Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza lets Majima summon four evil Mini-Mes of himself and a bunch of angry animals

Sega shared a new batch of details about Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza’s gameplay and naval combat, and nestled in the info is a little tidbit about Majima duplicates

RGG Studios

Sega shared a new batch of details about Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza’s gameplay and naval combat, and nestled in the info is a little tidbit about Majima duplicates. He can also sic an angry monkey on his foes and toot a saxophone to bring a violent bird into battle. Y’know, normal things.

• Read more: All mainline Yakuza games, ranked from worst to best

Majima’s over-the-top new animal summoning abilities are part of his Sea Dog fighting style, while the dark duplicates are attached to a madness meter that fills up when he fights in his classic Mad Dog style. Sega held those little details back during our Pirate Yakuza preview session, and it’s encouraging to see developer RGG Studio think more deeply about how to make familiar combat styles more interesting beyond just giving Majima new weapons.

Mad Dog’s madness meter fills up whenever Majima lands a hit, which, given this fighting style’s speed, should be quite often. When it’s full, Majima summons four shadow versions of himself that act independently and make battles even more chaotic.

Sea Dog Majima also has a madness meter, but it lets him play Dark Instruments to summon animal allies. These come from ships Majima plunders. There’s a saxophone that manifests a giant bird; a violin that brings ravenous sharks to the arena; an ocarina that jellyfish rather like; and a guitar that summons a giant ape.

Speaking of plundering ships, it sounds like Pirate Yakuza’s naval battles follow a typically pirate pattern. Majima engages the ship from a distance with cannons, then boards and proceeds to play merry havoc with the crew. His own crew plays an important role in deciding who wins these conflicts. Sega said you’ll need to think carefully about each member’s special abilities and set sail with a balance of defense, healing, and offense.

• Read more: The worst part of the Pirate Yakuza reveal is knowing I can’t get a Majima Pop-Up Pirate

If that’s not enough chaos for you, then Madlantis’ coliseum should be your next port. It’s home to several challenges, including one-on-one battles and full-on crew battles where Majima can embrace utter chaos and destroy everything in sight. Who needs a quest to restore your memories when you can just break stuff?

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches on Feb. 21, 2025, plenty of time to catch up with Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth if you need a refresher.