Yakuza in Waikīkī? Why not? Leave it to the Japanese company SEGA to create a video game about a former underworld figure in our Hawaiʻi Nei.
The new game “Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth” sold a million copies within the first week of its release in January.
In the game, players control the former Yakuza member Ichiban Kasuga as he brawls his way through Honolulu, taking odd jobs and singing karaoke along the way.
It’s a rare — and surprisingly realistic — representation of Hawaiʻi for a video game.
Richard Li, a senior video producer for the video game website GameSpot, was born and raised in Makiki. He said the developers' choice to base the game in Hawaiʻi was a "logical choice."
"One of the best parts about playing Yakuza, or 'Like a Dragon,' is the accurate portrayal of real-life cities of all those places in the states. Hawaiʻi is probably the best candidate for like, say a Japanese connection," Li told The Conversation.
In fact, Li said he was blown away by the game when he played it for the first time.
"You're like standing in front of Duke statue. And then you can travel on a segway to the International Marketplace, or pass by the Sheraton and the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. I was like, wow, this looks really really cool," he said.
He said the success was in the details. Players will even find the characters speaking pidgin at times.
However, he wishes there was a better portrayal of Honolulu's Chinatown in the game. He found that the Chinatown characters were speaking Mandarin — but Li said in real life, people largely speak Cantonese there.
But that flaw is minor in comparison to the other details in the game, Li explained.
"The developers mentioned numerous times that they've done painstaking work to make their representation of Honolulu, in terms of aesthetics and culture, as best as they could," he said.
Li said the game even touches upon issues that affect "home in Hawaiʻi," such as homelessness, income inequality and crime.
"It's a magical game that is an accurate representation of Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian culture — while delivering so much entertainment."
This story aired on The Conversation on March 12, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
