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Black Belt
Sega Master System Version
Written by Sunset Kid
Version 2.0 - 04/16/2006
Contact: sunsetkid@gmail.com
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CONTENTS
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1. Copyright
2. Intro
3. Version History
4. System
5. Controls
6. Items
7. Walkthrough
8. Codes
9. FAQ
10. Credits
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1. COPYRIGHT
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This document is copyright of Sunset Kid, 2006. All forms of use for gaining
profit are strictly forbidden. This document is available for the general
public, but it is not public domain. If you copy this document, leave this
copyright as it is. If you mention this document or part of it on your own
work, please credit the author.
The only site where this document should be available as of now is GameFAQs.
All other webmasters have to ask permission to post this guide in their sites.
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2. INTRO
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Black Belt is a beat-em-up game from the old days. It was originally released
as Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) in Japan, in the year of 1985. When
the game was released in the US, they re-dubbed it as Black Belt, and edited
the sprites for the enemies (so they would look like martial artists, not anime
villains). Black Belt was released in 1986 for the Sega Master System console
then.
For the story, I don't know and could care less. It's about Riki going out to
fight various Masters during the Second World War or something like that, and
one of them kidnapped his girlfriend Kyoko. So, he's out to save the world and
get some revenge.
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3. VERSION HISTORY
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Version 1.0 (10/16/2004) - "All Dead, All Dead" ... I mean, all done.
Version 1.5 (10/20/2004) - Some minor corrections, like the fact that every
Master must receive a particular blow in order to be defeated, and the number
of hits Riki can take before the invincibility item loses its effect. Chapter 7
is now included in the Walkthrough. Also, added the Codes section, and changed
my contact address.
Version 2.0 (04/16/2006) - Added a new strategy against Oni. Two people told me
about it a year ago but I couldn't recover their original messages back, so
thank you anyway. I figured out the strategy for myself in 4 minutes. Also
changed my contact address.
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4. SYSTEM
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- Normal Stages:
Black Belt is a 2D beat-em-up, without side-scrolling features, like River City
Ransom or Final Fight. In each stage, you fight a bunch of generic enemies,
then you have to fight a boss, then more enemies, then another boss. In the end
of each stage, you fight against a Master.
- Master Fights:
The graphics will change considerably, to show the fight between Riki and the
Master. The fight against the Master is like a 2D fighting game, except you
can't block. Each character has a life bar indicating how many blows they can
take before they are defeated. When the last blow is dealt to a Master, Riki
will start doing a series of attacks, then that Master will be defeated.
- Items:
Items appear in the higher part of the screen, from time to time. You have to
Super Jump (see Controls) to get them. Items are used as soon as you touch
them, and they don't appear in Master Fights.
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5. CONTROLS
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These controls are for both Normal Stages and Master Fights:
A Button (Button 1) - Punch
B Button (Button 2) - Kick
Front or Back - Movement
Down - Crouch
Up - Jump
Down, then Up - Super Jump
PAUSE Button - Pause
Note: No flying punches.
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6. ITEMS
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During the Normal Stages, some items will come scrolling through the upper part
of the screen. You must Super Jump to get them. These are:
1) Red Japanese Symbol - Riki becomes invincible. He can take 9 blows before
the item loses its effect.
2) Food - Recovers Riki's health. There are three food items. A black one, a
yellow-and-white one and a green-and-white one.
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7. WALKTHROUGH
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In the walkthrough, I will not mention where the regular enemies are, because
they appear infinitely and in totally random places. I'll just list the bosses
and masters. Names of the bosses were made up by me.
// Chapter 1 - Shaolin Temple //
Enemies: Monks. Easy, just take care when they get together.
- Boss 1 (Pickaxe thrower): Jump over the pickaxes, or hit them with any blow.
Get near the boss, do a flying kick, then three consecutive punches.
- Boss 2 (Staff Wielder): Get some distance from him, do a flying kick then a
punch. Back away a little, then do another flying kick and a punch.
- Boss 3 (Long Blades Wielder): Stay near him, but not too near. When he jumps
over you, pass below him and punch his back before he touches the floor. Repeat
4 times.
- Boss 4 (Fat Man): Give him a punch. Back away one or two steps ang give him
another one. Repeat.
Chapter 1 Master: Ryu (Kung Fu Master)
You fight recklessly, you lose. Keep some distance from Ryu, and wait for him
to start punching or kicking, then do a flying kick and a series of punches.
If Ryu dodges the punches, or he starts to kick your ass, get away from him and
wait for him to start his attacks again. If you corner him, punch all the way
out. To finish Ryu, you must punch his face.
// Chapter 2 - New York (I think) //
Enemies: Street punks. They can be very deceiving, because of their jumps.
- Boss 1 (Whip Guy): Do some flying kicks towards him until you corner him.
When he is cornered, he will jump to another point. Follow and kick him before
he reaches the floor.
- Boss 2 (Knife Thrower): He will start throwing some knives, from his
offscreen position. Crouch and keep punching the knives until he stops and
comes onscreen. Do whatever you see fit to hit him. If he throws one or more
knives, crouch and start punching.
Chapter 2 Master: Hawk (Street Fighting Master)
Hawk is the easiest master in the game. Corner Hawk and keep punching him until
more than half his energy bar is gone. Riki will realize he isn't doing much
progress like this, and his standing punch attack will get different and
stronger. After that, keep whacking Hawk in the head and he's gone. To finish
Hawk, you must punch or kick his head.
NOTE: Standing kicks are as strong as Riki's stronger punch attack.
// Chapter 3 - Dojo //
Enemies: Dojo pupils. Very easy.
- Boss 1 (Hook Wielder): His patern is the same as Boss 3 from Chapter 1. Let
him jump over you, then pass below him and punch his back.
Chapter 3 Master: Gonta (Sumo Master)
This fight is tricky. First, Gonta will attack you with a charging attack. He
will do this attack every time you get too far from him. If he hits you, he'll
return to the same distance of later and try to charge you again. To dodge this
you have to Super Jump over Gonta so he ends up in the corner and you are just
in front of him. When Gonta is in this position, he's a piece of cake. Just
keep the sequence flying kick -> punch and back away from him after each
sequence, because Gonta can take your life away very fast with his combo.
If Gonta jumps, get away from him, because this is his most damaging attack,
and he can do it various times. To finish Gonta, you can use a flying kick, a
standing punch or a standing kick.
NOTE: Low attacks won't work in Honda... err, Gonta.
// Chapter 4 - Ninja Hamlet //
Enemies: 1) Ninjas - they have better range than all the other enemies, because
of the swords. 2) Birds - very annoying. A flying kick will get rid of them.
- Boss 1 (Whip Wielder): Be careful, he can kill you very fast. First, he will
tackle you. Try to connect a punch, or simply get away from his whip combo.
Flying kicks and standing kicks are the way to go.
- Boss 2 (2 Fat Ninjas): VERY annoying guys, maybe the most difficult bosses of
all the game. The strategy to kill them consists on flying kicks and punches.
However, when they start hacking away at you, get away from them as fast as
you can. They also throw a shuriken if you're far from them, in that case, just
crouch and punch the shuriken.
- Boss 3 (2 Fat Ninjas AGAIN): One time was not enough for them, so they come
in a second time to annoy the heck out of you. Same strategy from the last
fight applies.
Chapter 4 Master: Oni (Ninjutsu Master)
Strategy 1:
Right in the beggining, back away until you are on the corner. Now keep
punching straight, it doesn't matter if Oni hits you each time you hurt him,
this is the right strategy. His life bar will end before yours, and you will
win.
Strategy 2 (New to Version 2.0):
This one is tricky. First, don't ever crouch or jump. Just walk. What you have
to do in order to win this fight is this: walk towards Oni's direction, then
make swift presses in the back directional button. This way you'll only take a
small step at a time. The moment you have to wait for is when Oni does a
straight punch. Quickly run up to him and punch. If it worked, he will be hit.
If you were too late, Oni will crouch and hit you (sometimes not).
See, what you have to do is keep Oni at a medium distance, distance enough that
he can't hit you with his straight punch, and you can walk up to him and punch
him. The swift touches in the back directional button serve the purpose of
keeping your distance from Oni, but not too much for you to be late when he
does his straight punch. Yeah, this strategy of waiting can become quite
tiresome... but worthwhile nonetheless.
// Chapter 5 - Some City //
Enemies: Female Boxers - same as Chapter 2 enemies. Look out for jumps.
- Boss 1,2 and 3 (Flamethrower Guys): Yes, you read it right. 3 times. These
two guys are very annoying too, because they have long-range attacks. There's
not much strategy to defeat those suckers, I usually go straight for the first
one (even if I am hit some times) and go on an all-out punch flurry. When there
is only one alive, it's easy, you just have to do the flying kick - punch
combo. Don't ever crouch down when both are alive or you'll have your ass
kicked.
Chapter 5 Master: Rita (Wang's Bodyguard)
You have to adopt some strategy here too. Rita will only be hurt by different
attacks done in sequence, so you can't do the same attack forever. Do each of
these attacks, in a sequence: Flying Kick, Standing Punch, Crouching Punch,
Crouching Kick. You can switch a Flying Kick for a Standing Kick.
When half of her life bar is gone, you have to do the same sequence again.
For the last blow, you have to distance yourself from Rita. Wait until she
jumps, this is the time. Super Jump towards her and hit her with a Flying Kick.
The timing is tricky, but this is the only attack that can defeat Rita.
// Chapter 6 - Wang's Quarters //
There aren't enemies or bosses. You fight Wang straight after Rita.
Chapter 6 Master: Wang (Last Master)
This is a very difficult fight, even if you know the strategy. First, back
away to the corner, take two steps forward and crouch. Wang will move a little
and then jump over Riki. NOW, punch with all your might while Wang is airborne,
doesn't matter if Wang touches the floor, even if he kicks you, you have to
punch him. If you're lucky, you can drain all of Wang's life bar. However, if
Wang ever gets away, it will be a hard fight. You have to resort to flying
kicks to hit him all times, and even so, Wang can hit you before you recover!
When almost all of Wang's life is gone, only a straight punch to his face will
defeat him.
Ending: See for yourself. I don't remember laughing so much since Resident Evil
2 Dual Shock's Extreme Battle ending. And I'm refering to the text, not to the
"cinematic".
// Chapter 7 - Survival //
Note: see the "Codes" section below to see how you can play in Chapter 7.
Chapter 7 is like a Survival Mode, you have to defeat the Masters each after
the other. However, unlike Survival Modes, you don't recover ANY health after
defeating a Master. So, unless you can pass through Gonta without losing any
life, which is unlikely, you'll have to lose at least one life to Oni, and
another to Rita (or Wang, if you're that tough). I advise you to not try to
finish Chapter 7 if you didn't start it with at least 3 lives. I'm pretty sure
you can do it with only 2 lives, but you'll need some elite skills to do it.
And before you ask, you don't gain a thing if you finish Chapter 7.
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8. CODES
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- Play in Chapter 7
After you defeat Wang, wait for the ending screen to appear (the one with
black background and white text), then hold buttons 1 and 2. Keep tapping (NOT
holding) UP in the D-Pad until the screen changes to indicate that Riki entered
another Chapter.
NOTE: There's a reported code for Infinite Lives. However, I couldn't test it
because it looks like you need a real Master System console to do it. Anyway,
if you wish to try, check GameFAQs codes section for this game.
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9. FAQ
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Q. Which are the changes from Hokuto no Ken to Black Belt?
A. - In Hokuto no Ken you could get on higher places, like windows and such.
- There were no life recovering items in Hokuto no Ken. After defeating
each boss, you recover some health.
- All the enemies's sprites were edited, but their attacks are the same.
- The invincibility item was a "P", and it only appeared if you were on a
high place.
- Boss 4 from Chapter 1 was really a tough one to kill. If you don't follow
the right strategy, he can take more than 100 blows and not die! In Black
Belt, he only does take four blows before dying, undepending on the
strategy.
- After you defeat each boss, there is an extra scene of the hero talking
to a woman. In Black Belt there's no such scene.
- The music on the normal stages and Master Fights is different. However,
the music from the beggining and end of stages is the same.
- The Master of Chapter 3 is a giant monster, and you fight it inside a
colosseum.
- And of course, the hero's sprite is different.
Q. Why don't you display how much life a boss has?
A. If you play the game a little, you'll see every boss takes 4 blows before
dying.
Q. Why you call the bosses in the end of stage "Masters" instead of bosses?
A. When I played this game back in the 1990's, it was the way they were called.
Q. There isn't another strategy to defeat Oni?
A. Yes. You don't have to pray anymore. There's another strategy now,
introduced in Version 2.0.
Q. I emptied Rita's life gauge, but I still can't defeat her.
A. You have to wait her to jump, then you do a Super Jump and a flying kick.
Also, this only works if Rita doesn't have any more life left.
Q. I emptied Wang's life gauge, but I still can't defeat him.
A. You have to punch his face.
Q. Why Riki can punch and kick knives and he does not get hurt?
A. Magic. Oh noes.
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10. CREDITS
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- To Sega.
- To both people who emailed me about the alternate strategy against Oni. I
couldn't recover your messages, so I can't name you. But you know you were the
only two to email me. Thanks guys.
