The Yakuza series is very diverse in its content. There’s the main story, but there is also a plethora of side activities. Arcades, bowling, golfing, and cat cafés have all been found in Yakuza at one point or another, but no minigame has defined Yakuza more for me than karaoke. A hallmark of the series since Yakuza 3, karaoke is the essence of Yakuza: intimidating men who could beat you up with one hand tied behind their back doing the most ludicrous things with a completely straight face. Please don’t confuse this for a ranking of the Yakuza games as video games. This is a ranking of Yakuza’s karaoke, and only its karaoke. Criteria will include song selection, music videos, and replay value. If I keep coming back to the karaoke bar to sing a few songs, it’s good karaoke.
Disqualified: Yakuza, Yakuza 2, Judgment
I would love to give these games some attention, but they don’t have karaoke, so they don’t have a place here. That leaves us with eight games: Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5, Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 6, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Also, big shoutout to IosonoOtakuman, who outside of releasing gameplay videos has uploaded nearly every Yakuza karaoke video to YouTube, which are linked under each entry.
Now, onto the actual ranking.
8. Yakuza Kiwami 2
The most disappointing thing about the karaoke in Yakuza Kiwami 2 is that it’s not even that bad, but being the second game created in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Dragon Engine, you would hope it would at least be on par with Yakuza 6, or maybe even the first Kiwami. However, while the songs are still pretty good, five of the seven tracks are just retreads from previous Yakuza games. That would be okay if the music videos were unique, but the videos are just screenshots from Kiwami and 0. At least there’s a karaoke session between longtime protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and fan favourite Goro Majima, but otherwise, there isn’t really anything special here.
7. Yakuza 3
The first Yakuza game with karaoke deserves some credit for introducing the iconic minigame to the series, but that also comes with the caveat that it is quite barebones. The minigame hasn’t changed much between installments, with the only major differences being the songs and the music videos. While the music is alright here, I can barely recall the videos, as each one just has the singer on an empty stage with a generic background. It reflects the feeling of singing in a room with no one but yourself, but other than that, it doesn’t bring much to the table. It was the first, though, so it edges out above Kiwami 2.
6. Yakuza 4
You would think a game with four playable characters would have some variety in its karaoke, but the options are surprisingly limited despite having the longest tracklist in the series. Two of the playable characters, Taiga Saejima and Masayoshi Tanimura, can’t even enter the karaoke bar (Saejima doesn’t consider himself much of a singer, which we will later see is absolutely false). Otherwise, the tracks are pretty good with an expanded selection from Yakuza 3, including the now mainstay “Machine Gun Kiss”. The videos are still pretty much just the characters singing on an empty stage, but there’s a definite leap in quality from what Yakuza 3 delivered in the karaoke department.
5. Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami’s middle-of-the-road placement on this list sums it up pretty well. It’s a decent collection of old and new tracks with very little making it stick out. There’s a more sorrowful version of “Baka Mitai” appropriately titled “Bakamitai -sorrow-”, and an ode to Kiryu’s old friend Nishiki, “Tonight -restart from this night-”. The one standout track from Kiwami is probably “Otometal MY LIFE”, but that’s mostly because it’s being sung by a 9-year-old with backup chants from Kiryu. Like the larger game it’s set in, Kiwami’s karaoke is a serviceable Yakuza experience, but nothing outstanding.
4. Yakuza 6
I’d be lying if I said “Today is a Diamond” isn’t half of what’s gotten Yakuza 6 to this position. When I think of karaoke in Yakuza 6, I think of the image of Kiryu on a boat giving a thumbs up. Yakuza 6 perfectly carries over the trend of increasingly goofier videos started by Yakuza 5, which means we also get images like Kiryu in a pair of goofy-ass future goggles. The only thing really holding Yakuza 6 back is that it recycles a few tracks and videos from prior Yakuza games. Otherwise, it’s a great addition to the Yakuza karaoke canon.
3. Yakuza 0
“Yakuza, but make it ‘80s” is pretty much the entire pitch of Yakuza 0, and that applies to its karaoke too. Like a lot of western fans, this was my introduction to the series, so I hold a lot of the songs in this game near to my heart, and if this was a ranking of how well the karaoke is integrated into the game’s story, it would be in first place with a bullet. I will never forget being less than an hour into Yakuza 0 and being told to select a karaoke song, then being transported to an imaginary world where Kiryu is shredding on a guitar and wearing a headband. The same can be said for Majima’s karaoke showpiece, “24-hour Cinderella”, which is as ridiculous as it is 100-percent accurate to the character. The only reason Yakuza 0 is not number 1 is because of its relatively short tracklist. Even in spite of that, a lot of the songs in Yakuza 0 are infinitely replayable, which is a big plus.
2. Yakuza 5
The promise of Yakuza 4’s multiple playable characters is finally fulfilled in Yakuza 5. The board meetings for Yakuza 5 must have just been a bunch of Sega employees screaming “more, more, MORE” because more is what you get here. Five playable characters, each with their own city to explore, and a bunch of substories including minigame-based missions that have you doing everything from taxi-driving to hunting. It’s easy to understand why a lot of fans consider Yakuza 5 to be a bloated game. They’re not especially wrong, but when it comes to karaoke, this is a feature, not a bug. Yakuza 5 has a shorter tracklist than 4, but it makes up for that with more memorable songs. Anyone who has ever made or laughed at a “Baka Mitai” meme has Yakuza 5 to thank for introducing the song to the world. Plus, Saejima has finally gathered up the courage to sing, and it only took two trips to prison! Yakuza excels when it has a bunch of tough guys pouring out their feelings and Yakuza 5 perfectly encapsulates that in its karaoke.
1. Yakuza: Like a Dragon
While Yakuza’s karaoke prior to Like a Dragon is excellent, it really fails in one aspect. While you could take certain characters out to a karaoke bar in prior games, they never really managed to capture the feeling of going out and singing karaoke with a group of friends. This is where Like a Dragon rises above the rest of the series. New protagonist Ichiban Kasuga is much less of a lone wolf than Kiryu, which means he has a party that participates in minigames with him. The karaoke not only benefits from having multiple singers like in Yakuza 5, but it also brings in the game’s excellent group dynamic. People cheer each other on as they’re singing, even when it’s not tonally appropriate (we appreciate your enthusiasm, Ichiban, but I’m pretty sure Nanba doesn’t want to hear you chanting his name as he sings about his heartbreak). This is all aided by a very good selection of tracks both old and new. “Baka Mitai” and “Machine Gun Kiss” are both here, as well as new highlights like “Hell Stew”. Yakuza 5 and 0 come close for me, but the party dynamic of Like a Dragon has set a new bar for where Yakuza karaoke can go, and you know that when Like a Dragon 2 (or whatever they decide to call it) comes out, I’ll be beelining it to the nearest Survive Bar or Karaokekan.
