Nishikiyama Akira VS Goda Ryuji

[Captain Cadaver]

The final bosses of the first two Yakuza games square off against each other, both at their peaks (ie. Nishiki just before his fight with Kiryu and Ryuji before his first rematch with Kiryu).

Scenario 1 - Both are limited to their canon movesets and capabilities.

Scenario 2 - Both can fight based on their Kiwami game mechanics. Nishiki can heal some health on occasion, whereas Ryuji is armed with his sword.

Scenario 3 - Same as 2, but Ryuji can use Essence of Extreme Dragon.

Fight area: Inside of Serena.
Mindset: Both bloodlusted. Ryuji wants to kill Nishiki and steal his pants .
Starting Distance: 3m
Intel: Standard

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

Scenario 1: Ryuji literally destroys Nikishiki in a fight, he's canonically stronger and tougher and was a potential rival to a stronger Kiryu. Nishiki went up against Kiryu at his 2nd most weakest and still lost.

Scenario 2: Ryuji's move set is pretty basic, but I remember that he had knock back resistance. I think Nishiki has this though considering he can heal back health and has better combos.

Scenario 3: Ryuji has this, whenever Nishiki heals Ryuji can punish him for it.

Spoiler

But Mine beats them both at the same time

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Nishiki went up against Kiryu at his 2nd most weakest and still lost.

Can we say that for sure though? Leaving aside how getting back to full strength via Majima Everywhere is completely optional in Kiwami (though Kiryu beating down Mad Dog Majima as part of the story is telling), several characters pointed out how Nishiki was now a true match for Kiryu and never really brought up his rustiness from being in prison as a factor (of which the Majima fight suggests was no longer an issue by the time of the climax). It also seems very assumptive that Kiryu improved in strength since the first game beyond game mechanics such as stat boosting and the (entirely optional) Komaki lessons when considering most of his time was spent looking after Haruka. Despite Ryuji being on par with him, it was also pretty clear Kiryu was still solidly ahead of him with him being able to KO Ryuji for what seemed to be significantly longer than he did Nishiki and did ultimately beat him down without being too fatigued in their last clash when considering his gunshot wound (though I guess you can chalk that up to him knowing the For the Sake of Tomorrow Lessons and using a KUROSU KAUNTA ). Ryuji could be argued to have more durability with how he took the bullets, though considering the feats of Nishitani and Awano in 0, that seems par to the course for Yakuza top tiers.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

Nishiki went up against Kiryu at his 2nd most weakest and still lost.

Can we say that for sure though? Leaving aside how getting back to full strength via Majima Everywhere is completely optional in Kiwami (though Kiryu beating down Mad Dog Majima as part of the story is telling), several characters pointed out how Nishiki was now a true match for Kiryu and never really brought up his rustiness from being in prison as a factor (of which the Majima fight suggests was no longer an issue by the time of the climax). It also seems very assumptive that Kiryu improved in strength since the first game beyond game mechanics such as stat boosting and the (entirely optional) Komaki lessons when considering most of his time was spent looking after Haruka. Despite Ryuji being on par with him, it was also pretty clear Kiryu was still solidly ahead of him with him being able to KO Ryuji for what seemed to be significantly longer than he did Nishiki and did ultimately beat him down without being too fatigued in their last clash when considering his gunshot wound (though I guess you can chalk that up to him knowing the For the Sake of Tomorrow Lessons and using a KUROSU KAUNTA ). Ryuji could be argued to have more durability with how he took the bullets, though considering the feats of Nishitani and Awano in 0, that seems par to the course for Yakuza top tiers.

I do agree that Nishiki is an incredibly strong fighter, considering Kiryu in Yakuza 1 is still a complete beast. But Kiryu gets stronger with each game, NPC's point out that he's gotten faster and stronger, he trains with more people and learns more techniques, his feats get even more ridiculous. Ryuji's stronger than Nishiki in a story sense because Yakuza villains continually escalate in strength at least until Yakuza 4 (but that had an ensemble cast, so it could afford to be more lenient).

The only guy who gets weaker with each game is Majima, who by Yakuza 4 has fell off so much that he's no longer in Kiryu's league.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The only guy who gets weaker with each game is Majima, who by Yakuza 4 has fell off so much that he's no longer in Kiryu's league.

That part's kind of arguable. Though I've yet to play it, I have heard that Majima tells Saejima in Yakuza 5 that he let him beat him during their fight in Yakuza 4 in which he still had Saejima panting by the end (which makes sense with Saejima being fresh out of prison and taking on a lot of fodder yakuza beforehand), which is fairly significant when Saejima is treat as Kiryu's equal at least by the time of 5. It also seems arguable how much Majima's performance has to do with him keeping up the Mad Dog persona when taking into account Kiwami with how he's shown tanking a lot of damage in the first Zombie Majima encounter, though I guess you could say a point could be made on Majima getting rusty from 2/K2 onwards could be made with Komaki implying it in Kiwami and considering how OP he was in 0.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

The only guy who gets weaker with each game is Majima, who by Yakuza 4 has fell off so much that he's no longer in Kiryu's league.

That part's kind of arguable. Though I've yet to play it, I have heard that Majima tells Saejima in Yakuza 5 that he let him beat him during their fight in Yakuza 4 in which he still had Saejima panting by the end (which makes sense with Saejima being fresh out of prison and taking on a lot of fodder yakuza beforehand), which is fairly significant when Saejima is treat as Kiryu's equal at least by the time of 5. It also seems arguable how much Majima's performance has to do with him keeping up the Mad Dog persona when taking into account Kiwami with how he's shown tanking a lot of damage in the first Zombie Majima encounter, though I guess you could say a point could be made on Majima getting rusty from 2/K2 onwards could be made with Komaki implying it in Kiwami and considering how OP he was in 0.

I'll spoil it for you, but Majima explicitly states in Yakuza 4 that he's washed up and even Saejima expresses shock about how much weaker he's become. Even if Majima hadn't thrown that fight, he still would have lost because Saejima is a complete monster in terms of strength. Majima was at his strongest in Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami but once he becomes one of the Tojo clan patriarchs he gets weaker.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yeah, I knew about the Majima statement in 4, though I wasn't sure if the 5 statement altered things at all, considering Majima only pointed to him having been stronger with 2 eyes, which says a lot when considering his 0 self.

2 eyed Majima with all his maxed out fighting styles from 0/Kiwami could probably solo the Amon clan accidentally whilst dancing to 24 Hour Cinderella .

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

2 eyed Majima with all his maxed out fighting styles from 0/Kiwami could probably solo the Amon clan accidentally whilst dancing to 24 Hour Cinderella .

Of course :rape