Hokuto no Ken: Shin Seikimatsu Kyuuseishu Densetsu English translation
北斗の拳 新世紀末救世主伝説 · Last Battle · Fist of the North Star
Ernani da S. Costa's English translation of the Japanese Hokuto no Ken for the Mega Drive, with a literal script, an anime-style script and, separately, a full overhaul of the game.
What's included
Ernani da S. Costa's work on this game started as a translation and grew from there. The download on the creator's page holds three patches for the Japanese cartridge:
- a purist translation, which turns the original Japanese text into English and enlarges the dialogue box;
- an anime-flavoured version, with a script rewritten to follow the events of the anime more closely and fill in what the game leaves out, plus fixes and rebalancing;
- the full overhaul, now at version 2.1.2, which goes much further.
The overhaul
Beyond the text, the hack restores the blood and colours that the Western release changed, fixes graphical glitches, collision and physics problems, adds an extra life system and a saved high score, rearranges stages to follow the story better and rebuilds the dungeons with pickups and working doors. The creator's changelog lists every change version by version.
Playing it
Choose the patch that suits you and apply it to your own copy of the Japanese cartridge, following the instructions on the creator's page.