The trend of Like a Dragon crossing over with other franchises has been further solidified with an announcement that was made at the recent PlayStation State of Play event on February 12, which revealed a collaboration with Dave the Diver. That indie title from 2023 has been making some big waves of its own with a wide range of crossovers, and it has already found success collaborating with the likes of Dredge and Balatro.
This upcoming crossover between Like a Dragon and Dave the Diver seems to be jam-packed with content, and its reveal showcased some gameplay footage that gave players an excellent idea of what to expect from the DLC. In what is presumably an attempt to merge the gameplay of both franchises, a lot of the crossover’s content appears to be centered around side-scrolling beat-em-up combat, and it features some very important characters from Like a Dragon‘s long history. This core gameplay is quite similar to the limited-time release of Streets of Kamurocho, a promotional freeware title that many fans may have missed.
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Dave the Diver’s Like a Dragon DLC Seems Like a Logical Evolution of Streets of Kamurocho
The Like a Dragon crossover content for Dave the Diver is officially titled Ichiban’s Holiday, and it is expected to come in the form of DLC in April. As its name suggests, the crossover is centered around the new lead of the Like a Dragon franchise, Ichiban Kasuga, taking a holiday at the Blue Hole and quickly becoming a welcomed part of Dave’s crew.
Working alongside the ex-arms dealer Cobra, Ichiban uncovers a dolphin-poaching plot by the nefarious Sea Blue gang, with the Ichiban’s Holiday DLC then seeing Ichiban, and some other recognizable faces, infiltrate the gang’s hideouts in classic arcade-inspired beat-em-up combat. This retro gameplay and art style seems perfectly aligned with Ichiban’s love of classic gaming, which in itself has defined a lot of the motifs of the modern Like a Dragon franchise, and the DLC is already creating a lot of excitement.
The other major character that the Ichiban‘s Holiday crossover has teased is Survive Bar’s “The Bartender,” who long-time fans of the Like a Dragon franchise will know as Kiryu’s stoic mentor, Osamu Kashiwagi. Ichiban‘s Holiday also features classic Like a Dragon mini-games, such as karaoke, and the DLC seems like a perfect love-letter to the franchise’s history in more ways than one.
Dave the Diver’s Ichiban’s Holiday DLC Pays Great Respect to the History of Like a Dragon
Fans were quick to note the similarities between the DLC’s beat-em-up gameplay and 2020’s Streets of Kamurocho, a mash-up between the Like a Dragon and Streets of Rage IPs that was released to celebrate Sega’s 60th anniversary. Streets of Kamurocho featured the likes of Kiryu, Majima, and Ichiban in a brief gameplay loop inspired by Streets of Rage 2, and the game was only available officially for a brief time.
Streets of Kamurocho was initially made available for a three-day window in October 2020, causing it to fly under the radar despite its interesting premise.
Many players may have missed out on playing Streets of Kamurocho because of its brief availability, and the upcoming collaboration between Like a Dragon and Dave the Diver seems like the perfect way for fans to finally experience a more fleshed-out and expanded version of the game’s core experience. Of course, the way that the DLC is set to seamlessly incorporate the gameplay beats of Dave the Diver alongside classic Like a Dragon mini-games makes it a much bigger experience than what Streets of Kamurocho offered, yet it is still great to see the intriguing side-scroller history of the Like a Dragon franchise be fully realized in such an exciting and thoughtful way.
- Released
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June 28, 2023
- ESRB
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E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence, Use of Alcohol, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
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Mintrocket
- Publisher(s)
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Mintrocket