10 Important Video Game Plot Points That Were Abandoned
4. Yakuza 4 - Tanimura As A New Protagonist
Yakuza 4 aimed to introduce new characters who could replace Kazuma Kiryu as the main protagonist with Taiga Saejima, Shun Akiyama, and Masayoshi Tanimura. In fact, the Japanese title even includes the subtitle "The Successor to the Legend." But while the former two did return for subsequent entries, Tanimura did not.
What makes this weird is that Tanimura, arguably, has one of the most important roles in 4. He even has the honor of facing off against the final boss and has a fleshed-out story arc regarding the death of his father yet was the only new protagonist never to return in a subsequent entry.
A reason for this is due to the character being voiced and modelled after Hiroki Narimiya; a famous Japanese actor. Starting with Yakuza 4, the franchise brings celebrities to play important parts such as Takuya Kimura playing Yagami in the Judgement games. But as longtime fans have noticed, these characters are often one-and-done characters due to the expenses paid to these actors and their likenesses.
And so despite being a 'successor to the legend', Tanimura never returned to the series and has only been mentioned in passing.