Category: Gamespot

Of all the Sega properties still relevant this decade, none have had the staying power of Ryu Ga Gotoku, which translates to ‘Like A Dragon’. The series is more commonly known in the West as Yakuza. Compared to the wildly inconsistent Sonic franchise and the infrequent releases of Valkyria Chronicles sequels, Yakuza emerged as the most prolific series for the Japanese developer-publisher in its post-hardware era. If you count remasters, remakes, and spin-offs–some of which have never come out in the West–Ryu Ga Gotoku has averaged slightly more than one release every year since its introduction in 2005. As Yakuza, the series hits a milestone in 2018 as the story arc of its mainstay protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, reaches its conclusion in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. We thought this would be a fitting time to look back on this franchise in our History Of series.

A Well-Planned Debut

Yakuza was the brainchild of Sega veteran Toshihiro Nagoshi, the hard-as-nails director behind Daytona and Super Monkey Ball. He envisioned a gritty drama complemented by a sense of humanity in both its storytelling and characters. The game would revolve around the Japanese criminal underworld of the yakuza, exploring the power struggles between rival groups as well as their tenuous relationships with foreign organizations. The yakuza’s fixation to their code of honor would play a huge part in the series’ many stories. How its key characters adhere to or struggle with this code led to some of Yakuza’s most compelling narrative moments.

Development began as ‘Project J’, where Nagoshi assembled a team of Sega developers proficient in both arcade games like Virtua Fighter and Super Monkey Ball as well as more story-driven consoles titles like Panzer Dragoon and Jet Set Radio.

Nagoshi’s team needed a setting befitting a Japanese mafia tale. They settled on Kabukicho, the red-light district of Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward, for their inspiration. Fictionally renamed as Kamurocho, this lively but modestly sized open world would become a staple location of every mainline Yakuza sequel. Much of the city’s immense staying power is thanks to its similarities to its real-life counterpart; this sense of virtual tourism would permeate through all of the series’ other locales. And like avid travellers revisiting Japan, fans–upon revisiting Kamurocho in sequels–would notice and appreciate both the clear and subtle changes to the landscape as storefronts disappear or relocate. The moment you start a new Yakuza and the initial exposition gives way to free roaming, you feel like you’ve returned to a theme park you haven’t visited in years, wondering what has changed, whether that’s an renovated batting center or a new selection of arcade titles at Club Sega.

Much of the city’s immense staying power is thanks to its similarities to its real-life counterpart; this sense of virtual tourism would permeate through all of the series’ other locales.

As the recurring locale, Kamurocho became a character itself, always reflective of its respective time periods. Banter among its locals provides color and context to Tokyo as it was in 2005, 2016 and every other year the games have been set in. Adding further personality to this district are the myriad optional substories triggered by Kamurocho’s many NPCs, the subject matter of which ranges from light-hearted to absurdly funny. Last but not least, this district would be inextricably tied to Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza’s main protagonist.

We’re introduced to Kiryu–nicknamed The Dragon of Dojima–in the first Yakuza as an up and coming member of the Tojo Clan. His plans to one day start his own crime family are derailed early in the game when he takes the fall for a murder he didn’t commit. This was done to protect his best friend, Akira Nishikiyama as well as Kiryu’s lifelong love interest, Yumi Sawamura. Within the first hour of playing Yakuza, our hero ages 10 years in prison, is expelled from the Tojo Clan, and returns to a Kamurocho that is both familiar and foreign. Meanwhile, he meets Haruka, a 9 year-old orphan. She is somehow tied to Kiryu’s former crime family, which is undergoing a tumultuous period of unrest due to the disappearance of 10 billion yen from the Tojo Clan and the assassination of the Tojo chairman who was investigating the missing money.

In a period where one word game titles like Prey, Gun, and Bully were very much in vogue, ‘Yakuza’ was effective in making Ryu Ga Gotoku marketable in the West. Yet in retrospect, the continued focus on Kiryu’s personal journey makes this title inadequate. Here we find a hero who–in his youth–was drawn to the gangster lifestyle yet has been spending bulk of his adulthood trying to leave it. From the get go we learn that his drive to protect those he loves supersedes any kind of Yakuza code of honor. This gets more complicated due to the father-daughter relationship he quickly forms with Haruka, who stays inextricably tied to Kiryu for the rest of the series. This bond is all the more strengthened by their common upbringings as orphans.

Yakuza would also introduce Goro Majima, a fan-favorite character who would be more beloved than even Kiryu to some. His psychotic tendencies are only overshadowed by his flamboyant charisma, attributes that have only been amplified in future appearances. Kiryu’s relationship to Goro plus other recurring characters–like the detective-turned-journalist, Makoto Date–elevates a growing ensemble cast that become as memorable as any you’ll find in Dragon Age or Gears of War.

Kiryu’s relationship to Goro plus other recurring characters–like the detective-turned-journalist, Makoto Date–elevates a growing ensemble cast that become as memorable as any you’ll find in Dragon Age or Gears of War.

And with the announcement of the English voice cast, you could not have picked a better fit than Joker veteran Mark Hamill as the maniacal Goro. Another notable actor was Michael Madsen, whose work on gangster films like Reservoir Dogs and The Getaway made him a natural fit for a brute like Futoshi Shimano, one of the game’s major bosses. Eliza Dushku also proved a match for Yumi. It was a clear message from Sega of America of their well-intentioned efforts to introduce Ryu Ga Gotoku to the West. That said, the localization came with a forced hard edge, featuring more swearing and gangster posturing than the Japanese version. As if to fully own the Yakuza name, this English script played up the game’s criminal element more than what the original writers intended.

A Series Is Born

As Sega of America was localizing Yakuza, fans in Japan were treated to the series’ first spin-off, a film by the prolific and renowned director Takashi Miike as well as a shorter prologue film. These movies were fitting tie-ins to a game with strong cinematic qualities. The Yakuza games’ filmic storytelling would only get better as the series made its way to the PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles, rendering the idea of additional film adaptations obsolete. These later games would go on to use known actors familiar to Japanese audiences like Riki Takeuchi, Hitoshi Ozawa, and even New Japan Pro Wrestling stars playing as themselves. This would culminate in Yakuza 6 with the casting of one of the country’s biggest celebrities, “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, who has directed and starred in his share of gangster films.

Capitalizing on Yakuza’s success, a sequel naturally followed. Whether it was a financial decision or an attempt to provide a more authentic experience, Yakuza 2 was released in the West with no English voice acting, preserving the original Japanese audio.

Whereas the main conflict among the yakuza in the first game was from within the Tojo Clan, Yakuza 2 explored their struggles in maintaining peace with outside organizations, not just with other clans in Japan but also a crime group from Korea. It’s a dispute that takes part of the story to Osaka, particularly the tourist magnet of Dotonbori, now fictionalized as Sotenbori.

It also continues to portray Kiryu as the reluctant gangster who doesn’t hesitate to take the fight to his aggressors when his loved ones are threatened. He exhibits shades of Michael Corleone, though the Godfather never had someone as loving and kind-hearted as Haruka to keep him grounded. Wanting to get out but only to be pulled back in is a dilemma Kiryu faces time and time again, all the way to Yakuza 6. While this repetitiveness is amusing, it’s never to the detriment of each game’s respective story. After all, it’s satisfying to see Kiryu take out his frustrations on his inability to escape his yakuza roots by beating up countless gangsters in finely tailored suits. All he wants to do live out the rest of his life with Haruka and the orphans they watch over in Sunshine Orphanage, which the two establish in Okinawa.

Wanting to get out but only to be pulled back in is a dilemma Kiryu faces time and time again, all the way to Yakuza 6. While this repetitiveness is amusing, it’s never to the detriment of each game’s respective story.

And given all the peacemaking Kiryu does with his fists, Sega would continue to refine the series’ melee and fisticuff-focused combat sequel after sequel. It never quite achieves the classification as a 3D successor to classic beat-em-ups like Double Dragon and Streets of Rage. At its worst moments, combat has been clunky, repetitive, and shallow. Minor improvements to fighting would come with each subsequent release, accompanied by violent and often amusing finishing blows, like the memorable tiger punch in Yakuza 2.

In 2008, an Asia-only spin-off followed. Set during the dawn of Japan’s Edo period, Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan followed a reimagined Kiryu as Kazumanosuke Kiryu, whose real identity is the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Once again tied by fate to Haruka, Kiryu reluctantly agrees to help this Edo period version of the young woman by assassinating an imposter posing as Musashi.

Sega would eventually explore the twilight of the Edo period 200 years later in the Japan-only Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! in 2014 for the PS4. It takes creative liberties with two real historical figures of the time. Sega reimagined two samurai, Ryoma Sakamoto and Hajima Saito as the same person with Kiryu’s personality, taking on a dual identity as they survive this era of unrest as the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate ended.

Lost In Translation

With Yakuza 3 in 2010, Sega was still trying to find the series’ footing in the West, the least of its problems being its poorly conceived box art. Citing time constraints and the presumption that some sections wouldn’t resonate with audiences outside of Japan, Sega of America released an incomplete version of Yakuza 3 in the West. The most notable omissions were the hostess clubs and historical trivia quizzes.

But this was 2010. You could argue that a fascination with the peculiarities of Japanese culture had long since permeated through many areas of gaming fandom in the West. The backlash on forums and in social media sent the message to Sega of America that fans want to be immersed in this culture. Sega have since learned their lesson, if every English release since are anything to go by.

You could argue that a fascination with the peculiarities of Japanese culture had long since permeated through many areas of gaming fandom in the West.

Despite the omissions, Yakuza 3 was still a fine first entry for the series on the PlayStation 3 in the West. Kiryu’s orphanage is under threat of demolishment by the government and his efforts to save it gets him embroiled in the arms smuggling underworld, attracting even the attention of the CIA.

Even beyond the main story, Yakuza 3 shows tremendous heart, with Haruka’s Trust being the most memorable optional mission. Imagine the first moments of bonding with Hakura in the first Yakuza and stretching that out to an entire game. Impressing her and building trust takes more than just buying her stuff and taking her to restaurants. She has very specific scoring expectations when you’re doing even the most mundane of activities like baseball. Miss the mark and that’s time and money wasted.

More Gangsters, The Merrier

Sega’s plan to regain the consumers’ trust began with Yakuza 4. Received well by both fans and critics, this sequel gave an idea of what a post-Kiryu Yakuza series would be like in a big way. In fact, the Dragon of Dojima doesn’t appear in the game’s first 10 hours. The series mainstay would share the stage with three other playable characters: Masayoshi Tanimura, Shun Akiyama, Taiga Saejima. Their sections collectively did more than just help double the playtime over Yakuza 3. How their diverse backgrounds and predicaments intertwined with Kiryu’s offered the same compelling kind of suspense and intrigue found in the previous games while adding a great deal of lore to the series overall.

Equally significant are the various game modes exclusive to each character. Akiyama manages a hostess club not unlike the version cut from Yakuza 3’s English version. The player is tasked with winning fighting tournaments in Saejima’s section. And Tanimura keeps the peace in Kamurocho by listening in on police radio reports and catching crime perpetrators. This expanded cast doesn’t equate to a four-Yakuza-games-in-one playthrough, but it still was the biggest Yakuza game yet.

Back in Japan, fans were treated to another spin-off, Kurohyo: Ryu Ga Gotoku Shinsho, curiously released on the then six year-old PlayStation Portable handheld. While not as feature-rich as any of the console games, this adventure, starring an aimless youth named Tatsuya, was recognized for its customizable fighting system. It also offered its share of minigames including the batting center and hostess clubs.

A sequel would follow two years later, once again on the PSP. Kurohyo 2: Ryu Ga Gotoku Ashura Hen preserved the previous game’s memorable fighting gameplay and was notable for having an involving mahjong minigame.

The series never made an appearance on the PlayStation Vita.

What came next to the West capitalized on the rising popularity of zombie games. Yakuza Dead Souls marked the first and only time to date a Yakuza spin-off has been translated to English. As a zombie game, the emphasis on gunplay proved to be its weakest feature, not too surprising for a franchise more known for its melee combat and brawling. Still, it proved to be more than a novel, non-canonical break from the series’ hard boiled storylines. Just seeing these tough Japanese gangsters deal with the undead made for great comedy.

Sony Comes To The Rescue

Dead Souls came out at a time when Sega’s American presence was once again struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing and competitive market, so much so that they had to secure support from Sony to bring Yakuza 5 to the West, three years after its release in Japan. One of the caveats to bringing the game overseas involved foregoing a physical disc version and making it a PlayStation Store exclusive. It’s a fiscally prudent approach that publishers like Bandai Namco and Koei Tecmo have practiced for many of their games in recent years.

Not to mess with a good thing, Yakuza 5 continued with the multi-character design of 4. Along with the return Kiryu, Akiyama, and Saejima, there’s newcomer Tatsuo Shinada, a former baseball pro whose career was cut short by a gambling scandal. Yet the fifth and most notable playable character is Haruka, whose idol singing career resulted in many first-time gameplay modes for Yakuza. In a series that has featured karaoke minigames, Haruka’s idol rhythm action sections were a natural fit.

Her idol aspirations came with a price, though. Given his known crime history, Kiryu had to disassociate himself with Haruka and the Sunshine Orphanage as part of her signing agreement. That’s why we meet Kiryu as Suzuki Taichi, a taxi driver living in Fukuoka at the start of the game. Like Yakuza 4, all the playable characters’ storylines are connected by fate. Making progress in the game to discover how their respective quandaries are woven together is part of the draw.

While Kamurocho as a setting has always been one of the series’ constants, every mainline sequel has expanded the window into modern Japanese urbanity as well as the occasional glimpse into more rural settings. Whereas Yakuza 4 slightly expanded Kamurocho, Yakuza 5 had a different city for each of the five characters. It’s no surprise that Yakuza 5 has been described by its developers as the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas of the series.

Going To The Beginning, Twice

Sega would take the series to the PlayStation 4 in a big way with both Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami in the West in 2017. It made for a fitting pair; Yakuza 0 being a prequel to the original Yakuza, and Kiwami being the remake of that very same first game. As the first installment to capitalize on the console’s video sharing feature, Yakuza 0 served as the series’ long overdue coming out party. Bolstered by a new, yet experienced localization team, Yakuza 0–in some ways–felt like a reboot in regards to how the series would be treated in the West from this point on. This new group even convinced Sega Japan to lift the game’s video sharing restriction, which is common with many Japanese-developed games. Much of its more absurd optional content lent well to video-friendly social media platforms like Twitter. Pulling in intrigued gamers is easy when you can show Kiryu defending a Michael Jackson doppelganger in an escort mission. Yet the clip that won over even more newcomers on social media was the now infamous Nugget scene. If you were skilled enough at the bowling minigame, you had the chance to recruit a chicken named Nugget to help manage your real estate portfolio. Yes, there is a commercial property minigame, a perfect fit for a game set in 1988.

Bolstered by a new, yet experienced localization team, Yakuza 0–in some ways–felt like a reboot in regards to how the series would be treated in the West from this point on.

This nostalgic representation of Tokyo and Osaka in the 1980s–right down to the romantic yellow hue emanating from nighttime street lights–is one of the many reasons why Yakuza 0 is considered a series high point. While the presence of contemporary bikini models and arcade games show that this isn’t a wholly authentic depiction, the surroundings and the story nonetheless offer a glimpse of Japan’s last halcyonic period before its economic bubble burst. Moreover, the recurring appearances of the Club Sega arcades is both a celebration of the company’s coin-op heritage and recognition of a bygone era.

Yakuza 0 gives equal screen time to Kiryu and the game’s other playable character, Goro Majima. A prequel focusing on the birth of the Dragon of Dojima within the Tojo Clan is eye-opening enough; witnessing Goro’s origin tale unfold is an entertaining look at his charming lunacy. Sega would double down on his twisted attachment to Kiryu with some substantial retconning in the remake of the original game, Yakuza Kiwami.

Mainline Yakuza games have progressively improved its side missions, but Yakuza 0 took these diversions to another absurdist level. These often comedic substories underscore the duality of the series. Its fans can get engrossed in its melodramatic and serious story events while also relishing in the games’ countless lighthearted moments. The Yakuza faithful know that there’s nothing wrong spending an hour fishing as they ignore the sense of urgency of the next story objective. Rescuing a damsel or an informant will have to wait; Kiryu needs his shark fix!

These often comedic substories underscore the duality of the series. Its fans can get engrossed in its melodramatic and serious story events while also relishing in the games’ countless lighthearted moments.

Before jumping from Yakuza 0 to witness the end of Kiryu’s arc in Yakuza 6, Sega took us back to the start. Yakuza Kiwami wasn’t your typical fresh-coat-of-paint remaster. This was a full on remake that struck a fine balance between expanding the original game’s comparatively sparse side content with a strict faithfulness to the narrative. Yakuza fans with videographic memories will recognize practically all the cinematics, shot for shot, right down to the camera angles, all with new visuals.

That attention to detail is just one of the many layers of fan service Kiwami delivers. Keen eyes will notice subtle story callbacks to Yakuza 0 and appreciate the repurposing of the three fighting styles from that prequel, on top of a modified version of Kiryu’s original moveset. And for better or worse, Kiwami alters Goro’s role by accentuating the more endearing and psychotic aspects of his personality from Yakuza 0.

Happy Endings And New Beginnings

As the conclusion to Kiryu’s story arc, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is a more focused and intimate story compared to the last few games. As a throwback to the Playstation 2 games, the Dragon of Dojima–now 48 years old in 2016–is the only playable character, a marked contrast over the robust fivesome of Yakuza 5. In addition, his move set does away with the previous games’ multiple fighting styles in favor of a single refined but comprehensive set of skills. While the optional missions and minigames aren’t as plentiful as prior Yakuzas, what it does have are exceedingly involved. That includes underwater fishing with a speargun, running your own gang, and even learning the fine art of conversing in a bar. And this swansong is peppered with notable quality of life improvements, like the ability to pin waypoints on the map, auto-saving, limited loading times, and full voice acting in every conversation. The game also introduces you to Onomichi, a port town Hiroshima.

While the optional missions and minigames aren’t as plentiful as prior Yakuzas, what it does have are exceedingly involved.

Yakuza 6’s story sends Kiryu back and forth between Kamurocho and Onomichi as he deals with events that were set in motion at the end of Yakuza 5, particularly related to Haruka’s idol career. And just as Yakuza 0 offered a view of urban Japan in the late 1980s, Yakuza 6 portrays yakuza as a dying breed, affected by the foreign influence of crime organizations from both Korea and China.

Kiryu’s dealings with the yakuza of Onomichi provide yet another glimpse of organized crime in another region of Japan. With this new batch of colorful characters–from the high strung Nagumo Tsuyoshi to the intimidating Toru Hirose, the latter played by Beat Takeshi–, it’s easy to fantasize a Yakuza spin-off based primarily in this charming Japanese port town. One of the strengths of this franchise is that you can name a dozen existing characters who can potentially be the main protagonist in their own game.

One of the strengths of this franchise is that you can name a dozen existing characters who can potentially be the main protagonist in their own game.

Seven mainline games is a lot for even someone as beloved as Kazuma Kiryu and Sega chose “The Song of Life” subtitle to convey both symmetry and the circular beauty of life. As much as this series is about the Japanese crime underworld, it is also the story of a man’s journey. In an entertainment medium where character driven franchises can go on too long or lay dormant indefinitely, it’s an immensely rare gift to witness the conclusive end to a multi-game story arc of a protagonist as loved and admired as Kazuma Kiryu, told over three consoles generations and two decades. You can’t name more than a dozen other game heroes who are fortunate enough to have this kind of send off. Solid Snake, Big Boss, Ezio Auditore, Commander Shepard, and Nathan Drake, but who else? Yakuza fans are incredibly lucky to get this sense of closure.

Enter The New Dragon

Yakuza 6 marks an end but it is also a new beginning for the franchise. For as visually impressive as Yakuza 0 and Kiwami were, these games were built for both the PlayStation 3 and 4, and like all the games before it, reiterated on design foundations that go all the way back to the very first game in the series. Yakuza 6 is the first game to run on the new Dragon Engine with the Kiwami remake of Yakuza 2 being the second. We hold out hope that the positive reception of the recent games in the West will encourage Sega to make an English translation of Yakuza 2 Kiwami a reality.

At least in Japan, 2018 is primed to be a busy year for Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku. Ryu Ga Gotoku Online is a microtransaction-driven free-to-play Windows and mobile game designed to tee up the next console game, aptly titled Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku (in this context, ‘Shin’ means ‘New’). Powered by the Yakuza 6 engine, Shin Ryu Ga Gotoku’s playable protagonist is newcomer Ichiban Kasuga, a 40 year-old ex-con trying to make sense of Kamurocho in 2018 and the surprising state of the Tojo clan.

This story arc isn’t the only new territory Ryu Ga Gotoku is exploring. In a move reminiscent of Koei Tecmo’s Musou spin-offs, the team behind Yakuza is developing Hokuto Ga Gotoku, an adventure brawler based on Hokuto No Ken, or Fist of the North Star as it’s known in English markets. There’s no word yet on whether any of these games will make their journey to the West, but it’s clear that gaming’s biggest niche franchise is ready to enter its next era.

As with most any narrative-driven adventure game series, Yakuza is best appreciated when playing through all the releases in story order. Between the collective play time of over 200 hours, experiencing the complete Kiryu saga can be a daunting task. To all ambitious newcomers, getting Yakuzas 0 to 6 isn’t anything the PlayStation Store and Ebay can’t take care of. Yet, the beauty these games is that they can each be appreciated on their own, much thanks to their mostly self-contained plots, the wealth of optional missions and minigames, and succinct summaries of the other games’ stories.

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As expected with Disney’s D23 event taking place in Tokyo, Japan this weekend, more of Kingdom Hearts III, Square Enix’s upcoming crossover RPG, has been revealed. During a special event held in Disneyland the publisher showed a new trailer which confirmed there will be a new Monsters Inc world in the game.

The trailer opened with Sora, Donald, and Goofy meeting Marluxia, a member of New Organization XIII. The character was first introduced in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but this is his debut in a mainline entry in the series. Although Marluxia knows about Sora and the gang, they’re not familiar with him. After this, the video brings in Sully, Mike, and Boo of Monsters Inc fame.

Of course, Sora has been transformed into a monster version of himself, and now sports furry blue skin and red spiky hair. Donald now has a single eye, much like Mike, while Goofy’s monster transformation is … goofy looking.

The trailer transitions into quick cuts between different sections from throughout the game, and we’re given very fleeting glimpses at the Tangled world and The Little Mermaid‘s Ariel making an appearance, as well as Vanitas, the Keyblade wielder that made his debut in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.

The trailer also showed Rapunzel, who interacts with the world by swinging her hair. She uses it to traverse environments and can also whip enemies with it. According to Square Enix she has a number of ways to use her hair in the game. There’s also a new minigame styled after a Game & Watch title, but an official name for the game hasn’t been revealed yet. Check out the full trailer above.

During the event Square Enix revealed some further details about the game, including that Gummi Ship segments will return. This time, however, it has been split into two phases. There’s an exploration phase, which was likened to being more open-world, and there’s a combat phase. Combat has been increased in scale, with more enemies than ever before.

According to Square Enix, everyone in the Osaka studio is working on Kingdom Hearts 3, with 100 people from its Tokyo studio also involved. Development is split into three sections: Early, middle, and late. There’s around three worlds per section, but Square Enix noted that this doesn’t mean there’s nine worlds in total. The early phase worlds are 90 percent complete, while middle section worlds are at around 60 percent. It didn’t confirm what stage the end section is, but Tetsuya Nomura, director of the series, said it was “something he’s always wanted to do and put into Kingdom Hearts, ever since the days of working on Final Fantasy.” He added: “It is bound to surprise everyone.”

Finally, Square Enix confirmed that Utada Hikaru will be returning for the third game’s theme song, which is called “Don’t Think Twice.” You can hear the song in this second new Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer, which ends with Rikku leaving his Keyblade behind for the other version of him to use.

It’s been an incredibly long wait for Kingdom Hearts III, which concludes the story of the trilogy. Kingdom Hearts II was released way back in 2005, though there have been some spin-offs and remakes in the meantime. Kingdom Hearts III promises to be exciting for many reasons, including the larger party size (you can now have up to five members at once), new Keyblade transformations, summons that are based on Disney theme parks, and the introduction of the first Pixar world (Toy Story). Other new worlds include those based on Big Hero 6 and Tangled.

Notably, Kingdom Hearts III is coming to Xbox One in addition to PS4; no previous entry has been released on an Xbox platform. The game is still without an exact release date, though it is due out sometime in 2018.

Director Tetsuya Nomura–who is also working in that role on Final Fantasy VII Remake—explained the extremely long wait last year, saying there were numerous factors, including a change in engines. As for directing the two games at once, he actually thinks it’s proven advantageous for him.

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Arcade gamer Billy Mitchell is not an easy man to get ahold of, despite the wide, mainstream coverage that he’s received this month. Donkey Kong Forum moderator Jeremy Young concluded that Mitchell cheated to attain his famous Donkey Kong scores. Twin Galaxies, which has been recording game scores since 1981 and partners with Guinness World Records, is launching a separate investigation.

In layman’s terms, the core allegation is this: Three of Mitchell’s scores–1,047,200 (the infamous sent “tape” from the documentary The King of Kong), 1,050,200 (achieved at a mortgage brokers meeting in Florida), and 1,062,800 (achieved at the Boomers arcade close to Mitchell’s home) were captured on a PC running MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) rather than a traditional arcade machine. There is a separate leaderboard for MAME scores, and the emulator is more susceptible to cheating, such as splicing together multiple playthroughs.

Young and others in the community rest the brunt of their argument on the way the images load on an arcade versus on MAME. An arcade loads images from side to side. MAME, meanwhile, loads images in large portions. You can see the difference in the images below, which are taken from Young’s explanation on the Donkey Kong Forums.

This first one below is from test footage that Young captured of a genuine arcade machine.

And this second image to right is captured from Mitchell’s 1.05M run.

Aside from a meandering, bizarre interview on the East Side Dave Show, Mitchell has been mum about the scandal, and he has declined opportunities to speak to the press. Mitchell would only speak to GameSpot via a conference call that also included Richie Knucklez, the man who organizes the Donkey Kong community’s annual Kong-Off. Knucklez orchestrated the interview; Mitchell did not pick up the phone when I called him directly several times.

Mitchell has always had a penchant for theatrics. It’s baked into every element of his presentation, from his retro, long-styled haircut, to his patriotic neckties, to the salesman’s thumbs up he gives when posing for pictures. And his gameplay is similarly confident and dramatic. He was the first person to achieve a perfect game of Pac-Man. He was the first person to reach the Donkey Kong “kill screen.” And for years, he held the highest recorded Donkey Kong score–until Steve Wiebe came along.

The conflict between the two men competing for the highest Donkey Kong score was immortalized in the aforementioned The King of Kong documentary. Directed by Seth Gordon, it portrayed Wiebe as the outsider and underdog, and Mitchell as the villain, protected by an insular community of old-school gamers.

This new controversy is a continuation of that perception–that Mitchell’s scores have been afforded a level of leeway that other gamers’ scores would not have been afforded. Mitchell, however, is insistent that his scores are real and were captured on an original arcade machine. He claims that he doesn’t even have MAME installed on his computer.

“I’m the least tech savvy guy in the world, so I’d be lost without the kindness of people I’ve never met before, calling me with information and insight,” says Mitchell in his interview with GameSpot. “In some ways, it’s a bummer. There’s a lot of other fun stuff I would rather be doing [than clearing my name]. But if it’s a cross I have to bear for a little while, that’s okay.”

Mitchell has two primary objectives at the moment. The first is getting original tapes of the scores’ direct feeds, which Twin Galaxies should have, according to Mitchell. One, the 1.06M points tape, was recorded by former Twin Galaxies referee Michael Sroka. Mitchell believes there is another tape–one that shows a pullback crowd shot of the entire room–which will prove there was no shady business going on. No one, thus far, has been able to locate this tape, though several people in the community have allegedly heard about it before.

Two of the original tapes–the 1.04M and the 1.05M tapes–were uploaded to YouTube by a man named Dwayne Richard, before they were turned over to Twin Galaxies. Richard appeared in The King of Kong, but he was also involved in the creation of two post-documentaries–the King of Con (2012), which purports that Mitchell received payoffs from the King of Kong filmmakers, and The Perfect Fraudman (2012), which questions Mitchell’s claim of having the first perfect Pac-Man game.

Knucklez characterizes Richard as someone with an axe to grind against Mitchell. And he proposes that this bias–and any suspicion of doctored or altered footage–can be eliminated by simply cutting Richard out of the equation. Knucklez reasons that if the critics can watch the original tapes–the ones Richard turned over to Twin Galaxies, rather than Richards’ uploads–that would be fairer.

Knucklez recalls an incident from years ago, when Richard asked Knucklez for help in faking MAME footage. He also repeated this anecdote on his Facebook account (which we’ve lightly edited for grammar and spelling):

“I remember it well. I was in the parking lot of a Walmart when [Richard] called and asked me to participate in a MAME Donkey Kong ruse. In his exact words, ‘To put egg on Twin Galaxies’ face.’ I told him I was not interested.”

Knucklez concedes, however, that the original Kong footage could be exactly the same as Richards’ upload, or even prove Mitchell guilty. And in the last couple of days, a former Twin Galaxies referee, who Knucklez declined to name, came forward with one of the original tapes.

“He reached out to me and said, ‘I still have the original copy. If it’ll help Bill in any way, I can send it to you,” says Knucklez. “In Dwayne Richards’ letter to Twin Galaxies, he listed the people who received the tape, and [this referee’s] name is on the list.”

Knucklez estimates that the tape should arrive and be in his possession within the next day or two. He believes Mitchell’s denial and says he is supporting his friend.

Mitchell claims that the arcade tape footage may also have a technical explanation for looking like MAME. Mitchell says he has spoken with experts, who explained to him how the visual look of the arcade footage could have been altered due to Mitchell’s use of a direct feed–one that takes its signal straight off the arcade’s board rather than from the monitor.

“I talked to the company that manufactured it, and I asked, ‘Why would the right look different from the left?’” says Mitchell. “And he explained it to me–not that I understood. And I said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to explain it to these other guys.’ So they’re in the process of quickly putting that together. [They said that because I was] obsessed with capturing the screenplay this way, that’s why I’m having this mess. Every single time, I recorded it that way.”

Mitchell, who repeatedly states that he is not a tech-savvy person, declines to explain further, deferring to the aforementioned experts.

“If I sit here and try and explain it to you, I’m going to sound like an idiot, and people are going to pick it apart, because I don’t know what I’m talking about,” says Mitchell. “These answers require presentation and research. It takes two minutes to tell a lie. It takes a lot longer to give a proper response that’s acceptable.”

Mitchell says the reasons for him getting involved in this latest fracas have less to do with him and more to do with the community.

“This is the first time I’ve had to answer, because people like Richie, people like Rob [Childs, the tech support present at the Boomers Arcade DK high score run]…and many [other] people are being called liars,” says Mitchell. “And if my friends are being kicked between the knees, I have to respond, and I am responsible….There are a lot of good people who have legitimate questions, and that’s who we’re catering to.”

“I have become known as an advocate of competitive games and an ambassador for competitive video games,” continues Mitchell. “And for that reason? Yes, this is important to me.”

One can see the ongoing drama on Donkey Kong forums, where many posters are going through an existential grieving process over Mitchell’s scores. Without Mitchell and these scores, there would be no The King of Kong. And thus, the community, as it currently exists today, would have never developed. Has it all been based on a lie?

Near the end of our conversation, Mitchell’s tone turns more emotional.

I have to present what any fair-minded person would look at and go, ‘Oh. I see.’ I can help the people who want to know exactly what happened and how it happened.

Billy Mitchell

“Rob was there when this happened,” reiterates Mitchell about his 1.06M score. “The technician from the arcade was there when this happened. They were the ones who set up everything and set the board. There were Twin Galaxies people there. They set this up. There were cameras set up. There was an event set up. There were crowds. There were people. There was media. So all of those people are in on a big conspiracy? That’s just stupid.”

“So now,” Mitchell concludes, “I have to present what any fair-minded person would look at and go, ‘Oh. I see.’ I can help the people who want to know exactly what happened and how it happened. And they will–very shortly.”

There’s an irony to all this. All this hay is being made over records that are not even the world record anymore. Mitchell was long ago surpassed by younger players. The current record holder is Robbie Lakeman, who beat Wes Copeland’s 1,218,000 score with a 1,247,700 score on February 2, 2018. This current fight over frames of animation, direct feeds, and circuit boards is being waged entirely on principle. And it might cause an outsider to question whether Mitchell’s belief–that people are targeting him–is ego-driven paranoia rather than fact.

But then you step back, and you realize that if Billy Mitchell was dedicated enough to get a high score (legitimately or illegitimately), it would stand to reason that someone else is dedicated enough to tear it down. Mitchell gets a lot of flak for his outsized persona, and for exerting such charismatic power over his small fiefdom. But are the people criticizing him, who created two anti-Mitchell documentaries in the space of a year, any more down-to-earth? Whether or not Mitchell proves that his scores are valid, there’s no doubt that there will be another conspiracy, and another coverup, and another follow-up. Because when things reach this pitch, it’s no longer about the scores. It’s about something more personal.

There’s a common observation that Batman, by existing, has empowered and created his enemies. The presence of a superhero is an implicit challenge, and it leads to the creation of a supervillain. Batman and Joker are symbiotic, in a sense. They are doomed to fight, over and over again, because on some level they thrive off the conflict. Maybe Mitchell is legit; maybe he isn’t. Maybe he’s a villain, or perhaps, he’s created some villains along the way.

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Along with Sony’s upcoming version 5.5 firmware update for the PlayStation 4, PS4 Pro owners that aren’t on 4K televisions will be getting a significant graphical enhancement: supersample anti-aliasing (SSAA). PS4 Pro consoles will soon be able to leverage its extra power for non-4K displays and force SSAA when it outputs a 1080p resolution. This will be an option users have to enable manually, and it has been put into action with mostly positive results.

SSAA is a form of anti-aliasing that forces a game to render a higher resolution then downscale it to fit the proper screen resolution. The result is a smoother picture with less “jaggies” since you’re essentially getting a shrunken version of a finer image. According Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry, the PS4 Pro will act as if its connected to a 4K display and work to downscale the improved image to 1080p. While there are a few games that offer benefits with 1080p displays, some games (such as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) would lock out 1080p users from accessing any PS4 Pro benefits; an example of the inconsistency of the enhancements from the more powerful console. This will not be the case anymore with the new anti-aliasing option.

Digital Foundry was able to put this to the test and rounded up some early results. One example is Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, which now supersamples a 4K image for 1080p, instead of locking itself to 1080p. The game also runs at a locked 30 FPS regardless of resolution, so there’s now some benefit for non-4K-ers. The Last of Us Remastered now gives 1080p users the option for supersampling instead of only offering the 60 FPS improvement (but not both).

However, it’s not a perfect solution for all games. For example, The Last Guardian offers a stable 30 FPS at 1080p, while the 4K enhancement can cause frame drops to around 20 FPS. Since PS4 Pro supersampling essentially imitates the Pro-enhanced resolution available, the potential frame drops translate as well. The same goes for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, a game where framerate is arguably more important than resolution; its 4K option doesn’t offer as stable a framerate as it would at 1080p.

Keep in mind that games are still subject to the specific PS4 Pro enhancements. The 5.5 firmware update simply gives you access to the finer image quality that 4K users get, but in the form of antialiasing at 1080p. Whether or not it works well will be on a game-by-game basis, but the bottom line is that PS4 Pro users will have more options, regardless of the display they use. Firmware 5.5 for the PlayStation 4 is currently in beta testing and there’s no word on when the final version releases.

If you’re not entirely clear on the concept of anti-aliasing, or supersampling specifically, make sure you check out our explanation of all the different types of anti-aliasing and how they work.

For more on Sony’s powerful console, check out our initial PS4 Pro review. Be sure to read through our detailed breakdown of the differences between all the PS4 models, and take a look at our head-to-head analysis between the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. We know you’re into free games, so don’t miss out on what PS Plus subscribers can get for the month of February.

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The battle royale game mode isn’t exactly new, but its current mainstream spotlight can be attributed to the virality of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. After it sold tens of millions of copies on Steam during its early access period alone, there was bound to be a wave of games trying to capitalize on the genre’s exploding popularity. As of now, though, Fortnite: Battle Royale is the frontrunner in challenging PUBG’s dominance. And while many have dubbed Fortnite’s rendition a PUBG clone, there are just as many stark differences as there are similarities between the two.

A drastic contrast in presentation will hit you first. PUBG has a realistic, military-inspired look that’s layered on top of the already nerve-racking concept. Fortnite looks like a cartoon; it’s bright, colorful, and animated in a way that takes the edge off the imposing battle royale mode. Oddly enough, both games use Epic’s Unreal Engine 4 despite the divergent graphical styles. These games were also born out of disparate foundations.

At its core, PUBG shares much of the same DNA as its predecessors. Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene himself helped create the original battle royale mods for Arma, and through several iterations these mods eventually led to H1Z1: King of the Kill, which became the premiere battle royale game just before PUBG came onto the scene. However, PUBG offers a more accessible and streamlined experience than its forebears while retaining the military sim framework that taps into your tactical instincts.

This begs the question: How did Fortnite, of all games, become the one to go toe-to-toe with PUBG? Fortnite has its own tumultuous development history, but its initial vision was a mashup of Gears of War‘s Horde mode and Minecraft‘s construction mechanics, driven by a loot grind to hook players. At first, a game that controls fast and loose, almost like an arena shooter, doesn’t seem ripe for battle royale. However, Epic was able to adapt Fortnite into its own battle royal mode early on and capitalize on the trend, carving out its own piece of the pie.

Fortnite also had two key advantages over PUBG when its battle royale mode launched: it was both free to play and available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PUBG recently hit the Xbox One in an early access phase, but it has a long way to go to match how smooth and stable Fortnite runs. Even on PC, you’re likely to run higher framerates and have a lower chance of experiencing game-breaking bugs.

When it comes to the overall concept, PUBG’s influence on Fortnite is clear. In both games, a 60-second warm-up takes place on an isolated island off the shore of the main island. 100 players are crammed into an air vessel and parachute down to the main island where a single-life deathmatch takes place. You’re continuously forced into smaller zones at random via a lethal circle as the match progresses; you’ll never know exactly where the final firefight will take place, either. Everyone scrambles for weapons, ammo, and health items across the map’s numerous towns and structures. You can either do this alone, as a duo, or with a squad of four, but it ends the same: the last person or squad standing is declared the winner. Conceptually, these games are the same, but in practice, they play very differently.

Regardless of your weapon of choice, you have to be precise. PUBG is all about precision.

Most noticeably, PUBG’s rules of engagement are in sharp contrast with Fortnite’s. When it comes to PUBG, player movement and the act of firing a gun are very deliberate and calculated. Tactical situations rely on positioning and working the given environment to your advantage; lying prone in brush to stay concealed in a open field, peeking around rocks or trees to take shots, and checking corners when entering houses are just a few of the basic (and best) practices. Guns fire with impact and have distinct recoil patterns and damage models in relation to the armor your target has equipped. Regardless of your weapon of choice, you have to be precise. PUBG is all about precision. You can’t say the same about Fortnite, at least to the same degree.

Fortnite’s building mechanics are remarkably easy to use and crucial to master.

Of course, aiming is key to winning in Fortnite, but the way assault rifles and shotguns work is closer to Unreal Tournament than it is to Arma. Rocket and grenade launchers are also part of Fortnite’s arsenal, and traps give players a chance to exercise a different type of cleverness. Because of the nature of its style, Fortnite feels much more chaotic and kinetic, and you can’t overlook the importance of building structures to stay competitive.

Fortnite retains crafting from its original Save the World mode, and getting a grasp of it is essential for victory. A pickaxe that functions as your only melee weapon is also used to destroy structures and vegetation which turn into wood, brick, or steel. With these elements, you build walls, stairs, or a roof, and can then be altered with windows and doors. It’s almost a guarantee that firing upon an enemy in an open field will lead to them throwing up a wall out of instinct to protect themselves and heighten their chance of survival. Scaling mountains and seemingly hard-to-reach places is made possible with an ad-libbed staircase. Fortnite’s building mechanics are remarkably easy to use and crucial to master.

On the other hand, part of PUBG’s appeal is that the clumsy crafting elements of its predecessors are gone, allowing players to focus on gearing up and executing tactics to survive each firefight. Ditching granular mechanics helps keep a relatively fast pace and lower barrier to entry while maintaining the realistic tactical shooter vibe. You need to strap on an armored vest and helmet to protect yourself, and weapon attachments help get the most out of the deep roster of firearms. Inventory management is relatively streamlined in PUBG, but Fortnite simplifies it to such a degree that you only have to worry about five inventory slots instead of a managing a weight limit.

Both games have large, sprawling maps, but PUBG incorporates vehicles that are of utmost importance to reach advantageous positions without getting swallowed up by the circle of death or gunned down by a preying squad. However, close-quarters encounters are a microcosm of how much PUBG and Fortnite diverge. If you fight in and around the buildings and towns of PUBG as if it were Rainbow Six–scouting enemy movement, peeking for sightlines–you’ll improve your odds of survival. In Fortnite, destruction is around every corner; if you know an enemy is on the second floor of a building, you can blow apart the floor beneath them for a surprise. You rack up kills by getting the jump on opponents in either game, but you can’t play PUBG like Fortnite, and approaching Fortnite like PUBG will only get you so far.

In Fortnite’s late-game, when it comes down to a single-digit player count, you’ll often see enemies creating their own fort-like structures in the safe zones, essentially building makeshift houses to leverage their resources and wit. It’s not much of a mystery where the last players are when you see them exercising their architectural prowess. Often times, PUBG’s final moments boil down to a waiting game, who gets spotted first, or a risky push with smoke grenades as your last bit of cover; it’s about seizing a short window of opportunity where things go from 0 to 100 real quick. It’s intense and frightening.

The more you dig into both games, the more you’ll see how their takes on battle royale offer unique experiences and tap into different skills, even though one is closely modeled after the other. The thirst can be quenched with either PUBG or Fortnite (or both), because the thrill of besting 90-plus other players is rewarding in a way unlike other multiplayer shooters. If you have to choose one over the other, keep in mind that Fortnite is best for those who want to engage in a form of base-building within a chaotic shooter that doesn’t rely so much on precision and realism, whereas PUBG has the look and feel of a tactical shooter to drive home the uneasy tension of battle royale.

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