The announcement of Ryū ga Gotoku 1&2 HD (Yakuza 1&2) for Wii U wasn’t exactly an earth-shattering event. Not only that but, at the moment, the game isn’t even announced for Western markets. Still, with the series being extremely popular in Japan, this is just another avenue for Nintendo to show fans in Japan that there are some games to play, even if this one is a little bit dated. I missed out on the Yakuza on the Playstation 2 back in 2006 and have always been interested in the series. Without really knowing too terribly much about it, I decided to take the plunge and purchased it shortly after it launched on Wii U. While many elements of the game are dated by today’s standards, after playing the game for about six hours (so far only Yakuza 1), it is easy to see the appeal.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, the game is centered behind Kazuma Kiryu, a member of the yakuza who is rising up in the ranks of his gang family. After taking the rap for a crime his good friend committed and spending ten years behind bars, Kazuma is in search of his old friend/potential love interest Yumi and 10 billion yen that was somehow misplaced by his buddies. Without spoiling too much of the story, this all involves wandering the streets of a fictionalized version of Shinjuku and beating baddies with baseball bats, park benches and golf clubs. More specifically, the game takes place in Kabukichō, which in the game is referred to as Kamurochō. In the real world, Kabukichō is known as the entertainment and red-light district in Tokyo. The area is full of movie theaters, eateries, clubs, bars, hostess clubs, brothels, and of course, organized crime. The digitally recreated world is extremely detailed and very similar to its real world counterpart. While many of the restaurants and shops have been changed, you can even still find real shops that are actually in the area. If you want a semi-realistic look at what it is like to walk around modern day Japan, outside of the original Shenmue, this series has what you’re looking for.

First of all, in this new Wii U incarnation, players have a few options when it comes to control. You can choose to play using the Wii U GamePad or Wii U Controller Pro. I mainly played the game using the Wii U Pro Controller, but occasionally used the GamePad. Off-TV Play is also supported. Gameplay is divided into two different segments. Exploration and wandering around the city play a big part. The world is full of different shops that you can visit ranging from restaurants, convenience stores, hostess clubs, bars and even places like arcades, batting centers and bowling alleys. You aren’t able to enter every single building or wander down every nook and cranny, but there is still quite a bit to do outside of the main game.

Outside of exploration and interesting story, there is a heavy emphasis on battles. While meandering around the city, Yakuza thugs will often come up to you and pick a fight, akin to enemy encounters in RPGs. Players control Kazuma with the left analog stick, can do light attacks with Y, heavy attacks with X, and can grab with A. Once you have an opponent in your grasp, you can press Y to do successive hits, or X to do a heavy or special attack. The A button is also used to pick up items to use in combat. Weapons range from standard things like knives or bats to bicycles and huge traffic cones. Special attacks can only be used after building up a gauge that rests right below Kazuma’s health. Once it’s full, you can do a grapple special attack or special attacks with weapons by pressing X. For example, if I’m carrying around a bicycle and use my special, Kazuma slams the bike over the guy’s head, causing copious amounts of damage. L is used for blocking, and R is used to keep Kazuma facing an enemy, and if you use R and hit A and a direction, he’ll shift away from enemies.

Combat, while complicated, is not difficult to get used to, but it’s certainly not perfect. The original Yakuza was released in 2006 (late 2005 in Japan), and even by those standards, it was still a little clunky. For example, when Kazuma gets into a combo move and you are positioned just a little bit off from an enemy, he’ll continue punching and kicking midair while the enemy looks on or gets in a few cheap shots. It isn’t hard to adjust to after some time with the game, but it does show how far open 3D fighting has come over the past few years.

Graphically, Yakuza is a little messy as well, but we are dealing with an HD version of a Playstation 2 game so this is to be expected. Main character models look fairy detailed and acceptable, but NPCs are extremely low poly-count messes. Textures in the game are sometimes washed out and pre-rendered cut scenes look exactly like their PS2 counterparts. Some of the cutscenes were obviously rendered with the in-game engine, but were then recorded and put in as a video. It is cringe worthy, but thankfully few and far between. Voice acting is superb and believable and the various sounds around Kamurochō sound exactly like what you would expect from a bustling city. Most interactions are text based, while others are using the game engine for cut scenes.

Despite the technical flaws with certain visual elements and hiccups in the battle system, Yakuza tells a really interesting story that feels like a real Japanese gangster movie. Being able to explore this section of Shinjuku is part of the unique quality of the series that give gamers a chance to discover the underbelly of Japan without getting their hands dirty. Given the lukewarm appeal to the Yakuza series in the West, it’s difficult to say whether Nintendo fans around the world will be able to try out this series on Wii U. Try to refrain from throwing traffic cones at Sega if it doesn’t happen.