Kung Fu/Spartan X (No Damage) (Hard Difficulty/Game B)
Kung-Fu Master, known as Spartan X in Japan, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up developed by Irem as an arcade video game in 1984, and distributed by Data East in North America.
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. X. 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. Thomas and each boss have a health meter, and the game temporarily becomes a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles. 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. It spawned the sequel Spartan X 2 (1991) and the spiritual successors Trojan (1986) and Vigilante (1988).
The player controls Thomas with an eight-way joystick and two attack buttons to punch and kick. Unlike more conventional side-scrolling games, the joystick is used not only to crouch, but also to jump. Punches and kicks can be performed from a standing, crouching or jumping position. Punches award more points than kicks and do more damage, but their range is shorter. Thomas has a health meter indicating how much damage he can take. He can absorb a significant amount of damage, but loses a life if he takes too many hits.
Underlings encountered by the player include Grippers, who can grab Thomas and drain his energy until shaken off; Knife Throwers, who can throw at two different heights and must be hit twice; and Tom Toms, short fighters who can either grab Thomas or somersault to strike his head when he is crouching. On even-numbered floors, the player must also deal with falling balls and pots, snakes, poisonous moths, fire-breathing dragons, and exploding confetti balls.
The Devil's Temple has five floors, each ending with a different boss (described as "sons of the devil" at the start of the game). Each boss has a health meter like Thomas, which leads to the game temporarily becoming a one-on-one fighting game during a boss battle. In order to complete a floor, Thomas must connect enough strikes to completely drain the boss's energy meter; he can then climb the stairs to the next floor. Thomas has a fixed time limit to complete each floor; if time runs out or his meter is completely drained, the player loses one life and must replay the entire floor. Upon completing a floor, the player receives bonus points for remaining time and energy.
The bosses of the first four levels are Stick Fighter, Boomerang Fighter, Giant, and Black Magician. The boss of the fifth floor is Mr. X, the leader of the gang that kidnapped Sylvia. Once he is defeated, Thomas rescues Sylvia and the game restarts at a higher difficulty level.
An extra life is given at 50,000 points; thereafter, the rest of the game is on "survival of the fittest" mode. Play continues until the last Thomas is dead, which ends the game.
NES/FC/FDS (K) Playlist:
• NES/FC/FDS (K)
00:00 - Floor 01 00:30 - Boss 01 (Stick Fighter)
00:54 - Floor 02 01:15 - Boss 02 (Boomerang Fighter)
01:47 - Floor 03 02:10 - Boss 03 (Giant)
02:34 - Floor 04 02:55 - Boss 04 (Black Magician)
03:28 - Floor 05 03:52 - Boss 05 (Mr. X)
03:58 - Ending