Fist of the North Star
Numerous video game titles based on the "Fist of the North Star" have been produced since the 1986 release of the Enix adventure game, simply titled "Hokuto no Ken" for the PC-88. The earlier games in the franchise were released by Sega for the Mark III and Mega Drive and by Toei Animation for Nintendo's Famicom, Game Boy and Super Famicom. These titles included side-scrolling action games, role-playing video games and competitive-style fighting games. The two Sega titles were released overseas without the "Hokuto no Ken" license under the titles of "Black Belt" and "Last Battle", while a couple of the Toei titles, namely "Fist of the North Star" for the NES and "Fist of the North Star: 10 Big Brawls for the King of Universe" for the Game Boy, had American releases with the license intact. Further games were released for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Arcade, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS among other platforms. In 2000, Konami released an arcade game based on the franchise titled "Fighting Mania". Another arcade game, a 2D fighting game simply titled "Fist of the North Star", was produced by Sega and Arc System Works in 2005. Both games saw international distributions, although the PS2 version of the fighting game was released exclusively in Japan. Tecmo Koei produced a "Dynasty Warriors" spinoff focusing on the events from the first half of the manga, titled "". It which was released in Japan on March 25, 2010, and later in North America on November 2, 2010, and Europe on November 5, 2010. A sequel, "", expanded on the first game and incorporated the events from the second half of the manga. It was released in Japan on December 20, 2012, and in North America on February 5, 2013. On August 25, 2017, Sega announced a new game, "", for release in 2018 on PlayStation 4. The game was released on March 8, 2018 by the team behind the "Yakuza" series and features similar gameplay and elements.
List of Fist of the North Star characters
The eldest of the four Hokuto brothers, Raoh is a conqueror who takes the mantle of Ken-oh or 'Fist King'. Believed to be the strongest and obvious choice to become the sole user of Hokuto Shin Ken, Raoh is a towering and intimidating man standing at at least 7 feet tall (in some fights he is depicted being substantially larger i.e. 10-12 feet). After learning of Kenshiro's chosen succession as the single user of Hokuto Shin Ken, Raoh abandons his loyalty to his brothers and his master to wander the wastelands and become the ruler of all including conquering Heaven itself. Before leaving however, his master Ryuken begs him to give up his ambitions of conquest by never practicing his martial art or to "seal his hands" (achieved by destroying/removing his hands or his mind or by committing suicide). Raoh of course refuses and kills his master in a duel as Ryuken's fading health stops him from defending himself. Before dying Ryuken tells Raoh that because of his prideful ambitions he will never be able to achieve true mastery of their martial art, which infuriated him and planted seeds of doubt into his mind. Raoh would go on to become one the most powerful warlords of the wastelands and eventually lead armed forces larger than the Southern Cross 6, the likes of Shin or even its leader Souther (Thouser). Raoh is a true power house of destructive force, as his technique is the "Hard Fist" style of Hokuto Shin Ken. This style focuses on crushing blows and straightforward assaults along with energy waves that destroy most anything they are directed at. Raoh's most notable character trait both in and out of combat is his overwhelming need to always press further and never retreat, not even one step or else his pride and claim of being the greatest will be in question.