Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star (AW)

Tacitus

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Wow.

this game engine is really smooth and awesome. I've been playing a few games every few hours since I plugged it in this morning

So far, I've dicked around with Thouther, Shin and Jagi. Jagi seems pretty slick and fun to play.

anyone with experience or insight? It seems to be very similar to guilty gear with a few wrinkles added on.
 

Kid Panda

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Yes very much so, made by the same team and very slick looking. I love the series so much and when I played it on my trip to Japan a couple of years ago I had a blast. Bought the ps2 version across the street from the arcade that day. Man I miss Japan :/
 

wataru330

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The pinnacle of this engine (IMHO) is Basara X.

Love the fit, finish, & universe of HnK...just wish it played w/ Basara X's refined engine.
 

Tacitus

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Perhaps I should either watch ANY anime... or even FOTNS. I would probably appreciate it even more.



The star system is interesting, even if I don't fully understand it.

Jagi seems beastly... as does Thouther.

Mr. Heart is nearly unplayable. I'm guessing he's pretty low tier.
 

Kid Panda

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Perhaps I should either watch ANY anime... or even FOTNS. I would probably appreciate it even more.



The star system is interesting, even if I don't fully understand it.

Jagi seems beastly... as does Thouther.

Mr. Heart is nearly unplayable. I'm guessing he's pretty low tier.

Yes, you should watch FOTNS, I think you'll dig it. It's very violent and not really for the kiddes
 

Tacitus

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Yes, you should watch FOTNS, I think you'll dig it. It's very violent and not really for the kiddes

Everyone raves about it, I've just never had any motivation to watch it or anything else.

I read some of the storyline to understand the game a bit.. I am pretty intrigued.

What should I start with?
 

Kid Panda

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Everyone raves about it, I've just never had any motivation to watch it or anything else.

I read some of the storyline to understand the game a bit.. I am pretty intrigued.

What should I start with?

start with the movie from 1985, then watch the 3 New Fist of the North Star OVA set. theres also 3 other movies that were made later and are a good watch, after that if you want a formula type anime continue with tv series and its 100+ episodes
 

Fuzzytaco

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When they released sets of all the episodes last year I was a very happy man, I would also recommend the 1985 movie to anybody who appreciated the cheesiness of the 80's as much as I did. Very violent indeed, a combo of Mad Max, Bruce Lee, and alot of fantasy kung fu movies, can't beat that. Also the song before the last battle in the movie is epic and in my opinion is a must for everyones playlist, "Oh Oh standing at the heart of darkness"
 

Spike Spiegel

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When I first played it, I was underwhelmed by the animation, and overwhelmed by the fighting engine. Now that I know the insides and outs of the engine, I will say it's one of my favorite fighters ever. Great game that I never get bored with. Every round is an epic super battle.
 

NeoGeoNinja

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start with the movie from 1985, then watch the 3 New Fist of the North Star OVA set. theres also 3 other movies that were made later and are a good watch, after that if you want a formula type anime continue with tv series and its 100+ episodes
THE 3 OVA FOTNS FILMS?...
were those the one's featuring Sanga etc? I really didn't click with those at all, personally. I found them to be really overly serious and a bit dull if I were honest. I seem to recall Kenshiro being stuck in a prison cell for over half of one of the movies? As if... lol!

I'd agree that the Manga film is a good starting point. If you like that you can *think* about indulging in the 100+ tv episodes... which is absolutely awesome imo!

*Neck Twisting, Face Breaking PUNCH!*

If the film does zero for you though, I wouldn't bother with the series - as essentially, the movie is a condensed overview of a large part of the series. But at only 80+mins, the film is definitely worth a shot...
 

Azra113

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The manga is superior.
If I recall correctly, Toki and Rei are broken.
 

Tacitus

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When I first played it, I was underwhelmed by the animation, and overwhelmed by the fighting engine. Now that I know the insides and outs of the engine, I will say it's one of my favorite fighters ever. Great game that I never get bored with. Every round is an epic super battle.

I get that feeling.

I'm enjoying Jagi quite a bit, but was surprised when I looked up the tier lists that he's mid-level.

I never put much stock in tier lists, they seem to change every few years as strategies develop. (ex. MvC2 tier lists of 10 years ago vs. now.)
 

Spike Spiegel

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Even putting Jagi at mid-tier is being optomistic. But yes, I don't care about them either. I main Thouther, and couldn't care less that he's somewhere in the middle-ish.
 

LoneSage

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Everyone raves about it, I've just never had any motivation to watch it or anything else.

I read some of the storyline to understand the game a bit.. I am pretty intrigued.

What should I start with?


I finished the (first) series a little over a month ago. After the first thirty episodes, shit gets pretty serious. That's not to say the first thirty are bad, far from it, but they're really typical. The theme of destiny becomes prevalent, and you can go a bit deeper from there.

Not to be a dick to Kidpanda, but New Fist of the North Star and pretty much all of the new/recent-ish movies are balls. Show's where it's at.
That said, the first series is like 109 episodes, so, yeah, fat chance you'll ever watch it.
I did like the English dub for the first 30-something episodes, fwiw.

P.S. Heidern was inspired by The Colonel, an enemy from early on.
 

Kid Panda

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I finished the (first) series a little over a month ago. After the first thirty episodes, shit gets pretty serious. That's not to say the first thirty are bad, far from it, but they're really typical. The theme of destiny becomes prevalent, and you can go a bit deeper from there.

Not to be a dick to Kidpanda, but New Fist of the North Star and pretty much all of the new/recent-ish movies are balls. Show's where it's at.
That said, the first series is like 109 episodes, so, yeah, fat chance you'll ever watch it.
I did like the English dub for the first 30-something episodes, fwiw.

P.S. Heidern was inspired by The Colonel, an enemy from early on.

Aww c'mon, they're not THAT bad lol
 

Ancient Flounder

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I finished the (first) series a little over a month ago. After the first thirty episodes, shit gets pretty serious. That's not to say the first thirty are bad, far from it, but they're really typical. The theme of destiny becomes prevalent, and you can go a bit deeper from there.

Not to be a dick to Kidpanda, but New Fist of the North Star and pretty much all of the new/recent-ish movies are balls. Show's where it's at.
That said, the first series is like 109 episodes, so, yeah, fat chance you'll ever watch it.
I did like the English dub for the first 30-something episodes, fwiw.

P.S. Heidern was inspired by The Colonel, an enemy from early on.

Shin HnK was pretty boring, but I thought the films from 2005-6 and up were pretty good. Was weird seeing some new stuff added into it, but it didn't bother me much.

Also, neat to see there's a somewhat less censored video release of the movie out there in the world. It's sad that we will never see a fully uncensored version on any format, barring any untouched prints surface somewhere.
 
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wataru330

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It's sad that we will never see a fully uncensored version on any format, barring any untouched prints surface somewhere.

Please elaborate. All home releases are censored in some way compared to the theatrical releases?
 

LoneSage

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Please elaborate. All home releases are censored in some way compared to the theatrical releases?

I've heard conflicting reports on the recent DVD re-issue, but yeah. Coincidentally I watched the movie on youtube a few days before this thread was created and I compared the scenes from the Italian version above to the one I watched...the censorship's a real shame.
 

Tacitus

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The combo system seems to be VERY combo friendly.. like you can almost fall ass backwards into a 10+ combo.

The corner juggles are pretty smooth and I found it very easy to juggle a few times with the timing being a bit "off".
 

GohanX

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I've never seen the series, but an arcade near here had this for a while and although I didn't know what I was doing, it was pretty fun. I'd love to see some high level play. If this had a home port on a system I have (No JPS2) I'd grab it.
 
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For those wanting some high level play vids... Arcade A-Cho still puts out a HnK vid every now and then.


I could seriously watch these all day...
 

Ancient Flounder

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Please elaborate. All home releases are censored in some way compared to the theatrical releases?

Any of the death sequences where the footage is a weird color or things look trippy is the result of digital censoring that occurred either after the theatrical release, but while it was still in theatres, or when the movie hit home video. I know every release here in the States has never been released without any of that digital censorship, including the most recent DVD release. It's never been released in Japan without the censoring, either.
 
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