Fist Of The North Star (2005 Video Game)

is a 2D competitive fighting game produced by Sega and developed by Arc System Works, based on the manga series of the same name. It was originally released in 2005 as a coin-operated arcade game for the Atomiswave hardware. A PlayStation 2 port, retitled , was released exclusively in Japan in March 2007. This version features a bonus DVD including an exclusive training mode ("Starter's Guide") and a documentary covering history of previous ''Hokuto no Ken'' titles for home consoles. The arcade version was officially distributed by Sega in North America, while the PS2 port was released only in Japan. In 2020, a homebrew conversion was released for the Dreamcast.

Gameplay

While in both terms of gameplay and visual style, the game is similar to the ''Guilty Gear'' series (which was also made by Arc System Works), some aspects of the mechanics are slightly different.

Seven Stars of the Hokuto

Below each character's lifebar is a gauge with seven "stars" in the shape of the Big Dipper. Special moves, supers, and some command normals can remove varying numbers of stars. Once empty, a final "Death Star" or "shichousei" will light up and the other player can perform a special "Fatal KO" attack that can instantly defeat them, regardless of their lifebar (similar to the Instant Kill attacks in Guilty Gear). The biggest difference is these moves may be easily comboed into, making them far more practical than their Guilty Gear counterparts. Players regain two stars at the start of each round, and one star any time an opponent unsuccessfully attempts to Fatal KO. After being Fatal KO'd, if the match is not over, that player starts the following round with all seven stars replenished.

Boost

Boost is one of the many meters in the game, displayed above the Aura meter in the game's HUD. The bar is divided into three sections or stocks. Using a boost (with the Boost/Special button) allows a player to cancel a move after it hits (similar to Roman Cancels in Guilty Gear), and also shoots the character forward. The player can also Boost when not doing a move, in order to jet across the screen quickly. Boosts are frequently used to perform combos that otherwise would not be possible.

Aura

Used to perform super moves and Guard Cancels (similar to alpha counters.) The gauge can hold two stocks. The first stock fills the gauge up with blue; the second stock fills the gauge up with gold. When at least one stock is ready, text reading "GOD FIST BLOW" appears next to the gauge. If the player's opponent has lost all his stars, it will read "DEADLY FIST BLOW."

Characters

The game is based on the first half of the original manga (chapters 1–136) and uses the characters as they were depicted in the 1980s manga and in the anime series. The voices of the playable characters are all performed by the original voice actors from the anime, with the exception of Kenshiro and Rei (due to the fact that Akira Kamiya was unavailable at the time, while Kaneto Shiozawa died in 2000), who are both played by new actors.

Playable characters

*Kenshiro (''cv.'' Kunihiro Kawamoto)
*Shin (''cv.'' Toshio Furukawa)
*Raoh (''cv.'' Kenji Utsumi)
*Rei (''cv.'' Isshin Chiba)
*Jagi (''cv.'' Kōji Totani)
*Juda (a.k.a. Yuda) (''cv.'' Bin Shimada)
*Toki (''cv.'' Takaya Hashi)
*Thouther (a.k.a. Souther) (''cv.'' Banjō Ginga)
*Mamiya (''cv.'' Toshiko Fujita)
*Heart (''cv.'' Shōzō Iizuka)

Cameos

*Yuria (During the game's opening. Also visible in the background of the Southern Cross stage and in Shin's victory animation.)
*Lin (''cv.'' Miwa Kōzuki) and Bat (''cv.'' Ayumi Tsunematsu) (Whenever Kenshiro wins.)
*Zeed (Can be seen in background in Lin's Village.)
*Shū (In the background of the Holy Cross Mausoleum, carrying the cap stone to the top of Thouther's Holy Pyramid)
*Ōgai (Thouther's sensei. Appears during his victory pose after a Fatal KO at the Holy Cross Mausoleum stage.)
*Diamond (''cv.'' Naotsugu Yoneda), Spade (''cv.'' Koji Totani) and Club (''cv.'' Riichi Nishimoto) (As part of Mr. Heart's Fatal KO.)
*Dagarl (''cv.'' Yūsaku Yara) and Komaku (''cv.'' Shigeru Chiba) (Juda's underlings. Appear during his special moves.)

Legacy

In the fighting game community, ''Fist of the North Star'' is considered one of the prime examples of kusoge (糞ゲー, shit game), video games which are of low quality but remain enjoyable despite it or sometimes because of it. ''Fist of the North Star'' is notable for every character being able to do an infinite combo and said combos can take extremely long to finish off an opponent, to the point that the timer might run out before the opponent is finished after such a combo begins. Said combos are often called dribble combos, as they tend to resemble a character bouncing their opponent around like a basketball. Tournaments are being held for the game and have become noted for the player on the receiving end of said combos often taking out their phones to pass time until the round finishes.

See also

*List of Fist of the North Star video games
*''Guilty Gear''

References

External links

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{{Fist of the North Star

2005 video games
Arcade video games
Arc System Works games
Fist of the North Star video games
PlayStation 2 games
Post-apocalyptic video games
Fighting games
Japan-exclusive video games
Video games developed in Japan
Fighting games used at the Super Battle Opera tournament
Multiplayer and single-player video games