Differences between Flying Warriors and Hiryuu no Ken II

This is a sub-page of Flying Warriors.

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Flying Warriors is a westernized revamp of Hiryuu no Ken II: Dragon no Tsubasa. While it is mostly the same game with the story beats intact, it sports a presentation overhaul, different characters, remade levels, gameplay differences, among other things.

Gameplay#

• The player's jump in the Journey Mode (the games' official term for platforming sections) in Hiryuu no Ken II is floatier than in Flying Warriors and has more restrictive and jerky left/right movement.
• The player can attack much more rapidly in the Journey Mode in Hiryuu no Ken II.
• Minibosses have invincibility frames after taking damage in Flying Warriors.
• The punch and kick buttons (done with B and A respectively in Hiryuu no Ken II) were swapped around in Flying Warriors.
• In Flying Warriors, the Cosmic Saucer projectile that you can fire in Journey Mode when your KO gauge and done with kicks instead of punches.
• The counter throw you can do after blocking a high punch is done with both the B and A buttons rather than just one of them in Flying Warriors.

Player Sprites#

Ryuhi/Rick#

Rick's transformed sprite sacrifices the black outline on his upper body for extra color.

Title Screen and Main Menu#

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

Flying Warriors also has a more elaborate intro sequence not found in Hiryuu no Ken II. Pushing Start in Flying Warriors takes you directly to the main menu, while Hiryuu no Ken II has a flash accompanied by a shing sound effect, then a fade-out.

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

The main menu shares the same format between games with two selection boxes and the main protagonist's portrait above. Flying Warriors omits the RPG mode and the text speed selector is replaced with an 'Operation Mode' selector which lets you choose if you want an easier control method (Standard) or not.

This screen is also silent in Hiryuu no Ken II. Flying Warriors also has 3 difficulties rather than 2 like in Hiryuu no Ken II.

Tutorial#

The game features a tutorial that plays when starting the game (skipped on the hardest difficulty), and also when you are struggling against the first opponent in the temple visited after the first level.

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

The temple in the background has been redone, as was the controller, made to resemble an NES controller instead of a Famicom's.

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

The fight that takes place after the tutorial when starting the game is different. In Hiryuu no Ken II, its a flashback to when you faced Fuzufu (named Dargon in the US) in Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll. In Flying Warriors, you spar with your master instead.

Battle Scenes#

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

The "Dark Dimension" where a lot of fights, mainly with Tusk Soldiers, take place has been altered in Flying Warriors, mainly via color changes and the addition of a starfield.

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

The temple battle scene has been totally changed in Flying Warriors, and is less cavernous. A similar background is seen in Hiryuu no Ken III.

Transformations#

Ryuhi/Rick#

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

Story Mode Levels#

The Mountains#

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

In Hiryuu no Ken, the level is one big map that loops horizontally and has a couple of indoor caves with Tengu NPCs and a hermit. In Flying Warriors, its split into 4 areas, a cave section with bats and a 1-screen area with a hermit hinting at the level's objective, and a room where you find a robe hidden inside breakable blocks and a Gargoyle miniboss which turns into a Tusk Soldier upon defeat which you are forced to fight 1-on-1 in the 'Dark Dimension' (these fights become optional later in the game). The Tengus were also removed in Flying Warriors.

Another notable difference in Hiryuu no Ken II is the inclusion of a day / night cycle. The level goes from day, to sunset, then to night, then back to day to repeat the process. Each time of day has different enemies. For example: The day and sunset have a Tengu miniboss that occasionally appears, hopping towards the player and shooting projectiles, while the night has minibosses which become Tusk Soldiers much like the Gargoyles in Flying Warriors but their fights are always optional. The music also changes during nighttime. In Flying Warriors, one side of the map is at daytime, while the other is at nighttime.

In the first level, your goal is to find the missing robe and deliver it to an angel (or a Tennyo in the case of Hiryuu no Ken II), who will then send you down to the very bottom of the stage where the first orb is located.

Hiryuu no Ken II	Flying Warriors

To pass the level in Flying Warriors, you simply have to find the robe and then talk to the angel. In Hiryuu no Ken II, it's a little different, as after collecting the robe, you have to wait until night and then talk to a hermit in a cave below where the robe is located, who makes the otherwise static cloud platform that's not far from the stage's bridge to move when you land on it, allowing you to reach the Tennyo in the sky. The platform she uses to take you down to the orb is also visible here unlike in Flying Warriors.

Story Mode Cutscenes#

Hong Kong#

The cutscene leading into Round 2 in Hiryuu no Ken II has more going on, including a scene in a bar, then Ryuhi taking a ship to where the tournament is located, only for that ship to blow up on its way there. This scenario is skimmed over in Flying Warriors as Rick simply travels to Hong Kong where the tournament is at, but the bar scene and the ship explosion are still represented in the GamePro comic.

The laboratory and skyline scenes were also redrawn in Flying Warriors, plus the vision of Demonyx seen in the opening appears after the dialogue explaining the laboratory situation.