Bruce Lee

Your Sinclair

Inscrutability 87%

Wince Factor 32%

Versatility 36%

Eastern Promise 48%

Overall 44%

Jonathan Davies 44%

THE COMPLETE YS GUIDE TO BEAT-'EM-UPS A SELECTION OF HISTORIC BEAT-'EM-UPS Beat-'em-ups, eh? They've been oodles of them gracing the Speccy over the years, haven't there? So many in fact that it's easy-peasy to get your Exploding Fists mixed up with your International Karates, and end up with absolutely no idea where you are. But not any more, 'cos here's Jonathan Davies with the Your Sinclair Definitive Guide To Beat-'Em-Ups!! Hurrah! (Or should that be "Hai-arrgh!"?) Before we start, let's get one thing straight - beat-'em-ups are not boring, and if you think they are then you've got it all wrong. On the contrary, they're jolly interesting. And, rather than all being exactly the same, they're highly individual affairs, each with their own subtleties and nuances. To assume otherwise exhibits a total ignorance of the creativity and skill that go into making what has become one of the stalwarts of the computer games industry. So what constitutes a 'beat-'em-up'? Obviously, the beating up of one or more characters is an essential part of the gameplay. Whether this is done with one's hands or a weapon depends on the game. Purists tend to frown upon the use of shurikens, big sticks and other instruments, but it's a sad fact that in these days you're unlikely to rescue your princess without some sort of mechanical assistance. The setting is also important. The summit of Mount Yukahomo is ideal or perhaps the imperial palace of the Dragon master, but an oriental atmosphere is a definite must. In its traditional form the beat-'em-up takes place on a single screen, with your opponents tackling you one at a time. Variations, however, include the scrolling beat-'em-up (with the bonus of tackling two or more adversaries at once) and the full scale flip-screen, multi-level version with add-on weapons, puzzles to solve and an embossment of up to three initials. Whichever incarnation it appears in, a beat-'em-up is not to be taken lightly. A sharp eye, lightning reflexes and an elephantine memory (for learning all those moves) are needed, along with the finest joystick available. THE FIRST EVER BEAT-'EM-UP "That's easy," you exclaim. "Way Of The Exploding Fist!" But you'd be wrong. The first ever beat-'em-up, the father of them all, the seed from which all future offerings stemmed forth, and of which al the others are but pale imitations, was none other than Kung Fu, from a long-forgotten label called Bug-Byte. A very primitive construction, it had all the ingredients of the real thing (including tinkly music). Reviewed in ish 11 of Your Spectrum, it scored 3/5 (times where hard). The rest, as they say, is, erm... oh, well you know. Bruce Lee US Gold Bruce Lee comes from roughly the same era as Fist, but shows its age rather more severely. Apart from just beating people up, Bruce has to dash about collecting lamps and avoiding being killed by various hazards. The game takes place in a multi-screen fortress, the object being to destroy a wizard on the last screen. Unfortunately the available moves are restricted to punching and kicking, so it's hardly a proper beat-'em-up at all. The graphics are rubbish, with miniscule characters and clumsy scenery. There's virtually no feeling of pain at all, which is surely essential in a beat-'em-up. And worst of all it's far too easy. Despite these complaints, Bruce Lee is a bit on the historical side (what with being the first collect-and beat-'em-up combined), so one shouldn't be too hard on it.

A TYPICAL NINJA WARRIOR Finely-tuned hearing. Headband. Sledge-hammer fists. Inscrutable expression. Pyjama bottoms (top optional). Imposing Stance.

EVERY BEAT-'EM-UP EVER RELEASED (Apart from quite a few probably.) Avenger - Gremlin Graphics Barbarian - Palace Barbarian II - Palace Big Trouble In Little China - Electric Dreams Bruce Lee - US Gold Double Dragon - Melbourne House Double Dragon II - Melbourne House Dragon Ninja - Imagine Dynamite Dux - Activision Exploding Fist - Melbourne House Fist II - Melbourne House Gladiator - Domark Human Killing Machine - US Gold International Karate - System 3 International Karate II - System 3 Kai Temple - Mirrorsoft Kendo Warrior - Byte Back Kick Boxing - Firebird Knight Force - Titus Knucklebusters - Melbourne House Kung Fu - Bug Byte Kung Fu Knights - Top Ten Software Kung Fu Master - US Gold Hercules - Gremline Graphics Last Ninja II - System 3 Legend Of Kage - Imagine Legend Of The Amazon Women - US Gold Ninja - MAD Games Ninja Hamster - CRL Renegade - Imagine Renegade III - Imagine Saboteur - Durell Saboteur II - Durell Sai Combat - Mirrorsoft Samurai Trilogy - Gremlin Graphics Samurai Warrior - Firebird Shao Lins Road - The Edge Shanghai Warriors - Players Shinobi - Virgin Street Hassle - Melbourne House Target renegade - Imagine Thundercats - Elite Way Of The Exploding Fist - Melbourne House Way Of The Tiger - Gremlin Graphics Uchi Mata - Martech Vigilante - US Gold Yie Ar Kung Fu - Imagine

MOVES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD The Roundhouse Like so many other great moves, the Roundhouse first came to light in Fist. The classic blend of balletic poetry and jaw-breaking power makes it a manoeuvre for all occasions. The Sweeping Kick This is the standard move for success in Kung Fu Master, and demonstrates what can be achieved just by waving your leg around in the direction of the foe. The Pile-On This move is unique to the Renegade series, and can cause some alarm when you find your shoulders gripped by one baddie while another lays into you from the front. However, careful placement of elbows and feet can turn the tables in your favour. Decapitation The satisfying result of a cunningly-timed neck-chop during a game of Barbarian is the removal of the enemy's head, which can be greatly to your advantage.

RATINGS As beat-'em-ups tend to transcend all normal ratings systems, we've adopted a special one for the purpose of this guide. The categories ere as follows... Inscrutability: How well does it capture that all-important oriental feel? New York ghetto settings aren't really on. Wince Factor: Do you want to curl up and die every time a knee gets planted in your groin, or is it about as traumatic as a merry jig of morris dancing? Versatility: Is it just left, right, up, down and fire, or does every joystick direction do something radically different? Eastern Promise: What does the future hold? Pride of place in your collection or a dusty grave under the bed?

SO, YOU WANT TO WRITE A BEAT-'EM-UP? It's not as hard as it looks actually. Here are a few essential ingredients... Pain, and lots of it. Agonised grimaces should be accompanied by eye-watering squelching noises when appropriate Music, of the tinkly eastern variety. And why use multi-channels and special effects when you could have authentic, oriental beeping. Pyjamas are the standard attire, along with the obligatory headband. Artwork should be of the poorest quality. Anatomical accuracy is not desirable. Japanese-sounding names often impress. Make one up if you're not fluent, Uchi Mata being a classic example of improvisation of this sort. It shouldn't look like a beat-'em-up, so put it in a nice big black cardboard box. Sequels always look good (be original - try a '+' rather than a 'II'), but no-one ever buys them of course. Animation should be avoided where at all possible. Two frames per sequence is the absolute maximum. Joystick positions should be assigned at random. If they can guess that up, left and fire delivers a low punch, there's no challenge to it. It should be like all the rest, so don't get any funny ideas about using your imagination.

Crash

Overall 88%

Kati Hamza

Mark Caswell

OLDIES UNLIMITED Practically every software shop now sports row upon row of irresistibly shiny, incredibly tempting re-releases. If this array of gorgeous goodies leaves you breathless and confused (even £1.99 is a waste if it's spent on something truly bad), never fear. With years of experience on their side, a metaphorical teacup soothingly poised and plenty of calming advice, MARK CASWELL and KATI HAMZA are about to cool your troubled brow. Pause before you squander all your silver pennies. Collapse into a comfortable chair and peruse our guide to a few of the better re-releases... Bruce Lee Producer: Americana Price: £2.99 Original Rating: 91% With a name like Bruce Lee this sounds as if it has to be a beat-'em-up - in fact it's an extremely slick, old-style platform game. First released back in May 1985 by US Gold. It deals with Bruce's attempts to discover the secret of immortality and gain an infinite supply of treasure in the process. The setting for this unambitious task is a wizard's fortress booby trapped with electrical charges and defended by two formidable guards (sounds a hit like Lloyd's house - Ed). Ninja and Green Yamo, who follow Bruce everywhere, have already discovered the secret that our oriental hero so desperately seeks. Soon after they've been beaten to a palpitating pulp, they manage to regenerate and begin their protection racket all over again. Lanterns collected from various rooms give access to further chambers which lead to still more before winding ultimately to the nerve centre of the wizard's lair. As a classic platform game Bruce Lee still provides plenty of action-packed fun. Exploring the complex secrets of the wizard's fortress, constantly on the point of hurtling to a painful death or being trapped in a corner by the vicious Varna, is an incredibly addictive process which should keep you hooked for hours and hours. But don't be disappointed if you complete it (many times!), the action just gets harder and harder. If you haven't got a copy do a flying leg chop in the direction of your local establishment.

ZX Computing

Graphics 4/5

Addictivity 4/5

Overall 4/5

US Gold £7.95 I enjoyed playing this quite a lot. Basically, it's just a glorified platform game in which you, Bruce Lee, have to go through the chambers of a Wizard's fortress collecting lanterns which will enable you to continue deeper into the fortress and eventually confront the Wizard himself. But, what makes this so much more fun than the average platform game is the presence of your two foes, the Ninja and the wobbly Samurai called the Green Yamo. In most games of this type, the monsters which you must avoid are simply sprites moving in a fixed pattern. However, in this game, the Ninja and Yamo are fully animated opponents who chase you all around the temple, the Ninja bashing you over the head with his broken stick, and the Yamo leaping at you with a flying kick. Of course, you can retaliate with flying and karate chops of your own, and I must admit that I found this the most enjoyable aspect of the game. Working out how to get through the fortress chambers isn't terribly hard, but watching as your Bruce Lee figure leaps across the screen and kicks the Yamo all around the floor is great fun. I got my younger brother to play, using the two player option, and the house resounded to cries of 'poke him in the eye' and 'kick his head in!', until well after midnight. It's all terribly childish, I know, but great fun nonetheless. All the figures are very nicely animated and detailed, and you can make out who's who even when they're all on top of each other, kicking and punching for all they're worth. The chambers that you pass through are all well designed, and the oriental designs make a nice, colourful change from the usual type of graphics in platform games. My only criticism of the game is that your path through the fortress is fixed unlike the rooms in JSW which allow you to take any path through the house that you want. Consequently, after a few games it can get a bit boring having to go through the same route time after time, but this is where the combat saves the game from getting stale. Of course, if the fortress were more complicated then the memory wouldn't be available for the combat and animation, so the game as it is probably struck the right balance. Definitely worth getting, I think.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 9/10

Sound 8/10

Value 9/10

Playability 9/10

MACHINE: Spectrum SUPPLIER: US Gold/DataSoft PRICE: £7.95 Bruce Lee haunted the pages of C&VGs reviews section for months after the CBM 64 version first appeared. And now he's back - on the Spectrum. Briefly, the idea the game is to help Bruce get to a wizard who is hiding inside a vast fortress protected Ninja soldiers and the indestructible Green Yamo. Bruce has to kick and chop, leap and hop his way through the fortress in this neat twist on the regulation platform game theme. The animation of the characters is great, the graphics bold and colourful - and the game features some unique multiple player/player vs. computer options.

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 85%

Graphics 90%

Playability 89%

Getting Started 80%

Addictive Qualities 92%

Value For Money 85%

Overall 91%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: US Gold Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £7.95 Author: Ron Fortier and Kelly Day Ah so! Another platform game but this time based on the antics of the worldly hero of the east, Bruce Lee. Bruce has returned to the land of his forefathers to destroy a wicked wizard, should he succeed he will be rewarded with treasure beyond the capacity of his knap-sack which seems a bit of a shame. Bruce's first task will be to find his way into the underground chamber by discovering the secret entrance. I won't be giving much away when I tell you that this can be found in the floor of the middle entrance hall but it will not open until Bruce has collected all of the lanterns from all three rooms, that's just to get into the underworld where the real work starts. As Bruce makes his way across the other screens he will face many bizarre dangers which include electric charges that shoot across the gaps between platforms, or the awesome exploding t'sing-lin (bushes) that appear from nowhere. The most persistent and annoying of Bruce's problems go by the name of Green Yamo and the Ninja. These two characters devote themselves to Bruce's downfall. No matter where he is in the game he will always be pursued by these two. For Bruce to be successful the player must guide him through the fights as well as the maze. By giving the appropriate commands Bruce can be made to duck, thump or kick - his flying kick is the most devastating. The other characters have the same ability except they are unable to duck, Hard luck Yamo. Bruce will survive three blows before he loses a life his, opponents will lose consciousness after two or three blows which gives Bruce a brief respite to gather the lanterns and be on his way to find the button and kill the wizard. Points are awarded for collecting lanterns and laying out any of the opponents, 2000 points are to be had simply for entering a new room. With every 30,000 points a new life is given free. he total points scored for each player are shown at the top of the screen together with the current high score and the number of falls remaining before the game is over. One rather useful feature of Bruce Lee is that the game allows allows the player to compete against either the computer or other players. Apart from the first option of playing against the computer a second option allows an opponent to assume the role of Yamo. Alternatively a third option allows two players to take turns in being Bruce, against the computer or with a third opponent as Yamo. COMMENTS Control keys: O/P left/right, Q/A up/down, Z-M chop or kick Joystick: Kempston, Protek or Sinclair 2 Use of colour: very good Graphics: excellent Sound: nice tune but mainly spot effects Skill levels: 1 Lives: 5-10 depending on number of players Screens: quite a lot!

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Sinclair Programs

Rating 75%

Colette McDermott 75%

PRICE: £7.95 GAME TYPE: Arcade Face the ninja! Battle against the Green yamo! Avoid exploding t'sung-lin! Who are you? Why, Bruce Lee, of course. The moves that you can make in this game are spectacular. Leap over your opponents' head. Take a running jump and crash both feet into their chin. Deliver a repeated series of punches and watch them crumple to the Door and vanish. Your aim is to claim infinite wealth and the secret of immortality from the wizard who dwells within a fortress. On each screen you must hit either all, or a select few of the lanterns you can see, to reveal the exit. Each screen is a little harder than the previous one, and you must be prepared for bushes to explode beneath your feet, particle lifts to carry you into the air, or force fields to blast you to ashes. The good news is that these problems are likely to affect your slow moving enemies even more than they do you. The bad news is that, on some of the later screens, this makes next to no difference. Bruce Lee is a very polished version of the ladders-and-levels type of game. The movements, although not the sound effects, do manage to capture, to some extent, the excitement of Lee's films. Great. Bruce Lee is distributed by US Gold, [redacted].

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 3/5 HIT

Roger Willis 2/5 MISS

Ross Holman 2/5 HIT

JOYSTICK JURY Up before the beaks - Dave Nicholls, Roger Willis and Ross Holman - comes all the new games software, from the greatest to the grottiest. Back on the bench again, our joystick jurors are here to pass judgement on all the latest software. Read their sentences before you commit your cash. WARNING! Just in case you find our scoring system too confusing, here's what it's all about. The score out of five at the end of each person's review is based on their own experience of the game. But that's pretty subjective... so they also use the HIT and MISS system to indicate its potential as a commercial success. BRUCE LEE US Gold £7.95 Dave: Clever these Chinese - coming up with an original idea for a platform game that doesn't involve mines and has more to it than just leaping about from ladder to level. Actually, it's not Chinese at all, but it is about Bruce Lee, so that's close enough. You play Bruce, out to destroy the Evil Wizard and gain immortality and infinite wealth. You have to face up to all the hazards of going into another man's castle, like landmines and electric bolts, before coming face to face with little Ninjas (who he? Ed) and a distinctly off colour Green Yamo, laying into you with fists and feet flying. You can return the compliment, as well as ducking down to avoid trouble. In each room you'll find a number of lanterns: collect enough of them and a passageway will open allowing you to creep up on the Evil Wiz. But you've got to Kung Fu your way through 20 rooms before meeting him head on. The problem is, it's just too easy - I'm no black belt but I beat the game on only my fifth attempt. There is an option to play against an opponent which will keep competitive cowards happy but in the end you'll probably long for a bit of real physical contact.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

Clare Edgeley 4/5

Publisher: US Gold Price: £7.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston, Protek Leaping from the big screen to the small screen, Bruce Lee encourages you to practice the ancient art of Kung-Fu from the safety of an armchair. You would think that immortality on screen would be enough, but no, Bruce wants infinite wealth as well - no doubt to keep him going in the afterlife - from a wizard who dwells beneath a temple in the Himalayas. In this exciting game from US Gold you have to pass through three screens on ground level to a secret entrance to the caverns below. To uncover the entrance all the lanterns in those screens must be collected. Lanterns play a key part throughout the game uncovering secret entrances. It is no simple job penetrating the wizard's stronghold. All your skills as Kung-Fu expert are called to the fore in order to defeat the evil Green Yamo and deadly Ninja - the wizard's minions. It is worth spending a few moments before play to practice kicking and punching - very simple with joystick control - as the Yamo and Ninja will soon knock you out. The Yamo is a fat, wobbly giant but is a keen fighter and has to be knocked down three times before he collapses. The Ninja - no less deadly - needs to be knocked out only twice. Once underground there are many traps to catch the uninitiated - exploding t'sung lin bushes and pan lights streaming across the ground are two such hazards. Tunnels and passages have to be negotiated - watch out for electrical fields which must be dodged. Lanterns must be collected, ladders climbed and you will have to make use of a moving column of particles which change direction at random - a bit like running up a down escalator. The graphics are decorative and clearly defined with good use of colour. Bruce Lee, the Ninja and Green Yamo - who incidentally is white in the Spectrum version - could be more clearly defined but are quite recognisable, and the lack of detail in their make-up doesn't detract from the game. The options at the start are many and varied - you can play against the computer or an opponent or two players against the computer. There is little sound and more tasks could have been incorporated. However, there are a number of tricky obstacles to avoid and 20 chambers to get through. An enjoyable game and worth buying.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online