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Kung Fu Nintendo
Help Thomas save his girlfriend, Sylvia, as he battles minions and dragons over five side-scrolling, action packed levels, Kung-Fu style. Based on the Jackie Chan movie Wheels on Meals, Kung-Fu Master (Spartan X in Japan) is often credited for creating the beat 'em up genre.
Kung Fu Master follows Thomas, an expert in the art of Kung Fu, through five side-scrolling floors filled with the relentless attacks of Mr X's minions. Thomas must prove his might in order to rescue his girlfriend, Sylvia, from the clutches of this evil maniac before it is too late. The game was originally released in Japan as Spartan X, the Japanese title for Jackie Chan's 1984 Hong Kong movie Wheels on Meals.
The game was originally released for arcades in 1984, before being ported to home systems and part of Irem Arcade Hits for Mac and PC. It had a sequel, Vigilante, released for arcades in 1988. It was the first in the Spartan X series of video games.
The game was highly influential in its time. It created a new genre of video games, the beat 'em up. Its designer Takashi Nishiyama also later went on to create Street Fighter, which itself went on to define the fighting game genre. In the film industry, the game was used to help promote Jackie Chan's film Wheels on Meals in Japan, and the game later inspired a 1988 French film of the same name.