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There are many things to do in Yakuza 0 outside of the main story, such as competing in pocket circuit races or recruiting and managing hostesses in your cabaret club. One of the strangest side activities is certainly the cat fights.
These are organized brawls between scantily clad women. You can bet on the winner and influence the outcome by playing a mini-game. Kiryu is introduced to these fights during the main story. After that, you can always come back to the club to try your luck. Everything you need to know about the unique activity can be found here.
Basic requirement
These cat fights are not just one-on-one fights. The women compete against each other in three-round tournaments. You start by picking a single fighter, placing your bet and trying to win the entire competition. After each round you will earn some money as long as you win.
The amount you earn depends on a combination of the size of your stake and your fighter’s chances of winning. Of course, there is less money in winning with the most experienced fighters than in leading an outsider to victory.
How fights work
Fights don’t work the same way as the escarpments you get into with Kiryu or Majima. However, the process is still simple.
With every grip you play stone, paper, scissors with your opponent. If you win, you hit a move, or if you win, you do. If you are tied, you have to compete in a short press of a button.
Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes a fighter’s special ability is activated, which gives them an advantage, but it’s impossible to guess when that will happen.
The overall goal is to deplete your opponent’s entire health bar. How much damage a train does depends on two things:
The fighter’s star rating for the train
Every fighter has a star rating for their rock, paper, and scissors attacks.
The more stars a train has, the more damage it does. For example, if a fighter has a five-star stone attack and a one-star paper, their stone will do more damage.
The color of the attack
Each time you move, a color is displayed on the screen. The color indicates how strong an attack will be. You don’t pick the color as it is based on chance.
These are the colors sorted from strongest to weakest.
- Rainbow – Strongest (you will be asked to press a button when you press one of these to make it even more effective)
- Red
- green
- blue
- White – the weakest
The fighters
Most of the strongest fighters in the Yakuza series are in the Tojo clan, but some of these women are not that bad themselves. Here they are all:
| Surname | Rock strength | Paper thickness | Scissor strength | Special ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Francisca | 3 stars | 4 stars | 3 stars | Endurance – chance to restore health to a critical condition. |
| Jennifer | 5 Stars | 4 stars | 5 Stars | Initiative – chance to launch a preemptive attack at the beginning of a game. |
| Maria | 1 star | 4 stars | 2 stars | Comeback – Chance to turn things around and win the game in critical condition instantly. |
| Momoko | 3 stars | 4 stars | 5 Stars | Vitality – Chance to trigger an automatic health restore during gameplay. |
| king | 3 stars | 1 star | 3 stars | Endurance – chance to restore health to a critical condition. |
| Sayuri | 5 Stars | 3 stars | 1 star | Initiative – chance to launch a preemptive attack at the beginning of a game. |
| Yuiko | 3 stars | 1 star | 4 stars | Vitality – Chance to trigger an automatic health restore during gameplay. |
| Yurie | 2 stars | 4 stars | 2 stars | Comeback – Chance to turn things around and win the game in critical condition instantly. |
Tips for winning fights
Regrettably, Luck plays a huge role in achieving victories. However, there are a few things that can improve your chances a bit.
Use either Jennifer or Momoko
The attributes don’t lie as Jennifer and Momoko are the best fighters in the club. Of course, this means that your chances of winning are much higher so you won’t get such a good payout. Even so, these tournaments are so difficult to win that the edge the top fighters give you is worth the lesser profit.
Be tactical with rocks, paper, scissors
It is impossible to guess whether your opponent will be using rock, paper, or scissors for a particular grapple. However, you can be smart with your own choice.
For example, If your opponent has a strong paper attack but a weak rock attack, use a lot of scissors because you will always stop their strongest pull and just have to withstand their miserable one. Against the better fighters, this strategy isn’t really possible as all of their moves are powerful, but it can help you in the first few rounds.
Sometimes tie-breakers lose on purpose
Button-mashing tie-breakers are extremely hard to win – some fans even believe they are fixed. and the longer they last, the more damage the winner will do.
So occasionally You may want to lose right away on purpose so as not to be hit by a stronger train. Of course, you have to pick your moments for this, because even a weak attack will defeat you if you have just a little bit of health.
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About the author
Ben Jessey
(277 articles published)
Ben Jessey spends all of his time playing video games, watching TV, watching movies, watching football or soccer (which counts as television in my opinion), or writing about those things. He holds a degree in film and television studies and is now a freelance writer.
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