Video Game / Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise

aka: Fist Of The North Star 2018

The legend of the Savior of Century's End explodes.

Xsana: What can Eden grant a man of such power?
Kenshiro: I need to search your city for a woman who is named Yuria...that is all I ask.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, released in Japan as 北斗が如く (Hokuto ga Gotoku, lit. Like the Big Dipper) is a video game based on the anime and manga series Fist of the North Star by Tetsuo Hara and Buronson. The game was handled by Sega's Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, developers of the Like a Dragon franchise. The voice cast from the Yakuza series filled similar roles in the game, including Takaya Kuroda (best known as Kazuma Kiryu) as Ken himself. It was released in Japan on March 8, 2018 and in North America and Europe on October 2, 2018 as Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise. The Western release also features dual audio, letting you switch between the original Japanese voices and the English dub.

The game features a completely new storyline set during the first series of Fist of the North Star. In it, series protagonist Kenshiro travels to the city of Eden, a place where civilization still exists even after the global nuclear war that plunged the Earth into its current state of anarchy. Within Eden's walls, people live in comfort thanks to an inexhaustible supply of water and electricity being taken from "Sphere City", a relic of the old world. This blessing allows Eden to thrive not only as a place of easy living but as a place of entertainment as well. Kenshiro has traveled here hoping he might find Yuria, his True Love, beyond Eden's gates.

Since this is a Fist of the North Star game developed by the team behind the Yakuza series, players can expect some of the best parts of both worlds here. During his stay in Eden, Kenshiro can pummel some unlucky Mooks to bloody explosions with his Hokuto Shinken before taking a part-time night job as a bartender mixing drinks, for example.

You can see the announcement trailer for the game. The TGS Trailer. 3rd Official Trailer. English announcement trailer.

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This Game provides examples of:

• 1-Up: Certain Destiny Talismans work like this.
  • Lin's behaves like a traditional 1-Up, where if Kenshiro runs out of health while it's equipped, he will be revived on the spot with some health. The higher the Talisman's refinement level, the more health he gets back on revival.
  • Rihaku's is the equivalent of this for Ken's buggy. When equipped, the Talisman will activate and give the player more fuel upon running dry, with subsequent upgrades granting more gas per refuel.
• Action Commands: QTEs appear when executing your secret techniques and inputting the commands shown on screen will increase their lethality. That said, actually inputting the commands is optional to the point that you have an "Easy Secret Technique Mode" option. With Easy Secret Technique Mode turned on, the QTEs are disabled and the base damage of the secret techniques is increased based on their level.
• Action Prologue: The game starts in the middle of Kenshiro doing his raid on Southern Cross, as he seeks Shin.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Not that he already wasn't, but equipping the downloadable Kazuma Kiryu skin, and especially if you play with the Japanese voice track, gives you Kiryu, except, instead of being a street brawler, uses Hokuto Shinken, and fights like a Bare-Fisted Monk.
  • Unlike the source material, Kenshiro learns of Thouzer's dextrocardia and manages to defeat him in their first bout, compared to where he had to lose first before learning the secret to his apparent immunity to Hokuto Shinken.
  • Compared to the source material, Jagi fares better against Kenshiro in their fight here.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • A mild example in Devil's Rebirth. In the source material, he is a pitiable Psychopathic Manchild criminal that needed to be put down. In the game, despite appearing as an early boss, he survives the clash against Kenshiro and later helps with rebuilding Eden after its walls are destroyed by outside forces.
  • Thouzer has a downplayed version, or more like an 'Adaptational Villain Downgrade'. He's still the tyrannical Emperor, but his most heinous moments, namely enslaving children to build up a pyramid to honor his master and then forcing Shew to put the final piece, carrying the top piece of the pyramid, then impaling him with a thrown spear so he's also trampled with that piece to complete the structure are all omitted (especially since Shew was Adapted Out). His army's power and typical douchebaggery aside, Thouzer ends up as just another particularly powerful warlord and master of Nanto Seiken, not a rather viciously vile one.
• Adaptational Wimp: Oddly enough, Hokuto Shinken. While it's still a fearsome martial art in the world of Fist of the North Star, certain enemies can survive it even if you managed to be precise with the techniques. Another glaring example is when Raoh's Celestial King's Assault, his most powerful technique, doesn't do as much as to dent the sealed doors in Sphere City.
• Adaptation Deviation: The game combines two of Ken's famous battles from the manga into a single boss fight:
  • In the manga, Ken is defeated by Thouzer in their first fight and isn't until their second bout that he discovers his pressure points are reversed. In the game, it combines both fights without Ken losing a round.
  • His fight with Raoh's boss battle is largely based on their third and final fight. Unlike in the manga, he fought Raoh to a draw, Ken being a definitive winner despite Raoh's successful kidnapping of Yuria in the second, and Ken's total victory over Raoh. In the game itself, Ken and Raoh fought as if it's the final fight with each blow similar to that in the anime and manga and a punch on Raoh's chest that secured Ken's victory, but the game treats this fight is if this won't be the last time you see him.
  • Ken learns Transmigration of Souls through years of witnessing friends and rivals dying and chooses to bear their sadness and secret techniques. In this series, it's a Hokuto Destiny Talisman he can just buy after the main story ends.
• Adaptation Distillation: The story's version of Toki's rescue from the Cassandra prison has the majority of the characters absent, so it can focus on Ken simply assaulting its jailers entirely by himself.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • Inverted in the case of Rei. While he's usually known for having blue hair in most adaptations, this is a holdover from the anime version — whereas the original take on the character had black hair. Rei has black hair here, which is technically Truer to the Text.
  • Played straight with Airi, whose hair is light blue as in the 1986 film adaptation.
  • Mamiya is often depicted with red or auburn hair. Here, her hair is black with dark blue highlights.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication:
  • The game excludes Jagi's manipulation of Shin, since Ken learning of this gains him his anger towards Jagi.
  • Raoh referring to Yuria as the last of the Nanto heirs, even though the Nanto users that are present in the game (Rei and Thouzer) are alive and well.
• Adapted Out: Aside from appearing on some Destiny Talismans, some familiar faces do not make an appearance in this continuity, examples include Juda, Shew, Juza and Fudo.
• The Aesthetics of Technology: Most of the stuff seen in the game is stuff that would be seen in a setting where the apocalypse happened in the 1980s, from the shotguns to the salvaged arcade machines. But Sphere City looks like it was built by Crystal Spires and Togas type people, with poetry written on a plaque for instructions and arty symbols enscribed on the walls (and hourglasses instead of digital timepieces).
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Eden gets thoroughly invaded by the Holy Imperial Army while Kenshiro and Jagre are at the cursed village. As such, all the buildings (except the talisman store) and most of the paths are blocked until Kenshiro defeats Thouzer and drives off the army.
• Alternate Continuity: As with the original story, Kenshiro is on a quest to find and rescue his One True Love, Yuria. The main difference is that most of this game's story takes place within a small city called Eden that has miraculously survived the nuclear war. This city receives electricity and water from a giant dome-shaped structure called "Sphere City", providing the inhabitants a level of comfort unknown in the post-apocalyptic era. Kenshiro still encounters familiar faces such as Shin, Rei, Jagi, Toki, Souther and Raoh, but events surrounding them are somewhat different from the original story. There are also a few new characters introduced in this story including Xsana, Jagre and Targa. The story starts after Kenshiro & Shin's battle.
• Ambiguously Gay: The owner of Rob's bar. During the bartending minigame, his descriptions can be read as him figuring out Kenshiro is his type. First he goes to check out who the new bartender is and is shocked at how muscular Kenshiro is, then he repeatedly goes back to see Kenshiro more than to get drinks and even starts working out because of him. Once you're at max relationship, it says he goes to see Kenshiro after working out and selecting him even makes him state that he wants a drink based on Kenshiro's experiences.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore:
  • The Japanese cover art (see the page image) shows Kenshiro embracing Yuria, while the western box art◊ features Kenshiro menacingly cracking his knuckles while raiders converge in the shadows behind him. Although Sega did go out of their way to make the box art reversible: Western art on one side, Japanese art on the other.
  • The first trailers of the English and Japanese version. Lost Paradise's trailer focuses more on the fighting action, whereas the Japanese trailer could afford to show some of the wacky mini-games that the game offers. Furthermore, the western version of the game downplays the Censor Shadow effect on mooks that Kenshiro kills; their bodies only darken slightly, but the gore is otherwise more pronounced.
• And the Adventure Continues: The game's story ends with Kenshiro and Yuria leaving Eden using a jeep to continue their travels (since Raoh and Thouzer are still at large), but not before making a stop for a certain little girl wanting to have apples.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Apart from the paid Kiryu skin, the free DLC updates have added Ken's bartender/manager suit and a special "Lost Paradise style" outfit that's black and gold.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • The trading sequence in Chapter 1 was way longer in the Japanese version of the game, requiring you get both the jewel and a crossbow to continue instead of just the jewel. You can still acquire the cigarettes and pure gas, but they aren't mandatory.
  • Certain clothing can hide Ken from enemies if you're busy doing something.
  • If you saved over your completed save data in Endless Eden mode by accident, you can convert your Endless Eden data as a complete save data for use in New Game Plus.
  • Unlike the Yakuza games, getting hit does not deplete your Burst Meter. Your Burst Meter will retain its level of stars after a fight. However, it will empty if your Burst Mode runs out of Stars.
  • Despite it massively buffing bosses and Elite Mooks, Canon difficulty compensates for this by significantly nerfing the basic rank-and-file mobs to make them seem more in line with the typical cannon fodder in the manga, such that most of them will be and remain at a measly Level 1 throughout the game, allowing a reasonably-leveled Kenshiro to steamroll over them rather effortlessly.
• Art Evolution: The art used for the Destiny Talismans vary in quality. While the ones used for the manga-based characters straight up reuse the manga art, those used for the game-specific characters (Xsana, Lyra, Jagre) are more detailed like the art in Fist of the Blue Sky.
• Ascended Meme: The death cry "Hidebu!" has gone memetic and it is ascended further in the English version. When Kenshiro can use the Written Sound Effect as a bludgeon, one of them is "Hidebu" left untranslated.
• Auto-Revive: Rin's Destiny Talisman revives Ken once with full health.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Kenshiro's ultimate technique, Musou Tensei, unfortunately leans towards this, especially against bosses: while you're completely invincible during it and letting Kenshiro use the fighting styles and techniques of other martial artists for its duration is a nice variety from his normal Hokuto Shinken moveset, you're unable to use Channeling or any of his own special techniques for its duration, which greatly limits the total amount of damage you can inflict on bosses, and you're also unable to use Burst during it, using it with Burst active also cancels the Burst and empties out your Seven Star Gauge and you can't turn off Musou Tensei before it runs out.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: If Kenshiro is fighting alongside Rei, a finishing move can be executed where both Kenshiro and Rei stand back-to-back as they finish off a couple of mooks.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Ken can wear a tux while working as a bartender. Yes, we're not joking. It can even be unlocked for use in lieu of Ken's vest.
• Bait-and-Switch: The debut trailer appears at first to be simply another Yakuza game, showing Kazuma Kiryu talking with Ichiban Kasuga who leaves before being attacked by a thug. Kazuma stops him by... touching his forehead. Then the thug steps back as Kazuma says "Omae wa mou shindeiru". Then the thug transforms into a giant man in armor who promptly explodes. And then Kazuma becomes Kenshiro.
  • The trailer is actually the second half of a two-parter. The first is for Ryu Ga Gotoku Online where Kazuma is just walking along Kamurocho before the thug in question charges at him with a knife, only to be intercepted and the shit beat out of him by Ichiban before Kazuma can so much as lift a finger.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Story bosses have a curious tendency to miraculously survive Kenshiro's Hokuto Shinken beatdowns. However, there is one interesting justification at the end of the game; Targa is a cyborg, as half his body was blown up during the nuclear war, so most conventional techniques have no effect on him. Kenshiro completely stops holding back and gets around that by attacking the one part that is organic.
• Betting Minigame: It wouldn't be a Yakuza game without gambling, even if it's a Fist of the North Star spin-off!
• Big Bad: The central antagonist for most of the game is Kyo-Oh. His plans to cause chaos in Eden drive much of the game's plot. This is until its revealed that Targa has been manipulating events from before the game even began cementing him as the true big bad of the game.
• Big Bad Ensemble: ...However, this doesn't stop Thouzer, Jagi and Raoh from acting out their own plans.
• Big Damn Heroes: Even though Jagi is defeated by Kenshiro, the one who ultimately kills him this time around is Rei.
• Bittersweet Ending: Targa's plan to use nuclear missiles has been foiled, Sphere City has been destroyed, Kenshiro reunites with Yuria, and Eden enters a new era of peace. However, Nadai has to sacrifice himself to allow Kenshiro and Yuria to escape Eden.
• Black Blood: An option in the game allows players to censor the violence slightly by turning the blood black.
• Bloodier and Gorier: It's as violent as the source material and may be more so than Ken's Rage games, and a fair bit more violent than the Yakuza series. The Western version is even more violent with the blood and gore than its native Japanese version.
• Book Ends: Kenshiro speaks his iconic line, "It's too late for you; you're already dead", twice: once to some random goons in the prologue and once to the Final Boss.
• Calling Your Attacks: Kenshiro calls out the name of his finishing moves after executing them, with the name appearing at the bottom of the screen.
• The Cameo:
  • One sidequest has Kenshiro encounter Komaki from the Like a Dragon series, who challenges him to a fight.
  • Amon shows up as the Superboss of the game. Unlike his original series, he does not survive the fight.
  • Rei's final sidequest ends with him meeting Mamiya and setting off with her and Airi.
  • Nugget the chicken from Yakuza 0, of all characters, got added in a free DLC update, and will give you a talisman that gives you a random number of IDL when used.
• Canon Foreigner: Aside pre-established characters such as Shin, Rei, Raoh, Jagi and possibly others, the game also has its own sets of characters foreign from the source material, such as the mysterious Xsana, Jagre and Targa. Eden is one as a new setting as Ken searches for Yuria.
• Casting Gag:
  • Most of the main characters share voice actors in such a way that it mirrors the roles those voice actors play in Like a Dragon.
    • Takaya Kuroda (Kiryu) plays Kenshiro, the stoic hero.
    • Kazuhiro Nakaya (Nishiki) plays Shin, Kenshiro's former best friend who is driven against him due to a Love Triangle.
    • Hidenari Ugaki (Majima) plays Jagi, a crazy Combat Pragmatist who is obsessed with fighting Kenshro.
    • Masami Iwasaki (Ryuji) plays Raoh, Kenshiro's blonde archnemesis who defied the orders of his patriarch in order to become a conqueror.
    • Shunsuke Sakuya (Kashiwagi) plays Toki, an older figure with a relationship to Kenshiro and a more non-combative role despite his former prowess.
    • Kazuhiro Yamaji (Date) plays Rihaku, another older figure with a less personal, yet still cordial, relationship to Kenshiro who is entirely non-combative.
    • Toshiyuki Morikawa (Tatsuo Shinada) plays Rei, an ally of Kenshiro who, though formerly very unscrupulous, pragmatic, and somewhat loathsome, went through Character Development to become a more fully realized man.
    • Aya Hisakawa (Yoshino Tayū from Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan! and Kaoru Sayama in Kiwami 2) plays Yuria, Kenshiro's love interest.
    • Rie Kugimiya (Haruka Sawamura) plays Rin, a young girl who idolizes the protagonist. She's had previously played Toh from DD Fist of the North Star.
    • Miyuki Sawashiro (Makoto Makimura) plays Xsana, a beautiful young woman who plays a big role in the story.
    • Naomi Kusumi (Shimano) plays Uighur, an old man who also happens to be a violent brute.
    • Kenta Miyake (Yuya) plays Jagre, a character who is initially distrustful of Kenshiro before becoming a staunch ally.
  • Quite a few actors from Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage appear in this game, albeit in different roles:
    • Shunzo Miyasaka (Zeed and Tao) provides the voice for Bat.
    • Yasuhiko Kawazu (Spade and Bolge), Hiromu Miyazaki (Fudo, Shuren and Young Raoh) and Sota Arai (Alf and Buzz Harn) provide additional voices.
  • Patrick Seitz plays a light-haired, muscle-bound, villainous warrior with the same powers as the main character. Are we talking about Raoh? Or Dio Brando?
• Censor Shadow: Mooks that Kenshiro kills with his gorier attacks turn into black silhouettes as they explode in a shower of blood and gore, not unlike in the original TV series. Averted in the Western release, which lets you switch between gore levels at your leisure in the options menu.
• Checkpoint Starvation:
  • Once you head to Cassandra, you have to fight 4 consecutive fights in a row with cutscenes in-between. One against a couple of mooks on the way, then several of Uighur's guards, Uighur himself, then you fight Toki. Toki doesn't give you an option. You have to fight him to learn his techniques. Once you defeat him (or he defeats you), then you can save.
  • The finale of the game is a helluva marathon: First, you have to fight Nadai (who is much stronger this time than when you first fought him earlier), then you have to fight your way through Sphere City (itself a Marathon Level where death means starting over at the beginning), then the Final Boss, Targa. Once you've made the final confirmation before fighting Nadai, you're committed.
  • The final bounty hunter sidestory is about fighting the Circus of the Apocalypse, which forces you to go through 4 enemy waves before you can earn the bounty.
• The Comically Serious: Kenshiro is as stone-faced as ever when working, even if he’s using Hokuto Shinken to make cocktails at super speed or to give customers their grocery orders.
• Connected All Along: As it turns out, Kyou-Oh is Nadai, Xsana's father who was thought to have died years ago.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: Zigzagged. Naturally, major boss characters like Raoh and Thouzer are immune to the lethal effects of Kenshiro's many Hokuto Shinken techniques that can be performed on them in a straight-up brawl, where they will be downgraded from the standard One-Hit Kill on basic mooks to attacks that do moderately high damage instead. On the other hand, if such techniques are part of scripted finishers, these bosses will end up dying like they should^note or in Jagi's case, being close enough to dying as he could be before Rei finished him off.
• Crapsaccharine World: While not as bleak as the original Fist of the North Star setting thanks to Eden, it's still a pretty dark place. Eden is very selective about who is allowed entry for fear of running out of resources, and turns away all but a select few people. And even then, the electricity and water in the city are courtesy of a pre-war military base with a stockpile of nukes ready to launch.
• Critical Status Buff: Dipping below 5% HP causes the Shining Star of Death to appear next to Kenshiro's Seven Star Gauge. Normally, this would mean he's about to die, but various upgrades found in the Mind and Body skill trees will provide hefty offensive bonuses when he's in this state once unlocked, giving the player a few Desperation Attacks to throw out and hopefully turn the situation around. The Bloody Bandage and Oily Cloth accessories similarly boost Kenshiro's SSG gain and Burst Mode damage output, respectively, while he's at critical health.
• Defiant Captive: Xsana when captured by Thouzer. She even takes the first chance she gets to attack him with a concealed knife.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Yuria's guardians, the Nanto Gosha Sei, are largely Out of Focus in the game. Rihaku (under the guise of Eden's doctor) plays a supporting role early on, but leaves around Chapters 5-6. Huey and Shuren only make minor appearances (the latter doesn't even get any lines!), while Juza and Fudo don't appear at all except as Destiny Talismans.
  • Raoh doesn't fare much better either. Despite being heavily foreshadowed as a major antagonist like his manga/anime counterpart, he only appears in Chapter 9 for a brief one-on-one duel with Kenshiro, then exits the plot with no real resolution to their rivalry.
  • Thouzer as well. Unlike Raoh and Jagi, he doesn't even get a proper build-up. Instead, he and his army kind of just arrive out of nowhere to cause havoc on Eden, gets beaten by Ken, swears vengeance, then makes a strategic retreat to fight another day, all in the span of one short chapter. That's it.
  • Mamiya, the series' most prominent female character next to Yuria herself, only appears in a substory near the end of the game.
• Denser and Wackier:
  • Considering that it's made by the Like a Dragon devs at Sega, you can expect the same wackiness from their previous series to be here as well. For instance, what kind of Fist of the North Star setting allows Kenshiro to wear a tux and moonlight as a bartender?
  • Likewise, the Yakuza games have a relatively realistic focus on ground-based combat, whereas, here, juggling the enemy in the air can become quite the common occurance.
• Depraved Dwarf: Some enemies you fight are midgets who only reach up to about Kenshiro’s knee. Still, they’re as mean as you might think.
• Didn't Think This Through: Jagi once again attempts to cause Kenshiro trouble by giving himself 7 scars so he gets the same nickname as the subject of his hatred. Only in this game Kenshiro stays in a single place where people get to know him well, so the disguise falls flat as soon as Jagi catches up.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga and anime, Jagi is eventually killed by Kenshiro in their Final Battle. Towards the end of this game, however, he's killed by Rei.
• Difficulty Levels: Other than the usual difficulty levels, there's an optional downloadable one that makes bosses ignore the difficulty curve and be as strong as they are in the source material. Of course, this has no effect on the Original Generation bosses, but good luck when you go up against Raoh with that difficultly on!
• Diving Kick: When Kenshiro's at full power he gains the ability to freely leap high and dive kick enemies. It's also possible to perform this move normally as an evasion move once Kenshiro learns it from Toki.
• Dolled-Up Installment: The Nightclub minigame is an all-but identical to the Cabaret Club minigame from Yakuza 0.
• Downloadable Content:
  • The free bonus item packs added via game updates, which can be obtained in-game from Chogre, who's near Ken's hideout in Eden. They provide new Destiny Talismans and extra Destiny Orbs, healing items, armor/accessories, and costumes.
  • The Kazuma Kiryu skin, which is free for the first two weeks after release, then goes back to it's nearly 4 USD price (or regional equivalent).
  • The pre-order/launch edition Destiny Talisman bonus pack grants you access to the Talismans of the five members of the Nanto Gosha Sei and Raoh's steed Kokuoh.
• Embedded Precursor: A Sega Master System can be found with a copy of the Master System FOTNS game. American players may recognize it as it was localized in the US as Black Belt.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Raoh may be a ruthless conqueror but even he refused to use nukes in Sphere City and urged Nadai to keep them hidden at all costs.
  • Nadai was shocked that Targa would consider Jagre and Lyra liabilities at the end of the game.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: During the gladiatorial games, Kenshiro is paired up with an unknown martial artist. Said martial artist wanted to win just to get a license to kill anyone. Ken is neither amused or impressed when he hears this.
• Evil Is Hammy: Jagi. Especially in the English dub. If you were hoping this game would have its own version of Majima, he's your man.
• Experience Points: Well, "Destiny Points", which are earned by killing enemies, completing substories, or filling out the completion list. And as you level up and complete each story chapter you earn "Destiny Orbs" in order to obtain new abilities: Star (white), Mind (blue), Skill (green), Body (orange), and Shining (yellow/gold). Star Orbs unlock abilities that aren't color specific, Mind/Skill/Body Orbs unlock abilities that are color specific, and Shining Orbs unlock certain "checkpoint" abilities along the four ability trees. Star Orbs are only obtained via leveling, while the other four colors are earned by completing each story chapter, with which color orb being rewarded being random.
• Face of a Thug:
  • Jagre is probably the biggest example, he looks just like any other thug in the series thanks to his fashion sense. But he's also the Captain of the Watch and is overall a pretty swell guy if a bit rude, hotheaded and stubborn.
  • Some men with Mohawks aren't exactly interested in causing trouble, such as a man outside a restaurant who would rather stay out of a fight between Ken and a few mooks. One example is a bar customer named Kyle is trying to make a honest living, and when he hears his father collapsed, he wastes no time trying to get to him.
• Fictional Currency: While the rest of the wasteland still barters for thei supplies, Eden's sheer abundance of supplies lets them mint their own money and return to a pre-war "cash for product" system. And since all the money technically belongs to Eden, the currency is called "Internal Dollar Loans", or IDL for short.
• Final Boss: The final foe Kenshiro faces in the story isn't the likes of Raoh or even Kyo-Oh, but Targa instead.
• Final Death Mode: Extra Hard mode has no continues: if you die, you have to start over.
• Finishing Move: In lieu of the Heat Moves of Yakuza, Kenshiro uses various Hokuto Shinken attacks in fights. They instantly kill most common enemies and deal heavy damage on bosses.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: Flamethrowers are carried by certain enemies and can be used by Kenshiro.
• Flash Step: Kenshiro is able to dash from foe to foe.
• Game Within a Game: If you can find them out in the wastes, you can play Space Harrier, OutRun, Super Hang-On, and Fist of the North Star (as in the Sega Mark III game that was originally released as Black Belt outside of Japan).
• Gameplay and Story Integration: New Game Plus allows you to transfer all items into a new game file. However substory hostesses are integral to the story they're attached in while non-plot relevant ones are not.
• Gang of Hats: Far less than in the main series, although the final bounty hunter sidestory has Kenshiro take on the Circus of the Apocalypse, a gang of clowns.
• Giant Equals Invincible: Nope. Kenshiro has no trouble taking down Devil Rebirth, a giant of a man who is several times larger than Ken. The spectators clearly thought this, since they're all in Stunned Silence after Ken wins the match.
• Gorn: It wouldn't be Fist of the North Star without it, and this game (both the Japanese and Western versions) encapsulates all the brutality of the manga perfectly.
• Guide Dang It!: Did you happen to buy a new car part for your buggy? Too bad you can't use it, since they requires very specific materials to use them. Which means you have to venture to the wasteland to find them. It's a matter of where the materials for the parts are.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Xsana has golden blonde hair and is also called the Holy Maiden of Eden thanks to her kind-hearted personality, mercifulness and willingness to help out anyone and everyone in anyway she can.
• Harder Than Hard: The appropriately-named EX-Hard difficulty, which is roughly analogous to Legend mode in most Like a Dragon titles, where enemies are absolutely brutal with their damage output while taking much less in return. It's also a Final Death Mode, so you've really got your work cut out for you. And then there's Canon difficulty, which is the same as EX-Hard, but boss characters will be massively overleveled compared to Kenshiro, making most of their basic attacks extremely punishing, if not outright lethal, though normal mooks are nerfed to compensate.
• Harsh Word Impact: Kenshiro can pick up the sound effects left behind by his enemies to bludgeon even more enemies.
• Heel–Face Turn: Nadai turns to the side of good after Jagre and Lyra are shot down to the point that he helps Kenshiro and Yuria escape Eden during his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Nadai sacrifices himself to allow Kenshiro and Yuria to escape Sphere City's destruction.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Some of Kenshiro's finishing moves turn his enemies' weapons against them, including one that catches a crossbow bolt in mid-flight and flicks it back at the shooter's head, and another where Kenshiro steals his attacker's flamethrower.
• Homemade Flamethrower: Some of the Bandits will be armed with large jury-rigged flamethrowers, Kenshiro's "secret technique" against them is just him stealing the Fire-Breathing Weapon and using it on their former owners.
  Time to take out the trash.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Similar to Kazuma Kiryu of Like a Dragon, Kenshiro recovers health (as well as Seven-Star Gauge, his equivalent of Kiryu's Heat bar) mainly via eating food. Specifically, his staple restoratives are various kinds of meat jerky and canned goods that automatically restore their corresponding worth in health (and SSG meter, if applicable) immediately as they're eaten.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: After taking Xsana prisoner during his attack on Eden, Thouzer forces her to sit on his lap and spends the cutscene prior to his boss fight manhandling her.
• Ki Manipulation: Raoh's Destiny Talisman allows Kenshiro to use one of his older brother's signature techniques: Celestial King's Assault, which projects a wave of spiritual energy that incinerates his enemies.
• Kick the Dog: Targa guns down Jagre and Lyra in front of Kenshiro to provoke him. Even worse when the two are starting to become merciful and having doubts about their plan of revenge.
• Lady in Red: In this incarnation Yuria wears a red dress and is also one of the most important characters in the game's story.
• Launcher Move: Unlike in the slightly more down-to-earth main Yakuza games, most enemies can be launched and juggled.
• Lighter and Softer: Yes, lighter and softer. The original anime and manga, while idealistic and hopeful, is a very serious story throughout. This game adds some humor from the Yakuza series while keeping most of the tone and bloodier and gorier aspects from manga. Also, story-wise, many characters who died in the original manga such as Rei and Thouzer manage to survive.
• Martial Arts for Mundane Purposes: Kenshiro, the successor to the assassination art of Hokuto Shinken, the man who can make any foe explode into Ludicrous Gibs with his fists alone, The Savior of the Post-Apocalyptic World can use his superpower martial art to... mix a martini while temping as a bartender. He also uses it to help sick people while working in the local clinic as a doctor and work as a street vendor.
• Martial Medic: In Eden, Kenshiro can follow the same path Toki did and use Hokuto Shinken to heal illnesses by running a clinic as a doctor.
• Mercy Invincibility: Shu's Destiny Talisman grants Kenshiro a few seconds of invincibility, keeping his HP from reaching 0 while active.
• Moveset Clone: The duelists you can fight at the Colosseum all use the same movesets of the story bosses you fought (minus QTE interludes). This even includes a clone of Devil Rebirth.
• Mythology Gag: Oh so many, to either the Yakuza series or the source material and it's many adaptations.
  • Kenshiro can manage a nightclub similar to Majima's cabaret club side-business in Yakuza 0. Kenshiro must attend to customers' needs and requests while performing double duty as "bouncer" and dealing with miscreants. Ken also wore a tux in comical situations in a previous life.
  • Sadly, there are no batting cages in the wastelands. Thankfully, there is an alternative called "Death Batting", where Kenshiro plays a variation of baseball by whacking bandits riding motorcycles with an I-beam. It's also hard not to think of the Post-Apocalyptic Olympics scene from the anime upon seeing this minigame.
  • There are video games such as Outrun and a Sega Mark III with Fist of the North Star hiding in the wastes. When you bring the Mark III to the arcade owner to restore, he says how you need to be a "black belt" to beat the game you found with it: Black Belt being the name of the Master System version of Fist of the North Star outside of Japan.
  • The clinic minigame is a rhythm game not unlike karaoke from the Yakuza series.
  • One variation of the Hundred Fist Rush dubbed "Hokuto Rising Force" reuses the animation from a Rush Style heat move Kiryu had in Kiwami.
  • Kenshiro's animation for bludgeoning enemies with a Written Sound Effect is the same one used by Kiryu in 0 and Kiwami when he uses heavy weapons in his "Beast" style.
  • The casting of voice actors from the main Yakuza series is a deliberate Casting Gag, with most of the voice cast playing as characters who, between Yakuza and Fist of the North Star, have similarities to one another. The biggest example of this is the casting of Takaya Kuroda, the voice of Kiryu, as Kenshiro, another stoic badass whose connection to something dark belies a heart of gold.
  • The climax of Kenshiro's boss fight against Raoh has the two combatants recreating the iconic pose of Kiryu squaring off against Nishiki at the end of the first Yakuza.
  • In the English dub, when enemies in Eden chase after Kenshiro, they will often shout "Hey, you!", the same as random encounters in the English dub of the original PS2 version of Yakuza.
  • A cutscene in Chapter 1 features Kenshiro offing a mook by burying a saw in his skull.
  • One of the drinks Kenshiro can make at the bar is named "Yuria Eternal", named after the first ending theme of the anime series Yuria, Eien ni.
  • One NPC Kenshiro can meet out in the Wasteland is named "Jean Kujo".
• Mood Whiplash: Despite its Bloodier and Gorier nature, it also includes more lighthearted moments including Kenshiro as a bartender, or him smacking a Mook with a steel slab so hard that they're sent flying into the sky.
• Narrator: Kōichi Yamadera (aka Shun Akiyama's voice actor) narrates the game's story.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: Subverted. In the original source material, Ken loves Yuria, but he not once kissed her, though he has hugged her. He actually kisses her on the cheek near the end of the game.
• No-Sell: Just like in the manga and the series, Thouzer is apparently immune to Hokuto Shinken skills and Kenshiro can barely deal any damage on him for most of his boss fight. He'll often blow Ken away with his aura or let himself get hit just to show off. Eventually, Ken manages to stun Thouzer's arm upon realizing he has Dextrocardia and his pressure points are all inverted. From that point on you can perform all the super moves you want on him.
• Non-Standard Character Design: While the game is done in a style very close to that of Tetsuo Hara, the DLC Kiryu skin, Komaki and Amon stand out for being photorealistic.
• Nonstandard Game Over: If your car runs out of gasoline while exploring the wastes, the game ends automatically.
• Old Save Bonus: If you happen to have system data from either the demo or any of the Yakuza games, you start with an extra healing item (Canned Food).
• Portmanteau: The game's Japanese title is a mix of Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) and Ryu ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon): Hokuto ga Gotoku (Like the North Star).
• Power Copying: Destiny Talismans let Kenshiro use moves from other characters, such as Raoh's Celestial King's Assault.
• Power Perversion Potential: Have you ever wondered whether Hokuto Shinken, which works through Pressure Point manipulation, could be used for this purpose? Well, in one substory, Lyra openly asks Ken if there's a channeling point he could trigger to help a small-chested nightclub hostess grow bigger boobs. Ken says, not as far as he knows. (And the hostess in question is offended, saying big boobs aren't all it takes to make a girl sexy.)
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Lost Paradise loosely hits most of the story beats of the base Fist of the North Star manga, but since most of the action takes place in and around a central city, the story was changed to fit. Most of the armies Kenshiro faces are instead attacking Eden for its resources, for example.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Kenshiro has a handful of one-liners he'll growl before fighting enemies in Eden.
  Villains don't need graves.
  You're beyond words now.
  I'm sick of seeing you breathe.
• Pre-Explosion Glow: Mooks hit by one of Kenshiro's finishing moves will develop glowing Volcanic Veins before exploding in a shower of blood and gore.
• Press X to Not Die: Taking a page from the expanded combat mechanics of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's Like a Dragon series, numerous quick-time events will show up as scripted parts of many boss fights to test the player's reflexes. Missing the inputs tends to cause Kenshiro to take a lot of damage, if not netting an immediate game over.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: The Hokuto Hyakuretsuken, natch. Kenshiro also uses lightning-fast punches as part of his normal combo strings and, in Burst Mode, can even transition from a normal combo string into an enhanced version of the Hokuto Hyakuretsuken.
• Recycled In Space: With many elements from the Yakuza games, one can call this Yakuza of the North Star or Ryu no Ken.
• Schmuck Bait: An in-universe example with the Mohawk Surprise. How it keeps getting sold is a mystery for the ages.
  Item Description: Canned food so spicy, it'll make you yell like a thug. WARNING: Do not eat within earshot of Kenshiro.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: One of Jagi's goons recognizes Kenshiro as a practitioner of "Hokeypoke Shitcan" and not only decides to back down but upon seeing the rest of his comrades get obliterated decides to outright retire from being a raider.
• Shout-Out: There are cassette tapes scattered throughout the wasteland that can be played on your buggy's radio. Some of them contain music from other Sega games like OutRun, Super Monkey Ball, and Phantasy Star Online.
• Spot the Imposter: Jagi disguises three hostages as himself while using pressure points to control them, forcing Kenshiro to play a guessing game to spot which one is his brother. He does this by asking them yes or no questions and having them signal a circle for yes and an X for no (the trick is that Jagi always lies while the hostages tell the truth).
• Spared by the Adaptation: Most of the characters who die in the original manga are spared in the video game, such as Devil's Rebirth, Rei and Yuria.
• The Stinger: In the post-credits stinger, Nadai sacrifices himself to allow Yuria and Kenshiro to escape and Jagre and Xsana lead Eden to a time of peace.
• Stupid Evil: A staple in the series regarding the grunts you face, especially in random encounters. Yes, let's go harass that one guy who is minding his own business who can also make people's head explode. Nothing will go wrong with that.
• Superboss:
  • Amon, again. Yes, even in a spinoff set in an alternate universe, the Fiercest Warrior remains a series staple.
  • You can also fight Toki and Nadai at their respective full powers.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • Subverted with Xsana. She may look like a blond version of Yuria, but unlike Yuria, Xsana makes an effort to escape from Thouzer whereas Yuria was taken by force by Shin.
  • The various Duel opponents are your means of rematching bosses. They have metal masks and sometimes different hair, but otherwise they are straight up clones of them. To make it even more blatant, they all explain their reasons for fighting Kenshiro, and they are eerily similar to their counterpart's reasons for fighting. The only one that isn't a substitute is "Ash the Tranquil" who is really just Toki in a Paper-Thin Disguise.
• Too Long; Didn't Dub: An averted example. In addition to being the first Ryu ga Gotoku Studio game to feature English dubbing since the first Yakuza game, all of Kenshiro's finishing moves have translated names (Hokuto Hundred Fist Rush, for example). Furthermore, unlike Ken's Rage, Kenshiro's dub voice actor calls the attacks by these translated names.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Kenshiro can send foes flying into the sky when hitting them with an I-beam like a baseball. Each "home run" Kenshiro hits becomes a star in the Big Dipper constellation (plus the Star of Death).
• Town with a Dark Secret: Eden turns out to be this, it's huge supply of energy come from the generators in Sphere City, said generators are actually to power nuclear silos.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Any mook you encounter will definitely be this, especially if said mook is chasing you while you're just minding your own business, or if they're threatening someone. Cue bloody explosive death by your hands.
  • According to Jagre, 8 of the 10 people Jagi killed in Eden were thugs dumb enough to pick a fight with a Hokuto Shinken user.
  • In one substory, Kenshiro encounters a politically correct group whose leader demands for Kenshiro to not use his martial art when dealing with thugs, opting to try more peaceful approaches rather than use violence. This naturally doesn't work and the group leader is nearly killed until Kenshiro intervened and killed the thugs. Then later on he gets killed for real and comes to the conclusion that he was born in the wrong century.
• Utopia: In the post-apocalyptic wasteland, Eden is this. It's called "The City of Miracles" where water and energy are available to all who live there and there is even an entertainment district.
• Video Game Caring Potential: The player has the option to save hapless kids and civilians from thugs. You are rewarded by the person you rescued with treasure maps and healing items if you do so. You also have multiple opportunities to use Hokuto Shinken to cure people's aches and pains on the street, again being rewarded with healing items for doing so.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Considering how Too Dumb to Live the enemies are if they spot you, they are essentially target practice to your Hokuto Shinken techniques.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The fight with Rei in Chapter 5 is the point where you need to know what you're doing. Rei is much faster than the previous boss enemies (he's actually faster than Targa), deals damage that can't simply be blocked (hope you learned the Parry from Toki last chapter), and has a QTE that, if failed, easily deals enough damage to one-shot you.
• What If?: There are different canon arrangements in the series. For example, Rei fighting Ken. He initially thought that Ken, not Jagi, kidnapped Airi until he proves his innocence. Another is Ken actually killing Shin rather than the latter committing suicide, thinking it is Better to Die than Be Killed like in the anime and manga.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Most mooks have these, with their irises being the size of pinheads. And Jagi, naturally. This is done to contrast their unhinged villainy with the main characters and other civilians, who have normal eyes.
• Wide-Open Sandbox: In addition to the city of Eden, Kenshiro can explore the surrounding wastelands in a customizable buggy.
• With My Hands Tied: The first phase of the Jagi boss fight has him force Kenshiro to not move a single step or he'll have Rei and Airi (whom are being held captive) killed. The game switches to a first-person perspective as Kenshiro is limited to turning left and right as well as basic attacks.
• Win Your Freedom: After being captured and attempting an escape, Kenshiro learns that he can gain freedom in Eden by winning in a gladiatorial deathmatch against other prisoners.
• Wham Line: From the debut trailer, for anyone who thought this was going to be another Yakuza game.
  Kazuma Kiryu: Omae wa mou shindeiru.
• Written Sound Effect: Enemies that are killed may let out a Death Cry that will either turn into a collectible power-up or actually solidify and drop on the ground, upon which Kenshiro can pick them up and use them as a bludgeon.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Towards the end of the game, Targa guns down Jagre after the latter refuses to kill Xsana. Then, he kills Lyra after she becomes appalled by what he's done.
• Your Head Asplode: It can't be Fist of the North Star without it.
• Your Size May Vary: Downplayed compared to the source material, but still present. Enemies can be anywhere from twice slightly bigger than Kenshiro to being over twice as tall, but get scaled down during a "Secret Technique" quick-time event in order to make the animation look more fluid. This is especially noticeable when the technique fails to kill the enemy, and you can see them grow back to their normal size as the cutscene ends.

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"You are already dead."

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