Heart

Heart
Heart, as he appears in the manga.
Name in Kanji	ハート
Name in Romaji	Hāto
Alternate spelling(s)	Alfred (Heart of Meet)
Fighting Style	Kenpo Goroshi (The Destroyer of Fists)
Allegiance(s)	Shin, Jagi (1986 movie)
Family	Sarah (sister)
Position(s)	Retainer of KING
Appearances	Manga (ch. 4-7), Anime (ep. 3-4), Movie, Heart of Meet, Video Games
Voice actor(s)	Shōzō Iizuka (TV series) Junpei Takiguchi (movie) Takahiro Fujimoto (Hokuto Musou) Joe Romersa (anime dub) Dave Mallow (movie dub)

Heart (ハート, Hāto)

Heart is one of the Four Chief Vassals of the King Organization led by Shin, along with Spade, Diamond, and Club. A hulking fat man, Heart's stomach was composed of a rubber-like substance which absorbs the impact of most martial art techniques, earning him the nickname The Destroyer of Fists (拳法殺し, Kenpō Koroshi). It was said that only Nanto Seiken was capable of defeating him through brute force.

While normally calm and more merciful than his fellow Kingsmen, his personality changes to that of a homicidal maniac at the sight of his own blood, such as when he murdered several of his own men and a bartender after pricking his hand on a shard of broken glass.

Heart fought Kenshiro within Shin's palace at Southern Cross as the last of the Four Lieutenants. Heart would normally be immune to the effects of Hokuto Shin Ken, but using the Hokuto Jūha Zan technique, Kenshiro was able to penetrate Heart's flesh and cause his body to explode. His iconic death cry was "HIDEBU", a corruption of Iteyo ("It hurts").

TV series

In the television series, Heart along with the other three lieutenants are addressed as the "Four Jacks", with Heart being addressed as "Heart J". Thus, the "K" tattoo on his forehead is replaced by a "J" tattoo. He speaks in an effeminate manner when in "calm" mode, but masculine when in "crazed" mode. The battle between him and Kenshiro is set near a valley, in which Heart orders his troops to slaughter a group of escapees from a nearby prison leaving them gravely wounded shortly before fighting Ken. Instead of Shin, it is Joker who watches the fight and throws a playing card which cuts Heart's face, sending him into a momentary frenzy before Kenshiro kills him.

1986 movie

In the 1986 movie, Heart's role is changed to being a henchmen of Jagi along with Fox and Jackal. In an early movie trailer, his name appears listed as Elephant (エレファント, Erefanto) to go with the naming theme of the Warriors gang. Confronting Kenshiro already in his berserk state, this time at Jagi's hideout, Heart is once again killed by Kenshirō.

Video Games

Heart is a common sight in video games based on the series and is frequently depicted as Shin's most loyal henchman. In games with more then one playable character, Heart often fills the role of the strong and slow "Tank" character.

Hokuto no Ken - Violence Gekiga Adventure, the first game made, features Mr. Heart who uniquely uses a bow and smokes a cigar. 

Hokuto no Ken for the Master System has Heart as the 4th miniboss in the first stage. In the Black Belt localization, Heart is given a kung fu uniform and renamed a Kung Fu Master.

Hokuto No Ken for Famicom features Heart as the first boss character, the guide revealing they decided to use Heart over Uighur. Interestingly unused material in the game shows Heart was supposed to finish the player with a move called Assatsu.

Hokuto no Ken 3 has Heart as a boss character who must be weakened by the Jūha Zan technique to be defeated.

Fist of the North Star: 10 Big Brawls for the King of Universe​, the first fighting game, released for gameboy, has Heart as one of the 11 fighters. Heart is one of the larger characters along with Uighur and tackles his opponent instead of kicking. If Heart is not chosen, he is the first opponent in normal mode, his arena being KING palace entrance.

Hokuto no Ken 5 , the next RPG, keeps Heart as a boss character early in the game. In this version of the story having taken over KING following Shin's disappearance.

Hokuto no Ken 6, the first fighting game for SNES, has Heart as one of the 8 playable fighters in the game.

Hokuto no Ken 7, the second fighting game for SNES has Heart as an unplayable boss character.

Heart is the first big boss in Fist of the North Star: The Legendary Messiah for playstation. If Heart is beaten without continues, he is unlocked as a character in the VS mode.

The first Punch Mania: Hokuto no Ken features Heart as a boss character. In the second, Heart is also a playable character in the VS multiplayer for 2 arcade cabinents.

All games in the Hokuto no Ken Gekiuchi series feature Heart as a boss.

The arcade fighting game, Fist of the North Star: The Twin Blue Stars of Judgment has Heart among the 10 playable characters.

Hokuto Musou has Heart as a boss and NPC character in the base game. However, Heart is a full playable character with DLC with a moveset. Heart has the highest raw power stat of the playable cast and his moveset allows him to lure enemies for crowd control attacks.

Shin Hokuto Musou now has Heart as a character in the base game. Heart's height has increased, he is now taller than Raoh for example.

Heart of Meet

Heart's was once a sickly young teenager of 14 called Alfred who ate very little and spent all his time indoors with his pet birds. Alfred was taken care of by his big sister, Sarah, who often encouraged Alfred to eat and work out more. However one day, Alfred's house was broken into by two criminals and Alfred was kidnapped with the intent of being held for ransom.

Sarah manages to follow the escaping criminals and engages them with a fencing sword, in the confusion, the kidnappers accidentally grievously wound Sarah, splattering Alfred with her blood(giving Alfred haemophobia in the process), as she tells him to be big and strong. Realizing their ransom plot is now a failure, the kidnappers decide to kill Alfred, but they are instantly killed by a teenage Shin.

Shin advises Alfred that everyone needs to be strong and stand up for themselves. Following his sister's last wishes and Shin's advice, Alfred resolves to become big and strong, eventually over the years bulking his body to a behemoth size and creating the Kenpo Goroshi style.

Notes

• Kenshiro's original insult to Heart, "A pig belongs in a slaughterhouse!" (ブタは屠殺場へ行け!, Buta wa Tosatsujō e Ike!) was censored so as not to offend butchers. Some versions now have him say, "A pig belongs in a pigpen." (ブタはブタ小屋へ行け!, Buta wa Butagoya e Ike!) where others printings simply have him say he doesn't talk to pigs.
• Heart's appearance is believed to be based on wrestler Abdullah the Butcher.
• While Heart appears older then Shin to his shaved head and fighting style requiring a massive stout body, they are the same age according to Heart of Meet.
• In the Hokuto Muso series, Heart and Fudo interact several times. In a DLC mission in the first game, one map has Heart and Fudo competing against Jagi, Kiba Daioh, and Uighur. Whilst in the second game, both characters comment on the others bulk when the encounter eachother.

Character Rating

From Hokuto no Ken: Kyūkyoku Kaisetsusho: Seikimatsu Haō Retsuden.

• Level: C
• Power: 3
• Speed: 1
• Skills: 2
• Looks: 1
• Charisma: 3

Gallery

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  Heart in the TV series

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  Heart on a rampage to Kenshiro after seeing his blood.

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  Heart dies

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  Heart in the 1986 movie

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  Heart in the manga

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  young Alfred Heart from Heart Gaiden

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  The offending "slaughterhouse" line by Kenshiro and its censored variants.