Another asked me if he could see more pix of Spartan X 2 so I thought maybe you all would like to see them too. So here's 1 and 2.
(http://www.subphylumclothing.com/spartanx1+2front.jpg)
(http://www.subphylumclothing.com/spartanx1+2back.jpg)
)Another member)...here's just X 2.
(http://www.subphylumclothing.com/spartanx2front.jpg)
(http://www.subphylumclothing.com/spartanx2back.jpg)
How does Spartan X 2 play? It looks pretty nice from the screenshots on the box.
Spartan X2 is awesome! It stays true to the original controls and game play of part 1 but evolved with the Famicom in terms of graphics and content.
The control is still the standard A - punch B - kick, duck and jump but they did add an uppercut that you can do if you first duck for a couple seconds. However, the uppercut is pretty pointless since you never really need to use it, it's just something to do for fun when you are bored of the regular kicking and punching.
The layout of the levels is still linear with 2D movement. Even though it has more of a Double Dragon look with it's graphics, you can still only move in two directions (forward and backward) which isn't a bad thing. I like it like this and it remains consistent with part 1. The background graphics are great and have animations such as moving clouds and enemies hiding and attacking from it. There is even a level that brings you on top of a flying airplane, complete with wind resistance!
In between levels they have made some nice cut scenes and dialogue to add to and bring you deeper into the story. The graphics are nice and are a great addition.
Now on to the bad, it's way too short and easy!! I couldn't believe that I beat the game the second time I played it, and the only reason I didn't beat it the first time was becasue I was just testing it out and wasn't really trying. There are 6 levels and including going through the between level cut scenes it takes 20 minutes to complete! Each level is between 2-3 minutes long!! The bosses are weak and can be beaten with basic common sense tactics. I would have been pissed back in the day if I bought this for $40 and then beat it the first time in 20 minutes!! They do have a difficulty select but it only has easy and normal, haha, where's the difficult!?!?
So besides how easy and short it is, this is a great game! It feels exactly like a sequel to Spartan X (Kung Fu) should be. It has nice graphics, music, gameplay, and is a lot of fun to play. Good job once again Irem!!
Sounds quite interesting, I believe I have the game on a ROM somewhere...the game is hard to play on the keyboard. :-\
So what difference is there between Kung Fu & Spartan X besides the title? Anything?
Just the title.
What's the going rate for these games in Japan, featherpluck? The one's I've seen seem to go for good money compared to most titles.
x1 is pretty variable it seems. Sometimes it is ridiculously high. I think its because there is one that has the name as Kung Fu on the box and that one is really rare or something. That ones in the hundreds. The Spartan X version I've seen ranging from like $10-15 up to like $45-50 depending on box condition and the store. And X2 I've never seen for sale before except for the one I bought!! At least I don't remember seeing another one and I know I would have picked it up if it were reasonably priced. I got it a while ago but if I remember right it was around $30 probably. How much do they go for on eBay?
I've never seen any on eBay. I've seen cart-only on Yahoo! Japan for $30ish. Never seen CIB.
oh yeah, I'm sure I've seen cart onlys before but they just go in one eye and out the other.
Anyone know why there's a Spartan X label and a Kung Fu label for the same game? Does anyone know which came first?
You mean a Kung-Fu label for Famicom or NES? I assumed there was just Spartan X for Famicom.
Famicom...the Kung Fu label version has high asking prices.
Hmm, maybe a rerelease? Like Punch Out!! for the NES? But why with the different title?
I remember hearing about why that was a while ago and now I forget, but it must have something to do with the movie Spartan X.
What happened? Did Jackie Chan go to jail for rape? :P
Might have been a rerelease. I've been thinking about this. You know, Kung Fu was developed, at least in part, by Irem. But, of course, it was released by Nintendo. So, it's possible that Nintendo preferred to call it Kung Fu, but Irem, maybe having their sequel in mind, wanted it called Spartan X. Just a theory.
Well, they changed the name from Kung Fu Master, to Kung Fu here for the console release probably for licensing, but the Japanese Arcade version was called Spartan X as well. I don't know why they would have changed it to Kung Fu over there. In the opening of the Japanese Arcade version Thomas (the main character) is said to be "a Kanfu Master", so shouldn't it have been called "Kanfu"? What's weird is there was a Game Boy sequal released, and it was simple called Kung Fu Master... I wonder what this game was called in Japan if it was even released over there.
The Game Boy one was called Spartan X in Japan as well.
I had assumed it was released a Kung Fu first, and then later as Spartan X. Anyone know which came first?
I would guess the same thing. Maybe the movie was more known in Japan so they changed to that title, whereas no one in US knew what Spartan X was so they used the straightforward Kung Fu.
I recently talked to a seller with 15+ years of experience in buying old games from Japan. He had a CIB Kung Fu and said the reason the name was changed is that another game for the PC Engine had the rights, so only a few hundreds were made before changing the name to Spartan X.
He said the licence/copyright was a Japan-only issue, so this is why other regions did not need a name change.
This would at least confirm it is not a foreign release, but the very first Japanese release. I am still struggling to find which PC engine game it could be... the only one that seems to fit is "The Kung Fu":
(https://s32.postimg.org/6u648snol/c5ee56ed633d178ed119deb5849797dc.jpg)
But the dates hardly match, as the FC game by Irem was released in 85 (or was it 84?), and the PC Engine game by Hudson was released in 87. It might be that this story is correct, but the game that forced Nintendo to change the name is a different one.
For what it is worth: I have maybe six or seven of these, all loose, all from a guy that had sold me hundreds of loose / old stock titles, both legit items and pirates. Although I was skeptical at first, the Kung Fu's are legit, as I cracked one or two of them open and the insides were legit product. Due to this, I think Flying_Phoenix's suggestion might be somewhat of the truth. There was a name change, then the loose carts were dumped in neighboring countries?
On another note, the pirates also had bootlegged Kung Fu as well as Spartan X, as the game can be found on bootleg format for both. Maybe they just bootlegged it from the NES version though?
I kept thinking this might have been a Hong Kong release (this was also suggested by L___E___T), but I can now sleep well, knowing it was all a Japan thing.
Seems like Taiwan was a good place to find them, well I can't say the same for Hong Kong really, not for the last 6-7 years at least. I do think they sold most copies in Japan, while making sure the next print would have a different name. I don't think they were forced to make copies disappear, if they had already discussed with NEC/Hudson (or whoever had the right to the name in Japan) that they were going to change the name ASAP for all upcoming prints.
Maybe the game was 'normally' exported (like many early FC games) to neighbouring countries, and this is why 'many' copies could be found outside of Japan.
Why would it have been a Hong Kong release, anyway? So far, there hasn't been any Hong Kong version Famicom carts confirmed, right?
Was that seller that guy Jackie in HK? I think I have seen him too and chatted to him for a while. I told him about Famicom World and tried to get him to signup 8)
I can't remember why there was a suggestion it was possibly an HK release - but let's not forget that Spartan X / Meals On Wheels was a Hong Kong movie and that Jackie Chan is a HK native.
There was also a suggestion somewhere that the PAL game and title was used, but in the Famicom packaging which was the main avenue.
But nice to clear that up. But why do you think loose carts were dumped? I'm not convinced that Nintendo would just discard boxes. A recall to repackage would have been a better option.
Could have been anything! But for sure it was a slim chance, as it looked like a normal Japanese release. I just thought L___E___T's theory was worth investigating. That's what got me researching and asking around, since I'm here anyway.
Yes it was Jack, and he sounded like he was telling me an onvious thing that everybody knew. ;D I didn't ask him where he got the information from though, I should have.
Quote from: L___E___T on July 11, 2016, 03:29:45 am
But nice to clear that up. But why do you think loose carts were dumped? I'm not convinced that Nintendo would just discard boxes. A recall to repackage would have been a better option.
Never made, perhaps. I would presume that boxes, manuals, carts were not necessarily made in the same quantities. I mean, a company that produces pcbs might not be the same place that is doing print work, etc. Different quantity requirements, etc. Just a thought. More carts were printed than boxes, then they were dumped. Or it could just be that all of the boxes were just destroyed later. I've seen that happen before too, especially when it comes to old items that no one wants to buy, taking up precious display space.
Post Merge: July 11, 2016, 05:35:04 am
On another note: Have a "lot" of these games been found in Hong Kong? L___E___T, Flying Phonex?
I would say most likely a company will want to match the quantities of what they plan to sell, except for proofchecks, samples, or whatever "special" use they might have for them. At least the companies I worked for always proceeded this way, and they did get boxes, manuals and actual products from different factories (they still do).
I think you are right when you say boxes/manuals are usually lost/thrown away/discarded, but after being sold, by customers, users, their parents, second hand shops etc. Most retrogames share the same fate, don't they. Loose carts always tend to be easier to find, yet all copies came brand new boxed, originally.
Nope, I haven't seen a single cart or CIB copy, except one that comes from Japan in a shop.
This is why I wanted to dig a bit more to confirm this "Kung Fu" version has nothing to do with Hong Kong :)
Here's my theory from a project I've been working on...
Spartan X features a relatively convoluted and mysterious release history. Originally released as an arcade game--also titled Spartan X--by IREM in Japanese arcades in 1984, the game features a licensing deal with the Hong Kong Jackie Chan/Golden Harvest film Kuàicān Chē (roughly, Wheels on Meals), which in Japan is renamed to Spartan X, for some reason. The arcade game as it is released in the US in December of 1984 is retitled Kung Fu Master, presumably because the film hasn't been released in America and neither the original title nor the Japanese title have any meaning to US audiences. In June of 1985, Nintendo enters into an agreement with IREM--ultimately the only time they'll ever partner with them--to release a Famicom port of the arcade game, also called Spartan X.
When the US version of Spartan X is released for the NES four months later in October of 1985, it will be retitled Kung Fu in an effort to bank on the familiarity that US gamers already have with the arcade game Kung Fu Master. For whatever reason, at some point in time that nobody seems to ever have confirmed but what I'm guessing is most likely one year after the Famicom release in June of 1986, the licensing agreement Nintendo has for the title Spartan X either expires or is cancelled, and Nintendo rereleases the Famicom game under the more basic name Kung Fu (surely based on the branding of the US release), which gets its own release code (HVC-KF).
The Japanese release of Kung Fu is seemingly identical to the US release of Kung Fu, which has most likely just been slapped onto an FC cart. The Famicom release of Kung Fu, to ultimately be sent out to die four months into the Famicom Disk System era, becomes one of the rarest games for the system, with carts alone commanding a significant premium and boxed examples virtually impossible to find, owing to a low quantity release for a limited audience who has either already purchased the Spartan X cart or moved on to the FDS.
(I have never seen a boxed example in person, but did at one point find a tiny picture of one, probably confirming that at some point these were indeed available boxed...)
(http://i.imgur.com/emM0EhP.jpg)
I have seen a CIB version in a Hong Kong store, I think Flying Phoenix has also seen this same copy so we know it exists, and the seller is knowledgeable and frequents Japan often.
The question was posed and from memory, I think this was the earlier version as opposed to a later release. I can't recall but there was some discussion on it in another thread here...
Hoping I can update with that before a flurry of defensive posts arrive disputing various elements - I already said I can't recall properly, nor do I know all the ins and outs of the timings!
Interesting theory, it also makes sense as a later release. It wouldn't be the first time that a re-release is very hard to find, much harder than the original print. I'm thinking a couple of PS games, but also GB games (change of distributor for example, with different box).
There's something fcgamer could help with. Open up all those Kung Fu carts and write down what's written on the board and chips (or just take a good close-up pic ;D ). We should be able to track down one or more dates. I'm able to do this with my GB carts, with interesting finds.
If we could narrow down a couple of Kung Fu carts to a certain month, then we could do the same with some (super cheap) Spartan X carts. This would clear up which one came first.
(yes it was definitely a boxed copy, although I did not open it up to look at the cart and manual)
I have both carts, assuming I can find them I'll crack them open and post pics.
That would be amazing, but please don't damage them just for this purpose.
Wish I could get a loose cart to open it myself!