Yakuza 5 Remastered – How to make the Coliseum less frustrating

Yakuza 5 Remastered – How to make the Coliseum less frustrating 6 - gameplaylists.com
Yakuza 5 Remastered – How to make the Coliseum less frustrating 6 - gameplaylists.com
How to complete the Coliseum as every character without pulling your hair out.

 
 

Introduction

 
(I’ll add more images soon, sorry for the block of text in the middle) 
 
Yakuza 5 Remastered - How to make the Coliseum less frustrating 
 
After being a non-factor in the completion of Yakuza 3 and 4, Kamurocho’s Coliseum makes a grand return in the 100% requirements of Yakuza 5. For me, this godforsaken arena gave me the biggest headache out of any Coliseum in the series, even beating out Kiwami’s agonising weapon and gear grind. Not only are the Victory Road prerequisites a pain in the a*s, but the completion list requires you to win every tournament with every character (except the one who can’t fight obviously). 
 
This grind will take you several hours to complete, and it will not be an easy several hours. Accepting that is the first step to making the Yakuza 5 Coliseum less frustrating. The rest of this guide will compile tips and advice from various sources on how to expedite the tedious parts and mitigate the difficult parts of the Coliseum. 
 
Before we start, I highly recommend that you attempt this completion on Easy or Normal difficulty. For Hard and Legend, this guide can apply to you, though you’ll likely want to max every character’s level and train with every master, including Minamida’s Soul Point fights, before attempting the harder tournaments (I did the Coliseum on Normal with my characters at Levels 21–23). 
 
 

Victory Road

 
Yakuza 5 Remastered - How to make the Coliseum less frustrating - Victory Road 
 
So before any character can even access the Coliseum, they have to compete in the Victory Road preliminaries, which are essentially a small series of glorified street battles and mini-bosses with a loose thread of plot tied through each of them. Doing this as each character will unlock one final tournament in Kamurocho, and winning this will unlock the Heat Bomber SP — one of our best grinding sources — so you should make this a priority before attempting the Coliseum as any character. 
 
Completing this is not as daunting as it sounds, and you might’ve inadvertently done it as one or two characters. However, for some characters (such as Kiryu, who gets early access to the an*l beads Beads of Good Fortune), you might have to backtrack to complete this side quest. 
 
Victory Road events will only occur in each character’s initial city (i.e. not Kamurocho), and you’ll have to beat a few challengers on the streets before unlocking a main event in the side quest. You can easily identify some of these challengers by their white gi, but others wear normal thug’s clothing and seem akin to ordinary street fights up until you fight them. I’ve observed that, when you run past a Victory Road challenger instead of an ordinary mook, they may specifically demand a fight instead of shouting the usual thuggish insults and threats at you, so you can try this to further expedite the side quest. 
 
After defeating a Victory Road opponent, check your map to see if an exclamation point has appeared, because those signify main events in the side quest. Kiryu and Saejima have to complete three of these events, while Akiyama and Shinada have to complete four. These are battles with opponents you’ll later fight in the Coliseum, but don’t worry too much about them. In these events, they have a fraction of the health they do in the Coliseum, and you’ll have full access to your weapons and gear in these fights, unlike the Coliseum. 
 
Once you conquer the preliminaries as each character, now you should head back to Kamurocho to complete the side quest. You’ll notice a huge bald guy roaming around the city who will fight you if he spots you — kind of like Mr. Shakedown from Yakuza 0. You’ll have to fight him a few times, but try to do so only as Kiryu or Saejima, because he’s a tough bastard. At any point in this process, head down to the Coliseum as Kiryu (through the Children’s Park sewer entrance) and you’ll encounter him again. From here I’ll use spoiler tags in case anybody actually cares. 
 
The man will introduce himself as Raiden, and once you meet him at the Coliseum and fight him on the street enough times, one last event will pop up near Bantam. Go there and you’ll be invited to the Victory Road finals with all of your friends. Save before this fight. Here, yet again as Kiryu, you’ll have to fight Akiyama, Saejima, Shinada, and then Raiden in one long tournament. Your friends aren’t too tough, but Raiden has six health bars and hits like a truck. Use heat moves wherever you can and abuse the hell out of the Tiger Drop and Komaki Knockback. You won’t be able to use this strategy as the others, so enjoy it while you can. 
 
 

Coliseum — Characters

 
Now that you’ve made it through Victory Road, congratulations! You now have permission to suffer for ten hours straight. 
 
Before I even talk about the tournaments, I want to go over how you should approach the Coliseum as each character. To clarify, your goal is to complete every tournament as every character and, to do so, you have to reach at least Rank 4 as each character. They all start at the bottom of the rankings, and there’s no way to access tournaments as one character that another character has unlocked. You have to grind this rank four times over. 
 
I recommend at least achieving Level 20 as each character and achieving their breakthroughs at the Komaki dojo before attempting the Coliseum so that none of the experience you get is wasted. This breakthrough is a whole can of B.S. in its own right, especially with Akiyama and Shinada. To make things easier, bring three or four Broken M1985s into the fight and show no mercy. 
 
With this preparation out of the way, let’s discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each character in the Coliseum. 
 

Kiryu

 
Kiryu is the best all-rounder of the four and probably the easiest character to tackle the Coliseum with. I recommend doing the grind with him first to get a hang of things. We all know that the Tiger Drop is a phenomenal move for taking down tough opponents, but the Komaki Knockback is also a great disruption tool to keep in mind when you’re under attack. His Bounding Throw (X-X-X-X-Y-B) lays down a world of hurt and enables you to perform an infinite by using the move and picking enemies up by the head to set the move up again. Essence of Terror and Sly Wolf are great Heat Actions against multiple foes if you can pull them off, as well as Dragon Spirit if you use it in moderation. Lastly, Asura Spirit and Phoenix Spirit should work to keep you alive no matter what the situation. If you’re struggling to beat tournaments as Kiryu, consider gaining more experience or practising the combat more, because the other characters are much harder to work with. 
 

Saejima

 
Saejima is an absolute monster in the Coliseum. He was the last character I did the grind with, and doing so felt so cathartic after Akiyama and Shinada. His Charging Finishes break through guards and lay on a ton of damage, and Herculean Spirit makes him unstoppable while doing so. The Tiger Roar and Tiger Dragon Drop also make him as effective of a disruptor as Kiryu, with the latter exchanging damage for a momentary stun. Tiger Puppetry won’t help you against bosses, but it’s a really useful tool for laying out multiple foes in Deathmatch 100 and Limited Berserk. Lastly, Tiger Essence of Shockwave and Essence of Puppetry are good Heat Actions for groups, while Essence of Clotheslining and Essence of Smashing work well on bosses. Saejima’s only weakness is his lack of Asura Spirit, but the man’s health bar is so huge that it hardly matters. Just try not to tank too much damage and you’ll be fine. 
 

Shinada

 
Easily the most tedious character to complete the Coliseum with. Shinada’s combat isn’t hard to learn, but you’re going to have to learn how to grapple with him. My Snapping Turtle and My Turn the Tables are great to have but don’t work consistently on some enemies (particularly bosses), and My Meteor Tackle can be dangerous to use since many enemies can counter it. Against tougher bosses like Raiden and Akira Yamaoka, you’ll be stuck throwing them down, landing a couple of hits while they’re down, and then waiting until their grab invulnerability runs out so you can repeat the process. Use any Heat Actions you can, since bosses can easily transition into grabs of their own that will reduce your Heat to nothing. In tournaments with weapons — specifically, Deathmatch 100 — try pulling off a lot of varied Heat Actions, especially collateral moves like Essence of Cyclone Slash and My Essence of Whirlwind. Shinada’s manoeuvrability thankfully makes it so he won’t take too much damage, and he shares Asura Spirit with Kiryu in case he does. Again, he’s not particularly difficult to fight with. Just… so, so tedious. 
 

Akiyama

 
I saved Akiyama for the end because he’s most likely the reason you’re reading this guide. Like Saejima, Akiyama has no access to Asura Spirit as a backup for the harder tournaments. Unlike Saejima, he’s built like a twig and can easily be hit-stunned into submission. He lacks the defence of similarly frail characters like Tanimura from Y4, and can’t quite measure up in evasiveness to something like Rush-style Kiryu from Y0 and Kiwami. His Counter Kick is the worst counter in the game, his Launch Strike does not work on bosses, and he lacks the crowd control to effectively deal with Deathmatch 100 and especially Limited Berserk. So, what does Akiyama have? 
 
Two things: speed and Heat. The first is your ticket to completing those aforementioned wave-type tournaments. It may seem tempting to Slash Kick your way into a crowd of goons, but don’t do it. Akiyama’s ace-in-the-hole is his ability to incapacitate foes quickly and effortlessly. Use Finishing Kicks to down as many foes as possible, and then focus your attacks on one enemy. Most weaker enemies will have their guard broken by repeated Slash Kicks, allowing you to get in some meaty Finishing Kicks and then move onto the next person who’s up. Single opponents out, and quickstep out of there if the situation gets too crowded. Turn the camera around to ensure you won’t be taken by surprise. Remember to grab if enemies won’t drop their guard. 
 
Secondly, his Heat. Akiyama builds Heat like nobody’s business, and he has a lot of great ways to use it too. However, keep in mind that enemies will get back up during the animation for a Heat Action, so make sure you have an escape plan ready if you expect to be surrounded after using one. That being said, Essence of Finishing Knee is a great non-committal move for taking out a downed opponent, especially if you choose not to perform the QTE, as this will save a lot of time and Heat. Essence of Triangle Jump and Double Juggle are good collateral Heat Actions that are mostly safe to perform as long as you aren’t interrupted. Lastly, Essence of Comebacks and Essence of Loin Reaving are good single-opponent moves that take advantage of bad situations. 
 
Perhaps the most important tip as Akiyama: don’t spam. This will get you swarmed by groups and countered by bosses before you even think of quickstepping away. Pick your openings carefully and recover as quickly as possible if you’re caught by surprise. The worst situation to be caught in as this character is having your guard pummelled through while you’re being surrounded, so don’t let that happen to you. 
 

Haruka

 
Get out of here you clown 
 
 

Coliseum — Tournaments

 
Now that we’ve gone over how to approach the Coliseum with each character (well, one character in particular), let’s cover each tournament. I’ll start with the two best tournaments for grinding and then go through the others in a semi-coherent order. 
 
An important note: you do not have to beat the Legendary Arena GP for completion. Therefore, I won’t bother covering it extensively in this guide. It’s hardly different from the Ranked Match GP anyway. You can only participate in this tournament on Premium Adventure mode. 
 

Heat Bomber SP

 
You unlock this single match after beating the Victory Road finals — and you absolutely should, since it will help you to reach Coliseum rank 30 and unlock the Breakout SP as soon as possible. In this match, timed bombs will fall from the sky that you may pick up and throw. Once they flash red, get away, since they’ll take a chunk out of your health. The ground will also heat up as the battle goes on, similar to the Inferno tournaments in other Yakuza games. Getting knocked onto the heated platforms will ignite you back on your feet, dealing more damage. 
 
Although a dangerous match against most opponents, here’s the cheese: before the match, keep exiting and reloading the fight until your opponent is Sotaro Komaki. Although a lethal foe in most environments, his low health bar makes him susceptible to the bombs, making this fight last less than a minute if played well. Although this strategy works against other slow and weak fighters (Kazuhiro, Headhunter Kariya), Komaki gives the biggest gains to Coliseum rank, so focus on fighting him. You should only have to do this a few times to reach 30th rank, a*suming you completed the rest of the available tournaments before doing this. 
 

Breakout SP

 
Once you reach 30th rank, you’ll unlock the second and final single match tournament, which should serve as your grinding source for the rest of that character’s Coliseum run. This fight puts you and your opponent in an octagon with destructible walls that will break in three hits. Falling into the pit beyond the walls is an instant knockout. 
 
Players that have completed the Coliseum in other games should know exactly what comes next. Your winning strategy here is reloading the match until you get a fighter in the top four and then throwing them down the pit as soon as possible. Every fighter has a grace period where they will not attack — use this opportunity to grab them, drag them to the edge of the pit, and then mash the B button while holding the left joystick in the direction of the pit. If you succeed, you’ll throw them down for an instant win. If you don’t mash fast enough, your opponent should break away in the direction of the pit, still falling down for an instant win. If you’re not close enough to the pit to throw them down, wait until they’re getting back up and then hit them. Even if they guard, you should push them back far enough to defeat them. Obviously, there’s a risk that you’ll be knocked out instead, especially against tricky opponents like Sotaro Komaki, but you can save every few fights to mitigate that. 
 
You’ll have to do this match many times to reach 4th rank, but they should go much quicker than the Heat Bomber fights, especially since you’re not limited to fighting one person. Still, don’t let me stop you from sticking to Heat Bomber if Breakout is too perilous for your liking. 
 

Street Fight GP

 
I’ll cover the next few tournaments in much fewer words since most of them are simple three-fight tournaments with only a few twists. For Street Fight GP, the twist is that you and your opponent are surrounded by junk to smack each other with. The opponents here are usually pretty weak, and they lose their unique moveset when they grab a weapon, presenting a great opportunity to go on the offensive. This is also a great place to grind Heat Actions and Weapon Revelations, a*suming you’re also interested in filling that part of the completion list. 
 

Weapon Master GP

 
This tournament can be a pain. Your character is limited to picking one weapon to fight with, usually locking them into a simple combo with two to three heat actions, tops. However, I discovered a great glitch on my playthrough that makes this tournament go much quicker. Open the menu and go into Settings, then choose “Load.” Do not actually load your game. Instead, cancel back into the game using the B button, and your weapon should unequip itself from your hands, granting you full access to your ordinary moveset. I haven’t seen this tip anywhere else, and it might be a glitch exclusive to the PC port. Let me know in the comments if this works for you! 
 

Twin Dragon GP

 
In this tournament, you’ll fight three pairs of fighters with a partner you encountered during the Victory Road side quest. In general, one opponent will focus on your partner, while the other will focus on you. Try to get the weaker opponent focused on you. The other foe’s back might seem like an appealing target, but your target generally won’t give you enough ground to capitalise on that, so you should just fight your target normally and let your partner distract the tougher cookie. Try to dispatch them quickly; with slower characters (*cough* Shinada *cough*) your partner has a risk of getting knocked out after long enough, and you do not want both opponents focused on you. 
 

Maximum GP

 
About as simple as tournaments go. An eight-man ladder with no weapons or gimmicks against generally tough opponents. Use all the single-target strategies I listed in the “Characters” section. I’d also recommend reloading the match if you spot any particularly tanky fighters in the bracket, like Raiden or Ivan Ibrahimovic. You won’t get this luxury in the Ranked Match GP, so enjoy it here. 
 

Ranked Match GP

 
I put this after Maximum GP because it’s the exact same thing but with tougher opponents. All the strongest fighters can and will show up in this bracket, so pray you don’t get matched against any particularly frightening ones. You’ll unlock this tournament at 10th rank. 
 

King of Kings

 
Yakuza 5 Remastered - How to make the Coliseum less frustrating 
 
Another tournament you’ll unlock at 10th rank. This match pits you against seven fierce fighters all at once and, despite their unremarkable looks, they’re all pretty skilled and tanky. With Kiryu and especially Saejima, you can leap into the mosh pit with fists blazing and still probably win. As the others, you should stay away from the group and only attack individuals that chase you. Eventually, they’ll wear each other out, and then you can dish out the pain against the survivors. 
 
 

Coliseum — Wave Tournaments (the hard ones)

 
I made another section because I ran out of space for the last one 
 

Deathmatch 100

 
Yakuza 5 Remastered - How to make the Coliseum less frustrating 
 
You’ll unlock this fight from hell at 20th rank. One of two wave-type tournaments in the Coliseum, and perhaps one of the longest single fights in the series. This took me shy under twenty-two minutes as Shinada. What I’m saying is: buckle in for a long and gruelling time. 
 
True to the name, you’ll have to fight 100 enemies, five at a time, for a total of twenty rounds. For each wave, one man in gold will be a little bit stronger than the others. They start pitifully weak but get stronger as each round pa*ses. The last round, in particular, can kick your a*s if you’re not careful, as the man in gold will have four health bars at this point, and all the enemies will resist your grapples and guard constantly. 
 
Here’s my advice: do not use Heat Actions for the first ten rounds. Heat Actions give diminishing returns the more you use them in a single fight, and you don’t want to lose the general benefits of being in Heat mode for crap damage and an opportunity for all the downed enemies to get back up. Be sure to hold LT to avoid using Heat Actions by accident. 
 
Again, Kiryu and Saejima shouldn’t struggle with this fight, but you need to mind your health as Akiyama and Shinada. For Akiyama, as I mentioned, focus on knocking foes down quickly so you can focus on one enemy at a time. If you begin to take damage, get out of there. For Shinada, you can use a similar strategy, though you’ll never be able to knock down foes quickly enough to focus on one. Instead, bounce from foe to foe, peppering damage on each of them with hard-hitting finishers and Meteor Tackles. Using weapons as him works well since he can knock foes down with some weapons that others can’t, such as knives and shortswords. Always sit on a pool of Heat in case you need to pop Asura Spirit. 
 

Limited Berserk

 
Yakuza 5 Remastered - How to make the Coliseum less frustrating 
 
You’ll gain access to this fight at 4th rank, and likely lose access to your sanity by the time you’re done with it. In general, this fight is shorter than Deathmatch 100, with thirteen waves instead of twenty, and enemies that are fewer in number and lower in health and skill. However, here’s the problem: you start this fight at flashing red health. Kiryu and Shinada can mitigate this with Asura Spirit, essentially making the match free with enough patience. With Saejima and Akiyama, however, that’s all the health you’ll get. 
 
I know I already wrote several paragraphs about getting through the Coliseum with Akiyama, but all of the advice I have for this fight will be framed through his perspective. I cannot stress enough how irritating this fight is as Akiyama. 
 
Again, always knock all but one enemy on their a*s before peppering Slash Kicks onto that one standing foe. Turn the camera behind you — once you see someone getting up, whip out a Finishing Kick (consider not using all three) and move over to him next. This is easy enough with two enemies, but once it gets to four enemies at once you can quickly get overwhelmed if you’re not careful. Using Double Juggle on the waves with three enemies and Triangle Jump on the waves with four will set you up perfectly to focus on one foe. 
 
At round ten and beyond, you’ll face mini-bosses, forcing you to change your tactics. On rounds ten and eleven, throw them to the ground and spam the Y button. Assuming you’re in Heat mode, you’ll execute repeated Launch Strikes that will permanently stun your foe to the ground. If they begin to get up, keep spamming Y except also hold LT — you’ll knock them into the air and they’ll fall right back on their a*s for you to resume the cheese. Holding LT prevents you from using any Drives; you could use them here if you wish, but know that performing the QTEs will take you out of Heat mode, meaning you’ll have to regain that Heat before you can do Launch Strikes again. 
 
On round twelve, get away, because two powerful dudes will swarm you as soon as possible. Wait for Phoenix Spirit to raise your Heat if you’re not in Heat mode already and, once the two are far enough from each other, execute a quick Launch Strike on the shorter one (they won’t work on the taller one). Follow up with a Double Juggle, and then use Finishing Kicks after a double Rush Combo (X-X-Y-Y) to pummel the short one while he’s down. The taller one shouldn’t be much of a threat after you’ve taken out his partner. 
 
For the final round, do not rush this guy like you might have with the last two single fights. Wait for him to throw a single violent punch (it will shake the screen a bit) and then rush up to grab and throw him. Use Essence of Finishing Knee while he’s down (again, consider failing the QTE to conserve Heat) and then land a couple of Launch Strikes. These will not stun him like with the others, so quickstep away once he begins to get up. Rinse and repeat. It’s a rather slow strategy, but this will whittle him down. Whatever you do, stay patient and you can win this. 
 
 

Thanks for reading!

 
Hopefully, my ramblings helped at least one of you to claim the Coliseum crown in this game! If you enjoyed what I had to say on this topic, maybe I can write more guides on difficult hurdles in this series (Yakuza Kiwami’s Legend car chase, Minigame Master in Yakuza 3, etc.). This has been my first Steam guide and one I wrote partway through my completion of Yakuza 5, so any feedback you might have would also be appreciated! 
 
Shoutouts to the following sources I consulted for this guide: 

 
 

Written by WheatyTruffles

I hope you enjoy what we shared today about Yakuza 5 Remastered – How to make the Coliseum less frustrating. If there is anything, you want us to add, please let us know via comment below! See you soon! And thanks!
 
 


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