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Black Belt

1986 · Sega Master System/Mark III · Point-and-click · Hack and slash/Beat 'em up · Adventure

79IGDB player score
9 ratings

About this game

Black Belt is a side-scrolling single-plane beat 'em up game released for the Master System in 1986. It is a localization of the Japanese Mark III game, Hokuto no Ken, based on the manga and anime series of the same name (which would later be published as Fist of the North Star in English). The export version was released without the Hokuto no Ken license, forcing graphic alterations to the game. Black Belt was one of programmer Yuji Naka's early games prior to his involvement in Sonic the Hedgehog.

The player takes control of a martial artist named Riki, who sets out to rescue his girlfriend Kyoko from his rival, Wang. The game is composed of six left-to-right side-scrolling stages in which Riki faces different types of underlings (depending on the stage), facing the occasional sub-boss at midpoints of certain stages. Keeping true to the original source material Hokuto no Ken , underlings violently explode upon being punched or kicked. At the end of each stage, Riki must confront the stage's boss, each being susceptible to only one type of attack. The player must exploit their opponent's weakness and use it to finish the boss off.