Kazuma Kiryu is a man who has always solved problems with his fists. Sometimes a sword, sometimes a baseball bat, but usually, he lets his fists do the talking. Which made him the perfect fit for a fighting game crossover.
Last July, Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada tweeted out a series of images that pointed at Yakuza in particular. This led everyone to believe that Kiryu would finally make his way into Tekken 7 as the crossover that fans have been clamoring for.
Sadly, nothing ever came of that tweet, and now we have a pretty good idea as to why.
In an interview with Red Bull France, Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi laid it out pretty plainly. When asked by Kiryu still hasn't done a fighting game crossover, he said it was because he couldn't bear the thought of Kiryu striking a woman.
“We do get this request a lot. Of course there are exceptions," Nagoshi-san said, "but fighting games generally have female characters, and personally I don’t really want to see Kiryu beating up women.”
It makes sense, considering how Kiryu is a fairly chivalrous character in Yakuza titles. But then again, it's 2020, and women can deliver just as much of a beating in fighting games as men can.
The wide-ranging interview also had a few bombshells to drop, starting with Nagoshi being involved in Yakuza's live-action adaptation with a big-time Hollywood studio. "I am indeed interested in movie industry work, and I’m very happy to say that I have been involved in the recently announced Hollywood live-action film from the start. Personally, regardless of the overall film direction, I hope to make it into an emotional human drama."
On Yakuza: Like A Dragon's new RPG-style combat system, Nagoshi revealed that they'd mostly focused on beat-'em-up action because "everything hadn’t come together yet idea-wise" to go beyond it. That changed with Yakuza 7, and he's pleased with the results (as are pretty much all the reviewers who've played the game including our very own Bella Blondeau).
Yakuza: Like A Dragon arrives on Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PC tomorrow. Except in Japan, where it’s already out on PS4 and it won’t release on Xbox Series X/S for unknown reasons.
Source: Red Bull