Mini-Game Completion Requirements

Players move in time with the music that accompanies the konpira fune fune game. The difficulty of this mini-game will vary depending on your opponent. The most skilled player of this game is Asagiri.

Controls

This is a game in which the player and yujo take turns picking up the hakama on the table. Check the table provided here to see what options are available in each situation (e.g. when the hakama is there or not there). If you do anything different to what the table shows, you will lose.

The game continues until one of you loses, but if the turn counter gets up to 100, the yujo will surrender and you win.

The music (and therefore the mini-game) speeds up when you hit a certain number of turns. It first speeds up after 10 turns, then 30 turns, then 50 turns, then finally 70 turns.

Available options

	(While holding the hakama) - Continue to keep hold of the hakama - Place the hakama on the table
	(When the hakama is on the table) - Pick up hakama - Tap table (with open palm)
	(When the hakama is not on the table) - Tap table (with closed palm)

10 bottles are lined up at the end of a passage. The objective is to throw a ball at them to knock them down. Simplest way to describe this mini-game is that it is Edo-period bowling. The way to play the game, as well as the basic rules, are exactly the same as bowling.

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

Follow the steps shown here to go through the process of bowling. Before starting that process, you can press to select a different ball. There are 5 balls, each with a different weight. The heavier balls are more effective at knocking down pins, but the downside is that they are more difficult to spin. There is no time limit when you are bowling, so take your time to get the perfect bowl.

Bowling process

Listen to the phrase being read out by the kamuro, then pick up the card which has the first syllable indicated on it. (e.g. if it starts with "ma" select the card with "ma" on it).

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

Move your cursor over a card and press to pick it up. A player wins when they score enough that it is no longer possible for the opponent to win (e.g. as soon as someone hits a score of 4 in a 7 round game). Note that if a player picks up the wrong card, the other player wins that round.

Needless to say, if you don't read Japanese and/or are not good with Japanese listening, you may struggle with this one (even if you do know Japanese this one can be really annoying - trying to find the right card even if you know the one you want is not an easy task). See below for the pictures of the cards plus the Japanese text that appears on screen when it is read out.

Tip: Wait for the text to start appearing, pause the game, then look up the card you need here (match the first character against the Japanese text below). That way you know exactly what you're looking for and don't have to worry about the yujo finding it before you even get a chance to work out which one you need to grab.

Note that this game includes the use of archaic kana that is no longer used in modern Japanese. Also, some of the cards have special readings which don't match the usual pronunciation of the kana on the card (this is especially the case with the "N" card).

You throw a fan at an object known as a "butterfly". The points you score can vary depending on the throw (see below for details).

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

If you put too much power into the throw, the fan will miss the butterfly and stand completely. Try not to pull back too much when throwing the fan.

Points

In this game you are riding on a horse and armed with a bow. You fire arrows at targets that appear along the route to score points. It takes time to prepare and charge your shot so make sure you start firing before you get to the target (in other words, it doesn't fire instantly when you hit the shoot button).

Controls

Pull back the bow with the , then release the button to fire the arrow. It takes some time to prepare the shot so it can be easy to miss a target if you leave it too late. You may as well have your shot prepared well in advance of when you need it.

When you hit a target, the amount of points you get varies depending on a few factors (see below). Note that to destroy the green targets, you must hit it with a fully-charged shot (you'll know if a shot is fully charged when you hear a sound and Kiryu starts glowing as if he's in heat mode). By the way, if you do manage to hit one target more than once, you will only receive points from the first hit. Also, you may have already noticed, but the game does not have the decency to show you how many points you currently have (you only find out your score at the end of the course).

On some courses, there may be obstacles in your path that you have to avoid. When you get near the obstacle, you get a QTE (button is random). Failure to avoid the obstacle will stun Kiryu for a few seconds (cannot fire your bow while stunned).

Tip: If you charge a shot, as long as you keep the button held down you keep that charge even if you are dodging an obstacle. You'll have to do this to get the master rank on some of these courses because there are targets immediately after an obstacle and if you wait until after passing the obstacle to prepare your shot, you will not get it in time. So, charge the shot, press the QTE button (with held down throughout) then after passing the obstacle you can unleash a fully-charged shot right away.

When you see 3 targets lined up next to each other, you will need to fire a fully charged shot down the middle of them (when the 3 are lined up exactly) to take them all out. The timing can be tricky, but you'll need to get used to it if you want to pass these courses.

A mind-training exercise in which Kiryu attempts to focus on self-discipline while tempted by earthly temptations.

Controls

On the screen, input buttons will float around until they land in the "Action Point" - you only press the action buttons when the input button reaches that point. If you've played any of the newer Yakuza/Like a Dragon games, this works exactly like karaoke. Get the timing right to build up the enlightenment scale. You pass the course if you can finish with the scale above the pass line. As the enlightenment scale increases, the speed of the button displays also increases.

Depending on your timing, you will receive a different input rating which affects your score. If you are too fast, your rating will be "okay", if you are slightly too fast you get a rating of "good". If your timing is spot on your rating will be "great". If you are too slow you don't get anything. See below to see how the score is affected by various things, such as input rating and current combo.

If the mini-game throws you into a "shake off earthly desires" section, you just have to shake the controller until it moves you on to the next bit.

Input rating timing

Input Rating Score

Input Rating Enlightenment Scale Change

Score - Combo Bonus

Enlightenment Scale - Combo Bonus

Various scarecrow pop up from the floor and you need to destroy them all to complete the mini-game. Completing these mini-games for the first time unlocks a variety of useful abilities, including combo upgrades.

The controls in this mini-game are the same as regular combat, but without the ability to change style.

A mini-game in which you ride on the back of a frog and shoot at targets (look up Jiraiya in Japanese folklore if you're interested in more information). Targets will pop up and move from right-left (or left-right) and you hit them as the appear (and before they leave the screen). As you build up a combo or consecutive hits without missing, the speed will increase (targets move faster).

Controls

Basically, you throw a shuriken at targets in order to build up a score - get enough points to reach the pass rank to complete the course. If you destroy the target as soon as it appears, or if you destroy more than one target with a single throw, you get bonus points. When you get consecutive hits, the speed will increase (targets will move faster). Keeping the speed high means you will complete the course faster, which means you will get a time bonus (completing the course faster = more points).

The highest scoring target, the "Koetsu" target, will only appear at its designated location on the course (see courses below) if you arrive there within a certain time. In other words, if you are too slow, it won't appear. Think of it as a reward for doing well. Keep the speed of the course high and the Koetsu target will appear. When you see "Koetsu Target Trigger" in the course tables below, that means you need to arrive at the Koetsu target's location within that time. Note that the Koetsu target does not appear on all courses.

Be careful - there are a couple of targets which will lose you points if you hit them. They look a lot like the real targets so at a glance it can be easy to mess up. For example, the Kumagoro target looks similar to the Bear target and the Girl target looks like the Fox Girl target. Be careful so you don't lose points - just let these targets pass by.

What affects speed

Quick Shot Bonus

A form of mental training provided by En no Ozuma, intended to improve concentration. He throws various objects at Kiryu (mostly melons), who must time his strikes to destroy the objects and score points.

Controls

You must hit the objects thrown at you. If you time your hit well, your hit grade will be "Great", giving you the most amount of points. You pass if the training gauge is at or above the pass line when you finish the course. Sometimes En no Ozuma will throw objects directly at Kiryu (particularly the bottles). If you fail to hit these objects they will hit Kiryu and stun him. If this happens, you need to make use of the motion controls in the controller by shaking it to reduce stun time.

Types of thrown objects

	Melon - The most common thrown object. Gives the least amount of points
	Kusudama - Most rewarding object when hit, both in terms of points earned and amount by which the training gauge increases
	Iron Ball - You only cut these balls in half if you get a "Great" hit grade (so you don't get any points for Okay or Good hits).
	Bottle - These are always thrown directly at Kiryu (Dead Ball pitches only)

Points

Training Gauge Changes

Straight

The trajectory of these pitches is straight down the middle of the screen. They are not always pitched at the same speed though.

Arch

The object is thrown up and then archs down, making it quite difficult to follow. Use the left analogue stick to reposition the camera to make it easier to keep track of these pitches.

Curve

Thrown to the left or right, then curves back to the centre.

Dead Ball

Objects are thrown directly at Kiryu, with the intention of hitting him. Bottles are always pitched this way, but sometimes En no Ozuma may pitch an iron ball like this as well, so watch out for that.

After completing request 32 you can play this whenever you like (Night time only). You dress up kabuki style and get on stage. On the stage, you need to earn money from the audience within a time limit. This is achieved by defeating enemies.

The controls in this mini-game are the same as regular combat, but without the ability to change style.

The time limit for this mini-game is 2 minutes. Think of this as a regular fight in the game - with the obvious exception here being that the audience throw money to the stage when you defeat enemies. See the table below to see what affects the amount of money that gets thrown. In particular, note that some actions, such as running and dodge-rolling, will reduce the amount of money that gets thrown, so avoid those actions as much as possible. The amount of damage you deal to the enemy when you defeat them (damage of the finishing blow) also affects the amount of money you get. This means it's easier to make money in this mini-game as you level up and increase your power (which increases the amount of damage Kiryu can do). If the time runs out while you are in the middle of performing a heat action, you get a +100 Ryo bonus, which gets added to your earnings (you don't have to pick it up, obviously).

The Star Actor Mastery heat action cannot be performed anywhere else in the game besides this mini-game. It has a very long animation, so it's not a good idea to use it since it wastes too much time. However, it's a good one to use as the timer expires (for the 100 Ryo bonus), if you are able to pull it off.

Basically, this is Asian chess. You checkmate the opponent King in order to win. There are two variations of the Shogi mini-game here. One is the Shogi Trials (available in Gion), where you must win a game from a predetermined starting setup. The other is the Shogi ranking, where you face increasingly challenging opponents in a standard game of Shogi until you work your way up to the top position and defeat the Shogi King.

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

When one of your pieces enters the opponent's area, you have the opportunity to "promote" the piece. See below for details (including the different promotion methods and the promoted pieces and their movement). You can choose not to promote a piece if you prefer not to, but once a piece is promoted you cannot demote it.

Promotion rules

You can think of this as a kind of card game (like poker), but using tiles instead of cards. You need to build a winning "hand" (known as "yaku"). For a full list of hands/yaku, I recommend checking this site. You can use the same site to learn all the rules of this game and various strategies you can use.

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

In Mahjong, you need to create a hand (form "yaku") by replacing tiles one at a time (you can only hold 14 tiles, when you draw a tile you must select one in your hand to discard). You can earn points if you form at least one yaku (a scoring combination). At the end of the match, you are given bonus points or penalties depending on your final rank (e.g. if you are ranked 4th in points at the end, you get a massive penalty, but if you are 1st, you get a big bonus). This means it's possible to gain a lot of money if you win, but you can also lose a lot of money by finishing last. There are different opponent difficulties, so pick easier opponents at first to get used to playing before moving on to the more difficult opponents.

Bonus/Penalty Points

AI opponent strategies

This game uses traditional Japanese "flower cards" (hanafuda). Specifically, this is the game known as "koi-koi". You form card combinations, known as "yaku", to earn points. At the end of the game, points are converted to wooden tags. If you win, you gain tags based on how many more points you have than your opponent. If you lose, you lost tags instead. For a full list of yaku, I recommend checking this site. You can use the same site to learn all the rules of this game and various strategies you can use.

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

First, you determine the rules of the game, then once you start playing it proceed in the manner outlined in the "Koi Koi Structure" table shown here. When you score a yaku, be wise in your judgment about whether to declare koi koi or to end the round there with your win. Declaring koi koi can result in bigger scores, if you are able to score additional yaku, but if your opponent scores a yaku and ends the round you don't get any points, even if their yaku was 1 point and you scored 20+ points with your various yaku. So, it's a big gamble. If it looks like your opponent has a good chance of getting yaku after you declare koi koi (check their taken cards section), it may be wise to end the round when you win a yaku. On the other hand, if you have a strong hand and you are confident you can win more points before your opponent gets a yaku, then it's an excellent way to build up even more points.

Adjustable Rules

Opponents

[Note that draws count towards the total win count]

Koi Koi Structure

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

Gambling calculations

Maximum bet

Controls

NOTEDepending on your console region, the and buttons may be swapped.

Roll Outcomes

Typical game of Cee-Lo