8 Video Game Side Characters We Should've Played As Instead

Though Kazuma Kiryu is objectively the Yakuza series' protagonist, his exhaustingly stoic personality ultimately can't hold a candle to the franchise's uncrowned king - Goro Majima.

Majima has been one of Yakuza's mainstay supporting characters since its inception, and only finally became playable in prequel Yakuza 0, where he shared protagonist duties with Kiryu.

But Yakuza 0 really only typefied that Majima is the series' most entertaining character - a glorious walking cartoon compared to Kiryu in particular, enough that he basically feels like a pointed parody of self-serious video game heroes.

The Mad Dog of Shimano may be a maniac, but he's a good-hearted maniac who, most importantly, rocks a magnetic presence that's difficult to ever look away from.

As such it's a damn shame that Majima wasn't given full solo protagonist honors in the most recent mainline Yakuza game, Like a Dragon.

While Like a Dragon's protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, was himself a chilled out breath of fresh air compared to Kiryu, he was no substitute for Majima.

Though we've at least had a taste of him in the main character role, Like a Dragon seemingly offered up a ripe opportunity for Majima to snatch protagonist duties away from a semi-retired Kiryu, but Sega refused to pull the trigger.