How to play the Cat Fight side activity in Yakuza 0

In Yakuza 0, there’s plenty to do outside of the main story, like taking part in pocket track races or recruiting and managing hostesses in your Cabaret Club. Cat fighting is easily one of the weirder side activities.
These are fights organized 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 halfway through the main story. Then you can come back to the club to try your luck. Here’s everything you need to know about the unique activity.
Basic premise
These cat fights aren’t just one-on-one fights. Women compete in three-round tournaments. You pick a single fighter at the start, place your bet and try to win the entire competition. After each round you earn money as long as you win.
The amount you win depends on a combination of how much money you bet and your fighter’s odds. Of course, winning with the most skilled fighters pays less money than guiding an underdog to victory.
How the fights work
Battles don’t work the same way as the escarpments you launch into with Kiryu or Majima. However, the process remains simple.
On each grapple, you play Rock, Paper, Scissors with your opponent. If you win, you hit a hit, or if they win, they do. If you happen to be tied, then you have to compete in a short button crush sequence.
Another thing to note is that sometimes a fighter’s special ability will activate, giving them some sort of advantage, but it’s impossible to guess when that will happen.
The overall objective is to use up all of your opponent’s health bar. The damage caused by movement depends on two things:
The number of stars of the fighter for the movement
Each fighter has a rating for their Rock, Paper and Scissors attacks.
The more stars a hit has, the more damage it does. For example, if a fighter has a Five Star Rock attack and One Star Paper attack, then his Rock one will deal more damage.
The color of the attack
Each time you make a movement, a color will appear on the screen. The color indicates the power of an attack. You don’t choose the color because it is based on chance.
These are the ranked colors, from strongest to weakest.
- Rainbow – Strongest (you will be asked to mash a button when you press any of them to make it even more punchy)
- Red
- Green
- Blue
- White – The weakest
The fighters
Most of the strongest fighters in the Yakuza series are from the Tojo clan, but some of these women aren’t too bad themselves. Here they are all:
Last name | Rock strength | Paper strength | Force scissors | Special ability |
---|---|---|---|---|
Francoise | 3 stars | 4 stars | 3 stars | Endurance – Chance to restore health to critical condition. |
Jennifer | 5 stars | 4 stars | 5 stars | Initiative – Chance to launch a preemptive attack at the start of a match. |
Married | 1 star | 4 stars | 2 stars | Return – Chance to turn things around and instantly win the game in critical condition. |
Momoko | 3 stars | 4 stars | 5 stars | Vitality – Chance to trigger automatic health recovery during match. |
Rei | 3 stars | 1 star | 3 stars | Endurance – Chance to restore health to critical condition. |
Sayuri | 5 stars | 3 stars | 1 star | Initiative – Chance to launch a preemptive attack at the start of a match. |
Yuiko | 3 stars | 1 star | 4 stars | Vitality – Chance to trigger automatic health recovery during match. |
Yurie | 2 stars | 4 stars | 2 stars | Return – Chance to turn things around and instantly win the game in critical condition. |
Tips for winning fights
Sadly, luck plays a big role in obtaining victories. Still, there are a few things that can improve your odds a bit.
Use either Jennifer or Momoko
Attributes don’t lie like Jennifer and Momoko are the best fighters at the club. Of course, that means their chances of winning are much higher, so you don’t get as good a payout. Yet, it is so difficult to win these tournaments that the advantage that the best fighters give you is worth the slightest gain.
Be tactical during rock, paper, scissors
It is impossible to guess whether your opponent will use Rock, Paper or Scissors for a given grapple. You can, however, be smart with your own choice.
For example, if your opponent has strong paper attack but weak rock attack then use a lot of scissors for you will always stop their strongest movement and only have to resist their most pitiful. Against the best fighters this strategy is not really possible as all of their moves are powerful, but it can help you in the early rounds.
Sometimes lose the tiebreakers on purpose
Button-crushing tiebreaks are extremely difficult to win – some fans even think they’re fixed. And the longer they last, the more damage the winner will end up doing.
So from time to time you might want to lose on purpose right away to avoid getting hit by a stronger blow. Of course, you have to choose your moments for this, because even a weak attack will defeat you if you only have a little health.
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