Fist of The North Star region-free?

[Kiel]

I dont know why the PS3 version wouldn't be region free, but as far as having english I wouldn't hold your breath.

[ZOM]

Wasn't there talk about Koei wanting to bring this overseas too? Hokuto no Ken is big in the US & Europe(Italy&France come to mind). Would be a bad move not to localize this for other regions.

[Lordstar]

I know a guy at Koei/temco its been confirmed for an EU release. there just trying to decide on the western name.

[Jeneki]

I'll pick up the PS3 version of this game, so I can borrow it out to some buddies. No reason that should be region locked.

Is Hokuto no Ken really that big in North America? When the TV series got published by Manga Entertainment in '99, it got canceled after only 24 episodes. I mean, sure, I'll buy the full series, but I fear the show is too oldschool for the modern mainstream anime fad-boy.

[Elixir]

I'm unsure of this. Strikeforce and DW6 were both pretty bad. My guess is that Hokuto Musou is either going to be a shallow Dynasty Warriors clone with anime, as terrible as Phantom Blood, or actually good. I'll wait for more impressions first, but I really have bets on the former.

There's a new trailer with Norio Wakamoto in it, in case anyone's interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Ow_jgJ2RM

Edit: Apparently the limited edition "Treasure Box" is pretty decent. Wait, people are not thinking of buying this in English, are they? The dubbing is going to be terrible.

[DC906270]

When the TV series got published by Manga Entertainment in '99, it got canceled after only 24 episodes

i love this series! they should finish the english dub for the rest of the 140+ episode series!

[Ganelon]

I don't see anything bad with Strikeforce. It's sort of annoying in the PS3 version because the maps are segmented though. Shin Sangoku Musou 5 is pretty disappointing compared to SSM4 but it's still a solid game in its own right. I wouldn't mind if Hokuto Musou played like SSM4. In fact, that would still probably be one of the best Hokuto no Ken games compared to all of its other questionable games released up until now.

I wish Koei would officially announce a US release though. If they get Fist of the North Star, excellent. Otherwise, I'll have to see if anything will be unlicensed. Different names are fine but if the characters totally change, I need to get the JP version ASAP.

[BrianC]

At least, for the US, the series is now subbed and available in streaming form on hulu and Funimation. All of the episodes of both TV series too, though I ended up not watching all of FoTN2 due to how absurd it got.

[jonny5]

When the TV series got published by Manga Entertainment in '99, it got canceled after only 24 episodes

i love this series! they should finish the english dub for the rest of the 140+ episode series!

blasphemy

dubs are the devil

[kevkevkevkev]

i think the first 36 episodes made it into the dvd uk box set.

even in japan for those huge box sets they never bothered subtitled versions at all.

[xris]

This is a really big game for Koei, they've been forward about wanting it to go worldwide. They gave away demo keys last month, a public demo is expected soon. Hell yeah! Can I have ALL of the story?

[Jeneki]

Rule of thumb for Japanese 360 games: If a game isn't widely known to be region free, it isn't region free.

Especially in the case of a game that is actively looking for a publisher in other regions. No chance.

[system11]

Rule of thumb for Japanese 360 games: If a game isn't widely known to be region free, it isn't region free.

Especially in the case of a game that is actively looking for a publisher in other regions. No chance.

Good timing.

http://kotaku.com/5486831/fist-of-the-n ... his-summer

[DC906270]

blasphemy

dubs are the devil

not really. not for FOTNS or Ghost in the Shell, anyway

Funimation.

First region/IP-locked website ive ever seen

i think the first 36 episodes made it into the dvd uk box set.

i really hope this game is mainly based on those first36 episodes then. otherwise itll be too random for me, wont know the characters. may as well be playing dynasty warriors (bleh) in that case

even in japan for those huge box sets they never bothered subtitled versions at all

you can or at least used to be able to get the entire 140+ episode series on import w/ "english subs". dont know whether it was babelfish english though

[BrianC]

Funimation.

First region/IP-locked website ive ever seen

I direct linked the video site. As far as I know, the main website isn't region locked, but I think a few other US video sites do the same thing. I forgot it was US only, sorry about that.

[Cthulhu]

I'm a huge Hokuto no Ken / Fist of the North Star fan. Always have been - and I'm in luck, my fiance gets a kick (bad pun intended) out of it too. This game is one of the few purchases for me this month.

So far there have been no region locked PS3 games; I'm not sure if it's even possible (if they use the Blu-Ray regions for the games, then the US and Japan are the same region). Even if it is, they don't bother.

I've watched the vids of the game and it looks pretty good - admittedly, the appeal for me is that it's a HnK game, not that it's a Musou game. Whatever, as long as I can blow up post-apocalyptic-punk-heads, I'll be happy for several hours.

[Elixir]

My guess is that Hokuto Musou is either going to be a shallow Dynasty Warriors clone with anime, as terrible as Phantom Blood, or actually good. I'll wait for more impressions first, but I really have bets on the former.

All I'm gonna say is.. I called it.

[Zeether]

The dubbing is going to be terrible.

How do you know this?

[Obiwanshinobi]

DUAL SHOCK!!!

[Zeether]

When the TV series got published by Manga Entertainment in '99, it got canceled after only 24 episodes

i love this series! they should finish the english dub for the rest of the 140+ episode series!

Discotek is releasing the complete anime with the dub and the rest sub only. Also, the dub only lasted for 36 episodes, not 24.

[Drum]

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/0 ... art_musou/

Now with more gore :D~

[Strider77]

Anyone else here playing this? I've been playing it over the weekend.

[ZOM]

Anyone else here playing this? I've been playing it over the weekend.

I'm waiting for the PAL version, pretty sure it'll make my ears bleed but oh well...

BTW, how is it?

[Cthulhu]

Anyone else here playing this? I've been playing it over the weekend.

Yeah, we just got it in too. It's quite fun, but I do think a big part of your enjoyment of this game will depend on how much you like Hokuto no Ken / Fist of the North Star. Minus the ooh-characters-I-like appeal, it's a good game, but not great. The coolness of it is quite high though, as beating up biker punks doesn't get old for some reason, and the voice cast is quite stellar (narrated by Wakamoto Norio!). On a side note - it's definitely violent, but not as violent as I expected, actually.

Well worth it for fans, but not a must-buy for others.

[Strider77]

yeah... if you like FOTNS your chances of liking it are higher... just don't expect anything stellar. I was playing the hell out of it but tonight I got a little sick of it.

[Acid King]

Yeah, we just got it in too. It's quite fun, but I do think a big part of your enjoyment of this game will depend on how much you like Hokuto no Ken / Fist of the North Star. Minus the ooh-characters-I-like appeal, it's a good game, but not great. The coolness of it is quite high though, as beating up biker punks doesn't get old for some reason, and the voice cast is quite stellar (narrated by Wakamoto Norio!). On a side note - it's definitely violent, but not as violent as I expected, actually.

Well worth it for fans, but not a must-buy for others.

So it's like Berserk for PS2? Awesome.

[BrianC]

On a side note - it's definitely violent, but not as violent as I expected, actually.

Looks more violent than the SMS and what I remember seeing of that Arc System Works arcade game. I don't know why the violence is so tame in some of those games, even compared to the TV anime. I find it interesting how Black Belt still has much of the violence of the JP Hotuko no Ken SMS. I have the JP SMS Hotuko no Ken and I like what I have played of it. Seems almost impossible to kill Heart without taking a hit, though (telling from both play and videos of the game. It seems he's the only character like this and the rest of the game seems well balanced, though).

[ZOM]

Sounds good enough to me. I'll play anything Hokuto, and after watching some other trailer it already blew my mind that they even included characters like Jackal and Shou.

[Cthulhu]

Minor update - you get to play as multiple characters. Not sure who all the playable ones are yet, but it's at least Ken, Mamiya, and Raoh. I think I saw a Rei trophy in there as well. There's probably more though.

The European version is supposedly getting altered to be more violent (I forget what site I read that on; I don't remember what their source was) and assuming it makes it to NA as well, we'll probably get the more-violent version too.

[xris]

I'm looking forward to a us release. Super excited to play this, even if it's lackluster. How well does it fallow the story? Does it progress to the end of it? I want an english version of the ending!