One Liners and References
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the developer behind Yakuza, clearly knows what they’re doing with Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise. The game is crammed full of references and nods to both the anime and manga. After we got a sizable amount of hands-on time with the game at E3, there’s plenty that fans of the series should find to love.
Lost Paradise retells the story of Kenshiro, a talented martial artist and the inheritor of a deadly style known as Hokuto Shinken. The biggest difference in the game is the addition of a vibrant city known as Eden, one that Kenshiro will need to explore while meeting a wide array of inhabitants. Lost Paradise matches the gritty, dramatic tone of the anime, but considering this is a game by the Yakuza team it also strikes a balance between the weird and goofy. One of the best references we found involved a bartending minigame, where Kenshiro made drinks for customers. Each drink had a hilariously themed name like Death Battle on the Beach or Yuria Forever Love. At one point Kenshiro even served a drink by saying “You’re already drunk,” a direct reference to the iconic “You’re already dead” line.
Of course, you’ll be meeting plenty of familiar characters during your adventure in Eden and the wasteland, like Uighur, Jagi, and Souther, to name a few. There’s more to uncover in the wasteland too, including old arcade cabinets you can excavate, that let you play retro minigames, including the Sega Mark III version of Hokuto No Ken, a classic Fist of the North Star game.
There’s already a ton of references that we’ve seen, and there’s sure to be even more in the full release for eagle-eyed fans.
