Black Belt

Black Belt is a beat 'em up video game developed and published by Sega for the Master System. The story follows Riki, a martial artist on a mission to save his girlfriend from his rival. Gameplay consists of a series of side-scrolling stages where the player battles waves of minor enemies and the occasional sub-boss. Stages culminate in more challenging boss encounters, each requiring the player to use a specific attack to win.

The game is a modification of the Japanese Mark III title, Hokuto no Ken, based on the manga series of the same name, which is known as Fist of the North Star outside Japan. The export version of the game was released without this license, forcing alterations to character names and graphics. It is one of the earliest works of programmer Yuji Naka prior to his involvement in Sonic the Hedgehog.

First released in Japan in July 1986, Black Belt was localized for North America, Europe, and Brazil. Japan also saw a Wii Virtual Console re-release and a PlayStation 2 remake as part of the Sega Ages line. While commonly compared to Irem's Kung-Fu Master in both visuals and mechanics, Black Belt received mixed reactions from critics with some consensus on its boss fights being a positive highlight and its levels being too repetitive.

Black Belt is a beat 'em up in which the player takes control of a martial artist named Riki, who sets out to rescue his girlfriend Kyoko from his rival Wang. The game is composed of a series of left-to-right, side-scrolling stages (or 'chapters') in which Riki must utilize punches, kicks, and jumps to defeat different types of minor underlings and the occasional sub-boss. The player's health meter, remaining time, and score are displayed along the top of the screen. The score is increased by landing hits and defeating enemies. Should all the player's health or time deplete, one life is lost. Additional health, time, and lives can be earned by increasing the score. Power-ups containing health, time, or temporary invincibility will also sometimes cross the top of the screen, requiring the player to perform a high jump to reach them.

The player must confront and defeat a boss at the end of each stage to advance to the next chapter. These are one-on-one battles where the boss's health is displayed by a second meter under the player's own. The character sprites for these fights are larger and more detailed. Each boss is susceptible to only one type of attack, demanding that the player exploit their opponent's weakness and use it to finish them off. The game contains an option that allows a second player to alternate with the first.