Just in time for the game’s tenth anniversary, Sega and RGG Studios have released an enhanced Director’s Cut remaster of Yakuza 0, the sixth game in the Like a Dragon franchise for the Nintendo Switch 2. This remaster not only brought the beloved classic to a new audience, but also made several changes to the original game.
While these changes are being widely debated by the fanbase, one must take a step back to look at what has actually been changed and not take misinformation at face value. So to make processing the differences simpler, here is a list of the biggest changes made to Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut.
6 Mahjong UI Differences
Harder to Play
One change in Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut which casual fans may not notice is how the Mahjong UI has been changed for the worse. Ever since the release of Yakuza 6, the Like a Dragon games have made sure to include numbers next to each character tile in your deck. This allowed players who cannot recognize Chinese characters to play Mahjong without any issues.
While this UI element didn’t exist in the original release of Yakuza 0 for the PlayStation 3 and 4, all future ports for Xbox and PC included these quality-of-life changes. Unfortunately, seemingly due to the Director’s Cut being built off of the original PS3 version, that quality-of-life feature has been completely removed, making one of the series’ longest-running minigames harder than it was before.
5 Improved Frame Rate
Silky Smooth
While the PlayStation 4 version of Yakuza 0 could hit 60FPS at times, the Like a Dragon franchise as a whole has never been the best at keeping a consistent framerate (especially during action scenes or when walking through a large crowd in the city). So when Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut advertised itself as having a consistent 60 frames per second like many remasters, fans were obviously interested.
The frame rate of this remaster is silky smooth at all times thanks to the power of the Nintendo Switch 2. Add on the 4K resolution and you’ve got a recipe for the best-looking version of Yakuza 0 to date. While this change doesn’t majorly affect gameplay, it does allow one to appreciate how far technology has come within the past decade.
4 English Dub
A Massive Step Forward
Perhaps the biggest change to Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut is the addition of an English dub to the game. While this isn’t the franchise’s first foray into English voice acting as Like a Dragon 7 and 8 as well as the Gaiden games like Pirates in Hawaii had dubs, this is the first game in the Kiryu saga to receive one (even if it did so retroactively).
The dub cast in Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut is consistent with the dub of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, bringing back Yong Yea and Matt Mercer as Kiryu and Majima respectively. In addition to these, the player’s ears will be blessed with David Hayter as Kashiwagi, making this dub a real treat for English language fans.
3 Multiplayer Mode
Brawl with Friends
While previous Like a Dragon games featured a few multiplayer minigames such as bowling, there was no way to play the main gameplay with friends. Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut makes a bold move forward with the franchise by introducing a four-player multiplayer mode known as Red Light Raid.
In Red Light Raid, players have the ability to select and play as a myriad of characters (most of whom have never been playable in a Like a Dragon game before) before they’re thrown into a large-scale fight against several waves of enemies. While there isn’t much to this mode, it is a fun distraction and a good demonstration of what multiplayer Like a Dragon gameplay would look like.
With his popularity it was only inevitable that Nishitani would be playable in a mode like this.
2 Original Music Restored
Time to Rock Out
The English localizations of the PS3 and PS4 era Like a Dragon games have become known for removing licensed music from the original Japanese versions of the games, with Yakuza 3 and 6 in particular having a good amount of their emotional scenes changed due to not having their original music. Yakuza 0 was no exception to this as several songs were removed in the first release.
This was finally corrected with the release of Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, as for the first time ever the original music has been restored. New and old players alike will be able to experience fantastic songs like Bubble in their intended context for the first time, making this easily one of the best changes made with the Director’s Cut.
1 Story Changes
No More Deaths
Perhaps the biggest and most controversial change to Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut is the twenty minutes of new cutscenes added to the story. While many of these cutscenes are silly like Kiryu and Nishiki screaming in their car, others have drastic effects on the plot.
Most notably, several characters who died in previous versions of the game now survive under seemingly impossible circumstances. Even the murder victim who kicks the entire plot into motion survives in this version of the game. These changes and the retcons that they bring have become controversial within the fanbase, making them easily the biggest change and point of contention with Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut.
