China Warrior

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China Warrior is a beat 'em up video game released in 1987 by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-16. In Japan it was called The Kung Fu. Players control Wang, a Bruce Lee–like martial artist, who travels through four levels (three stages each, for a total of 12 stages) to defeat enemies and the Dark Emperor at Luo Yang Ge castle in China. The goal is to walk through each stage, punching and kicking enemies (including midair hits). If you lose a life, you restart the current stage, but you can learn enemy patterns to get through more easily. Each level ends with a boss fight. The game’s visuals feature very large, screen-filling sprites and no graphic flicker. The style is similar to Kung-Fu Master and Gladiator, but without swords or shields.

The game was ported to mobile phones and to the Hudson Channel on PlayStation 2 in Japan, with updated graphics, audio, and gameplay. The PC Engine version was later released on the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U Virtual Console, and the Japanese PlayStation Store.

Reception was mixed to unfavorable. Critics praised the big sprites but criticized the gameplay as simple and repetitive. IGN and GameSpot criticized graphics and limited movement, especially for the Wii Virtual Console version, which IGN said forced constant rightward movement. Electronic Gaming Monthly noted the Bruceploitation theme but still criticized the simple gameplay. In 1993, PC Engine Fan readers gave it 16.68 out of 30, ranking 474th among PC Engine titles. 1UP’s Broken Pixels mocked the game, and Hardcore Gaming 101’s Michael Plasket described it as more of a tech demo for the TurboGrafx-16 than an entertaining game.