Uncomplicated fun and a revolution when it came out. The arcade is brilliant with so many different moves - especially for its time - and some other ingenious touches like each level seamlessly moving into the next and the mind-blowing Player 1 vs Player 2 ending.

A hit in its day, as it's colorful and brought some more moves to the table than what came before it. Of course, succeeding games soon made those moves feel kind of short-range and underwhelming. It lags like mad when more than a couple enemies show up, and they compensated for that (and short levels) by giving them a mountain of hit points. The arcade is prettier and has coop, but NES is still satisfying (especially once you get the jump-kick at level 3 via the tacked-on level progression).

Not complex, just fun

I am reviewing the one on the Nes. Good game only it changes to a platform in later levels. Which can be annoying because of it's problematic solving and also RPG elements in this game when this isn't that. I beat this when I was a kid. Machine gun guy is hard.

Simplistic to the point that it devolves into basically just mashing a button, Short enough to not wear out its welcome much.

Why did I spend so much time at a game that involved (for me) nothing but elbow punches?

An oft imitated game, it is by no means any good now. Grab a guy by the hair, knee him in the face a few times, and throw him. Rinse and repeat... endlessly.

somewhat fun and actually holds up fairly well in a few areas, but it's still largely just pressing A until either you or the enemy dies. purpose of the hearts is unclear.

Atari 2600 port of this is god damn magic.

Since there aren't separate entries, my rating is the average of what I'd score the arcade (11/20) and home console (7/20) versions from 1987 today.

Considered a classic but I have to admit it never did all that much for me outside of a passing amusement; when it came to brawlers my attention would always be pulled instead in the direction of the Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers games or River City Ransom.