150. Hokuto no Ken (Shouei, Famicom, 1986)

Hokuto no Ken is the first in a series of 4 Famicom games that are adaptation of the titular manga/anime series, also known as Fist of the North Star. Like game #122, Nagagutsu o Haita Neko, Hokuto no Ken was developed by Shouei and published by Toei Animation. So it is not a huge surprise to me that Hokuto no Ken is also a bad, ugly game.

This is a beat-'em-up released in 1986, before the genre really knew what it was. You start out in a ruined city and the game scrolls to the left endlessly unless you enter the right series of doors in order to get to the stage boss. The doors are marked by a small girl, and you weirdly have to press A and B and up on the d-pad to enter doors. The sprites are pretty big, but also pretty ugly, and the animations are not anything to write home about either. Backrounds repeat every screen or two and I'd say they feel devoid of life, but this is a post-apocalyptic setting.

Mechanically, Hokuto no Ken is also very simple: the two face buttons are kick and punch, and you can jump by pressing up on the d-pad. The jump is pretty bad and floaty, but it is also hard to control because you have to hold up to continue jumping, so it can be awkward jumping in a particular direction. Enemies will constantly spawn, but thankfully the game can only handle 2 at a time, so it's not terribly overwhelming. Really the only good thing I can say is that there is a simple pleasure in kicking an enemy and sending them flying offscreen, or mashing them with a flurry of punches and then seeing them explode.

I only got to the first boss, but I had to fight him about 10 times before I figured out a winning strategy:
- never push down
- mash the kick button as fast as possible

Playing this game has made me consider doing a whole month where I just play non-violent games.

1/5, a lifeless game where the only joy is destruction