It appears that the recently released (in Japan) Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! is a side story to the Ryu ga Gotoku series, known as Yakuza in North America. The true third part in the series is on its way— and sooner than you’d think.

Ryu ga Gotoku was a gamble. It was expensive and attempted to recreate a real-life locale authentically. It was a decent hit in Japan, but when it came to North America touting an expensive voice cast it failed to capture much attention from gamers.

In Japan the series saw a sequel on the PS2 and then another game on the PS3 called Kenzan!, just released in March of 2008. Kenzan! unexpectedly moves the action from modern day Tokyo to Japan’s Edo period, complete with sword fighting, while still largely retaining the same cast of characters.

It turns out this is a fun but temporary departure for the series, and that the real third installment is well underway and will appear on the PS3 in Japan in Spring of 2009.

While exciting for those of us who enjoyed the first game, this is kind of funny considering we’re still waiting for not only Yakuza Kenzan!, but also Yakuza 2 here in North America. Thankfully it appears Sega has not given up on releasing these titles outside Japan.

While nothing has been said about Kenzan! specifically as far as a date, 2008 doesn’t seem out of the question, and Yakuza 2 looks slated to appear on the PS2 this September—this time lacking the costly English voice cast in favor of subtitles and the authentic Japanese voice work, which is reportedly quite excellent. That is a very smart choice.

It’s been quite a delay getting Yakuza and Yakuza 2 here, but there are heavy dialog and localization issues with these titles. Hopefully PS3 owners will be seeing Kenzan! a little closer to its Japanese release than we have with the first two games, and that Yakuza 3 follows suit.

The first Yakuza was visceral, atmospheric and enjoyable. Hopefully Yakuza 2 and Kenzan! will see more success here and not give Sega any excuses to leave the series Japan-only.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on these games as the year progresses. I urge anyone out there remotely interested to check out the first game.

Source: Neogaf via Famitsu

Tags: Japan, kenzan, Playstation 3, PS3, ryu-ga-gotoku, yakuza

• Yakuza 3 Playstation 3 Bundle
• Two Yakuza 3 Demos Now On Japanese Playstation Store
• Yakuza 3: Dress Up Your Hostess Girls
• Use Your iPhone to Fight Global Warming
• Former MLB Hall of Fame Shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. Promotes Baseball MMO
• To All Who Say Bloggers Aren’t Real Journalists
• Sony Announces GT Academy, Not To Be Confused With The Other GTA
• Rumor: Mega Man 9 On The Way?

No Comments » No comments yet. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.