Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage
Hisashi Koinuma, the game's producer said that the staff aim to create a "new realistic feel" for the "Fist of the North Star" series while still being faithful to the original's roots. During this process, he mentioned his concerns for the characters' body structure, muscles, and other minute details (such as perfecting the model for Raoh's wrinkled forehead). He noted that the official mode for this title carries more action adventure tones than other "Warriors" titles thus far yet gave his assurance that "Warriors" fans can easily feel at home in the game's original story mode. He personally spoke his thoughts regarding the game at Yodobashi-Akiba, Biccamera Yurakucho, and Biccamera Ikebukuro on March 22 and March 25. He also played a rock-paper-scissor game for attendants, the winner of the crowd obtaining an original T-shirt signed by the game's voice actors.
Fist of the North Star
The two one-shots were well received in the reader's surveys of "Fresh Jump" and Tetsuo Hara was commissioned to turn "Hokuto no Ken" into a weekly series. Buronson was assigned to work with him as writer for the serialized version. The storyline was revamped, with the 1980s present-day setting in the original version replaced by a post-apocalyptic future world, and the protagonist Kenshiro, originally a teenager framed for a crime he did not commit in Hara's prototype story, became an older and more stoic hero with a tragic past. Originally, Hara and Buronson were contracted to do "Hokuto no Ken" for a three-year run, but due to its popularity and the publisher's demand, it was extended to a five-year run.