

It is regarded as the first beat 'em up brawler, and an early example of the side-scrolling character action game genre, which became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s. Kung-Fu Master was an influential game that had a significant cultural impact.


It spawned the sequel Spartan X 2 (1991) and the spiritual successors Trojan (1986) and Vigilante (1988). It was also one of the top five best-selling Commodore 64 games of 1986. A port for the Nintendo Entertainment System (known as the Famicom in Japan) was developed by Nintendo under the direction of Shigeru Miyamoto, released as Spartan X in Japan and Kung Fu in the West, selling 3.5 million copies worldwide.

The game was a major commercial success, topping the Japanese arcade charts and becoming America's second highest-grossing arcade game of 1985, while receiving critical acclaim for its fast-paced, side-scrolling gameplay and detailed, colorful graphics. Thomas and each boss have a health meter, and the game temporarily becomes a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles. As he ascends the tower, he has to fight many enemies along the way and five end-of-level boss battles, a concept inspired by Game of Death. The player controls Thomas, the titular Kung-Fu Master, as he fights his way through the five levels of the Devil's Temple to rescue his girlfriend Sylvia from the crime boss Mr. Irem and Data East exported the game to the West without the Spartan X license. Nishiyama, who had previously designed the side-scrolling shooter Moon Patrol (1982), combined fighting elements with a shoot 'em up gameplay rhythm. The game is also heavily inspired by the Bruce Lee film Game of Death (1972), which was the basis for the game's concept. It is loosely adapted from the Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung film Wheels on Meals (1984), called Spartan X in Japan, with the protagonist Thomas named after Jackie Chan's character in the film. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, the game was based on Hong Kong martial arts films. Part of the appeal of Street Rage is the act of settling into a groove - at points, it feels very similar to rhythm games on the market, only with a different coat of paint.Kung-Fu Master, known as Spartan X in Japan, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game developed by Irem as an arcade game in 1984, and distributed by Data East in North America. Missing an attack or getting hit significantly drops your combo meter and is the main draw to try and perfect with each wave. As long as you are continuously able to connect with an enemy without missing or getting hit, your combo will continue to climb. Unfortunately, there is no online leaderboard to speak of which is a huge oversight for a game like this.
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The full CRT TV days are in full effect here, showing some on-screen scan lines and lighting which looks like some other light source reflecting back on a monitorĪ major part of the combat is holding together a combo to try and beat your own high score. Also, a fair amount of slowdown can occur further into waves due to the high amount of characters onscreen at once. Good video games allow players to learn from their failures and, while you can become better at judging which enemies to attack first, there is still an element of luck to each encounter. Since you can die in two through five hits (depending on the character chosen), death happens quite often.
