Summary
- Yakuza 0 Director's Cut is a great game for the Switch 2 with added features and translations.
- Players should unlock characters like Awano, Majima, Komeki, and Kiryu for Red Light Raid mode.
- Each character in the game has unique pros and cons for battling in Red Light Raid mode.
Despite its age, Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut is a neat little game for the Switch 2. Aside from getting Yakuza Kiwami on the first Switch and a Japan-only HD re-release of the first two PS2 games on the Wii U, Nintendo fans never got much of a taste of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. Now, however, they’ve got access to one of the best games in the franchise with some extras.
8 Pro Tips for Yakuza 0: Director's Cut You Should Know
New players looking to dive into the outstanding Yakuza 0 on the Switch 2 would do well to learn these pro tips to ensure they hit the ground running.
On top of the English and Chinese dubs, extra French, German, Spanish, etc., translations, and graphical upgrades, the online mode offers Red Light Raid, where players can pick any character in the game, from bosses to Coliseum opponents, and fight waves of enemies across the cities. But some characters are better than others; here are some to look out for.
7 Hiroki Awano
Backing Up His Bark With Some Bite
- Pros: He has wide swinging attacks to handle groups, and his swinging kick can take out multiple foes.
- Cons: He has a rather shallow movelist compared to the main characters.
The problem with the boss, Coliseum, and general non-playable characters is that they have pretty shallow fighting styles. They’ll have one proper combo, then a bunch of gimmicks. Getting to stun fighters with a chop or resist getting knocked down at all sounds good on paper, but once players learn they don't have much else in their moveset, they'll soon find themselves feeling bored.
Still, with some timing, players can get some mileage out of the leader of the Taihei Association, Hiroki Awano. His wide, swinging punches can catch multiple foes, while his spinning axe kick can take out a bunch of weaker grunts in one go, especially in Red Light Rage mode, where he gains a speed and strength boost. He's like Brawler Kiryu but doesn't require players to hit Y and X multiple times before he does his best attack.
6 Goro Majima (Slugger)
Batter Up
- Pros: He has wide, swinging attacks that can catch foes at a distance and is good at handling crowds.
- Cons: He moves slowly by default, and most of his combos are too slow outside of Red Light Rage mode.
Ultimately, the better characters tend to be the ones who were playable to begin with, as they have more variety in their combos. Players can’t do Heat moves in Red Light Raid mode, so they’ll need a character with a decent set of combos to blitz through stages and earn that extra cash for upgrades and unlocking other characters. To avoid breaking the mode, Kiryu and Majima’s fighting styles were split up across different character slots.
So, once players pick Slugger Majima, they can’t switch to Thug or Breaker. His wider reach can help stop a bunch of enemies in their tracks, though in the end, players will likely be spamming his Bat Nunchaku swing combo, as it’s his best crowd control option. Still, thanks to Red Light Rage mode, players might get better use out of Slugger's other, slower, but more powerful attacks.
5 Sometaro Komeki
Old Man With A Plan
- Pros: He hits fast, has plenty of combo potential, and can do the Tiger Drop.
- Cons: He doesn't hit as hard as Kiryu outside the Tiger Drop and requires beating an in-game challenge to unlock.
Red Light Raid comes with a bunch of unlockable characters, which includes Sometaro Komeki, Majima’s strangely familiar-looking tutor. Veteran players will know him better as Sotaro Komaki and will also know that he’s basically got a faster version of Kiryu’s later Dragon style from every other Yakuza game. This means he’s got plenty of combo potential and some solid crowd control options.
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Players will likely have a tough time going up against the following bosses in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise.
Then, when he activates Red Light Rage mode, he can perform the deadly Tiger Drop, a move otherwise absent in Y0DC, to counter any attacks. He sounds perfect, except for the fact it takes plenty of cash and plenty of time to unlock him in-game. In other words, players will have to get good with other characters to play as Komeki. By then, they’ll have seen everything the mode has to offer.
4 Kazuma Kiryu (Legend)
A Dragon In The Making
- Pros: He has a great counterattack and can combo into throws for great crowd control.
- Cons: His moves are stiffer and slower compared to Kiryu's other, non-Beast moves, and he requires beating an in-game challenge to unlock.
The same goes for both Legend styles for Kiryu and Majima, as there won’t be much else to explore in the mode once they’re made available. Though going through all that effort to unlock ‘Mad Dog’ Majima can feel like a booby prize, as he’s too unpredictable and out of control for most players to get to grips with him. This is especially true when, without Heat moves, players are left reliant on his awkward combos and lackluster spinning attack.
Dragon of Dojima Kiryu is a different story. He’s not quite the master he’d be later, lacking the Tiger Drop, and his combos are stiffer. But they can link into throws that can flatten other foes for some good crowd control. Then, in Red Light Rage mode, his parry counterattack becomes his best friend when the heat gets too much to take. It’s enough to tame Mr. Shakedown in the main game, so it’s more than enough to handle goons.
3 Kazuma Kiryu (Brawler)
Finishing What Others Start
- Pros: He's good at both hurting single targets and groups with his rush combos and can stunlock foes with his standing Heavy attack.
- Cons: It isn't as good at handling crowds as other styles.
Both Majima and Kiryu’s default Thug and Brawler styles are solid all-rounders, with Thug having a throw that could steamroll through crowds. Still, Brawler Kiryu is slightly more versatile, as it’s good for both singling characters out and swinging at crowds. Players can lock onto to a single character and, if they spy someone coming their way, let go, hold the analogue stick their way, and stop them in their tracks with a strike.
The best part about Brawler, and Kiryu and Majima’s standard fighting styles, is that they all have their full combos available from the start. There is no money investing (outside level-ups) required, meaning Brawler Kiryu can floor single foes with the Snatching Strike or break out his own spinning axe kick in his full Rush combo to take out crowds of enemies. That is if they don’t pop Red Light Rage to stunlock foes with his standing Heavy attack over and over.
2 Kazuma Kiryu (Beast)
Tanking Through The Competition
- Pros: His swinging strikes, combos, and throws are good at striking multiple enemies, and he can automatically pick up weapons during combos, including motorbikes.
- Cons: He moves slowly by default, and his Resist Guard still takes damage.
Beast Mode Kiryu is all about powering through crowds of mooks, making it perfectly suited for Red Light Raid mode. Well, for the most part. It does suffer from being slow and by having Resist Guard over a regular block, but it gains a speed boost from Red Light Raid mode, making it easier to power through mooks with just a handful of rush combos.
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However, its best attribute is arguably the ability to pick up weapons automatically during combos and pick up items too heavy for other styles to handle. Beast Mode Kiryu with a bicycle or a motorbike can be enough to mow through whole waves and ground bosses before they can pull off any attacks of their own, provided the stage has handy weapons like that lying around.
1 Goro Majima (Breaker)
Spinning Around
- Pros: He moves fast, is great against groups, and his best combo can trip and keep attacking grounded foes.
- Cons: His combos take a while to wind up, leaving Majima open to attacks.
Beast Mode Kiryu is good for blitzing through crowds but not as good as Breaker Majima. Sure, he can’t pick up anything, let alone do throws. Instead, he does a backflip kick that’s useless, and his Freeze Poses are better for follow-up attacks than its counterattacks. However, his standard, spinning-kick rush combos are more than enough to make the mode more of a breeze to get through.
His best combo is Light x3-Heavy, as it’ll make Majima spin on the ground in a windmill kick. It’ll trip up any foe in his vicinity while keeping them stunlocked on the ground for more punishment until they’re either beaten for good or left vulnerable for a second dose of pain. Throw in the speed boost from Red Light Rage, and Majima becomes a figurative spinning blade, slicing through any and all comers.
- Released
- June 5, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- Publisher(s)
- Sega
- Engine
- Dragon Engine
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure, RPG, Beat 'Em Up, Open-World
