The trend ofLike a Dragoncrossing 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 withDave 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 ofDredgeandBalatro.
This upcoming crossover betweenLike a DragonandDave the Diverseems 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 fromLike a Dragon’s long history. This core gameplay is quite similar to the limited-time release ofStreets of Kamurocho, a promotional freeware title that many fans may have missed.
Dave the Diver’s Like a Dragon DLC Seems Like a Logical Evolution of Streets of Kamurocho
TheLike a Dragoncrossover content forDave the Diveris officially titledIchiban’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 theLike a Dragonfranchise, 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 theIchiban’s HolidayDLC 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 ofthe motifs of the modernLike a Dragonfranchise, and the DLC is already creating a lot of excitement.
The other major character that theIchiban’sHolidaycrossover has teased is Survive Bar’s “The Bartender,” who long-time fans of theLike a Dragonfranchise will know as Kiryu’s stoic mentor,Osamu Kashiwagi.Ichiban’s Holidayalso features classicLike a Dragonmini-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’sStreets of Kamurocho, a mash-up between theLike a DragonandStreets of RageIPs that was released to celebrate Sega’s 60th anniversary.Streets of Kamurochofeatured the likes of Kiryu, Majima, and Ichiban in a brief gameplay loop inspired byStreets of Rage 2, and the game was only available officially for a brief time.
Streets of Kamurochowas 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 playingStreets of Kamurochobecause of its brief availability, and the upcoming collaboration betweenLike a DragonandDave the Diverseems 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 ofDave the Diveralongside classicLike a Dragonmini-games makes it a much bigger experience than whatStreets of Kamurochooffered, yet it is still great to see the intriguingside-scroller history of theLike a Dragonfranchisebe fully realized in such an exciting and thoughtful way.
