As is the norm for the Yakuza franchise, substories are the wacky and sometimes outright hilarious side stories found outside of the main storyline. If you’re looking to complete all of them, or just enough for the two trophies/achievements, Substory Lover and Substory Dragon, we’ve got you covered.
As always, be sure to check out our Review of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties to hear our thoughts on the game!
Substories Guide
The substories will be broken down into which chapters you can find them in, and the solution to get them done. There are 30 normal substories to complete between the 2 cities, with an additional one unlocking once you have completed all 30, defeated every reaper, and completed all the colosseum fights at least once.
Kamurocho
| SUBSTORY | Location | SOLUTION | Rewards |
| 1- Connected by Lalala Love | In front of the Millennium Tower(Chapter 1) | While walking around with Haruka, you will be asked about getting a new phone. You will then be taught about the Lalala friends, and will need to connect to Lala Aizawa to finish the substory. | Unlocks Lalala friends, phone customization unlocked. |
| 18- Leave It All To Akko-san! In Tokyo! | South Tenkaichi St(must have finished substory 17) | Hang out with Akko-san again, eating and then singing Karaoke, and then you’ll have to fight some thugs with Akko-san’s help. | Phone customization, Akko-san joins Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 19- Retake The Dragon Palace | On Park Blvd | One of the homeless will recognize Kiryu and ask for help, saying some people are shaking them down at the Dragon Palace. Head over to the marker and defeat the group. | Phone customization item, Dragon Palace is now open. |
| 20- Welcome To The Information Age | Outside Millennium Tower | There will be a booth with 2 guys talking about a new modem, just answer how you want, it’ll end up in a fight against the 2. | None. |
| 21- A Rookie’s Dilemma | Outside West Park | Head to West Park and talk to the man on the bench. He will talk about his job and the hazing. Ask him if it’s worth the harassment, and his boss will arrive, and he will stand up for himself. Defeat the group. | None. |
| 22- The Red Balloon | Children’s Park | Head to Children’s Park, and a child’s balloon will fly away. You will need to chase this multiple times around the city until it heads back to the park. | Phone customization item. |
| 23- Baby Be Gone | Taihei Blvd | A lady will be talking about her missing dog. Offer to help find it. Head to the alley across from Park number 3, and a man will be talking about a ransom for someone with the same name. Defeat him, and you’ll find out there’s a kid with the same name. He’ll take you to where the dog is. | Toughness ZZ and phone customization item. |
| 24- In My Pocket… | Theater Square | Kiryu will bump into a woman, who yells that her purse was stolen by you. Some “bystanders” will come by and question you. Insist you didn’t do it, and one person suggests checking Kiryu; agree to the frisk. When the purse is found, insist you didn’t do it again. Eventually, they will resort to a fight. Defeat them to get them arrested for scamming. | None. |
| 25- Mars Fighters, Reunited! | Theater Square | In Theater squareMinamizawa of the Mars Fighters comedy group will be seen doing a TV spot. Speak to him, and he’ll tell you his partner Kitagawa will be MIA. Head over to public park 3, where Kitagawa will explain he’s in a rut. Help him with his comedy bit, and Minamizawa will see this and get angry about being replaced. Beat him in a quick fight to get them to talk things out. | None. |
| 26- Anything For Mama’s Love | Senryo Ave | At the end of the street will be a makeshift ramen stand. The man will ask you for help since his mom is coming to visit to see how he’s doing. Agree to stay and try the ramen and pretend to be a regular customer. Eventually, his mother will show up to taste the ramen. When they are harassed by some Yakuza, step in and beat them in a fight. His mom will remark that she knew that Kiryu wasn’t a regular, but thanks you for sticking up for her son. | Phone Customization, Masahiko joins Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 27- Wannabe Kpop Idol | Theater Square | Approach the giant group of women, who are disturbing an agent for the Kpop artist Il-Yu-Jin, who will thank Kiryu for showing him around Kamurocho once before, and will ask if he can pretend to be him so he can go explore again. Agree to hit, and his agent will tell you you need to answer just like him. Answer the following: 1. Kind and gentle greeting. 2. Thick-cut bossam. 3. Write your name crazy. Afterwords some yakuza will approach and say that their boss wants you to go back to their office, refuse, and get ready for a fight against the group. The woman will end up going crazy over Kiryu instead of Yu-Jin. | Tomoyi and Kiyomi join Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 28- Life Goes On | Senryo Ave | At the corner of Senryo, there will be a fortune teller being harassed by a man and a woman. Defeat the man, and the fortune teller will reward you by telling you 3 things about your future. This contains spoilers for the rest of the series, so if you know how it goes, answer correctly; answer however you want. | Fortune Teller Nanbara joins Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 29- Date-San’s Pride | In front of New Serena | Kiryu will ask Date-san if he has confessed how he feels, and Date asks you to check in with Mama to see how she feels. Here you will learn how they ran into each other. Check in later, and you’ll find the ex kidnapped mama, and you will need to meet up with Date and fight off the ex. | New Serena Mama joins Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 30- A Star’s Debut at Stardust | Stardust | Kiryu will need to help as a hostess at Stardust. Don’t mind the wig, jump in and help when needed. I responded by running an orphanage and then cooking. At the end, you will need to fight a group of unwanted customers. | 10,000 cash, phone customization, Yuya and Kazuki join Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 31- A Challenger Arrives! Jo Amon! | Mountainside(Must have finished all 30 substories, cleared all colosseum fights, and defeated all 36 reapers) | Link to Guide. | None. |
Okinawa
| SUBSTORY | Location | SOLUTION | Rewards |
| 2- Love’s Cupid | In front of Smile Burger in Downtown(Chapter 2) | When you get to the Smile Burger, you will notice a man named Hiroshi blocking the door into the restaurant. Answer “A sweet young woman,” and then for the next question, answer whatever you like; they will all lead to the same outcome. Deliver the letter he wrote to the girl at the counter, and then defeat the group of thugs to end the substory. | None. |
| 3- So Fast, Soba Delivery Run! | Inside the public market in Downtown(Chapter 2) | Talk to the two people arguing at the Soba stand, and offer to help them do their deliveries. You’ll have 7 deliveries total to make, 5 to businesses, and 2 to random customers. 1. Maeda’s Drugs(Right side of the market) 2. Maa’San’s Juice(Further up the left side of the market) 3. Jewelry and Styley(left side once you leave the market) 4. Going My Way(right side once you leave the market) 5. Poppo(further to the right of Going My Way) 6. Higa-San(at the top of the map across the mahjong parlor, need to shout as loud as you can) 7. Chinen-San(front of the alley where you can cut to the front of the ice cream parlor, need to be as quiet as you can) Just be aware that there is a time penalty if you deliver to the wrong person, or don’t do the right level of talking. Once you finish all the deliveries, head back to the Soba stand to finish this off. | 10,000-30,000 cash, Staminan X(depending on performance). |
| 4- Master Kama Hit Me | Beach across from Morning Glory(Chapter 2) | Head to the beach, and there will be a crowd of people around a man in a turtle outfit. You will be asked if you want to try to hit him. Accept his challenge, and you will need to hit him once in 30 seconds. The easiest way I found was to get him backed up against the rock and quickstep and attack. You can activate Dragon Boost, and once the timer is almost up on that, you can use a dragon finisher for a guaranteed hit. | 30,000 cash. |
| 5- master Kama Hit Me Returns | Beach across from Morning Glory(must have finished substory 4) | Similar to the last substory, you will be tasked with hitting Kame-san, except this time, he does not have the turtle armor on. The same strategy applies; try to get him backed up against the rock, or just use dragon boost for the guaranteed hit. | 50,000 cash. |
| 6- Master Kame Hit Me: Endgame | Beach across from Morning Glory(Chapter 3, must have finished substory 5) | Return to the beach once you’ve made it to chapter 3, and Kame-san will be there once more in just his briefs. Accept his challenge once again to try to hit him. It took me 4 attempts to do this the normal way. I would just make sure you have Dragon Boost available before attempting this to guarantee that you get it. | 100,000 cash. |
| 7- Excuse Me! | Top left area of downtown(Chapter 2) | While walking around, Kiryu will be bumped into by some con men talking about how injured they are and that Kiryu must pay them for medical fees. Refuse to pay, and you will need to fight all 3. After the fight, they will run away, dropping some money. | 30,000 cash. |
| 8- Excuse Me Again! | Top left area of downtown(must have finished substory 7) | Return to the area again, and you will see the same con men trying the stunt again with an old man. Step in and fight the group again. They will once again run away, and the old man you saved will gift you a customization item. | Magatama Strap(White). |
| 9- Well, Excuse YOU! | Top left area of downtown(must have finished substory 8) | Return to the area one final time to see the leader of the group yelling at them for not being able to con anyone. Here, he scams the grandmother of one of the con men, and Kiryu will challenge the leader to a fight. After you defeat the leader, the grandmother will scold her grandson and will join up with Kiryu in the Haisai Girls. | Teruyo Haisai Girl unlock. |
| 10- Spin For Winning? For Winnie? | Karyushi Arcade(Chapter 2) | After you defeat Tamashiro, you’ll have a cutscene. After you exit the arcade area, you’ll meet Winnie. She’ll go over the raffle and go over the foto finder. Take the first photo above the arcade and return to Winnie. | Downtown raffle, and Fortune Finder Foto. |
| 11- The Next-Gen Dream Machine | Outside of the Going My Way Store | Meet the developer on the street, talking about how he’s close to finishing his machine. Later on, meet him on your way to the dojo and defeat his old college buddies. | Can now use the street surfer on the map. |
| 12- Life Is Precious | Inari Street Bridge | Head over to the bridge to see a woman who is ready to jump off the bridge due to being scammed. Reply however you want, and then you will see a man who had the same thing happen to him. The scammers will walk by, and beat them in a fight to finish this mission. | Timid Girl joins Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 13- The Sweetest Treat | Outside Hibiscus Ice Cream | Head over to the ice cream store, and a lady will ask you to deliver ice cream to her children, due to her sprained ankle. Navigate the street, watching out for the sumo wrestlers. If you get hit, you have to start over. Just wait for an opening. Once you deliver the ice cream, you’ll need to deliver the mother to her kids as well. | Reiko joins Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 14- Big City Dreams | Outside Poppo on Hatsumachi St | You will see a father and daughter arguing. Once the daughter leaves, talk to the father. He’ll talk about how she wants to move to Tokyo even though it’s not safe. Go find the girl and talk to her. Later on, come back and meet her again, and she’ll be getting harassed. Her father will step in to help and defeat the thugs afterward. | Phone customization item, Hina joins Bad Boy Dragon. |
| 15- It’s Tough Being A Dad | Front of the beach in Morning Glory | Kiryu will find a naughty magazine on the beach and tries to hide it. Once in your room, decide where to hide it, and Haruka will come to clean and find it. She tells you to find a better spot next time. | None. |
| 16- Keep At It Parents! | outside near the entrance(must have finished substory 15) | Mame will dig up the magazine that you buried; you’ll have to catch him in a race through Okinawa. | None. |
| 17- Leave It All To Akko-san! In Okinawa! | In front of the Arcade Entrance | A broadcast will be going on featuring Akko-san, who will ask Kiryu for good places to check in Okinawa. Choose the market, and Kiryu will show them around. Fight some thugs, and then you’ll head to Kiryu’s favorite bar. | Bunch of phone customization items, and a gold statue of Akko-san for Morning Glory. |
Hopefully, that is all the info you’ll need to unlock the Substory Lover and Substory Dragon trophies/achievements!
And that is all the Substories featured in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. We hope this guide helped you out, and be sure to check out our other guides for the game.
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