Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Seeing how both of these are more gameplay/translation hacks, I won’t have that much to say about them except for how they work, etc, so I’ll include some mini-reviews of both games too. I also briefly played the original versions of both games for a few minutes before jumping into the hacks to get a better idea of the changes, and the fact I never played either game before.

The Last Battle translation hack by Emani S. Costa retranslates the Genesis title Last Battle back to its native Hokuto no Ken: Shin Seikimatsu Kyuuseishu Densetsu/Fist of the North Star, based on the anime and manga. All names, locations and attacks were changed back to what they were originally. Along with a re-translation, the hack improves on some gameplay aspects including changing the map some so it follows the anime and manga, adds the blood back in, and fixes some of the hit boxes, enemy and boss AI, enemy life bars and collision detection.

SO HOW IS LAST BATTLE/FIST OF THE NORTH STAR WITH THE HACKS? With the hacks, this game is a lot more playable. I tried this without the hacks first, and I can get past the lack of blood and enemies flying off the screen. The very large lifebars for bosses and constant juggling and poor hitboxes, I can’t get past.

Having never watched Fist of the North Star, I only know bits and pieces of the story, but the new translated opening gives a great rundown of the story until the events of the game. I do kinda wish the in-game dialogue when you meet you friends and get powered up made more sense. The rearrangement of stages to make more sense for the anime is good, but again, I know little of the series so it’s something beyond me for now. Heads and bodies will explode with the blood turned back on! Bosses will explode too! Always fun taking out enemies surrounding you and seeing them explode in blood, even if it’s from a kick to the leg.

Hitboxes and collision detection was fixed, though doesn’t seem perfect cause you can easily get juggled by surrounding enemies, or think you’re in a boss’s hitbox but end up not doing damage to him, while the boss does multiple hits on you until you regain control.

Aside from those I really enjoyed this, and thankfully found a continue cheat since this is a “one life and you’re dead” type game! Graphics are pretty large and Kenshiro controls great for his basic and powered up moves, music is good too. Exploring the stages to find your friends to get the needed powerups to fight the area boss is pretty fun and thankfully little backtracking may be needed. The maze areas kinda suck though.

I GIVE THESE LAST BATTLE/FIST OF THE NORTH STAR 4.5 OUT OF 5 EXPLODING PUNCHES!!

SO HOW IS THE DISNEY’S FANTASIA HACK? So this was a badly made game likely rushed out the door and not up to the usual quality of Sega’s past games with the Disney licences. What’s funny is friends were discussing how bad this game was in a stream a couple days until this hack dropped on RHDN! Stories aside, the Mickey looks great though over-animated when I tried the original game. The music can be grating to the point you’ll cut your ear off and call yourself Van Gogh. Hitboxes are too large and after learning how to do Mickey’s stomp attack, I still found myself questioning why I took damage stomping something instead of killing it.

With the hack, Fantasia is still a bit of a mess, but the better controls and hitboxes make this flawed game more playable. Levels are still short and consist of 3-4 areas to find points and or notes to complete it, and as beautiful as they are in where they relate to the movie, they seem kinda dull. The jungle level reminds me of Lion King! Mickey loses some of his animations to make cleaner and better turns and jumps, and the hitboxes are fixed in a way so they’re larger when you attack for hitting enemies, and smaller so you may not be as likely to take damage.

In general, this is almost a fun game, even if you turn the music off. I’ve never been a fan of games where you have to repeat levels till you get a high enough score to complete or find an item, and that’s this right here. I’d recommend giving this a try and if you want to finish it, go for it.

I GIVE DISNEY’S FANTASIA GAMEPLAY HACK 4.5 OUT OF 5 DANCING BROOMS!!

GAMEPLAY VIDEO OF BOTH HACKS:

LINKS:
Last Battle/Fist of the North Star Retranslation Hacks: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/7272/
Fantasia Gameplay Hack: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8579/

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