Bruce Lee

aka: Lee
Moby ID: 191
Commodore 64 Specs
Conversion (unofficial) Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

The late martial arts hero features in this platform game, with the aim of reaching a wizard in an underground lair, defeat of whom can offer him untold wealth.

In each area you must collect the many strategically-placed lanterns before exiting through the newly-revealed passageway. Some rooms also have escalator-type sections to run along, and the standard (although slightly illogical in this context) ladders. There are 20 areas to be completed.

On the way, you'll fight two enemies - a ninja and a green sumo warrior named Yamo. You can defeat them by punching, kicking, dropping on their heads or luring them into hazardous terrain, or even by making them accidentally hit each other. Even after they are killed, however, they keep coming back for more after a few seconds. The game also allows a second player to take control of Yamo.

There are lots of hazards to avoid by either walking round or jumping - walls of electrical charge and exploding bushes for example.

Spellings

  • ブルース・リー - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Commodore 64 version)

4 People

Programming by
Graphics by
Music by
Concept by
Documentation by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 83% (based on 20 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 121 ratings with 5 reviews)

Not so good on PC as it was on 8-bits

The Good
It's still solid fighting arcade game for the time, especially on PC (where good action games were scarce). Interconnected screens, pick up lanterns, there's action and challenge and you're happy when on your new run you reached one more screen further compared to your previous run.

The Bad
I didn't like gfx. It was not state-of-the-art even on other platforms, but PC was really ugly. Taking into account that Tandy was already available, using just smeary CGA-composite mode put the game to lower gfx quality compared to 8-bit platforms. Other options (CGA RGB, or monochrome) were even more ugly.

Edit: I found in the end, that it's possible to setup 16-color gfx by setting machine as PCjr in DOSBox/DOSBox-x, so plus point for Bruce Lee.

Sound was also PC beeper only.

Controller was really hard to setup. Bruce lot of times made different action than I desired, and I was not able to calibrate it (but maybe my argument is not valid as maybe it's controller dependent). Or in opposite, different attempts to calibrate joystick made sometime controller being insensitive in some directions. In the end, controls were always a bit clunky even after lot of attempts.

The Bottom Line
Not a bad game, but can't give it higher review score as I knew this game from 8-bit computers where it was way better in every aspect (gfx, sound, controls). PC port is IMO weak (to see what does mean good PC port of those times, check e.g. Pitfall II which I reviewed as well).

PC Booter · by Vladimir Dienes · 2023

One of the great platformers of the era

The Good
Although it's actually a very short game, beatable in well under 30 minutes of play, this works to its advantage; the frustration of losing your last life at the infamous "fireball room" (which comes up right before the final boss) is made up for by the fact that it features lots of varied environments and gets more difficult as you progress through the game at a fairly consistent pace.

Instead of having fixed enemies like in almost all platformers, the enemies(two of them) spawn at random in Bruce Lee. This is a source of much of the excitement, as many unpredictable things can happen when the AI starts chasing after you; your fighting abilities are equal, in that you can both perform punches and flying kicks, take a few hits before dying, and crush each other by falling. (The player can also go prone and become immobile but able to avoid hits, but that's his only advantage) What makes it interesting is that a lot of rooms have laser beams(or plasma or electricity or spikes or something) that require timing to get by, and they will zap you if your fall or run is disturbed by the odd punch or kick.

The Bad
The controls can be a bit unforgiving; being designed for a 1-button joystick, you had to press up or diagonals to jump. To do a flying kick instead of a punch you had to start running and then press the button. In fact, the fights are probably the poorest part of the game, although they had the satisfying aspect of being able to trick the simplistic AI into its doom in many situations.

The final boss is not even a fight - it's like a precursor to Bowser in SMB1; not bad for 1984, but dated today. You run across the room, not getting hit by the relatively slow-moving bolts he fires, pick up a torch and it's all over. It's the rooms before him, disappointingly, that are the hard part.

The Bottom Line
A short, reasonably challenging(but not insanely so if you are an experienced gamer) and satisfying adventure. Running around collecting lanterns and torches and escaping a ninja and a green fat monster doesn't have too much to do with Bruce Lee's movies, but it makes for a fun game.

Commodore 64 · by James Hofmann (12) · 2004

A challenge for platform die-hards.

The Good
Bruce Lee is a decent platform game with a lot of action thrown in. Reflexes are needed to pass certain sections, as is a lot of timing to jump past obstacles. You're pursued by two enemies, who unrelentlessly come after you, snapping at your heels.

It's very fun for anyone who likes platform games.

The Bad
There is no "easy" mode to help novice gamers get used to the game. Also, fighting the enemies is relatively easy and just gets irritating after a while. Finally, Bruce Lee only runs at the correct speed on a 4.77MHz PC.

Well, one more gripe, actually--you're Bruce Lee, yet you only have two moves, punching and a flying kick. A little disappointing from a master of martial arts.

The Bottom Line
If you love platform games that require good reflexes and timing, Bruce Lee fits the bill. I mean, come on--you're Bruce Lee!

PC Booter · by Trixter (8952) · 2000

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Awards

  • Commodore Format
    • January 1991 (Issue 4) - Listed in the 'A to Z of Classic Games' article (Great)
  • Retro Gamer
    • issue 37 – #18 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll
  • Zzap!
    • May 1985 (Issue 1) - #15 'It's the Zzap! 64 Top 64!'

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Related Games

Bruce Lee Lives
Released 1989 on DOS
Bruce Lee: Dragon Warrior
Released 2010 on iPad, iPhone, 2011 on Android
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Released 1993 on SNES, 1994 on Genesis, Jaguar
Bruce Lee II
Released 2013 on Windows, Linux
Ultimate Bruce Lee
Released 2008 on Windows
Bruce Lee II
Released 2015 on Commodore 64
UFC: Bruce Lee - Bantamweight
Released 2014 on PlayStation 4
UFC: Bruce Lee - Featherweight
Released 2014 on PlayStation 4
UFC: Bruce Lee - Welterweight
Released 2014 on PlayStation 4

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  • MobyGames ID: 191
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Donny K..

Sharp X1 added by Trypticon. Commodore 64 added by Quapil. iPad, iPhone added by Sciere. Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Antstream added by lights out party. FM-7, Apple II, Atari 8-bit added by Terok Nor. DOS added by gamer p. MSX added by koffiepad. PC-88 added by j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】. BBC Micro added by sabreman.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Martin Smith, lights out party, Macs Black, c64fan, Patrick Bregger, Karsa Orlong, FatherJack, ZeTomes, robMSX.

Game added August 9, 1999. Last modified March 7, 2024.