Summary
Yakuza/Like a Dragonis about many things: family ties, conspiracy and intrigue, satirical substories and side-hustles, and manly men clashing fists as well as ideals. Though some clashes are fairer than others, as the game’s boss battles can end up spiking the game’s difficulty a lot. Some of them are deliberately difficult and over the top, like the Amon Clan and their orbital lasers, drones, and other weird techniques.
But they’re meant to be a challenge. They’re the last fight players will likely have before finishing the game for good. Other bosses in the franchise’s history make some of the Amon Clan’s encounters fair by comparison, as they’ll turn the game’s difficulty curve into a brick wall. These arethe toughest bosses in theYakuzafranchisethat aren’t Amon Clan members.
One of the franchise’s more annoying bosses isLau Ka Long, the boss of the Snake Flower Triad. His multi-weapon swapping in the originalYakuzaandYakuza Kiwamiwas a test, but it also occurred late in the game. If players got stuck in the side content, they could make Kiryu strong enough to put him down without too much trouble. ParticularlyYK1withits overpowered Tiger Drop.
Yakuza 3combines its annoyingly defensive game plan with Lau’s nimble dodges and counterattacks. Which means, even if players try to sidestep around his constant blocks, he’ll find some way to slip around and stun them for a combo attack with his halberd, cat claws, or bare hands. Still, it could be worse.Y3’s “Inner Fighter 7” minigame requires fighting three Lau Ka Longs at once to get some upgrade orbs.
It’s interesting how, in a series full of different factions and organizations, each with names big and small, one of its most notorious figures is the anonymousMan in Black. This Jingweon grunt was a recurring threat in the originalYakuza 2, where they provided a fair challenge for players. Its remake,Yakuza Kiwami 2, decided to tip that balance by making him move faster and hit harder than before.
But if they manage to hurt him enough, he’ll pop blades out of his shoes like a Bond villain and fight back with unblockable kicks. If the player can’t parry them effectively, they’ll end up sliced into ribbons. He’ll come back for more fights throughout the game, too, so the player should stock up on plenty of health and heat items to even the scales, or they’ll be finished off before they know it.
The biggest challenge inYakuza 5is how it tests the player’s endurance, as it’s a giant game with a lot to do in it. Compared to getting the five protagonists' side hustles all done, the bosses are the least of their worries. Particularly as the game lets them double their health bar with the right munchies, and offers multiple ways for them to upgrade their abilities. But there is one big barrier they must all face off against if they want to reach their maximum potential.
The series’ martial arts master,Sotaro Komaki, and his grandson,Sosuke, will bum-rush Kiryu, Saejima, Akiyama, and Shinada. Usually, the elder Komaki will swoop in and out to knock the player down, while Sosuke will go into Dragon Spirit mode to make sure they can’t move away from their barrage. Luckily, it’s a battle that gets easier as it goes on, as taking out one Komaki will give the player more breathing room to take out the other. That, and players can bring in weapons (e.g., shotguns) to cheese the fight if they just want to reach max level ASAP.
Yakuza: Like a Dragonisn’t the hardest JRPG around. If anything, it’srather beginner-friendlyfor the most part. But both newbies and veterans alike have found their runs ended prematurely byGoro MajimaandTaiga Saejima. Their sudden appearance in the Omi Alliance building ramps the difficulty up significantly, and reveals why the game suggested giving the Sotenbori Battle Arena a go before progressing the story.
It seems bearable at first, as the party takes Majima on alone. He’s still testing with his swift dagger strikes, but shutting the duo down one by one is straightforward enough. Then the Mad Dog of Shimano pulls off his Clone Jutsu fromY5to keep the player’s party occupied. It’s only once he’s hurt enough that Saejima will come in to run over any stragglers like a truck. Since they’ll likely be on the brink of death by then, he’ll often end up finishing them off.
In contrast to the Man in Black,the final battle againstRyuji Godawas made more standard inYK2. He’s not a pushover, as he’s still a big guy with a big health bar who’ll slice players up with a giant sword, before coming back for a final mano-a-mano bout. He was just harder in the originalYakuza 2, as he was much more aggressive and could tank hits more easily.
In other words, players weren’t going to take him down in a head-on fight. Their best bet was to sidestep around him and chip him down with little strikes from behind, provided the in-game camera is on their side, as the battle camera could be rather janky compared to its PS3 follow-ups. If it isn’t, then Goda will be the one turning them into a human pincushion before sending them off to the continue screen.
Yakuza 0is fairly friendly on the boss front. The battle sections where the player has to protect Makoto tend to be more tense than its boss fights. So, when players try to take on the game’s Climax Battles, they might think Ultimate Battle 2, which pits them against Lee, Nishitani, andMasaru Sera, will be a cakewalk. Especially when they’re given a maxed-out Majima to play with.
However, the bosses have been boosted up to even the score, and they have to be beaten in one run. No items, no weapons, and only 10% healing between fights. If the player loses, they’ll have to start over from the beginning. Lee and Nishitani aren’t slouches, but Sera will now punish any mistakes, often tripping the player into a long combo that takes half their health in one go. It’s enough to make players wonderif getting its Trophy/Achievementis worth the effort.
How couldLike a Dragon: Infinite WealthtopY:LAD’sMajima&Saejimafight? By throwingDaigo Dojimainto the mix, too. It occurs late in the game in Chapter 12, so it doesn’t act as a sudden reminder to grind the party up a few levels like theY:LADfight. But since the trio is now taking on Kiryu instead of a relative newbie like Ichiban, the kid gloves are off. They’ll have more of a strategy heading into the fight, with Majima providing attack buffs and Dojima clearing status effects.
It’s tempting to focus on them first to weaken them, but Majima will provide backup via his Doppelgänger clones, and Saejima will still power through Kiryu’s party with rush combos, swinging backhands, and some nasty-looking throws. If players aren’t careful, they’ll never see those neat, deja vu-based, real-time one-on-one encounters the three have with Kiryu during the fight.
3Yosuke Tendo
Divine Fists Deal Diabolical Damage
Yosuke Tendoisn’t technicallyY:LAD’s final boss, as there are two quick, emotional bouts after it. But he’s definitely its final challenge. He’s a mountain of muscle who can and will plow through Ichiban’s party if they’re not prepared. Being an ex-boxer, he’ll smash his targets with a meaty strike, then take a second turn to jab them a few times. He’s weak to electric attacks, so players just need to throw out electric attacks, right?
Well, yes. Kind of. Even with his weakness in mind, players can’t rest on just blitzing him with Paralysis Prongs or the like. Once he’s beaten enough, he’ll break out the brass knuckles and introduce the party to Devil’s Left Hand and God’s Right Hand. The former will hurt them a lot. The latter will outright kill whoever it hits. If he strikes Ichiban with it, and the player forgot to use Peerless Resolve, they’ll be sent to the Game Over screen in an instant.
Yakuza 4closed off its four-player campaigns by giving each protagonist their own final boss. Kiryu gets to punch Daigo Dojima in the face again. Akiyama settles things with his old friend Arai, and Saejima gets to beat up a kid called Kido. Tanimura, the game’s defensive parry master, has to face off against Deputy CommissionerSeishiro Munakataand his horde of bodyguards. The latter will swarm the plucky cop, often with knives or other weapons, while Munakata fires the odd shot from a distance.
The main tactic is to take him out first, as he’ll just call in reinforcements if players take out the guards first, but that’s easier said than done, as the guards are persistent, and Munakata’s bullets are good at stuffing Tanimura’s attack. If players had the Sacred Tree Armor, they could give it to Tanimura to make him bulletproof. But it requires beatingSaigo’s training with Akiyama, and it only stops Munakata’s bullets. They’ll still have to fight through his goons to finish him off.
The original fight againstKyohei JinguinY1was actually pretty easy. Players still had to fight his goons on the rooftop, while dodging his potshots, and then take him out on the helipad while dodging two of his elite goons. But what if players had to finish all three guys off, then gave the goons a second, more aggressive phase when Jingu’s health got low enough? That’s what players have to put up with in hisYakuza Kiwamifight.
The game already has an odd difficulty curve, offering other pain-in-the-neck bosses like Shimano. But even if players manage to fully level Kiryu up and get all his Dragon of Dojima moves, including the almighty Tiger Drop, they’re still one wrong move away from getting beaten by Jingu and his goons here. They’re not even the final bosses, but they’re certainly the hardest.
