Non spoiler summary: Yakuza Black Panther 2 is one of my favorite games for the psp. It is an overhaul to the normal Yakuza gameplay and has much more of a focus on a 1v1 gameplay style even if a beat em up so the protagonist will seem weaker than the other ones. The amount of styles introduced completely changing the protagonists moveset from his punches to kicks to heat actions provides some insane fun to the battles trying them all out. To sum up the battle system think of it as a rock paper scissors battle with moves being beaten out by other moves through invulnerability or just attack speed. Including parries, throws and such all risky options if the opponent throws out certain moves. While battles with multiple thugs felt frustrating at times, it's a very fun battle system and I don't go to these games for the gameplay as I'm quite bad at them. People like Gunkshot and Hajber can prolly break the battle system down quite easily and they can handle the no damage runs :). I'm here mostly for the story even if the gameplay is quite good, this game has made Tatsuya a really solid protagonist and I recommend playing by patching it through here https://www.teamk4l.com/ . The ROM you'll have to find yourself or dm me. The patch can bring some bugs, and crashes quite rarely. If it becomes a problem as a streamer I watch would say: "Just learn Japanese". My final thing to talk about on the non spoiler summary is the music which goes hard quite frankly. The opening theme is amazing and made me smile when I finished the game. The game features some tracks from Jet set radio composer Hideki Naganuma and it makes me wish I could understand music theory to break them down, but his work is always nothing short of stellar. Play the game please, and experience Tatsuya's 2nd chapter alongside the first if you haven't (a recap is there if you do not wish to play the first).

Spoiler section now:




At first , the game quite didn't stick with me Tatsuya was giving up everything he dreamed up for some kid he didn't know and it was just sad to see all the people around him upset (especially his sister :( ). This completely turned around as you find that Tatsuya sees himself in these dragon heat punks and wishes to use his strength to help people and not end up like him when he was 16. This game is where Tatsuyas characterization really shines and he comes to fully grow after the first game. He knew Dragon heat was a special place for him and helped him mature so he returned the favor. the scene with him looking at his fathers grave made me quite emotional and this game does not pull any punches man. The characters here are all great broken down into their own chapters. Shinji is a punk in over his head fighting his way through dragon heat who suddenly found himself unable to fight. Early on he's tatsuyas motivation as Shinji acted like himself when he was younger. He's just a plot device early on, but gets his own chapter where he doubts his friends as himself as he sees an opportunity from the enemy to recover and finds himself manipulated in his moment of weakness. He turns over a new leaf with Tatsuya standing there and taking a stabbing hoping to get through to his friend. Tatsuya's words and actions really get through to him that his strength wasn't everything to him. Tatsumo is a punk who doesn't try and has a 0-9 score on dragon heat, just escaping into cabaret clubs and videogames. He comes to find himself involved in a scam and falls in love for a woman who he thought was in distress. He hated his weakness as he couldn't protect even the woman he loves from the corruption of Kamurocho, and escapes to play videogames. Tatsuya gets through to him and teaches him to stand up for himself and fight no matter what. With alol his training he stood up to the man who was taking advantage of the woman he loves, but finds himself defeated. It's an interesting twist with all that training to still lose, but tatsuya only respects his strength to stand up for himself and keep his stance even in certain danger. It may have took a scam artist for him to gather up his strength, but he uses his courage to protect even those who do him wrong as he can't turn a blind eye to the weak. An amazing character really with outstanding values and the strength Tatsuya admires. Ryusho seems like just a common yakuza punk and the heir to dragon heat. Ryusho however is a brilliant character with an outward carefree experience but with a deep love for the punks that fight in dragon heat. He takes multiple risks throughout the story even betraying the tojo clan to protect his arena and his father's legacy. He fights for what he believes in and even finds himself in debt to help out his fighters and tatsuya. He shuts out his feelings a lot, but finds himself to open up when around Tatsuya showing his true values. He's easily one of the best characters in the game and a great companion to Tatsuya. He shows care for Tatsuya wanting him to not get involved with the underground and go back to his sister. He breaks the mold of the spoiled heir and really manages to make something for himself dying for his "kids" pretending to not care for them as he found himself cheated out of his arena. Solid character and might just be my favorite besides the protagonist. Yuta is the next character and is supposed to be a reflection of Tatsuya's hate for his father. Yuta despised his father just like Tatsuya thinking he's just a selfish prick holding on to his land and money, and no care for his son. The story reveals Yuta's love for his son and the truth behind the pachinko queen through a side character. Just like Tatsuya he finds himself afraid of the truth of his father and seems scared of it, shutting himself out. Tatsuya is able to convince him to visit his father in the hospital and not make the same mistakes he's made. Pretty solid character. Moving on to Makoto, he's one of the strongest characters of the bunch. Abandoned in an orphanage as a young man and growing up alongside a girl he considers to be like a sister to him. He finds out this "sister" of his likes him and is unsure what to think and runs away from his problems. This sets off Tatsuya as he's made similar mistakes and works to make him confess his love and not let her go alone outside of Japan. The ensuing chapters only expand more on Makoto. A punk fighting on the streets that a Man called Minegi saw potential in. Dragon Heat helped Makoto mature and like Tatsuya his father figure is killed and framed as a suicide. Denial came fast and Makoto found himself running off to his fathers place.. Minegi was like a father to him and turned his whole life around like Kuki did to Tatsuya, and he doesn't run away after this and only vows to make this right and help people with the strength he has after Tatsuya uplifts him: telling him to use his strength to help those around him. Tatsuya is forced to go to Ashura and fight when his sister got kidnapped, Tatsuya wants to save his sister more than anybody but his fear of letting dragon heat down and not making it in time forces him to keep fighting (straying a lil offtopic here but kuki shows genuine care for Tatsuya like before and tells him to for his sister and offers to pay the ransom) . Makoto, even with a short interaction with Tatsuya's sister goes to save Tatsuya's sister so he can find peace with himself and not let another person he cares about die. Makoto, like Tatsuya wants no more casualties and rushes in by himself to save Tatsuya's sister only to tragically die. Makoto may have died, but he saved Saeko with his strength and dies peacefully in Tatsuya's arms. All these characters are Tatsuyas regrets brought to fruition and is an interesting way to grow his character, trying to help others not become like him while makin g unique characters out of it.

The story really is amazing, and is an experience I would recomend to everybody RGG's stories have touched me since I played yakuza kiwami as part of a playstation plus monthly game. I hope Yakuza 7 and the judgement games make me feel the same. At the end, you really don't want to say bye to the wonderfully crafted characters that RGG studio makes, and I hope more people can analyze these games beyond the surface level unlike me.

Spoilers (Better to just play the game, just leaving my thoughts here)



This game is the golden standard of ARPGS, starting with the gameplay you already have a lot with it's unique variety of pins allowing for player expression. Some pins completely changing the game how you play the game. From swiping on the screen, to tapping, to even blowing on the mic it uses all of the ds' features excellently. The dual screen gameplay requires you truly be in sync with your partner and paying close attention to the attacks, carefully dodging and playing the minigames for fusion levels.

The characters deserve their own section, the story is amazing but the characters are the real highlight here, it's amazing seeing the characters grow as you play the game, and even the common npc's can see some growth along with the protag. It's hard to not get attached to them, they all have excellent motivations (my favorite being beat) It's really heartwarming seeing Neku being inspired by cat's words and realizing "The world ends with him" Hating the sameness, and dullness of shibuya to realizing the people around him are just like him. Beat while looking like some standard punk has so much more to him. Being pressured by his parents expectations he runs from home, this single moment already makes the audience feel empathy as we've all felt that. Unexpectedly his sister which he believes could actually do something in life follows him resulting in both of them being struck by a car as he wasn't strong enough to protect her leading to an immense amount of guilt. Throughout the game they reunite, but she does not recognize him, even with this she helps him through everything, and even sacrifices herself for him.Throughout the rest of the game, he goes through tooth and nail to get his sister back even becoming a reaper. Even as a reaper he refuses to do his duties and erase the players he's helped throughout the game, and just holds what's close to him on his back (Rhyme). Not doing anything like erasing not only because it's not in his character, but because he wouldn't do something like that Infront of his sister. He seems like just a well mannered misunderstood punk on the surface but his writing is top notch. He's constantly helping people as he thinks they'll be something unlike him, he's really a touching character. He's my favorite character even over Neku. No matter how I talk about Neku, I will not be able to do him justice. He's truly one of the best written protagonists alongside Raiden. Starts out closing off his world tired of the same things he sees everyday in shibuya until he stumbles into cat's art with neat messages like the world is as big as you make it, until one fateful day admiring this art he's tragically shot and picked to play in a game. In this game he's forced to work with the people he used to hate so much, leading to him eventually caring about not only his partners but the people around him as he finds out there are people just like him. He started to care for shiki especially when she was feeling off. The constant death of the partners around him dying on him didn't make him want to trust again, but Cat's art and Mr K's words drive him to trust again only to experience the same thing. He helps beat and shiki through their tough moments, and helps them go through it after realizing how much he truly cares for these people. Neku's gone through a lot, the end part opf the game made me cry man. Neku even after all he's gone through after Joshua's reveal can't find himself to pull the trigger as he trusts him as a partner even if he doesn't forgive him. I don't have a lot to say about shiki, but she has a good story. Shiki always had a passion for sewing making designs such as mr mew. She found a friend who helped her make designs as she sewed. This friend meant everything to shiki, to the point where she started seeing herself as lesser. The friend here, could make beatiful designs, she had so many friends, and looked so much better than her she thought. This lead into shiki dying and having her looks taken as the entry fee, to look like her friend. She constantly stares at her old appearance and slowly realizes, she was only shutting herself out. Her friend cared for her and even gave up designing after her. Neku even hammers the point saying even if she changes back into her old appearance, that's the shiki he cares for.

I don't know much about music theory so I can't go over the machinations of what makes the ost so good. Despite my shortcomings here, I want to talk about Deja Vu which is my favorite track in this game. It details over Neku's encounters with Joshua feeling Deja Vu from being in Udagawa, with the same smell, dress ,smile, voice and everything. The beat in this song is absolutely amazing, it's upbeat and fits walking around shibuya in these games. The vocalist does an amazing job here. It really just makes me euphoric, I'm usually just a spanish rock kind of guy but I would listen to this even outside of the game. It even ties in to Neku having his memories taken and having the sense that something feels familiar walking through these streets. It really is just perfection and I have not done it justice, go listen for yourself. I can't talk about all the tracks since I'm not that good at this but it really is one of my favorite osts.

My final thoughts on this game is that it's an experience that should be played by everyone with an amazing ost, stellar characters, and a great narrative with good pacing. It really makes me feel stupid I didn't play this game so long ago. I had marked it down to play since Etika played it and was praising it. I even added the ost alongside with other songs he liked to a playlist when he died. The only reason I'm writing this review is that my friends and some of my family watched Etika with me and I wanted to talk about one of his favorite games. Thank you for the amazing experience, I hope others can have just as much of a great experience I had. I know it's weird to grieve for a content creator, but it truly broke me watching my friends grieve. Fly high Etika FRFX.