Cast announced for Yakuza

By Ellie Gibson Published 19 June, 2006

Madsen! Dushku! HAMILL!

SEGA has announced the cast list for forthcoming PS2 brawler Yakuza - and topping the bill is none other than the artist formerly known as Luke Skywalker.

Yes, MARK HAMILL will play Majima, a Yakuza boss with a taste for violence and a twisted sense of honour. Michael Madsen, best known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and Sin City, stars as fellow Yakuza bigwig Shimano, and Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum provides the voice of gangster Nishiki.

Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Bring It On) will play the mysterious Yumi, and Rachel Leigh Cook (She's All That) takes on the role of hostess bar owner Reina.

Yakuza, for those who aren't familiar, has already proved a huge hit in Japan, where it was released under the name Ryu Ga Gotoku. Set in Tokyo, it follows the adventures of an ex-mobster who's trying to stay on the straight and narrow after a long spell in prison - but ends up in all sorts of trouble after a stash of 10 million yen goes missing.

There's a special combat system which lets you string moves together, and use stuff you find lying around as weapons. The more you fight, the better you'll get. You can expect lots of side missions, too.

Yakuza is being brought to us by producer Toshihiro Nagoshi, who was also responsible for Super Monkey Ball and Virtua Striker. The game is due out on September 5th.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 6 years ago

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  • Hunamster #1 6 years ago

    "Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Bring It On) will play the mysterious Yumi"

    Who do i send money too?

    /pre-orders 20
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/06 @ 11:02

  • el_pollo_diablo #2 6 years ago

    Madsen! Dushku! HAMILL!

    Skint! Skinter! SKINTEST!

  • megastar #3 6 years ago

    Dushku and Leigh Cook

    Mmmmmmm

  • asphaltcowboy #4 6 years ago

    Not sure Madsen was well known for his role in Sin City - he was on screen for what, all of 5 minutes? Anyway, I lost respect for him when he worked with Uwe Boll!

  • justsomeone #5 6 years ago

    isn't 10 million yen about 50 thousand quids? a doctor evil style mixup methinks, or did i work it out wrong?

  • Hog-lumps #6 6 years ago

    hmmm, as cool as Madsen is, all I really want is decent subtitles!
    Edited by 2 at 19/06/06 @ 11:32

  • Thamuhacha #7 6 years ago

    >isn't 10 million yen about 50 thousand quids?

    50 grand is still quite a lot of cash isn't it?

  • justsomeone #8 6 years ago

    quite a lot to you and me my friend, but i'd strongly suspect the average yakuza wouldn't take his shoes off (get it??) for 50 grand, or even notice if it was missing from his pocket change. or maybe it's set in the 1970's, didn't check, i just went in with my ususal knee-jerk pedantry as i find that simply saves time.

  • Xephon70 #9 6 years ago

    Not the first time Hamill's recorded a voice over either, he's been a big name in the field for years. He's even been the voice of the Joker.

  • Hunam85 #10 6 years ago

    didn't he do live action in some wing commander games?

  • Kami #11 6 years ago

    ""Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Bring It On) will play the mysterious Yumi"

    SOLD!

  • McGeeza #12 6 years ago

    Don't forget his great work as the skeleton king from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go

  • twelveways #13 6 years ago

    Is this gonna be ps2 only?

  • Mr_Bogus #14 6 years ago

    Yea i remember seeing Mark Hamill in WC, can't remember if it was 3 or 4 i played... but turns out he was in both (as well as quite a few others).

    From http://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hamill :

    "When the Wing Commander series of computer games started using full motion video cut scenes, Hamill was cast as the series protagonist, Colonel Christopher Blair, a role he played in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994), Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995), and Wing Commander: Prophecy (1997). (In the 1999 Wing Commander film, set earlier in the series, the character was played by Freddie Prinze, Jr..) Other notable computer-game roles (voice only) include Lieutenant Mosely in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Assistant Director Wilson in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, several characters in the LucasArts game Full Throttle (including Ripburger), and Wolverine in X2: Wolverine's Revenge, the tie-in game to the movie X2: X-Men United. Hamill also provided the voice for two of the primary characters of Starsiege, one of them a young warrior leading a rebellion against an empire. (The other being his brother.)"

  • Onny #15 6 years ago

    You DEMAND it?

    Why not start an online petition, I hear they always work.

  • ttechh #16 6 years ago

    I REALLY hope there is an option for original japanese voices although I doubt it. But SEGA, if you are reading this, please give us the option to choose.

  • absolutezero #17 6 years ago

    Wow a rubbish VA-Cast appearing in a game about the Japanese underground which had a wonderful original dub.

    Genius Sega, thanks alot!

  • toy_brain #18 6 years ago

    "Wow a rubbish VA-Cast appearing in a game about the Japanese underground which had a wonderful original dub."

    Thats a pretty interesting definition of 'rubbish' you have - considering there are some fairly big names in there, and everyone knows how well Hamill can play a twisted bad-guy.
    Or would you rather have the usual crew of LA anime-dubbers like Crispin Freeman, Richard Epgar, Wendee Lee etc?

  • NegativeZero #19 6 years ago

    Mark Hamill's done a few games, and he should be pretty good in the role. If you ever played Full Throttle way back, he was the villain in that, among other games.

  • dudefella #20 6 years ago

    Good voice cast, I hope they're used to the best of their abilities. Still slightly wary though, as good actors do not always = good voice actors. FF7: AC and KH anyone?

    Also, those hoping for the Japanese languagetrack with subtitles (myself included) are unlucky: In a recent Gamespot article, it was confirmed that only the english language track would make it in our versions. Lack of disc space. Unlucky.

  • lemonfist #21 6 years ago

    I always read that as Rachel Leigh Cock.

  • absolutezero #22 6 years ago

    toy_brain, yes I would prefer that, it maight get a bit dull hearing the same people over and over again but they are professional Voice Actors not just some "Big Names" who decided that it would be fun to appear in a silly game. Also for "Big Names" these people are nobodies in both the acting World and in the VA scene. Good going.

    As has already been mentioned most games and anime that go down this path are awful. Tifa in Advent Children is all I really need to make me hate projects like this.

    Also to properlly answer your question I would prefer the original dub, go watch some of the old trailers they fit perfectly. All they need to do was bung in some subtitles. Yakuza is going to be a niche title anyway, its about the Japanese mafia for God sake bringing in celeb Voice Actors will attract next to no poeple that were'nt already interested in it.