Dotonbori & Sotenbori Extra #2 - Yakuza 0 Sotenbori (Yakuza/龍が如く Series)
14-Liner notes for this video-
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Dotonbori Shopping Street/Sotenbori Street:
Despite the facade on everything being very different, the layout for Yakuza 0's Sotenbori Street is very much the same as Yakuza 5's. As such, any of the differences between there and Dotonbori remain the same. Places like Magutako and Tsuruhashi Fugetsu here in East Sotenbori Street are in the same positions found in Y5. Side note: that Walkman ad seen around this area is accurate to the time period. It's the Sony WM-505 Wireless Walkman.
As expected, there's no Dragon & Tiger analogue in real life. That would be, uh....very illegal. The area it is in here in-game, along with Sega Hi-Tech Land, would be a part of the big Forever 21 building seen in real life. I'm not sure what was in that spot in Dotonbori prior to 2011. Street View from around that time shows a large empty lot. The only business change from Y5 is Watami being replaced with Yoronotaki Sotenbori. Yoronotaki is a real izakaya chain in Japan. It's unknown to me, though, if there was ever a location on Dotonbori Shopping Street.
Tazaemon Bridge/Bishamon Bridge:
The only thing to note here on Bishamon Bridge is the lack of extra walkways. My assumption is this is accurate to what Tazaemon Bridge in Dotonbori looked like in 1988.
Soemoncho Street/Shofukucho:
Fun fact: the spot where you see the Lawson here in real life was a small parking lot up until the latter half of 2018.
Anyways, any differences between Soemoncho and Shofukucho seen in Yakuza 5 still apply here. After all, the maps in Y0 and Y5 are pretty much the same. One thing to point out is that Don Quijote being present here in 1988 is an anachronism. The company existed as Just Co. in 1988 and was a wholesale business. It wasn't until 1989 that they re-branded into Don Quijote and became a retail business. The first store with that name was in the Tokyo area.
As noted in Extra #1, the layout around Shofukucho differs greatly from Soemoncho in Dotonbori. All the differences seen in Yakuza 5 still apply here in Yakuza 0. It is unknown to me if the layout here in Y0 is in anyway accurate to 1988 Dotonbori.
Shinsaibash-suji/Bunzaemon Outdoor Mall:
Like with the previous Extra video, there is not much to note around here, other than the obvious facade changes. The SFT Village building seen around here is also in Yakuza 5, but is probably not accurate to anything found in 1988 Dotonbori. The equivalent building seen in the real-world footage that holds the H&M was still being built around 2009/2010.
Ebisu Bridge/Iwao Bridge:
Like with the other bridge, we are missing the extra walkways seen in other versions of Sotenbori. A lot of the signage around here is the same as Yakuza 5, with everything being changed into neon signage. The only thing really out of place is that Joysound banner. My gut tells me that that probably didn't exist then, but was included here due to branding necessity.
Tonbori Riverwalk/Sotenbori Footpath:
Now here is something that is quite different. Any of the businesses seen in real life or in-game are not present here at all. If I had to guess, this is probably how it actually looked in Dotonbori in the late 1980s. The only thing similar to Yakuza 5 are the extra staircases that connect to Sotenbori Street and Shofukucho.
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Songs Used:
The Whole Other - The Missing Link
Nat Keefe & BeatMower - Creeping Spiders
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