List of Fist of the North Star video games
The following is a list of video games based on the manga "Fist of the North Star". Since , many video games based on the "Hokuto no Ken" franchise have been released for the Japanese market, including coin-operated arcade games and computer software. The majority of these games were released only in Japan, with the exceptions of "Fist of the North Star" for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Taxan Soft in , "Fist of the North Star: 10 Big Brawls for the King of Universe" for the Game Boy by Electro Brain in , and the "" series by Koei Tecmo, which started in . The arcade games "Fighting Mania" by Konami and the "Fist of the North Star" fighting game by Sega, also received international distribution. Additionally, the Sega games "Black Belt" for the Master System and "Last Battle" for the Genesis, were originally released as "Hokuto no Ken" video games in Japan before they were stripped of the license and rebranded for the international market.
Fist of the North Star (2005 video game)
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.