A Yakuza: Like a Dragon Easter Egg might be referencing one of Yakuza 5's long-forgotten heroes.
Infinite Wealth features a radio station called After6Junction, which often broadcasts exclusively in Japanese without any English translation available. However, as noted by VG247 the player below has taken a stab at translating the radio episodes themselves, and discovered that one show could well be referencing a Yakuza 5 character.
Rough translation for the AfterJunction radio announcer show Ep 4-6 for Infinite Wealth from r/yakuzagames
"S-Kun," the translator believes, is a reference to Tatsuo Shinada, one of Yakuza 5's playable protagonists. The mysterious character the radio show references apparently used a mountain of debt to buy a baseball bat, and then subsequently paid back all the debt using the bat to win all the prizes at the local batting centre.
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Shinada's storyline revolves around him being a former baseball star, and without getting too spoilery, things haven't really gone his way. Regardless, this passage about "S-Kun" being a dab hand with a baseball bat is what's lead some to believe Shinada is being alluded to on After6Junction.
"My boy, Shinada! He’s alive!" writes one Reddit user in response, attesting to how widely-beloved Shinada has become among the Yakuza fanbase since his last appearance in Yakuza 5. "Shinada being confirmed to still exist via a small side-content audio clip is actually insane," chimes in another.
Sadly for Shinada, he's been relegated to the history books since Yakuza 5. Other protagonists Kiryu, Saejima, Haruka, and Akiyama have all obviously appeared in the Yakuza series since then, but Shinada was the only one left behind. Perhaps this will help bring some closer to those still pining for Shinada to one day return.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is still standing tall as the best-reviewed Yakuza game to date, Shinada fans notwithstanding, a huge feat for the series considering the highs of Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami 2.
Read our full Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth review for what we made of RGG Studio's second RPG outing.
