one of my favourite games ever, and I've heard they're all in the same level (lowest Famitsu score in the series is 36, and the average should be just a notch under 38, even if western releases might have less content). If you can, play the whole series.
posted by lmfsilva at 4:54 PM on January 28, 2017

In case you need help googling it, the Yakuza series is called 龍が如く (Ryu ga gotoku) in Japanese.
posted by xmts at 5:54 PM on January 28, 2017