Fist of the North Star, released in Japan as is a side-scrolling

Side-scrolling video game

A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...

 action game

Action game

Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...

 developed by Shouei System for the Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

, originally released in Japan by Toei Animation

Toei Animation

Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...

 in and in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 by Taxan

Taxan

TAXAN is a subsidiary of Kaga Electronics, a Japanese electronics company. It was founded in July 1981, and in the late-1980s and early-1990s, the US division published several video games on the NES and Game Boy....

 in . The game is 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...

 series Fist of the North Star

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...

and is the second of four games based on the franchise that were released for the Family Computer in 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...

 and the only one with an overseas version. The game's plot is adapted from the second 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, Hokuto no Ken 2, and covers the Gento Kōken story arc.

The North American version is simply titled Fist of the North Star and is not to be confused with the original Hokuto no Ken for the Famicom, which was released exclusively in Japan. Despite being based on Hokuto no Ken 2, the North American cover artwork depicts 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...

fighting against Toki, who appears only in the first anime series.