Fist of the North Star Ken’s Rage Brings a 3D Beat ‘Em Up to Mobile Devices

Koei Tecmo will soon release the mobile version of Shin Hokuto Musou—known in the West as Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2—in Japan. Several Japanese gaming media outlets were given an early look into the mobile game. We are able to learn more about the game’s features thanks to their previews. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The mobile FotNS Ken’s Rage will launch with the Legend Mode that retells the story of Fist of the North Star. New episodes will be added weekly, in order to emulate new chapters in a manga magazine. Although most of the stages will have you play as the protagonist Kenshiro, some of them will shift the viewpoint to other characters and even villains like Mister Heart.

While the player can manually control the character’s attacks, the mobile game will offer three levels of Auto Battle. The first “Auto” level automates the normal attacks, while “Auto+” also includes strong attacks. The highest “Auto++” includes even the ultimate Signature Moves, so players will only need to manually focus on evading enemy attacks.

One of the key gameplay features in FotNS Ken’s Rage is depleting a boss’ shield gauge to make them more susceptible to your attacks. However, your character also has a shield gauge of their own. Repeatedly taking hits and having the shield gauge depleted will put your character into a dizzy state and literal danger.

Just like the older console games, you will need to regain control of the character by mashing the button before the boss gets a chance to obliterate you with their Signature Moves.

After the mobile game has launched, it will be updated with more content, such as a Guild syste. That will let players join a group to interact with each other. There will also be an Arena for PvP matters and the Dream Mode, which provides new hypothetical stories.

Koei Tecmo previously released a trailer for the mobile FotNS Ken’s Rage in September 2020. It will add more playable characters that were never available in the earlier console games, such as the Colonel and Boss Fang. This new mobile game is made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the FotNS Ken’s Rage series, as the first game was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.

The mobile version of Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 is slated to launch within 2020 for Android and iOS mobile devices in Japan.