China Warrior
System: TG-16
Release Date: November 1989
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Beat ‘em Up
The Turbografx-16 gives me another beat ‘em up with China Warrior. This is an odd one. Boss Kara has ransacked the Ancient City and it’s up to you, Bruce Lee… errr… China Warrior, to save the day. You have to use your martial arts skill to kick some bad guy butt through four stages. The first thing you’ll notice is the huge character sprites. I can only imagine what people thought of this back in 1989. I mean, I could read magazine reviews of the time, but I’m lazy. Well, just a peek… EGM didn’t like it.
You automatically move to the right. You can punch with Button I and kick with Button II. And you’re going to need to in order to knock all the bad guys and obstacles out of your way. You can duck and punch, but no sweep kick. Jump and do a front kick, or if you jump diagonally might be able to a better kick. Enemies can be punched or kicked as they run on screen toward you. Obstacles such as rocks, knives, arrows, flames, and sticks are thrown at you, as well.
Some obstacles will show Power Up when you hit them and give you some extra life. That, as well as bags of oolong tea will be very important to your success. At three points during each level, you will face off against a boss. These will require some trial and error in order to defeat. The first level bosses were pretty easy, just kicking repeatedly would defeat them. However, the other bosses were much more difficult. This caps off with a battle against the drunken master, who replenishes life when taking a swig from his bottle. After winning, you can press up, select, Buttons I and II, and then press run to play a harder second act. I did it for some reason, then it wanted me to play Act 3! I declined.
Graphics: 2.0
You have to give it to the big sprites. They aren’t animated particularly well and the backgrounds aren’t great, but there’s novelty.
Sound: 1.0
Music and sound effects aren’t anything special. It all sounds generic.
Gameplay: 1.0
There’s a special punch when fighting bosses, but getting it to register was incredibly hit or miss. Everything else is super plain.
Difficulty: 1.5
You have to memorize the enemy and obstacle spawns then you’ll win with no problem. The bosses might give you problems, though.
Fun Factor: 1.0
A low level of entertainment was achieved.
Overall Grade: 1.3
China Warrior earns a D+. Yeah… this is not a great game. The graphics make it novel and that’s it.