Fighting Mania: Fist of the North Star is a coin-op boxing arcade game based on the Fist of the North Star Manga. Developed and published by Konami, it was released back in 2000 and had a worldwide release, though I don’t believe it was widely distributed. The game is played similarly to a QTE game where you have six punch pads that extend toward the player and the player has to hit each pad before it’s fully extended. Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star is as close to this game as we are going to get with regards to a home console release.
Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star doesn’t have much in the way of a story. But what you do know is that you play as a hero named Kenshiro who finds himself in a world that is ruled by exercise.
With the game being less of a game and more of an exercise application, the way it plays is more of an exercise routine than an actual game. With that said, there are several aspects to this that make it a well-rounded experience. You have the options of Daily Workout, Free Training, Battles, and Basic Training. If you purchase the DLC, another option in the menu is available called Expansion. Daily Workout has you selecting the goal for the workout, what aspect of your body you want the workout to affect, and if you want to add a stretching routine to the workout, with the last option being what you want the duration of the workout to be. You can have the duration be as short as ten minutes with the max being forty minutes, with a couple of intervals in between. Once you set up the daily workout, the only thing that can be changed each day is the intensity, unless you choose to change the goal and other settings.
Free Training has you selecting from exercise, stretching, or full stretching routines and selecting either of these options will give you specific routines you can pick from. Exercise allows you to pick an exercise you want to do and then select your desired music. The difference between stretching and full stretching routines is the duration of the sessions and the types of stretches that you perform.
Battles are where things take a left turn from traditional fitness games. So with Battles, you select what instructor you want to unlock and then you perform routines to take out groups of outlaws in a first-person perspective. At the end of the “stage” or set of routines, you face off against the instructor and will be able to have them as your instructor if you’re able to beat them. Basic Training is as you would expect, you get to learn the basics of how the game works. You can get help with how to hold the Joy-Cons, practice actions like jabs and hooks, go over basic rules with the last two being to provide information and practice for boss battles and outlaw battles.
By purchasing the expansion pack, you get two additional modes made available to you right from the main menu: Heart Mode and Raoh Mode. Heart Mode is the Hundred Blows Challenge where you have to land as many blows on your opponent as you can in the given time frame. Once you have had enough of the challenge, you can take the Hundred Blows Test. Raoh Mode is a single-punch challenge where you alternate fists and execute a single punch while trying to get the punch icon into the square on the screen. How fast and strong you punch determines how hard you hit the opponent as well as if you can land it inside the square; with the opponent flying through the air and you getting a distance score. Once you’re done with Raoh Mode challenge, you can take the test to see if you can get to or beat the furthest distance.
Aside from the different game modes, you also have a shop that you can use to purchase different music to exercise to, additional instructors, and outfits for your instructors to wear. The expansion pack has a separate shop called the challenge shop where you can purchase outfits for your instructors in the challenge modes as well as songs to exercise to exclusively in the challenge modes. The only other thing to note is the inclusion of achievements in the game as well as player statistics.
The game offers in-game achievements that give you points if you unlock them. The points can be used to purchase things in either of the two shops. I like the fact that the game offers achievements as it gives you an incentive to keep playing. The player statistics and profile are neat because it gives you overall progress on how you’re doing and it’s fun to see the progress you’re making over the course of your time playing.
Graphically the game takes inspiration from Guitar Hero as opposed to Wii Fit, which I really appreciate, though it’s not all that impressive. The in-game characters whether they are opponents or instructors are presented to you in a first-person perspective and are in 3D, though it sometimes can look more like 2.5D. The environments you are put into are neat but flat and left me wishing that you were exercising in a 3D space. Though admittedly, that would be more akin to a fighting game than one based purely on boxing/exercising.
Because the game primarily consists of you hitting a series of targets that are displayed on screen, the game plays extremely well. There isn’t any slowdown or any performance dips of any kind. Then again, the majority of the game consists of flat graphics that really aren’t much of a challenge for the Switch. With that being said, I like how smooth everything feels when looking at the game as a whole.
What this game lacks in the graphics department, it totally makes up for in the sound department, hands down. Your instructors and opponents are all voice-acted and they will either encourage you or taunt you respectively and this helps to not only make the game come alive but also keep its ties to the anime. Background music in the game is nothing short of spectacular and really helps to keep you going. The music is hard and tough, sounding like something you would find in an arcade fighter. Given what the game is based on, it fits the game like a glove and am glad they went in that direction as opposed to something slow and melodic.
Everything about this game left me wishing it was a fighting game instead of one based on exercise. This game is based on a coin-op boxing game that feels like a fighting game with the life bars of the player and opponent, the stage select, and the finishing moves. Couple all of this with the first-person perspective and the great soundtrack of this game, you have a good base for a fantastic fighting game. If you like Fist of the North Star and like to exercise, or if you’re itching to play a classic arcade boxing game; this game is definitely worth picking up. I don’t care much for exercise games but this game just goes to show that some games need to be experienced.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.