Yesterday, capping off the middle of the road E3 conference that was Opening Night Live, I said, “Japan is weird.” I said that for obvious reasons: first, I’d just watched a gameplay trailer where a man urinated mushroom. Second, it is a massive culture shift that still feels unnatural to us in the west. We know it is still 2019 but some moments make you think, “Am I in the future?” or, “Am I in the past?” It is such a strange and wonderful place only to be shown as the ultimate weirdness in the Yakuza series.

My introduction was Yakuza 0, a game set in the 80’s where you park your bike up someone’s rear passage. It turns out the whole series is like that and it gets weirder. Aside from being the Japanese style of open-world, a small section of a city with every excruciating detail, it is known for being weird and wonderful. Comparatively, the series could be compared to Saints Row 2, and only if Saints Row 2‘s tone was kept across several games.

With that, through the last few years following the prequel installment, Sega has gone into a conservation effort producing a remake of 1 and 2. Yesterday it was announced that Yakuza 3 is now available for PS4 users, with Yakuza 4 to follow on October 29th, and Yakuza 5 on February 11th, 2020. On the same day as the Yakuza 5 release, you will also be able to purchase a limited edition physical remastered collection. This collection comes with two disks, with Yakuza 3 & 4 on one and 5 on the other, a red box with Kazuma Kiryu’s dragon tattoo embossed onto it, and a limited edition Yakuza 5 PS3 case releasing for the first time in the west.

This is not the only effort Sega has gone to for western (English speaking) fans, as the English scripts have “been reviewed, revised, and even rewritten in some cases,” with cut content for the west returning. Not only this, however, the “remaster” takes all three games from 720P and 30FPS to 1080 and 60FPS. The Yakuza Remastered Collection is available for $59.99 right now on the Playstation store, featuring 3, 4, and 5. However, if you still need to play 0, Kiwami (1), and Kiwami 2, you could pick up the Yakuza Origins Digital Bundle on the Playstation Store for $49.99.

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