The "Yakuza" series (henceforth known as the "Ryu Ga Gotoku" series) is being developed by a studio that shares its new name: Ryu Ga Gotoku. In a recent Game Informer interview (opens in new tab) with a member of the "Ryu ga Gotoku" team, the series' current chief director, Ryosuke Horii, shared a list of karaoke songs, which, according to the GI, is "a staggering 7,964 songs, down to the last detail." The spreadsheet is.

As Rock Paper Shotgun (opens in new tab) discussed, it helps explain why the series is so obsessed with karaoke. From Yakuza 3 onward, the main series has had a karaoke mini-game, as did the prequel Yakuza 0, the remakes of the first two films, and several spin-offs. It has become an integral part of the series, which is now known for its serious, melodramatic plot contrasted with the whimsical side stories surrounding it that allow the protagonists to relax and show their softer side.

Horii's karaoke spreadsheets have been discussed before. As he once told Denfaminicogamer (opens in new tab), he showed it to former studio head Toshihiro Nagoshi during a job interview." I had to find a way to show them that I was different from the rest of them." So I showed him my karaoke list that I had shown him before and said with a little smile, "The other guys don't do this," and he offered me the job." In the same interview, Horii mentioned that he had been updating his list since 2003, "I'm trying to add 300 songs in a year He said, "I'm working on it.

One of the series' spin-offs, the historical prequel "Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! in which Horii designed a waterfall training mini-game that closely resembled the karaoke rhythm games that followed. The only difference was not the singing. It was about meditating in a cursed waterfall trying to distract yourself with sexy and impure thoughts (opens in new tab). Strange as it may sound, it was so popular that Horii was allowed to include a dream karaoke mini-game in Yakuza 3.

It took some convincing, though. Horii told Denfaminicogamer: "I'm not going to let you do that. 'What are you doing? You're getting too carried away with the waterfall training!' I said. Kiryu got into the song and said, "Hey!" or "Hey, hey, hey!" and even at the moment he started yelling, he had to convince Kiryu's voice actor to sing a lively insert song.

"Since the character of Kiryu had been established to some extent in 'Yakuza' 1 and 2," Horii says, "I felt that it was time to relax his shoulders a little bit, or that a little bit of loosening up would lead to more development in the future. So all in all, I think it was good timing."

History has proven him right. Whether it is karaoke, arcade games, or the cabaret management of "Yakuza 0," the side menu is often our favorite part. And Horii, who was once only responsible for the horny waterfall mini-game, has risen to director of Yakuza: Like a Dragon 8, a sequel scheduled for release in 2024.