It’s a good day to be a fan of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ Yakuza (or Like a Dragon, if you prefer) series. First, a live action Yakuza show is announced for Amazon Prime starring Takeuchi Ryoma of Kamen Rider Drive fame, which is a big win for every online Yakuza fan since they almost definitely like Kamen Rider too. But just today it was announced that Yakuza 2, the classic PS2 title, will be getting an update patch (via emulation) online thanks to the work of a very dedicated fan.
Thanks to Twitter user Sylwahan the classic Yakuza 2 now has an enhancement patch to make the game experience just better overall. This is a fantastic thing, considering how divisive the Kiwami remake of Yakuza 2 is it’s a great thing to improve one of the options players have to enjoy the timeless Korea/Japan gangwar story that is Yakuza 2.
As the patchnotes above summarize, the experience overall has been improved, with some changes to the script, most importantly character names, as well as increased quality on the reminiscence videos as well as improvements on the FMV quality. If you want to see the full list of changes made then the Twitter thread will have the entirety of the changelog in the posts there
This is a fantastic thing to see a fan do, fan passion projects have been the backbone of PS1/2 emulation since its inception, and will likely continue to be so for generations beyond that. We’ve received several fan translations of Japanese exclusive games and now we’re essentially getting a remaster of one of the most beloved titles of the Playstation 2 era. It really is a good time to be a fan, and the hard work these fan creators put into their craft cannot be underappreciated.