The PSP’s Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter sold very well and got great reviews, so a sequel announcement could only be considered a minor surprise at best. What might raise some eyebrows is just how strongly series producer/supervisor Toshihiro Nagoshi is endorsing the project. He feels that, in so many words, real men should play Yakuza: Black Panther 2.
The 16-second clip below begins with Nagoshi making his declaration that “I want all men living in the now to play this game.”(In Japanese: このゲームを、生きる男達に、是非、遊んで欲しい。 Romanized: kono geemu-o, Ima-o ikiru otokotachi ni, zehi, asonde hoshii.)
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The game clips you saw were of the story sequences, which play out differently in the PSP spinoff Yakuza games than their PS3 counterparts due to the gap in hardware power. It worked well in the previous game and looks to do so in this sequel. From my demo experience at the Tokyo Game Show, Black Panther 2 also addresses the wonky camera issues that occasionally made navigation bothersome. Add in the fact that it’s in Osaka instead of yet another trip through Tokyo and I’m certainly looking forward to this one’s March 22 release.
Like the game before it, however, this has not been announced for localization in North America.
