Bruce Lee

Overview

Bruce Lee is an action-adventure platformer developed by Datasoft and published by Datasoft (in North America) and U.S. Gold (in Europe) for the Atari Home Computer and Commodore 64 in 1984, with ports to other computer systems released from late 1984-1986.

Based on the famous martial artist of the same name, Bruce Lee has players controlling Bruce himself as he infiltrates a perilous fortress in order to defeat a wizard and claim both infinite wealth and immortality. Along with numerous hazards and traps, Bruce must survive against ninjas and his rival: the hulking "Green Yamo".

As a multi-screen platformer, much of the game involves moving Bruce around the screen, unlocking paths to the next section (usually by collecting lanterns hung around the environment). Along with the ability to jump, crouch, and climb, Bruce has two attacks at his disposal: quick punches and flying kicks.

In addition to standard single-player and alternating multiplayer, the game includes a mode in which two players play simultaneously, with the supporting player playing as Yamo. The Yamo player can be supportive (as he can also attack the ninjas) or combative (as he can attack Bruce) and has unlimited lives.

The game received ports to numerous ports from 1984-1986, including a first-party port to North American IBM-compatible PCs, ports to Japanese computers by Comptiq (including the NEC PC-8801, FM-7, MSX, and Sharp X1), and ports to multiple computers in Europe (including the ZX Spectrum by Ocean, the Amstrad CPC by Timedata, and the BBC Micro by Micro Power). The Japanese ports were released by Comptiq, while the European ports were released by U.S. Gold (with some budget re-releases from other publishers).