''Shanghai Kid'', sometimes titled ''The Shanghai Kid'' and known in Japan as , is a

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

arcade

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining atta ...

developed by Nihon Game (now

Culture Brain is a Japanese video game developer and publisher founded on October 5, 1980. In 2016, it was renamed Culture Brain Excel. History Culture Brain was founded in 1980 as Nihon Game Corporation. In 1981, a subsidiary to handle the sales operations ...

) and published by Taiyo System. It is the first game in the ''

Hiryū no Ken is a series of Fighting game, fighting video games dating back to 1985. They have been developed by Culture Brain and released for the Arcade game, arcades, Nintendo Entertainment System, NES, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Ga ...

'' series by

Gameplay

''Shanghai Kid'' uses an 8-way

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

and two buttons (one for punching and one for kicking). Set in a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

competition, players can perform power-punches, kicks, and slams, with martial arts,

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

and

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, gen ...

represented in the game. The game also makes use of voice sound effects. It contributes to the fighting game genre by introducing the combo system and the ability to perform special moves. When the spiked

speech balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a char ...

that reads "RUSH!" pops up during battle, the player has a chance to rhythmically perform a series of combos called "rush-attacking", which would later be found in other fighting games such as

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

's the ''

Art of Fighting is a fighting video game trilogy that were released for the Neo Geo platform in the early 1990s. It was the second fighting game franchise created by SNK, following the '' Fatal Fury'' series and is set in the same fictional universe as a p ...

'' and ''

The King of Fighters ''The King of Fighters'' (''KOF'') is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of '' The King of Fighters '94'' in 1994. The series was developed originally for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware. This served as the main ...

'' series. The special moves feature, unlike the basic moves one, allows players to perform moves that are more advanced than the basic ones, and by using two buttons simultaneously instead of one.

Reception

In Japan, '' Game Machine'' listed ''Hiryū no Ken'' on their August 15, 1985 issue as being the third most successful table arcade unit of the month. In North America, ''Shanghai Kid'' was the sixth top-grossing software kit on the ''RePlay'' arcade charts in November 1985.

References

External links

* *
Shanghai Kid
' at arcade-history {{Hiryū no Ken 1985 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Culture Brain games Data East arcade games Fighting games Hiryu no Ken Multiplayer video games Taito arcade games Video games developed in Japan