Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – What are those red and green fuzzy creatures that appear on Dondoko Island? 

Sega recently released new information about their upcoming title Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. In the latest trailer, a new “island resort management” mini game called Dondoko Island is introduced. The entirely new genre of mini game has been received with much excitement, already earning nicknames such as “Yakuza Crossing.” However, the trailer also shows two mysterious mascot-like creatures on the island, but they’re not introduced. Who are these fuzzy friends exactly? 

In the Dondoko Island Reveal Trailer, two unknown creatures, red and green respectively, appear in a significant number of frames. They can be seen standing among the characters and partying, as well as cheering on Ichiban Kasuga as he catches bugs. There is a dialogue scene where they give the player a big “ALOOOOOOHA!,” but they are introduced simply as “Strange Creatures?” in the dialogue box. 

Seeing this, most overseas fans likely didn’t ponder upon the characters too deeply, or likely just thought “Elmo looks kind of weird” to themselves, but in fact, for Japanese users, these two characters are almost instantly recognizable. They are cartoon characters called Gachapin and Mukku, and their popularity comes from them often being featured on TV and radio shows by the major broadcasting company Fuji TV. 

Gachapin, often mistaken for a caterpillar, is a green bucktoothed dinosaur, and his friend Mukku is a red Yeti. They originate from a Japanese children’s show called Hirake! Ponkikki that is exactly 50 years old this year, but have been featured in various media, including TV, video games, YouTube etc. over the years. Gachapin even has a VOCALOID created based on him called Gachapoid. 

It is unknown as of yet whether and to what extent the characters will have a role in the upcoming Like a Dragon title, but the Dondoko Island play spot seems to be heavily “Gachapin and Mukku-themed.” For instance, the logo for Dondoko Island is half red and half green, reminiscent of the two characters. Additionally, the Japanese version of the trailer for Dondoko Island is actually entirely voiced by Gachapin and Mukku, and their goofy voices set the whole mood of the mini game, as opposed to the English trailer which features a typical deep, male “trailer-voice.” 

In a recent interview, the producers of the Like a Dragon series mentioned that they keep a strict policy of not changing things up to adapt to foreign audiences, and the no-context addition of Gachapin and Mukku this time around is quite in line with this statement. After all, to someone who doesn’t know of the characters, they’re just looking at a random Yeti and weird dinosaur in the middle of a tropical island, which reads as complete whimsical randomness. At the same time, a lot of Like a Dragon fans like the series precisely because of the authentic Japanese goofiness that’s presented “as is,” and thus cannot be found in western titles. 

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is scheduled for release on January 26, 2024 for the PC (Windows/Steam)/Xbox Series X|S/Xbox One/PS4/PS5.