Black Belt

Black Belt is a side-scrolling beat 'em up developed and published by Sega for the Master System in 1986 . The story follows Riki, a martial artist who sets out on a mission to rescue his girlfriend Kyoko from his rival Wang . Gameplay consists of a series of left-to-right, side-scrolling stages where the player must utilize punches, kicks, and jumps to defeat waves of minor underlings and occasional sub-bosses . The player's health meter, remaining time, and score are displayed along the top of the screen, with power-ups containing health, time, or temporary invincibility crossing the screen and requiring a high jump to collect . Stages culminate in challenging one-on-one boss battles where the boss's health is displayed by a second meter. Each boss is susceptible to only one type of attack, forcing the player to exploit their specific weakness to win .

Master System

The game is a modification of the Japanese Mark III title Hokuto no Ken, based on the popular manga and anime series Fist of the North Star . For the export version, the license was removed, resulting in changes to character names, sprites, backgrounds, and even some music to remove all ties to the property . It is one of the earliest works of programmer Yuji Naka, who would later create Sonic the Hedgehog . First released in Japan on July 20, 1986, it was localized for North America in November 1986 and Europe in August 1987 . The game received mixed reactions from critics, with some consensus that the boss fights are a positive highlight, requiring strategy and timing, but that the levels themselves can be repetitive . The game was also banned from sale to those under 18 in Germany from 1987 to 2012 due to its violence .