is a ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

''-themed spin-off game in the '' Like a Dragon'' series. The game was developed and published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

. It was unveiled at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...

2007 and released in 2008. A second ''Like a Dragon'' series spin-off set in samurai era, ''

Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. It is a spin-off of the '' Like a Dragon'' series, formerly and commonly known in English localization as ''Yak ...

'', was released in 2014 on both the PlayStation 3 and the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

systems. ''Ishin!'' is set two centuries later than ''Kenzan!'', hence the plots are not related to each other since both games focus on different characters, the historical figures of

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppon ...

(1836–1867) and

Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

(1584–1645) respectively.

Development

After successfully releasing the first two games on the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

, the team initially made fun of their goal of making the next game for the then-new

, while also moving to a different setting. However, they managed to make it in just a year and a bit, and the staff felt refreshed.

Gameplay

Adventure

The gameplay shows minimal evolution from the first two episodes except for the new item storage system which allows access to an unlimited number of items from savepoints.Famitsu Article
/ref>

Battle

There are four fighting styles in the game; fists, one blade, two blades and two-handed blades. There are also

QTE In video games, a quick time event (QTE) is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen instruction/prompt. It allows for limited control of the ...

-based special moves that the player can execute, known as 'heat action'.

Plot

Setting

This spin-off is set in Kyoto during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, in 1605. It is an account of the life of

. The main adventure is completed with sidestories including minigames and a hundred "sub-stories".

Story

After being defeated by the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

at the historical

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

which took place on October 21, 1600, Miyamoto Musashi retired from his great swordsman life to become a modest ''

yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese samurai film co-written, produced, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamatari Fujiwara, and Atsushi Watanabe. ...

'' (bodyguard) in

Gion is a district of Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan, originating as an entertainment district in the Sengoku period, in front of Yasaka Shrine (Gion Shrine). The district was built to accommodate the needs of travellers and visitors to the shrine. ...

(祇園),

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. Five years after the battle, a little girl named Haruka comes to Gion seeking a local hitman known as Kazumanosuke Kiryu which is actually Miyamoto's new identity. After eventually finding Kiryū, Haruka asks for him to assassinate an impostor pretending to be Miyamoto Musashi. At first, Kiryu refuses, then when the girl goes as far as becoming an indentured servant in an opulent

oiran is a collective term for the highest-ranking courtesans in Japanese history, who were considered to be above common prostitution, prostitutes (known as ) for their more refined entertainment skills and training in the traditional arts. Divided ...

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

in order to pay the assassination mission he accepts the one-

ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the ''yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Japan ...

request.

Characters

This is the first game in the series where the games' main characters have their face modeled in 3D after their voice actors who are Japanese celebrities.

Cyberware Cyberware is a relatively new and unknown field (a proto-science, or more adequately a "proto-technology"). In science fiction circles, however, it is commonly known to mean the hardware or machine parts implanted in the human body and acting as ...

's color

3D scanner 3D scanning is the process of analyzing a real-world object or environment to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance (e.g. color). The collected data can then be used to construct digital 3D modelling, 3D models. A 3D scanner can ...

(model PS) was used to analyze each actor's head & face in order to collect data on its shape and appearance, then this file was worked with the

Softimage XSI Autodesk Softimage, or simply Softimage () was a 3D computer graphics application, for producing 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling, and computer animation. Now owned by Autodesk and formerly titled Softimage, XSI, the software has been predomina ...

3D graphics application. *

Takaya Kuroda is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Tokyo, Japan. He is affiliated with Axlone, and was formerly with Mausu Promotion and 81 Produce. He is best known for his bass voice, which has usually seen him cast in villainous roles such as the voic ...

as Kazumanosuke Kiryu (桐生一馬之介) /

(宮本武蔵) *

Shota Matsuda is a Japanese actor. Matsuda is best known for his roles in the ''Hana Yori Dango'' series, the ''Liar Game'' series, and '' Love Shuffle''. Personal life Matsuda was born on September 10, 1985 in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan, to Yūsaku Matsuda, a ...

Sasaki Kojirō was a Japanese swordsman who may have lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods and is known primarily for the story of his battle with Miyamoto Musashi in 1612, where Sasaki was killed. Although suffering from defeat as well ...

(佐々木小次郎) *

Susumu Terajima is a Japanese actor. Though he has played a wide range of characters, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of ''yakuza'' figures, most notably in the films of Takeshi Kitano. Terajima made his acting debut in 1986's ''A Homansu''. He ...

Itō Ittōsai was a Japanese swordsman originally named Itō Yagorō. He is attributed as the founder of the Ittō-ryū ("one sword" or "one stroke") school of sword fighting. According to legend, he floated across the Sagami Bay on a piece of driftwood fr ...

(伊東一刀斎) *

Masaya Kato is a Japanese actor from Nara in the Kansai region. Life and career He is currently attached to Burning Production. He stands at 183 centimeters. He practices martial arts and performs his own stunts in movies. Filmography Films *1988: ''Shiro ...

as Seijuro Yoshioka (吉岡清十郎) *

Takashi Tsukamoto is a Japanese actor, singer, and model. He has released three single CDs: "Itsudemo Boku wa" (いつでも僕は, Anytime I am...), "Hitorigoto" (ヒ・ト・リ・ゴ・ト, Soliloquy), "New Morning". He also portrayed the character Shinji Mi ...

as Gion Tōji (祗園藤次) *

Hiroki Matsukata , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor. He was the son of ''jidaigeki'' actor Jūshirō Konoe and actress Yaeko Mizukawa and has a younger brother, Yūki Meguro, who is also an actor. With ex-wife actress Akiko Nishina he had tw ...

as Mysterious Monk (謎の僧) *

Naoto Takenaka is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director from Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, affiliated with From First Production. He is married to idol singer and actress Midori Kinouchi. He is also known as the voice of Samuel L. Jac ...

Marume Nagayoshi Marume Nagayoshi (丸目長恵, 1540–1629) was a retainer of the Sagara clan in the Sengoku period and a swordsman in the early Edo period. He was considered one of the best pupils of Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, and went on to found the Taisha ryū ...

(丸目長恵) *

Aya Hisakawa is a Japanese voice actress and singer. In addition to releasing various solo CDs, Hisakawa is well known for her voice roles in anime and video games. Some of her major roles are Retsu Unohana in ''Bleach'', Sailor Mercury in ''Sailor Moon'', Sk ...

as Yoshino Tayū (吉野太夫) *

Rie Kugimiya is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is best known for her voice performances in anime, which include Alphonse Elric in the ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' series, Kiana in ''Honkai Impact 3rd'', Kagura in ''Gin Tama'', and Happy in ''Fairy Tail ...

as Haruka (遥) * Yinling of Joytoy as Libido Waterfall (滝の煩悩)

Releases

Trial versions

Two playable demos were released on January 7, 2008 via the Japanese

PlayStation Store The PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital media store available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable content ...

. The first demo included sandbox play, and the second had a collection of various combat and romantic gameplay segments. As part of the pre-ordering campaign, the Japanese first print was bundled with a limited item, a

monography A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograp ...

called ''Kamutai Magazine'' (March 2008 issue). Sony celebrated the Japanese release of the game with a 10,000 pieces limited edition Satin Silver 40GB model "PlayStation 3 Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! Pack" (龍が如く見参！パック, ''ryu ga gotoku kenzan! pakku'')

SKU In inventory management, a stock keeping unit (abbreviated as SKU and pronounced or ) is the unit of measure in which the stocks of a material are managed. Or to put it another way; is a distinct type of item for sale, purchased, or tracked in ...

including a "Rising Dragon" (昇竜, ''noburyu'') stickers set to customize the console case.

Asian and western markets

The Japanese version was released on March 6, 2008 in both Japan and South East Asia, while Sony published it in South Korea on March 25, 2008 with a subtitled script book. In late December 2009, commenting the opportunity of a western release, Sega Australia managing director Darren Macbeth said "there is nothing in the plan at this stage for Yakuza Kenzan. Right now we are focusing on the release of Yakuza 3. The feedback we get from this release will help us in making future decisions". In March 2010, ''Yakuza 3'' had a western release as did in 2011 ''

Yakuza 4 is an action-adventure game developed and released by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game was introduced on July 24, 2009. A promotional video was presented at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, The sequel to ''Yakuza 3'', it was released on March 18, ...

''. Then again, in 2012, a second spinoff was also released abroad and localized as '' Yakuza: Dead Souls''.

Soundtrack

The ''Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan! Original Sound Track'' (HCV-381) album was published by

Wave Master is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

in Japan on March 6, 2008. The music was composed by

Hidenori Shoji is a video game music composer who has contributed to such Sega titles as ''Fighting Vipers 2'' (1998) and ''F-Zero GX'' (2003). He is perhaps best known for his work as the music director of the ''Yakuza'' series and its ''Judgment'' spin-off s ...

Hideki Sakamoto is a Japanese music composer, best known for his contributions in video games. He serves as the representative director of Noisycroak, a Tokyo-based sound design company focused on game soundtracks. Echochrome II has been accepted into the G ...

, Hiroyoshi Kato, Keisuke Ito and Yuri Fukuda, with additional cutscene music by

Hideki Naganuma (born May 16, 1972) is a Japanese composer and DJ who primarily does work for video games. Naganuma is best known for his score for the game ''Jet Set Radio'' and its sequel ''Jet Set Radio Future''. Early life Naganuma started his musical ca ...

. The game also features two songs by

Japanese hip hop Japanese hip hop is hip hop music from Japan. It is said to have begun when Hiroshi Fujiwara returned to Japan and started playing hip hop records in the early 1980s. Japanese hip hop tends to be most directly influenced by old school hip hop, ...

artists

Zeebra , known professionally as , is a Japanese hip hop recording artist and DJ who made his first appearance in 1995. Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group King Giddra, which also included DJ Oasis and K Dub Shine, and the older brother of f ...

and

Ketsumeishi is a four-member Japanese pop and hip hop group that incorporates singing and rapping into their music. They have had several major hits in Japan, including " Sakura", which reached number two on the Oricon yearly chart for 2005 and was featured ...

; Zeebra collaborated later with the ''

'' opening theme, "Butterfly City". *opening theme: ''

Bushido is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle. There are multiple bushido types which evolved significantly through history. Contemporary forms of bushido are still used in the social and economic organization of Japan. ...

'' by Zeebra. Released in Japan by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

(PCCA-02642) as a dual-disc single on March 5, 2008. First disc is a CD including the title track and an instrumental version plus a B-side ''Lyrical Gunman'' (Three Gunz Up Remix) featuring Rudebwoy Face and Chappa Ranks. Second disc is a bonus DVD with the music video for ''Bushido'' which includes cutscene footages from the game. *closing theme: ''Life is Beautiful'' (ライフイズビューティフル, ''raifu izu byutifuru'') by

from their 2007 album ''Ketsupolis 5'' published in Japan by

Toy's Factory is a Japanese record label founded in the late 1980s as a subsidiary of the entertainment company VAP, based in Japan. On May 30, 1990, it was established as an independent company. Toy's Factory, as of the first half of 2012, is the four ...

Marketing

Licensed products

Clothes manufacturer Cropped Heads collaborated with

to produce licensed ''Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan!'' tee-shirts, and Ace Cook produced ''Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan!'' cup noodles.

Reception

Within four days of its release in Japan, the game sold 181,189 copies. As of July 9, 2008, it has sold 270,438 copies, according to ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

''. As a best seller in Japan, the game received a budget re-release under the PlayStation 3 the Best bargain collection on December 11, 2008. It earned the Award for Excellence at the

Japan Game Awards The Japan Game Awards is the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's awards ceremony, which was created in 1996 as the CESA Awards. While it represents the Japanese video game industry, it is not limited to Japanese video games, but ...

2008, and the Japanese video game magazine ''Famitsu'' reviewed it 37/40.onAxis article
/ref>

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! 2008 video games Action-adventure games Hack and slash games Japan-exclusive video games PlayStation 3-only games Sega beat 'em ups Sega video games Video game prequels Video games set in feudal Japan

Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! is a ''jidaigeki''-themed spin-off game in the '' Like a Dragon'' series. The game was developed and published by Sega for PlayStation 3. It was unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 and released in 2008. A second ''Like a Dragon'' series spin-of ...

PlayStation 3 games Open-world video games Single-player video games Video games scored by Hideki Sakamoto Video game spin-offs Video games scored by Hidenori Shoji Video games developed in Japan