Hokuto no Ken / Black Belt

[Discoalucard]

Kind of a brief one here, but it's the comparison between the SMS Black Belt and its Japanese counterpart, Hokuto no Ken. I think I posted this like a year ago when I was working on a 1up article, but there was too much detail to be include all of this. I had this lying around since then, so I figured I'd put it up if anyone cared.

www.hardcoregaming101.net/hokutonoken/blackbelt.htm

Eventually I want to do a rundown of all of the Hokuto no Ken games...but I'm only familiar with the first seven chapters or so of the manga, so my knowledge afterward gets kinda fuzzy, especially after the time jump. Also, pretty much all of them except for this one, the arcade/PS2 game, and the PSOne beat-em-up are AWFUL.

[vysethebold]

I almost bought Black Belt this weekend and I just forgot about it by the time I picked out my stuff to be rung up. I'll get it next time. Also, Kurt, can you play Japanese SMS games on a US SMS without modification? If so, then I'll just pick up the Hokuto no Ken version.

[Discoalucard]

Nope. You pretty much need a Japanese SMS or Mark III, because the carts are different shapes. I'm not aware of any converters either.

It's on the Sega Ages PS2 release, despite the actual remake being total balls.

[zzz]

"One of them has been given green skin, which was maybe done to make them look less human?"

More likely to make them look less like Hulk Hogan, and avoid any potential legal action from whoever owned his character at the time.

[Neo Rasa]

"The Colonel" throws boomerangs, not knives.

[evilakito]

As simple as that game is, I thought it was pretty fun. But I'd say that the one-on-one battles are what killed it for me. Maybe I just suck, but I could never win consistently.

[Neo Rasa]

It might not just be you. True to the anime, Kenshiro's a master of pressure points, and the boss fights are all "accurate" to this to an extent. So for several of the bosses a point is reached where they only take damage or can be finished off by a specific attack or sequence of attacks.

[Discoalucard]

neorasa said:

It might not just be you. True to the anime, Kenshiro's a master of pressure points, and the boss fights are all "accurate" to this to an extent. So for several of the bosses a point is reached where they only take damage or can be finished off by a specific attack or sequence of attacks.

That drove me NUTS when I was a kid. I remember for one of the fighters you need to hit her/him a sequence of punch/kick/jump kick or something like that, or else it wouldn't do any damage. I know for one - I think Rita/Souther - you need to deliver the final blow while he/she is in the middle of a jump kick.

These scenes can be hard, but I'm still amazed that it has such remarkably huge, well detailed sprites for being an 8-bit console game from 1986.

For the Colonel...they look like boomerangs in game, but I flipped through the comics and I swear he was throwing knives...unless it was on a different page, or I totally mistook the character.

[Deleted]

This is a very damn awesome game indeed, regardless of which version! It's hard to say which one I like more... but as a note, I REALLY have to get into more HnK in general.

Question time: How the hell do you beat Toki/Oni? For that matter, I'd like some advice on the last two bosses as well, just to be safe.

[vysethebold]

I just ordered the first two volumes of the manga (RAIJUN versions) so I can take a look at the series. Too bad the whole thing has never been localized.

[Discoalucard]

Alright, yeah, I was totally getting the Mad Sergeant confused with the Colonel. Fixed that up.

Also, I was feeling flippant so I wrote up a new intro.

[kyouki]

admin said:

Also, pretty much all of them except for this one, the arcade/PS2 game, and the PSOne beat-em-up are AWFUL.

Agreed, although I really like the Genesis/MD game. It takes some getting used to, but I like the variety of stages and the fact that there is a tiny bit of strategy in choosing which order to go through the stages.

I think the best game yet is the PSOne beat em up. It has pretty astounding graphics for a PSOne game and there is a ton of fan service.

[Ryu the Grappler]

The Hokuto no Ken games for the Nintendo systems were published by Toei themselves (the same people that did the Hokuto no Ken TV series), but the actual developing is credited to Shouei System (a company that is also credited with the NES game Puss 'n Boots). Anyway, they were all pretty bad. I thought that Hokuto no Ken 3 (which is a Phantasy Star-like RPG) might had a chance to be decent, but its one of the most tedious RPGs I've ever played. It takes forever to get to the first boss in the first dungeon and once you do, he can easily kill you with a few hits if you're underleveled. It might makes sense if the first boss was an actual character who gave Kenshiro a challenge (like Heart), but its friggin Zeed.

Hokuto no Ken 4 and 5 were also RPGs, each featuring an original storyline. HnK4 is oddly enough supposed to be a continuation of the original manga's storyline, where you play as one of Kenshiro's possible successors. HnK5 is set in an alternate universe and is basically an excuse to have all of the major characters from the manga join your character's party.

[loempiavreter]

Hokuto no ken is a lot deeper then most people think.

Just look at this guy's analysis
www.heartofmadness.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=23908&highlight=#23908

Alright, I feel that I have defend myself and Hokuto No Ken in terms of it's depth and philosophy. I'll try not to start a flame war or anything....

Hokuto No Ken does have lots of plot and important philosophical observations. Much more than the flakey Evangelion. Here are two examples:

1) let's look at the duality HNK sets up in the storyline and world view. Buronson very quickly establishes the two schools of fighting - North vs. South. He draws a parallel to yin and yang, dark and light. Similarly, this duality not only manifests itself in the styles of fighting (destroy from inside vs. destroy from outside) but also in the ways the schools are structured. Hokuto focuses on refinement and singularity, while Nanto focuses on diversity and numbers. I find this whole duality thing to be profoundly effective storytelling.

2) HNK's focus on human nature. What motivates humans? Why do we act alturistically? In a world with no laws and no structure, will humans be prone to selfishness and violence? Is there an "innate goodness" in man? HNK answeres these questions with the various characters. You have gang leaders like Zeed who believe in neither goodness nor order. You have Rei who is essentially a good person driven to nhilism and ruthlessness. And then there is Raoh, who believes in order and power, but not kindness. Finally, you have Kenshiro, who is a beacon for order and civility. The characters are not only fighting with their marital arts, they are also fighting with their beliefs.

These and other topics such as love, loyalty, etc. are wonderfully explored. The series places great value on values such as honor, tenacity, and kindness.

What does Evangelion place value on? Teenage sexual frustration? Selfishness? The sophmoric belief that humans are all evil and therefore, everyone should be killed so that the "hero" can re-poulate the earth with his mother? See, that's what bugs me about shows like that... they're whiney and negative... it's crap that every single teenager going through their moody phase indulges in and (hopefully) grows out of. Watching Evangelion makes me depressed, not because I believe in their philosophy, but because I know there are some young, impressionable kids who actually buy into the whole anti-social, self-congratulatory, existential BS that they try to pass off as enlightenment.

Hokuto No Ken on the other hand says that humans ARE worth saving. It says that people can be cruel, violent, and savage, but despite this, humans are still worth saving. It says that no matter how messed up the world is, humans can still have the capacity to be noble and honorable. And we should be noble and honorable not because of materialistic rewards, but simply because it is right. Ultimately, it is what I believe in and watching HNK makes me feel good about the world and makes me feel good about people!

[Sac (a.k.a Icaras)]

One other thing that just occurred to me about the color change for the Hulk Hogan guy in the Megadrive game...he's HULK Hogan, right? And The Incredible Hulk (Where Hogan got the 1st part of his name) is generally green (Yeah yeah, he can be different colors, but outside hardcore Hulk fandom, Incredible=green).

Coulda just been a joke by a comic fan working on the localisation (I doubt it, but ya never know).

That said, Final Battle isn't that bad from the small amount I've played it (I only bought it due to it being a Fist of the North Star game. I agree it's a crying shame the full thing, and it's prequel Fist of Blue Sky, haven't been fully translated )