Hokuto no Ken: Seikimatsu Kyūseishu Densetsu
Hokuto no Ken: Seikimatsu Kyūseishu Densetsu |
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Hokuto no Ken: Seikimatsu Kyūseishu Densetsu
-From Rage Quitter 87's Fist of the North Star site
This HnK video game was one of the earliest titles for SEGA's Mega Drive (Genesis in the USA) system, and like many of the early games available for it, it sucked. Repetitive gameplay, sloppy collision detection and poor music were just some of the problems this game has. Developed by SEGA, it was released in 1989 and can be seen as a sort of sequel to their earlier game for their 8-bit machine, with it having similar gameplay. In it, the player takes control of Kenshiro and has to defeat various enemies and bosses, meeting and fighting characters such as Solia, Falco, Han and Kaioh. Despite being called simply "Hokuto no Ken" the game is clearly set during the Hokuto no Ken 2 storyline. The game is also available on the Wii's Virtual Console service, although only in Japan.
Contents
1) Gameplay
2) Last Battle
Kenshiro can punch with the A button and kick with the B button. The C button is used for jumping. The goal of almost every level is to get from left to right, defeating enemies along the way. All of the normal enemies take 1 hit to kill. Standard enemies include troops of the Emperor, Shura warriors, Akashachi's pirate gang and even crows. Certain stages are boss only battles, who are tougher and can take many hits.
In total there are four chapters, each one containing several levels. Between each level there is a map screen, letting you select which level you want to go to next. Normal levels have you fighting basic enemies whilst moving to the right (in most cases), and end with Ken meeting another character (for example, Ken will meet Bat at the end of the first level). Dungeon levels have Ken making his way around a dungeon which is full of traps, such as arrows and boulders. Boss stages have Ken and his opponent in a one on one duel. Sometimes certain conditions have to be met before certain stages can be played, such as having Ken at a certain level of power. That's pretty much all there is to it, really. Throw is some horrible collision detection (Alf, one of the game's bosses, it considered almost unbeatable by many) and some horrendously over-powered bosses (Hyo can take away most of your life bar with his rapid strikes attack) to make this a game that nobody likes.
In 1990, the game was released in America and Europe. However, this version of the game was heavily edited, removing any mention of Hokuto no Ken and re-titled to something that sounded like another popular game. Last Battle features all the levels and enemies from the Japanese version, but changes the colors of the sprites for everyone and tones down the violence. For example, in the Japanese version, most enemies will have their heads explode when hit, whilst in Last Battle, they just fly off the screen. Many of the enemy sprites were given color changes to make them look like mutants, rather than humans.
The story is actually surprisingly accurate to the original -just with all the names of the characters changed. Kenshiro was re-named Aarzak, Solia became Syd, Falco became Duke, Han became Gromm etc. Fighting styles were also given different names, such as Hokuto Shinken becoming Jet Kwon Do and Gento Kouken becoming Tae Kung Fu. Last Battle was later ported to the Amiga, Commodore 64 and Atari ST, but these versions were only released in Europe. Last Battle was met with negative reviews by critics and all versions were heavily discounted not long after release, in an attempt for some poor sucker to get a new but terrible game at a low price.
