Mr. Shakedown

Mr. Shakedown (, Katsuage-kun) is a special enemy type encountered in Yakuza 0, that is extremely large and tough. Mr. Shakedown is actually several large and muscular men who occupy both Kamurocho and Sotenbori, looking to shake money off of people to further their own ends.
==Appearance==
Each Mr. Shakedown varies in appearance and dress different in each town,(Ex. Egashira wears a suit, glasses, and fedora in Kamurocho. Kawahashi wears a red tank top and camouflage pants). One feature they all share is a large physique and tall figure, even a few feet taller than Kiryu and Majima.
==Personality==
Despite all Mr. Shakedown having the same fighting style and the same end goal, their personalities and backstories are different between them all.
===Hiroya Egashira===
Egashira, the first Mr. Shakedown, has the dream of becoming the strongest being of the universe. To achieve this, he undertakes extremely intense training that a normal human shouldn't ever take (for example, fighting sharks underwater without protection but with his bare fists), but since these trainings cost an enormous amount of money, he has to shake down civilians to pay for them.
Eventually, this goal almost comes to a stop thanks to Kiryu, who keeps beating him, and Egashira comes to realize that he will never be the strongest being as long as Kiryu is around. However, when Kiryu jokingly suggests Egashira train in space, the latter resolves to resume shaking down people to get even more intense training to reach the status of becoming the strongest being.
===Yuki Sato===
Unlike Egashira, Sato's motivation is far more simple: he simply gets pissed off at Kiryu, and while at first there is no visible reason, it is then revealed that the Sato likes fighting people, but most of them would run away when he threatened them, until he met Kiryu. Sato himself didn’t care about the money, but used it as a motivator for his fights. Despite getting upset over losing his money to Kiryu, Sato admits to enjoying the encounters, yet still rejecting Kiryu's suggestion of becoming a professional boxer.
===Naoya Kawahashi===
Kawahashi, the first Mr. Shakedown that Majima encounters, shakes down money from civilians to pay for frivolous pleasures such as drinks and women. After beating him several times, he tells Majima that the reason he shakes down people instead of getting a respectable job it's because his father told him that, since he was now a man, he had to live for himself and never depend on anyone. Much to the dismay of the civilians in Sotenbori, Kawahashi misunderstood this, now shaking down money to pay for rent and other various needs.
=== Kenji Oe ===
Oe, at first, attacks Majima for no reason, very similarly to Sato. At first, it is thought that Oe comes from a very poor background and he simply attacks Majima because he hates rich people.
After beating him several times, it is revealed Oe attacked Majima because he was jealous of his beautiful, long hair, and that the reason he keeps shaking down people is to pay for an extremely expensive treatment to grow hair. Majima tries to convince him that the treatment is a scam, and although at first he is successful, an accidental hair pun cause Oe to get angry and get back to the shaking.
==Gameplay==
In combat, Mr. Shakedowns are the physical incarnations of the "Mighty Glacier" trope. All of their attacks are very slow and sometimes even downright clumsy, but they have a lot of health (especially after they've been beaten a few times), they deal a lot of damage if they ever land an attack, and have permanent hyper armor, rendering it impossible to interrupt their attacks normally. In fact, even with an inventory maxed out with healing items, fighting a Mr. Shakedown with low base health is nearly suicidal; there are a handful of attacks that the Mr. Shakedowns can use that are one-hit-kills at low base health.
Because of this, it is important to focus on making sure Kiryu or Majima gets hit as little as possible when facing him.
Mr. Shakedown's moveset and the strategies against them can be boiled down as follows:
*His basic combo: A wild right haymaker, an equally wild left kick, and finally a double hammer fist swing. While each individual attack is slow and telegraphed, Mr. Shakedown may or may not combo these attacks at all. Sometimes he'll just punch, sometimes he'll punch and follow it up with a kick, and other times he'll do the full combo.Consequently, the power of his combo lies in its unpredictability and its exploitation of the player's impulse to punish a missed attack. Without have good reflexes, after dodging one attack, the player usually has two options: wait to see if he's following it up and keep out of range but lose an opportunity to punish him, or close in and punish, but be left open to a follow up attack if he does decide to chain another attack. The only time when both a safe evasion and a punish are guaranteed is when he follows up his kick with the third and final hit in his chain.
*A wild 180-degree swing with both arms. This is one of his "fastest" attacks and it hits for a wide arc around him, meaning a side dodge could still leave the player in range. Getting hit will also knock down Kiryu or Majima. However, the attack itself is so wild and clumsy that it turns Mr. Shakedown's back to his enemy, and he takes long enough to recover that even if he lands a hit, he doesn't have enough time to follow up with a ground attack, and the attack lacks in forward range. Consequently, if the strike is evaded, there will be plenty of time to safely pummel Mr. Shakedown as he recovers from all the momentum.
*A guarded charge not unlike the one found in Kiryu's Beast style. This attack covers a lot of forward range and Mr. Shakedown actually moves quite fast for his size, knocking down a reckless player. This attack is dangerous not just because of the damage it deals, but because getting hit by it will, opening Kiryu or Majima to his devastating ground attacks.
*A monstrous stomp attack that he uses when his enemy is down. If it connects, at the very best it will take out a huge chunk of health. At worst, it's a one-hit kill, especially with little to no health upgrades. In later fights, a Mr. Shakedown in his "orange" heat state will one-shot even at max health (barring Legend style health upgrades or special equipment) with his stomp attack.
*A less powerful ground attack where Mr. Shakedown picks up Kiryu or Majima by the leg and slams him on the ground.
*A pounce attack that is easily avoidable, but if caught, will absolutely guarantee defeat unless health is upgraded to an absurd level through Legend style upgrades, or a sacrifice stone (a piece of equipment that restores health to full when it hits zero, but gets consumed afterwards) is equipped. The attack is telegraphed by Mr. Shakedown angrily pumping his arms before he leaps forward.If the pounce is evaded, there will be a short window to punish him - but because he will stumble forward quite a bit of distance after missing the pounce, he will need to be chased.If caught by the pounce, Mr. Shakedown will knock over his victim (dealing quite a bit of damage), straddle him, raise his arms and shout in victory, and then proceed to relentlessly beat his face while the player is prompted to mash a button rather uselessly - uselessly because each punch that Mr. Shakedown lands in this beatdown does about the same damage as that of a stomp attack, and not only does he land six of them, but, assuming the player survived all this, he'll pick his victim up by the leg and slam him on the ground, dealing further damage.In short, never let him land the pounce, at all costs.
*A "counterattack" that comes in two forms: one of the type that Kiryu's Brawler style features, where Mr. Shakedown just endures attacks, flashes red, and hits back; and another type where Mr. Shakedown just reaches forward and grabs, lifting his victim up in the air to stop a combo. In the latter case, Kiryu or Majima has to mash the grab escape button in order to escape his grasp before he can do damage. The window for the player to mash is rather lenient, but failing to do so will result in Mr. Shakedown performing Kiryu's Essence of Might heat action form earlier games, very likely resulting in defeat if it happens.
As Mr. Shakedown is defeated more and more, he will get stronger, faster, and richer alongside Kiryu or Majima. In the late game, Mr. Shakedown has upwards of six health bars and can carry more than 2 billion yen, even more if he had previously taken money from the player and/or upgrades were unlocked for him to carry around more money.
Like all boss-type enemies, once he has taken enough damage, Mr. Shakedown will enter Heat Mode. He has a yellow Heat aura. In Heat Mode, his attacks break guard, he will not be staggered by any non-Heat attacks; he hits harder and moves faster; attacks that normally stagger will knock the player down, and attacks that normally knock down will send the player flying across the map.
He cannot be grabbed normally; doing so will result in him immediately slapping the player to the ground and do perform the stomp or the grounded throw. However, special grabs like Kiryu's Snatching Strike in Brawler, Bear Hug and Cyclone throw in Beast style and the Dragon of Dojima Style's Twist Counter and Finishing Hold will still work on him. Majima's Thug Cunning: Harsh Lesson attack in Thug Style, Demonfire counter in Mad Dog of Shimano Style and Rolling Snake grab in Breaker will also work through his hyper armor, as they count as special grabs.
===Battle Bonus Reward===
The following items have an impact on 'Shakedown' Battle Bonus Reward, which determines the amount of Mr. Shakedown's money.
*Avarice Shirt (+0.2)
*Debt Collector's Necklace (+0.2)
==Tactics==
The best tactic for beating Mr. Shakedown is using the Slime Gun, Zap Gun, or Smoke Gun (once access to them is unlocked at the weapon shop) and shooting him twice in the back after dodging his charges, repeating until he is defeated. More than two close-range shots can be risky with his haymaker. Two Zap Guns usually do enough damage to bring him down even at his strongest, while only one Smoke Gun would be needed as long as no shots miss. Three Slime Guns should work similarly until the better shotguns are unlocked. Other shotguns, including the Golden Shotgun, deal little damage, while pistols do a reasonable amount but will run out quickly. The Golden Pistol, when shooting it quickly, is surprisingly effective.
Counterattacks and the special grabs mentioned above are a more efficient method of beating him if the player is familiar with Mr. Shakedown's moveset. Majima's Demonfire is the most effective, as it does not require Heat to use despite its description stating otherwise, and it takes out around 75% of a health bar per use. For Kiryu, it is possible to stunlock Mr. Shakedown by using properly timed Bear Hug and Cyclone Sling attacks at the appropriate Heat levels.
It is recommended to fight him in a large area to better dodge his charges if not familiar with his moveset. However, in one Climax Battle, the player is forced to battle him in a tight space with a weak Majima. In this case, it should be noted that until he is in Heat Mode, it is possible to block the charge and the first part of his basic combo without getting guard broken.
The absolute easiest way to defeat any Shakedown is to either equip a high level bat or knife and simply perform heat actions against them, using items to push your heat up once it runs out. Changing this will defeat any Shakedown within minutes.
==Glitches==
*Like many of the NPCs on the game, Mr. Shakedowns are somewhat bugged. After draining a sleeping Mr. Shakedown, no interaction is possible with anything until he wakes up and follows the player.
==Trivia==
*Their fighting style is recycled for Futoshi Shimano in his first boss fight in Yakuza Kiwami, though with the damage lessened dramatically.
**Their fighting style is also used for certain heavy enemies in Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise.
*All Mr. Shakedowns are named after the actors who portray them.
*All Mr. Shakedown models are actually upscaled regular models, which are automatically shrunken down during Heat Actions.
*Mr. Shakedown is mentioned by Kiryu in Yakuza Kiwami after completing The Toll Collector Substory.
Category:Concepts