A side quest taking a comical swipe at Pokémon has made its way into Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and in true Yakuza fashion, it's ridiculous. It makes sense that a feature like this was added given Like a Dragon has moved away from the franchise's beat'em up gameplay in favor of a classic JRPG style while still keeping its identity. Instead of adorable and cool looking animals, our hero is taking on criminals – and sometimes questionable foes.
They're called Sujimon, which is short for sujimono and means 'dangerous men,' another name for the kind of shady people constantly encountered in Yakuza games. The first time Kasuga, the game's hero, and his pals encounter one is nothing short of hilarious.
While walking around Yokohama, the main setting for Like a Dragon, Kasuga and his team eventually encounter a rabid flasher. He does his thing, and the team is confused and disgusted but decides it's up to them to teach the degenerate a lesson by getting into a battle. The battle itself is hilarious, as the flasher attacks with kicks and tries to inflict status ailments by flashing his glowing underwear at the party. Once the battle is over, a mysterious doctor approaches and invites Kasuga and friends to his laboratory.
This plays out like the beginning of Pokémon Yellow, where the player walks into the grass for the first time and encounters Pikachu. However, in this scenario, Professor Oak steps in to intervene as the player has no Pokémon to defend themselves with, and he catches Pikachu for you. Here the professor is a little late as Kasuga and his party have already beaten up the flasher.
Once there, the doctor introduces himself as simply Sensei and explains why he was there trying to study the rabid flasher. His goal is to make a record of all the Sujimon in the city for world peace. It sounds crazy, but he explains his reasoning. Most people have no way of telling a bad person or someone who wishes them harm from anyone else and says it's because there's no information or way for them to tell. By gathering information on these Sujimon, he can build a database, the Sujidex, for people to use and protect themselves. Sensei then asks Kasuga to choose his first Sujimon, which are some goons he hired wearing red, blue and green suits.
This is a huge nod to any mainline Pokémon game where the player picks a starter, except here Kasuga ends up fighting all three no matter who he chooses. Like one of the main goals in Pokémon, Kasuga is tasked with filling up his Sujidex by encountering these Sujimon and battling them throughout Yakuza. Sensei believes he and his team are strong enough to fight them and therefore get a read on them. This starts the side quest spanning the game to complete the Sujidex by 'dispatching'em all' to become a 'Sujimon Master.' The whole affair is an obvious homage, and there are even other side quests relating to the Pokémon franchise.
The quest itself isn't complicated. It essentially involves filling a bestiary, something many JRPG's have. All the player has to do is encounter enemies throughout the game. Like in Pokémon, there are rare Sujimon too, which requires the player to have patience or be in the right spot for them to spawn. Some even have their own side quests. Filling the Sujidex requires the player to do as much as they can throughout the game to get every encounter. It's an entertaining side quest that's pleasantly passive and doesn't require you to focus too much on getting all 255 Sujimon.