Hokuto no Ken 2
Hokuto no Ken 2 |
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Hokuto no Ken 2 Seikimatsu Kyūseishu Densetsu
-From Rage Quitter 87's Fist of the North Star site
Released on the 17th of April 1987, this is the second Hokuto no Ken game for the Famicom, and is an improvement over the dismal first effort. However, despite boasting better graphics and less glitches, the game is still seen as being a poor title, and overshadowed by many other great Famicom games available at the time. Based on the Hokuto no Ken 2 portion of the series, the early release of the game was well before the manga had finished (whilst the anime was only up to the fifth episode) and as such the game only covers the Imperial Capital story, although there is an extra fight against the Nameless Shura if a condition is met by the end of the game.
Contents
1) Gameplay
2) USA version
3) Cheats
4) Bronza
The controls are the same as in the previous title, with the d-pad being used to move Kenshiro around, whilst one button is for punches, the other for kicks. The aim of each level is to defeat enemies before finding and defeating a boss, such as Boltz, Solia and Falco. Power-ups Kenshiro can collect will be revealed after defeating certain enemy types, collecting enough of them will make Ken tear his jacket off and become much stronger than usual. Throughout the stages are bonus items that can help out, such as making Kenshiro invincible for a short period of time.
The stages are no longer as maze-like as they were in the previous game, although several of them still feature doorways to move through and finding the correct path to take. To move through a doorway, stand in front of it and hold the punch and kick buttons down before pressing down on the d-pad. The game has two different endings depending on which final boss you faced: Falco or the Nameless Shura.
In 1989, a company called Taxan released the game in American under the name of "Fist of the North Star". Whilst the story wasn't changed, a lot of the graphics were, such as some stages having brighter colors, whilst Kenshiro's outfit was now blue rather than black. Some of the enemies were made either easier or harder, such as certain bosses having more health. In the Japanese version, sometimes characters would make a cameo when a stage was beaten, such as Bat and Lin at the end of stage 1. These cameos were taken out of the American version. Unfortunately some new glitches were added, mainly to do with the endings. For example, if you reach the Shura stage and beat it with continues, the ending sequence will feature corrupt graphics. The cover art for this version of the is taken from a shot in this episode, which features Toki, who isn't even in the game.
Fight the Nameless Shura
If you play through the game without using a continue, there will be an extra stage after the battle with Falco where the Nameless Shura will be the final opponent.
Start on stage 4 (Japanese version only)
Go into the versus mode and lose. When the title screen appears, hold select and down before pressing start and you'll start on the fourth stage.
Bronza is the boss of the sixth stage in the game, and is known as the red light of Gento Kouken (a title Shoki had in the anime, but he doesn't appear in this game). The interesting thing about Bronza is, according to the strategy guide, he knows Musou Tensei, the greatest technique of Hokuto Shinken! Quite why such a minor character would know how to do this is a total mystery, but the guide quite clearly states it. The picture of Bronza above is from the guide, and the character has so far only ever appeared in this game.
