Black Belt is a 1986

1986 in video gaming

-Events:-Notable releases:*Namco releases Sky Kid Deluxe, Hopping Mappy, Toy Pop, The Return of Ishtar, which is the sequel to Tower of Druaga, Genpei Tōma Den, and Rolling Thunder....

 beat 'em up

Beat 'em up

Beat 'em up is a video game genre featuring melee combat between the protagonist and a large number of underpowered antagonists. These games typically take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical or fantasy themes...

 game released for the Sega Master System

Sega Master System

The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....

. It is a localization of the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese Mark III game, , based on the manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 and anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series of the same name

Fist of the North Star

is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and drawn by Tetsuo Hara that was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1983 to 1988, spanning 245 chapters, which were initially collected in a 27-volume tankōbon edition by Shueisha...

 (Fist of the North Star in English). The international version was stripped of the Hokuto no Ken license, forcing graphic alterations to the game. Black Belt was one of programmer Yuji Naka

Yuji Naka

, is a video game designer and programmer, best known as the former head of Sonic Team, a group of Sega programmers/designers, where he was the lead programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog....

's early games prior to his involvement in Sonic the Hedgehog.

Plot and gameplay

The player takes control of a martial artist named Riki, who sets out to rescue his girlfriend Kyoko from his rival, Wang. The game is composed of six left-to-right side-scrolling stages in which Riki faces different types of underlings (depending on the stage), facing the occasional sub-boss at mid-points of certain stages. Keeping true to the original source material Hokuto no Ken , underlings violently explode upon being punched or kicked. At the end of each stage, Riki must confront the stage's boss, each being susceptible to only one type of attack. The player must exploit their opponent's weakness and use it to finish the boss off.

Localization

Black Belt was originally a Hokuto no Ken game in Japan. The changes were the characters themselves and the backgrounds, as well as everything related to the property. However, the game mechanics are still the same and even the lesser enemies die by exploding into bits. A sequel was released for the Sega Mega Drive

Sega Mega Drive

The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...

 in Japan, which was released internationally as Last Battle

Last Battle (video game)

Last Battle is a side-scrolling beat 'em up released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1989 by Sega. The Japanese version, titled , is based on the manga series Hokuto no Ken . Since the international version did not retain the Hokuto no Ken license, the graphics and characters' names were altered...

, once again stripped of the Hokuto no Ken license.

Characters

Black Belt	Hokuto no Ken	Role
Riki	Kenshiro Kenshiro is the main protagonist of the manga franchise Fist of the North Star by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. According to Buronson, Kenshiro's character design was inspired by the character of Max Rockatansky from the Mad Max film series and martial artist Bruce Lee.In the story, Kenshiro is the rightful...  (ケンシロウ)	Hero
Kyoko	Yuria (ユリア)	Heroine
Ryu	Shin (シン)	1st Boss
Hawk	Colonel (カーネール)	2nd Boss
Gonta	Devil's Rebirth (デビル・リバーズ)	3rd Boss
Oni	Toki (トキ)	4th Boss
Rita	Souther (サウザー)	5th Boss
Wang	Raoh Raoh is a fictional character in the Fist of the North Star manga franchise by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. He is the eldest of four honorary brothers who trained alongside the protagonist Kenshiro in the ancient assassination art of Hokuto Shinken... (ラオウ)	Final Boss

External links

• Black Belt/Hokuto no Ken at Hardcore Gaming 101