Yakuza studio beat nearly every mainline game in mammoth 170-hour livestream
Some recognizable voices dropped in on the huge livestream
Staff at the Yakuza studio have completed every Kiryu-led game in a single 170-hour stream.
Last week, on May 17, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio kicked off the mammoth task of completing every mainline Kiryu-led Yakuza game back-to-back in the same continuous stream. Approximately one week later, staff at the Yakuza developer have pulled off the astonishing feat in around 170 hours total.
🐉#8夜連続桐生一馬🐉 #龍が如く 歴代作品連続生実況"約170時間"にも及ぶ長時間配信にお付き合いいただき、ありがとうございました!楽しんでいただけたなら幸いです🙇これからも「龍が如くスタジオ」をよろしくお願いいたします。新作にもご期待ください👍 pic.twitter.com/6YksghXM0VMarch 24, 2023
That means Yakuza developers played through Yakuza 0 through 6, without stopping, for 170 hours. The studio had a rotating cast of hosts and people to play through the mainline Yakuza games, but this is still a pretty astounding feat of perseverance, and putting on a great show for the studio's followers.
It's surprising, but all the mainline Yakuza games before Like a Dragon can be beaten in just 170 hours. Yakuza 5 is obviously by far and away the longest game with five protagonists, and Yakuza 0 is pretty lengthy at around 30 hours, but outside of these two, basically every other Kiryu-led mainline game can be completed in roughly 20 hours if you're reasonably quick about it.
On the star-studded guest list for the monumental livestream was none other than Takaya Kuroda, the iconic voice behind Kazuma Kiryu. The actor even graced (if that's the right word for it) viewers with an impression of Goro Majima, the Mad Dog of Shimano, and it was truly a speculator thing to behold.
I was not prepared for Takaya Kuroda to do a Majima impression 😂 pic.twitter.com/6mMVvcdu2SMarch 23, 2023
Making a slightly more normal appearance was Hidenari Ugaki, who is the voice behind Goro Majima. In the clip below from the livestream, it's Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama, not Ugaki, who lets slip that Majima will be back in some form for Like a Dragon 8 (great news if you've been missing the Mad Dog from recent mainline Yakuza entries).
Majima will make an appearance in Like A Dragon 8, but not as part of the main cast. #yakuza #majimagoro #likeadragon pic.twitter.com/iqnhF3o4NWMarch 23, 2023
Majima isn't the only one making a grand return in the next mainline Yakuza game: it was recently revealed Kiryu will have a bigger role in Like a Dragon 8 than he did in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, no doubt good news for fans of Kuroda.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.