Yakuza Kiwami’s Majima Everywhere Adds Advancement Options And Personality

Goro Majima is a show stealer. Even though Kazuma Kiryu is Yakuza’s constant star, this foil always shows up to get his own time in the spotlight. In some cases, it is subtle. He has minor moments in most of the main Yakuza games, Yakuza: Dead Souls and Yakuza 0 aside. but Yakuza Kiwami rewrites history with a Majima Everywhere feature. It works hard to show the good-natured rivalry between the two characters and give people opportunities to constantly improve Kiryu and enjoy all sorts of Majima-inspired silliness.

First, you have to really understand and appreciate just how pervasive Majima Everywhere is. When he says he is going to be watching Kiryu 24/7, he absolutely means it. Some of the fights make sense. When Kiryu gets back on the street after being in jail for 10 years, Majima is there as his first welcome-back-to-Kamurocho fight. When attending the funeral, Majima is one of the many fighting Kiryu. Walking on the street and pass a suspicious, shaking, giant traffic cone? It’s Majima! Heading to race some Pocket Circuit cars or play some darts? Majima will make that yet another battlefield. He. Is. Everywhere.

And trust me when I say it each altercation is lovable and memorable. You would think seeing Majima like every hour in Yakuza Kiwami would get frustrating, but it isn’t. (Though, in later chapters, some of his A through SS rank matches get hard.) It doesn’t matter if it is standard Majima, Breaker Majima, Everybody’s Idol Majima, Officer Majima, Slugger Majima, Thug Majima, or even Zombie Majima. Each one is memorable and great. Seeing him in the strip club is just as hilarious as having him pop out of a garbage can or show up behind Kiryu when he’s about to play darts. There’s this sense of earnest enthusiasm and genuine joy from these moments. Especially since Majima explicitly says he is doing this to help Kiryu get back to his old self.

Even if it would feel tiresome to see Majima everywhere, Yakuza Kiwami is really good about doling out rewards for fighting him. So many Dragon of Dojima skills are tied to interacting with Majima and increasing the rank of the relationship. It is easy to get a skill like Dragon Kick Reborn, as all you need to do is fight Majima in town once. But super-powered skills like Time of Yinglong, which Exhausts all Heat in exchange for keeping the gauge from decreasing for a certain time period, is only unlocked after reaching SSS Rank and fighting Majima four more times after that. Others may require you to reach certain ranks, then defeat specific incarnations of Majima like Zombie Majima. (Zombie Majima is hilarious.) It gives the system a wonderful sense of purpose.

I feel like Majima Everywhere adds more value to Yakuza Kiwami. It isn’t the longest Yakuza game. It’s half the size of Yakuza 0, which we received earlier this year. But having these extra Majima events and fights to search out gives people a reason to keep exploring Kamurocho. It made me want to participate in side activities more often than I normally would. I typically don’t play the darts games or spend too much time on Pocket Circuit, but did to make sure I saw Majima there. I paid extra attention when I was walking through the streets to see if he was around. It made me pay more attention and spend more time with Yakuza Kiwami than I would have otherwise.

Majima Everywhere is a rather wonderful thing. It does so much for Yakuza Kiwami. It gives us more opportunities to challenge ourselves and improve Kiryu. It adds a little levity to a story that can often be quite serious. Perhaps even more helpful, the feature gives us even more to do in a Kamurocho that isn’t as full of extracurricular activities as other entries in the series. It definitely makes life more interesting.

Yakuza Kiwami will come to the PlayStation 4 on August 29, 2017.