Written by: Joseph Calilung on September 21, 2012.

The Ryū ga Gotoku franchise, known as the Yakuza series here in the states, has seen quite a few changes ever since its PS2 days. Known for a fun, story driven brawler with random mini games, the Yakuza franchise has seen some success in the west. Sadly, there were two spin-offs that didn’t make it to the U.S.: Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! and Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō. Even though we have missed out on such games, it’s great we have still received the main games of the series. With the release of Yakuza 3, fans were pretty furious about the exclusion of a number of mini games, due to a “cultural barrier”. I could argue about that all day saying that’s the part of the fun of Yakuza, but we’ll skip that.

At TGS 2012, Ryū ga Gotoku 5‘s trailer has been released. What’s great about this game, its setting is in five cities instead of the usual two from previous games. Cities included are: Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo, and Nagoya. Is it a coincidence that the fifth installment features five cities? Possibly.

There’s two new features that really stood out in this game. One, you drive a taxi, and two, you battle a bear with a shotgun. How do I feel about this? Well, it sounds AWESOME. So basically, what we’re having here is possibly Crazy Taxi, Cabela’s Big Game Hunter, and Yakuza all in one package. I totally dig it. I can only anticipate the release of this game, and hopefully none of the mini games get excluded on the way to U.S. shores.