Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

About

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a beat 'em up and fighting game that channels the film’s most famous action sequences. You play as Bruce Lee, battling through stages filled with sailors, chefs, and martial artists using a mix of punches, kicks, and a chi meter to power up special moves. The game lets you play solo, co-op with up to two others, or take turns in competitive modes. Each level mirrors key moments from the movie but strips away most of the story, focusing purely on the brawls. The standout is the co-op mode, where extra players control identical Lee clones, distinguished only by their pants color. The final boss, The Phantom, a samurai representing Lee’s fears, is a punishing challenge that reappears as a near-untouchable obstacle. While the lack of narrative depth and repetitive character models might turn some off, the fast-paced combat and multiplatform 1994 release made it a staple for arcade-style brawls. Some players still cite its aggressive difficulty curve and chaotic multiplayer as nostalgic highlights.

Storyline

Players control Lee, and must defeat the sailor from the dance in Hong Kong, the chefs from the Chinese Restaurant in San Francisco, the martial arts master who challenges Lee, amongst others to progress through the game, recalling major action scenes from the film. However, the video game leaves out valuable plot information from the film and most of the romantic content between Bruce Lee and his future wife. Players can use a variety of martial arts moves to defeat their enemies and build up a chi meter, which can help unleash special moves on their opponents. The player has three continues, and if lost, they must fight The Phantom (the personification of Bruce's fear who takes the form of an armored Japanese Samurai) to continue, though he is near invincible. They face The Phantom Samurai again at the end as a final boss. The game supports up to three players simultaneously, playing through the game co-operatively, or against each other in a battle mode. Characters other than Bruce Lee are not playable, and so the additional players only control clones of Lee, differentiated by different colored trousers.