If you happen to by some means thought the Like a Dragon (previously Yakuza) collection wasn’t over-the-top sufficient already, a brand new addition to the upcoming remake of Like a Dragon: Ishin! may simply flip the tables…or flip them. Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has revealed that wrestler Kenny Omega will likely be making a cameo look in Ishin as a summonable character to help in battle, full with a wondrous crossover of a transfer: One-Winged Angel. He’ll be joined by Midnight Mass star Rahul Kohli.
Omega and Kohli’s appearances will take the type of a “Trooper Card,” successfully a summon just like the Poundmates utilized in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Trooper Playing cards are a function new to the remake that permits gamers to summon different characters to help them in battle with particular talents, assaults, or short-term stat boosts, and can embody each celeb cameos in addition to visits from different characters throughout the Like a Dragon collection.
Kohli’s Trooper Card is titled “Essence of Firestorm” and its in-game description reads as follows: “A chivalrous man who’s traveled by means of house, time, and actuality to serve the Shinsengumi. Attracts upon his expertise in regulation enforcement to maintain the peace.”
In the meantime, Omega’s Trooper Card is known as “Essence of the One-Winged Angel” and bears the outline: “A strapping fighter who’s traveled by means of house, time, and actuality to serve the Shinsengumi. It’s stated that his elite abilities can summon the celebs themselves.” It’s a reference each to Ultimate Fantasy 7 in addition to Omega’s in-ring wrestling finisher, One-Winged Angel.
That stated, wrestling followers shouldn’t anticipate it to look something like his precise in-ring transfer, as he advised IGN forward of this announcement.
“It is fully totally different,” Omega says. “It is not a wrestling maintain. It takes into consideration that we’re closely influenced by swordplay, magic, and gunplay. I believed it was an opportunity to do one thing a bit totally different. As a lot as I do need, hopefully sometime, to have a few of my precise wrestling maneuvers in a sport, for now I am very happy and thrilled to have a really distinctive and unique assault that feels prefer it belongs within the universe.”
The AEW World Trios Champion is a identified gamer and RPG fan, and has been a large fan of the Like a Dragon collection since he was a child. He’s performed each entry to date besides for 2: Kurohyō, a PSP sport that was solely launched in Japan, and the unique Ishin.
His favourite? Omega loves Yakuza: Like a Dragon as a result of it’s an RPG, however he additionally wished to shout out Yakuza 2.
“I really feel like there is a nostalgia issue, and I really feel like that captured my creativeness probably the most,” he says. “I knew a lot about Tokyo and the sights and sounds, so to take the journey to Osaka after which see simply how quirky and funky and enjoyable Osaka was with out ever having a hope of going there. Yeah, it at all times has a particular place in my coronary heart.”
It was Omega’s love of the collection that netted him the cameo, too. He was initially simply serving to out with ads for Ishin, however that chance ultimately developed right into a Trooper Card. His look in a Like a Dragon sport has been rumored since final fall, when Omega shared on Instagram that he had his likeness scanned into the engine. And the wrestler is clearly stoked, evaluating his love of Like a Dragon to Yakuza: Like a Dragon protagonist Ichiban’s love of Dragon Quest.
The extra time that goes by and the extra installments we get, the extra honed to our actuality that the video games grow to be.
“That caught me off guard,” he says of the cameo. “Large shock. Very, very, very blissful about that information. Trying very ahead for folks to get their palms on the cardboard, and I am blissful to report that even if you happen to’re not a wrestling fan, even if you happen to’re not a Kenny Omega fan — I do know, geez, wow, boy, would that ever be unhappy if you happen to weren’t? — however if you happen to’re not, completely comprehensible, as a result of I’ve helped design a card that I believe will likely be helpful throughout the board, and simply make your time in Ishin a bit extra enjoyable and a bit extra overpowered.”
Omega isn’t simply thrilled about his personal inclusion in Ishin, however about what it means for the franchise. Whereas previous Like a Dragon video games have had occasional cameos of fashionable Japanese celebrities and even wrestlers, his look coincides with ongoing development in reputation for the collection within the West. Meaning we would see extra cameos from Western celebrities in Ishin or future video games…and possibly much more of Omega.
“I do really feel just like the extra time that goes by and the extra installments we get, the extra honed to our actuality that the video games grow to be,” Omega says. “We’re beginning to see extra real-life folks. Extra real-life eating places, mental properties, landmarks. It is attending to grow to be similar to the world that we dwell in, or not less than the Japan that we’ve in our world.
“And who is aware of? Who is aware of the place their travels will take them? Possibly they’re going to find yourself some other place at some point. However yeah, for now, the world is beginning to really feel increasingly acquainted, and in addition increasingly relatable. So if there’s any kind of collaborative effort, I am undoubtedly throwing my title within the hat, and hopefully this is not going to be the tip of Kenny Omega within the RGG universe.”
I shut our dialog by asking Omega if he thinks he may take the protagonist of Like a Dragon: Ishin!, Ryoma, in a struggle, and the champion is surprisingly humble…even perhaps a bit villainous?
“No, after all not,” he says. “I do not know what sort of reply anybody was anticipating. No, I am only a showman. I am a nasty man, too. I am the man that should get his butt whipped, I believe.”
Like a Dragon: Ishin! is deliberate for launch on February 21, 2023 for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
Rebekah Valentine is a information reporter for IGN. You will discover her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
