'Yakuza' developers just beat seven 'Yakuza' games in one week

The developers at Ryu Ga Gotoku have just completed a playthrough of their seven original Yakuza games back-to-back over the past week.

Ryosuke Horii, game director of the most recent game Yakuza: Like A Dragon, shared playthrough times and dates on Twitter. Playing one game a day, the developers started with the first release, Yakuza, and played through in chronological order.

After starting Yakuza on December 2, the team beat Yakuza 0 on December 8. They have only taken on the main series Yakuza games, which feature Kazuma Kiryu as protagonist, excluding spin-off games like Streets Of Kamurocho.

終わったぜ！
長きに渡りたくさんのご視聴ありがとうございました！
楽しかったです！#龍が如く　#龍151時間放送 pic.twitter.com/iIdYkcx3TR

— 堀井亮佑＠龍が如く7ディレクター (@RyosukeHorii) December 8, 2020

Since Yakuza: Like A Dragon sees the series change to new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, it was also not part of the recent Kiryu marathon. They were able to beat the first game in the quickest time, in just over five hours. Yakuza 2 was the longest, taking over 23 hours.

The other five averaged 14 hours to beat, allowing them to maintain a one game a day pace. Like A Dragon saw the series shift away from action combat to turn based battles, and as a result, is significantly longer.

Meanwhile, producer Daisuke Sato has revealed that he would love the opportunity to work on a Sonic The Hedgehog game.