[9] Six sub-scenarios ("Date's Pride", "Two Fathers", "Hometown Girl", "The Finishing Touch", "Silver Screen Dragon", and "Murder at Café Alps") are special missions featuring "event scene" cinematics.

Three Single Tournament fighters and two Encounter Battle characters will join Kazuma Kiryu's "Team Dragon" ("Team The Dragon" in the original release) as tag partners once he finds them in the Adventure Mode; these are boxer Maxim Soldatov (マクシム・ソルダドフ), kenpō Bruce Ebinuma (ブルース海老沼), puroresu Daiji Hiyama (桧山 大治), Keigo Kanno (神野 慶吾) and Masaki Hatae (波多江 真幸).

It includes real life landmarks such as the Ichiba Hondori[15] (linked to Mutsumibashi Dori and Heiwa Dori) covered shopping arcade renamed "Karyushi Arcade" (かりゅしアーケード, karyushi ākēdo) in the game as well as the popular Makishi Public Market [ja] shortened "Public Market" (公設市場, Kōsetsu Ichiba),[16] the famous entertainment strip Kokusai Street [ja] called "Ryukyu Street" (琉球通り, Ryūkyū Doori),[17] the Okinawa Monorail Kencho-mae Station as "Ryukyugai-mae Station" (琉球街前, Ryūkyūgai Mae) or the Mitsukoshi department store (Okinawa Mitsukoshi [ja]) which kept its actual name as part of the game's tie-in policy.

In February 2007, after ending the war with the Omi Alliance, Kiryu and Haruka visit the cemetery where his adopted father, Shintaro Kazama (Tetsuya Watari), rests.

Before leaving, he enlists Goro Majima (Hidenari Ugaki) to assist Daigo Dojima (Satoshi Tokushige), Kiryu's successor, in his duties as Tojo Clan chairman.

Daigo reveals that Tamashiro was recruited to secure the land in a scheme tied to Defense Minister Ryuzo Tamiya's (Akio Otsuka) "Military Base Expansion Bill".

Fleeing, Kiryu is rescued by his old friend Makoto Date (Kazuhiro Yamaji), who informs him of three suspects for Kashiwagi's death: Yoshitaka Mine (Nakamura Shidō II), chairman of the Hakuho Clan, Goh Hamazaki (George Takahashi), a patriarch with ties to the Yokohama triads, and Tsuyoshi Kanda (Hiroyuki Miyasako), who controls Akira Nishikiyama's former gang.

Majima's associate, the Florist of Sai (Yoshiaki Fujiwara), informs Kiryu that his old enemy, Lau Ka Long (Shinichi Takizawa), is an ally of Hamazaki.

[19] This engine is based on a unique "wrinkle shader" technology 皺シェーダー (Shiwa shēdā)[19] that allows for advanced facial animation from voice recordings alone.

Who is best known for his role as Shuya Nanahara in Battle Royale and Battle Royale II: Requiem, Nakamura Shidō II as Yoshitaka Mine who featured in Ronny Yu's Jet Li is Fearless, actor Tetsuya Watari as Joji Kazama famous for his yakuza roles in Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter, Kinji Fukasaku's Graveyard of Honor and Takeshi Kitano's Brother, singers and tarento Shigeru Izumiya as Shigeru Nakahara and George Takahashi as Goh Hamazaki, voice actor Akio Ōtsuka as Ryuzo Tamiya, tarento Daisuke Miyakawa as Mikio Aragaki and Hiroyuki Miyasako as Tsuyoshi Kanda.

[24] The music was composed by Hidenori Shoji, Kentaro Koyama, Takahiro Kai, Hiroyoshi Kato, Yoshio Tsuru and Hideki Sakamoto, and includes a track by Love Sound System (DJ Giuliano, Ayako, Yoshiji Kobayashi).

Two karaoke minigame songs are also included, performed by voice actors Takaya Kuroda (Kazuma Kiryu) and Rie Kugimiya (Haruka Sawamura).

General director Toshihiro Nagoshi made twenty-seven tie-in[31] with local companies to produce 3D model reproductions of existing shop, restaurant or hostess bar buildings.

Kabukicho's tie-in are Club Sega game centers, Don Quijote discount stores,[31] Matsuya restaurants,[32] Pronto cafés[33] (a Suntory joint venture) and Karaoke Kan.[34] Collaboration with Sole tanning studio,[35] Promise,[31] Aeon[31] and Geos[31] is limited to visible ads within Kamurocho.

Okinawa's tie-ins are Blue Seal ice cream parlor,[31] Quickly bubble tea stand,[31] Sam's Maui steak house,[31] Stone Market accessory shop,[36] Okinawaya (おきなわ屋),[37] Okinawarigura (泡盛蔵) liquor store[38] and Velotaxi Japan.

[31] Limited collaborations include the exterior design of Naha's Apa Hotel [ja],[39] Okinawa's Mitsukoshi[31] and OPA[31] department stores (which cannot be entered).

Orion draft beer,[31] Tantakatan (鍛高譚) shōchū,[31] Higashuzou (比嘉酒造) awamori[31] and Skymark Airlines[31] have ads visible within the Downtown Ryukyu area.

[40] Now real products can be bought within discount and convenience stores including Axe fragrance,[31] various Ace Cook [ja] instant noodles,[41] several Suntory beers or soft drinks (such as Boss Coffee and C.C.

As part of the pre-ordering campaign, the Japanese and Asian first prints were bundled with a limited item, a monography called Kamutai Magazine (February 2009 issue).

The western version features the Japanese voice cast (with localized subtitles) and includes a previously unreleased 18-minute video interview of Tamiya according to the BBFC.

[1][2] The same month, Sega Australia managing director Darren Macbeth declared in an interview with GameSpot: "The publisher needs to be comfortable enough that there is a strong market in the West before giving the go-ahead to local Japanese releases like the Yakuza series.

In a lot of cases we have a very strong vocal group of fans, who demand the opportunity to play these games in their local markets, and are very outspoken in their support.

This statement was an answer to IGN journalist Greg Miller's unofficial insight report of February 23 claiming: "Even though the hostess clubs are out, you can still go on dates with the girls.[...]

Due to the limited time we were given we had to leave certain bits of the game out and we chose portions we felt didn't resonate with western culture i.e. a Japanese history quiz show and the concept of hostess clubs.

This mission consists of scouting a young female NPC in the Downtown Ryukyu (Shoko, Hiromi, Shō and Kirie) or Kamurocho (Ritsuko) areas, and to make her the top hostess at cabaret club South Island, by customizing her physical aspects (with variable parameters such as make-up, haircut, outfit and à la mode accessories).

[56] This possibility is inherited from the Japanese version since the romancing completion challenge actually includes both hostess club dialogues (ordering meals and offering presents) and dating activities such as dual sessions of pool, darts, bowling and karaoke.

The last cut was an Adventure Mode unlockable bonus item, Ukiyo's Bell, which is awarded to players of the eastern-only PlayStation 3 spinoff Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!

According to a community manager's official announcement on the Sega America blog: "Yakuza fans who pre-order the game at their local GameStop will receive additional content via the Challenge Pack.

North American video distributor Tokyo Shock (Media Blasters) set the release date and cover art of its licensed DVD version for Like a Dragon in order to match the local marketing for Yakuza 3.

Yakuza 3 is ranked as the second best selling 2009 PlayStation 3 game in Japan, following Square-Enix's Final Fantasy XIII,[85] but outselling Capcom's Resident Evil 5,[86] and is part of 2009's best-selling titles in this market with 499,436 copies sold as of December 7, 2009 according to Weekly Famitsu.