Yakuza Kiwami review for Nintendo Switch

Having a long and successful run on PC and PlayStation (and newly Xbox), Yakuza, also known as Like a Dragon, has now made its way onto Nintendo Switch. Yakuza Kiwami, a title originally released in 2016, marks the first time a Yakuza game has come to the Switch. Being the first game in the series, as Yakuza 0 is a prequel, it’s an excellent place for new fans wanting to jump into such an acclaimed franchise. As an added bonus, the Switch port of Kiwami brings previously exclusive music that was only in the Japanese versions of the game. For anybody that played Yakuza Kiwami for the Western releases on PS3, PS4, PC, and Xbox, there are now new licensed tracks as an extra incentive to double dip if you’re seeking some new banger soundtracks.

The port of Yakuza Kiwami on Switch is genuinely incredible. It has some minor stutters when new parts of Kamurocho are loaded, but they’re never bad enough to impact gameplay. It seemingly maintains 30 frames per second for a solid 99 percent of the time playing, which seems like an insane feat. From what I can tell, it seems like the game runs at 720p even in docked mode, as there’s a bit more of a noticeable resolution fuzziness when the console is in docked mode and displayed on a full TV screen. Of course, this means there’s no downscaling in handheld mode, so you get a very smooth 720p 30fps experience when playing on the go. Additionally, the visuals aren’t super toned down, so you still get a gorgeous look into the Japanese city of Kabukicho, the real life counterpart of Yakuza’s Kamurocho. Despite the resolution downgrade from the PS4/PC/Xbox versions of Kiwami, the game still holds up incredibly well on the Switch. On the OLED model, the colors pop just that much more to really immerse you in the environments.

The controls are exactly what you’d expect from a port of a PlayStation game, with each button being mapped to the appropriate Nintendo button layout. A for your interactions, B for backing out of menus, Plus for the pause menu, etcetera. There is no way in-game to remap your inputs, but with the Nintendo Switch’s innate controller remapping ability in the system settings, it’s not a huge issue. Of course, this does mean that your in-game prompts will not change, so take that as you will.

Combat still flows well even on the Switch’s input methods. I played with an even blend of handheld to play with the JoyCons (and to test handheld performance) and via the docked mode on my TV to play with a Pro Controller. It does feel mildly strange playing a more action-focused beat ’em up on the JoyCons, given their smaller buttons and profile, but once you adjust it feels totally fine and natural. If you’re primarily a Switch gamer to begin with, you’ll feel right at home and have a great time.

It is absolutely wonderful to have the incredibly goofy yet totally serious underground crime story that Yakuza brings to the Switch, and to have the excellent performance it does is an even better bonus. It’s a slight shame that it doesn’t run at 1080p like NieR Automata does while still maintaining 30fps, but with the super stable performance and still pretty visuals, I can’t really complain about the resolution downscale.

As a Switch title, Yakuza Kiwami is perfect and feels right at home on this hardware. It is important to keep in mind, however, that Kiwami is a title from 2016, and is just a direct 1:1 port, so don’t expect any additional quality of life changes from the previous releases. That said, again, it is incredible and highly worth your time, and is an excellent starting point to jump into this zany franchise. If this does well enough, I can totally see RGG Studio (Rya Ga Gotoku Studio) porting the other games to the Nintendo Switch, whether this rendition or the upcoming successor.

Note: Sega provided us with a Yakuza Kiwami Switch code for review purposes.