Yakuza Puzzle Shogi: Which Games Have It and How to Solve It

Puzzle shogi in the Yakuza and Like a Dragon games is tsume shogi, the classic Japanese checkmate puzzle. You get a small position and a few pieces in hand, and you have to checkmate the enemy king in a set number of moves. Try checks first, use the pieces in your hand, and be willing to give up a piece to drag the king into a mate.

This page lists which games in the series have shogi and puzzle shogi, explains how the puzzles work, and walks through a method that solves them. It does not give move-by-move answers to the in-game puzzles. Once you know the method you won’t need them.

Which Yakuza games have shogi?

Shogi has been a recurring side activity in the series for years. These are the games we could confirm, as of October 2026:

In the recent games the shogi player offers three modes: ranked matches against a ladder of opponents, challenge matches, and puzzle shogi. Wins and puzzles earn shogi points you can trade for items. In Infinite Wealth, for example, the points buy weapon materials and the Desperado’s Revolver, and playing also raises Kasuga’s Intellect.

In Yakuza 0, the completion requirement is five wins without using a take back. Guides point out you can repeat the first challenge at Shoten to get there.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 puzzle shogi

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, the remake of Yakuza 3 released on February 12, 2026, keeps the shogi minigame with ranked, challenge and puzzle modes. The shogi player is in the alleys near the Champion District. The puzzles work the same way as in the other games, so the method below applies.

Pirate Yakuza and Infinite Wealth puzzle shogi

Both Hawaii games have ten puzzles each, starting with mate in one and building up to check, reply, mate. In Infinite Wealth the first clear of each puzzle pays the most points, and guides recommend turning take backs off, since that earns extra points.

Puzzle shogi is tsume shogi

Tsume shogi (詰将棋) is a mating puzzle. You are given part of a board, the defending king, some attacking pieces, and usually some pieces in your hand. The task is to force checkmate in a fixed number of moves. In Japan it’s the standard way players train, and our tsume shogi guide explains the conventions in full.

One thing that confuses players: how moves are counted. Japanese tsume problems count both sides’ moves. A “3-move” problem means your move, the computer’s reply, then your mating move. Some English game guides call the same puzzle “mate in two,” counting only your own moves. Either way, the shortest puzzles are a single mating move, and the next step up is check, reply, mate.

The game’s computer always picks the defense that holds out longest. If a line only works when the defender plays badly, it isn’t the solution.

How to solve puzzle shogi

Use the same checklist on every puzzle.

1. Look at your hand first. Pieces shown beside the board can be dropped on almost any empty square. Many puzzle solutions use a drop, often a gold or silver placed right next to the king.
2. List every check. In traditional tsume, every one of your moves must be check, and that is the right place to start here too. Go through every board move and every drop that attacks the king, and only then decide.
3. Count the king’s escape squares. For each check, ask where the king can go and what can capture your checking piece. A check the king can simply walk away from is rarely the answer.
4. Look for the sacrifice. If no check mates directly, look for one that forces the king to capture. Pulling the king onto a worse square is a standard trick, and the piece you give up is a fair price.
5. Remember promotion. A rook or bishop that moves into, out of, or within the far three rows can promote and gain one-square moves in every direction. That extra coverage often closes the last escape square. See promotion.
6. Check the illegal moves. You can’t drop a pawn to give immediate checkmate, and you can’t drop a pawn on a file where you already have an unpromoted pawn. If your “mate” uses a pawn drop, it’s probably the wrong answer. The drop rule page covers both.

Drops are what make shogi puzzles different from chess puzzles. Here is how one works:

Common mating patterns

These shapes come up again and again in puzzle shogi:

• Gold on the head. When the king is on its back row, a gold dropped on the square directly in front of it, protected by another piece, covers every square the king could step to.
• The knight check. A knight jumps over other pieces, so its check can’t be blocked. The king has to move or capture the knight.
• Check from a distance. A rook, bishop or lance that checks from several squares away can’t be captured by the king, which only moves one square.
• Sacrifice, then drop. Give up a piece to pull the king forward, then drop a gold or silver behind it.

Our shogi puzzles page has twenty of these to practice on, playable on a live board that answers with the best defense. Start with the first mate-in-one puzzle.

Saikyō Habu Shōgi

Saikyō Habu Shōgi (最強羽生将棋) is a different kind of shogi video game, and it isn’t part of the Yakuza series. It was a shogi game for the Nintendo 64, developed and published by Seta and released only in Japan on June 23, 1996. It was one of the console’s three Japanese launch titles, alongside Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64.

The “special guest” was Yoshiharu Habu, who had won all seven major shogi titles that year. Sales were weak: roughly one copy sold for every hundred consoles at launch. For another game with a shogi player in its cast, see Persona 5 shogi.

FAQ

What is puzzle shogi in Yakuza?

Puzzle shogi is the series’ version of tsume shogi, a checkmate puzzle. You get a set position with pieces on the board and in your hand, and you must checkmate the computer’s king in a fixed number of moves while it defends as well as it can.

How do you solve puzzle shogi in Like a Dragon?

Start with the pieces in your hand, then list every check you can give, by moving or by dropping. For each check, count where the king can escape. If nothing mates directly, look for a sacrifice that forces the king onto a worse square, then mate it there with a drop. Remember you can’t mate by dropping a pawn.

Does Yakuza 0 have shogi?

Yes. In Yakuza 0 you can play shogi at the Shoten parlor in Kamurocho and with an old player at the Bunzaemon outdoor mall in Sotenbori. The completion requirement is five wins without using a take back.

Is puzzle shogi the same as tsume shogi?

Yes. Both are checkmate puzzles with a fixed number of moves, and both count on the computer or the reader finding the best defense. Japanese problems count both sides’ moves, so a “3-move” tsume is your move, a reply, and your mate.

Can I practice shogi puzzles outside the game?

Yes. This site has free tsume puzzles you can solve on a live board in your browser, with no account. They use the same rules as the Yakuza puzzles, so solving a few here makes the in-game ones much easier.