Reviews

1986 The Edge (UK)
by Mike Leaman, Jack Wilkes and Stephen Cargill

I remember quite distinctively playing this game a lot with my friends.
There's lots of punching and kicking and scoring to do. You can even stop fireballs and other projectiles, although you don't control any supernatural warrior.
The game has a different approach from the usual gang-beat-em-up games, starting with 3 floors on each level, where you move freely, and each of the 5 levels having two rounds to beat (or get beaten).
As a whole it is still fun to play this one, but the slow movements really get into nerves. Thankfully the original coin op version is much player friendly.
Still The Edge folks have done a very decent conversion, could have been a better, but I can't remember complaining much when playing this as a kid, so it must have been pretty good back then.
3,5 stars.

Good conversion from a rather obscure Konami coin-op (I remember it in the arcades anyway) which mixes martial arts with run-and-jump platform action. Five different levels, each one splitted into two rounds, put you against hordes of enemies; some of them are so powerful you'll need the three different power-ups available to dispatch them.

Graphics are pretty colorful and cartoonish, reflecting the style of the original coin-op; sound is present with some sound effect and tunes. The game is rather easy at the start but becomes increasingly difficult, with more and more enemies trying to overcome you.

Like the coin-op, the game could do with some more variety; as it is, it's good but not outstanding.

This game becomes tedious after a very short while ... the tunes are nice , though ! ;-)

by Mike Leaman, Stephen Cargill, Jack Wilkes, Mark Alexander

Martial arts game rising from the beat'em up craze started by Melbourne House in 1985 with The Way Of The Exploding Fist, Fighting Warrior and Rock'n'Wrestle, followed by System 3's International Karate and Imagine's Yie Are Kung Fu, the latter being a coin op conversion, and Shao Lin's Road being the conversion of its sequel, this time brought to us by The Edge, in one of its less edgy release.
So, being oriental stuff, the sprites are all yellow [in the first leve] and you must flying kicking or high kicking random people passing by and getting out of doors, distributed over three floors, among which you can move by jumping up and down. The aim is just to sweep'em all away. Then an oriental jingle will carry you to the next stage.
There are occasionl flying jars and flying pizzas or omelettes, or whatever those round things are supposed to be.
Sometimes a strange ball jumps out of some enemy and if you catch it with a kick, it can trasform in some magic that will simplify your task, like bidirectional fire, which of course won't last much, and then it'll be you and your feet vs. the world again. That said, the game is very playable and your character very responsive, although I have fatal troubles with the flying kicks, and in spite of or thanks to the simple gameplay and very limited moves, it can be fun for a while. Also, the two-channel tune in the title screen is cool, and there are nice jingles, and effective enough sound effects during the game. Your character cries on the floor, manga-style, when you die.
3,5/5

This is much more like it. Everything is so much better compared to Kai Temple and this actually stands out as a pretty decent arcade conversation, in fact an enjoyable one that's worth looking at. What else can be said except, GUTS!

Unforgetable, when it comes to Martial Arts/Oriental themes

Funny and neat game. Martial Arts again. In all its glory. When tired of too much other genres, this simple but very well achieved title comes in handy

In fact, I would say any Martial Arts game that is well designed achieves that purpose

Funny conversion of the Konami classic arcade.

It's just about kicks, jumps, punches and even magic powers in a plattform style, through ten screens full of buddies. Avoid flying kicks, breathing flames and punches, clean out the screen and then go to the next one, all in a game with crappy sounds and a slow scroll, but a catchy tune.