Last Battle (video game)

, but the English localization did not retain the license, forcing upon many name changes and graphical alterations. It is the sequel to Sega's previous "Hokuto no Ken" game for the Sega Mark III, which was released as "Black Belt" outside Japan for the Sega Master System.

Gameplay

Due to the game being produced at the beginning of the Mega Drive's life its gameplay is highly simplistic and more akin to 8-bit games of the genre than other Mega Drive examples such as "Streets of Rage". The featured levels are flat, two-dimensional and contain very little platform action, with combat restricted to the use of six basic attacks; A kick and a punch which can be performed while standing, crouching or jumping.

The game is known for its difficulty, primarily due to the character's limited offensive abilities, short range, lack of alternative strategies available to the player, highly skilled and far-reaching boss characters and the character's limited health. Also known for the huge 'wall of text' in the intro that's physically impossible to read in one run due to its speed and large phrases.

Localization

Because the English localization of the game did not retain the "Fist of the North Star" license, the developers changed the names of all characters, as well as their fighting styles, although the plot is relatively unchanged. The original Japanese version is specifically based on the second anime series, which spans Vol. 16-24 of the original manga. Kenshiro was renamed Aarzak and his two sidekicks from the series, Bat and Lin, became Max and Alyssa. Duke, the initial antagonist is actually Falco, while the three "Rashō" were rewritten into rebel generals of the empire that after the defeat of Duke escaped and schemed a plot to exact their revenge on Aarzak.

Also, the blood and gore from the original game was edited out of the western localizations. In the original game, any of the normal enemies would have their heads explode, followed by their bodies in a bloody fashion as well as some boss characters having more of a gory finishes to their fights. "Last Battle", however, edited down the gore so that the normal enemies would only fly offscreen when hit and many of the bloody animations for the bosses were removed or some of the bosses were recolored to look more like mutants than humans (for example, Bask got a green skin, Geira a pale green skin and Alf a purple skin).

Fighting styles

Characters

Other characters from the series, namely Bask, Gayler, Shieno and Alf appear in the game, but are unnamed in the localized version.

ee also

*List of fighting games

External links

* [http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=1345 Last Battle review] at Something Awful
*moby game|id=/last-battle-|name="Last Battle"