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In a sporting upset that will leave fans across the world gobsmacked, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto settled one of gaming's ultimate questions: who would win in a Segway race; Cloud Strife or Yakuza's own Ichiban Kasuga?
The question came as a result of both Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth showing off Segway mechanics in their games. When asked at a hands-on preview event which of the game's protagonists would win such a race, Sakamoto answered directly: "In terms of who I think would win, I think Ichiban would definitely lose."
Sakamoto himself referenced a Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer which featured Cloud on the goofy two-wheeled vehicle. "When I saw that trailer, I was like: 'what a coincidence', so it was a nice surprise."
In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Ichiban finds himself in Hawaii on a quest to track down his estranged biological mother. However, as I swiftly found out during my time with a preview build of the game, Infinite Wealth's Honolulu area is impressively large, making traversal on foot a tall order. However, after a quick sidequest, I soon unlocked Segway travel, making for a convenient and amusingly oddball form of transport.
"It's a big map," said Sakamoto. "One of the big issues that we ran into was 'how are we going to get these characters to go around on such a big map?'. We really wanted a vehicle option, and so we floated a bunch of ideas from bicycles to scooters, but we thought the Segway was going to be a lot of fun."
Though we don't yet know how prominently the Segway will feature in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, it's clear that both titles will allow their heroes to ride them about in sunny locales. I just hope that Ichiban and Cloud never have to do that race for real - I can't bear the thought of my two boys fighting.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is coming out on January 26 and could shape up to be one of the best RPGs and best story games of the year.