The transition from the PS4 to the PS5 has been weirdly long. We're years into the current generation, yet Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is still out here making sure the old hardware isn't left in the dust. Honestly, when I first heard Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth PS4 was going to be a day-one reality alongside the beefier consoles, I was skeptical. Hawaii is huge. The turn-based combat is flashier than ever. The density of Honolulu is a massive jump from the relatively cramped streets of Ijincho or Kamurocho.
You'd think the old base PS4 would just explode, right?
It doesn't. But there are trade-offs you need to know about before you drop seventy bucks on this version. This isn't just a simple port; it’s a masterclass in optimization that still shows its age in the most frustrating ways possible.
The Reality of Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth PS4 Performance
If you're playing on a base PS4, you are looking at a native resolution of 900p. That’s the hard truth. It’s not 1080p, and it certainly isn't 4K. On a Pro, you get a bit of a bump, but it’s still essentially the same engine trying its hardest to keep up. The frame rate is locked at 30fps. Mostly.
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Most of the time, Kasuga Ichiban runs through the streets of Honolulu quite smoothly. But then you hit a busy intersection. The NPCs start populating. Suddenly, you’ll notice that "Yakuza stutter" we’ve seen since Yakuza 6. It’s not game-breaking, but if you’ve spent any time looking at 60fps footage on YouTube, the Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth PS4 experience is going to feel like walking through molasses for the first hour.
Texture pop-in is the real ghost in the machine here. You’ll be sprinting toward a localized side story—maybe looking for a specific Sujimon—and the storefronts will look like blurry clay for a good three seconds before the high-res textures finally decide to show up. It’s the price we pay for a map that is, by official accounts, roughly three times the size of the one in Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Loading Times: The Real Final Boss
We have to talk about the SSD versus the HDD. This is where the Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth PS4 version starts to hurt. On a PS5, you enter a building, and you're just... in. On the PS4, you’re going to be staring at those loading screens. A lot.
Whether you are fast-traveling via the taxi system or entering a major story dungeon, expect to wait anywhere from 30 to 50 seconds. It kills the momentum. In a game that encourages you to hop between mini-games, Poundmates, and side quests, those seconds add up to hours over a 70-hour playthrough. If you have the option, even putting an external SSD on your PS4 will cut these times down significantly. It’s a literal lifesaver for this specific title.
What They Didn't Cut
The good news? Sega didn't gut the content. Sometimes, "last-gen" versions of games lose features—think Shadow of Mordor on PS3 or Cyberpunk 2077 at launch. That isn't the case here. You get the full Dondoko Island experience. You get the entire Sujimon Battle league. You get the bucket list of Kiryu Kazuma.
Every single cinematic, every line of voice acting, and every ridiculous "Essence" attack is present and accounted for. The lighting in the evening scenes in Honolulu actually looks surprisingly decent on the old hardware. The Dragon Engine was always built to prioritize skin textures and neon lights, and those still pop. Even if the background buildings look a bit crunchy, the character models for Ichiban, Kiryu, and Chitose look fantastic.
The combat feels identical. Since it’s turn-based, the 30fps cap doesn’t actually mechanicaly hinder you. In an action-heavy game like Lost Judgment, 30fps can feel like you’re fighting the controls. Here? You select "Bat Hero" and watch Ichiban swing. The timing for the "Perfect Guard" is still consistent, though I found the input window feels slightly different than the PC version due to the inherent display lag of older consoles.
Why This Version Exists and Who It Is For
Why bother with Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth PS4 in 2026? Because the install base is still massive. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama has been vocal about wanting their games to be accessible. They know a huge portion of their core audience in Japan and South America hasn't moved to the PS5 yet.
If you are a series veteran who hasn't upgraded your hardware, don't let the "Pro" elitists scare you off. This is a perfectly "fine" way to experience the story. Is it the best? No. Is it better than not playing the game at all? Absolutely.
The game includes a free digital upgrade. This is the most important takeaway. If you buy the PS4 disc or digital version now, and you eventually snag a PS5 next year, you get the PS5 version for free. Your save data carries over through the cloud. There is zero risk. You can start the journey now and finish it with better graphics later.
A Quick Word on the "Dondoko Island" Performance
Dondoko Island is essentially Animal Crossing inside a Yakuza game. It’s a massive resource hog. On the PS4, when your island starts getting crowded with buildings, decorations, and guests, the frame rate takes its biggest hit. It can get chuggy. My advice: don't over-clutter your island layout if you're sensitive to frame drops. Keep it functional. The game engine struggles to calculate all those unique shadows and physics interactions at once on the Jaguar CPU.
Essential Optimization Tips for PS4 Players
To make the most of your time in Hawaii without your console sounding like a jet engine, there are a few things you should do immediately.
- Clean your fan. I’m serious. Infinite Wealth pushes the PS4 to its thermal limit. If your console is dusty, it will thermal throttle, and your frame rate will tank even further.
- Turn off "Motion Blur" in the settings. This is a personal preference, but on the 30fps PS4 version, the default motion blur can make the image look smeary during camera rotations. Turning it off (or down) helps maintain some visual clarity during exploration.
- Internal SSD Upgrade. If you plan on playing many more late-cycle PS4 games, swapping your internal HDD for a cheap SATA SSD is the single best $40 you will ever spend. It turns those 45-second loads into 15-second loads.
- Adjust the FOV. If the game feels "slow," widening the field of view slightly can give a sense of faster movement, though be careful as this can increase the load on the GPU.
The Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth PS4 experience is a testament to how far developers can stretch ten-year-old hardware. It’s a miracle it runs as well as it does. You’re getting one of the best RPGs of the decade, a tear-jerker of a story involving the legendary Kiryu, and a vibrant world that feels alive, even if it’s a little lower-resolution than the marketing materials suggest.
If you can handle 30fps and some long loading screens, Honolulu is waiting. Don't let the lack of a new console stop you from seeing Ichiban's biggest adventure yet.
Next Steps for Players:
Verify your available storage space, as the game requires roughly 60GB on the PS4. If you are purchasing a physical copy, ensure you have a stable internet connection for the day-one patch, which addresses several minor stability issues specifically for older hardware. Once installed, prioritize reaching Chapter 2 quickly; the game's world opens up significantly once you leave the initial linear segments, allowing you to gauge the hardware's performance in the larger open-world environment of Hawaii.