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3. Yakuza
Oh, Yakuza, how I love thee. About ten years ago, I owned a Dreamcast. It was, and still is, my favorite console to date. On that Dreamcast, though, was a little gem known as Shenmue. Shenmue was an open-world RPG with a Virtua Fighter-inspired battling system, and as a result was one part awesome and another part more awesome. Needless to say, the game was epic. Though it went on to spawn a sequel, not much else has come from the oft overlooked series. In its place, however, we now have a little franchise from Sega known as Yakuza. Yakuza is also, like Shenmue, an open-world RPG with a fighting system that is fast and fluid with a downright compelling and mature story to boot. The game is known for these features, but is probably most recognized for its impeccable recreation of the Japanese culture by way of a sprawling cityscape that depicts Tokyo with a deep sense of accuracy.
So, Yakuza is a PlayStation series, and has been for many years and five, soon to be six, installments of the series. It’s absurdly popular in the East, and rightfully so– it’s such a well-crafted labor of love that it’s hard to overlook all it does right, despite feeling like a bit of a niche game at times. I say it’s a niche title because its appeal is very centered on those native to the game’s setting and to Otakus around the world. It has a very… what’s the word… “Japanese” feel to it. You probably know what I mean when I say that. It presents a very serious main story, but it’s also little melodramatic, a little long-winded, a little wacky, and features minigames that involve you playing table tennis and in order to do well at said table tennis, you must stare at your scantily clad female opponent’s breast to land powerful shots. No need to go back and re-read that; you saw the words correctly– boobs and table tennis. Yeah, it’s strange, but it’s also amazing on so many legitimate and obscure levels.
Here’s the deal, though. It would appear that Nintendo is focusing heavily on Wii U catering to the eastern market. Just look at the bundles Japan is getting upon launch of the system: a Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate bundle, and a premium bundle that gives players beta access to Dragon Quest X. On top of that, the system is getting huge support from one of Japan’s most talented and cherished studios, Platinum Games (see: Wonderful 101 and the exclusive Bayonetta 2). There are also talks of other substantial games from eastern developers making appearances on Wii U, such as Resident Evil 6 and Dead or Alive 5. The point here is Wii U is looking to put a sizeable emphasis on Japanese gaming, and Yakuza is about as Japanese as you can get. Thus, it showing up on Wii U would be more appropriate than perhaps any game on this list. I, for one, would be giddy with excitement if this happened.
What about the Conduit? I know it had problems but, it could have a good chance to be alot better graphically and story-line wise if it was on Wii U or if the title was purchased by Nintendo and messed with by Retro
I think the Conduit is a solid series, however, I wanted to focus on franchises that hadn’t really made an appearance on a Nintendo console ever, or at least for quite some time. Since Conduit was just last generation, I avoided it. It’s a great game, though!
One game I wish I could’ve fit on there was the Souls series (Demon’s/Dark Souls). Now that’s a fantastic franchise that I think would really fit in line with Nintendo’s new focus on the “hardcore”. Talk about a game that is truly hardcore…
Another writer here shares my love of Shenmue!!! I would love to see a Yakuza title on Wii U as well. Better yet… Nintendo should team up with Yu Suzuki and Sega to finally release Shenmue III on Wii U. This could also accompany HD re-releases of the first two games on Wii U with the ability to continue your save file. The possibilities… I’m almost crying.
A fellow Yu Suzuki loyalist! There are far too many people who don’t know about Shenmue! I’m in the process of constructing an article idea for why I think Shenmue III belongs on Wii U. In the meantime, though, I agree whole heartedly with everything you said. I assume Sega is preparing a Shenmue HD release, however, as they’ve been slowly releasing their biggest titles on XBLA and PSN (Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, Virtual On, Daytona, etc.). So, I suspect Shenmue is coming. My hope is it’s released on the eShop.
So many issues with Borderlands would be fixed if all of the menu stuff was on the gamepad! It would seriously improve the game sooooo much.
I would absolutely LOVE to see the Persona series come to Wii U. Persona 4 is my all-time favorite rpg ever. Persona 5 for Wii U?
Third party games — I want them all. The Wii missed out on almost all good-quality 3rd party games. If Microsoft and Sony gamers gets something from third party companies, why not Nintendo gamers? There was no problem on NES, and there definately wasn’t any major problems with third party support on Super NES (N64 and Gamecube were largely ignored).
It’s a shame that people moved away from Nintendo, but hopefully, we Nintendo console owners, especially those has just a Nintendo console, can be equally as excited and happy as the rest of the gaming world.
Speaking of “world”, I’d love to see more come out of Japan. I’m not talking about your everyday action game or rpg. There’s far more, and they’re holding back so much, it’s not even funny. Nevermind the excuse about their games being “culturally different”…if games like Harvest Moon, 999, Phoenix Wright, and Persona can make it over (with pretty much all Japanese references intact), why not more?
Niche titles have grown into popular fan favorites in past generations. I wish there were more (I’d love to have the Densha de Go/Railfan series in English).