Having recently picked up the Famicom version of Spartan X/Kung Fu (Master), and wondering WTF I was ever doing without it, I was suprised to learn there was a 1991 FC-exclusive sequel. I knew about the Gameboy one, and of course Irem's own Vigilante, but this was news to me.
A disappointing sequel on the whole, with a few neat ideas in need of a better game. Irem only published, apparently. The action is almost as simplistic but nowhere near as intense, and there are no further loops or higher difficulties to speak of. The much more lenient health bar and in-stage life refills alone would take a bite out of the difficulty, but it's the chronic lack of the original's deadly mixups and pincer attacks that really hampers this.
The much more varied and detailed environments amount to little more than new places for enemies to leap from before being swiftly KOd, until the final stage where we get a rail platform over a pit and some decently tricky enemy placement. Unfortunately this is followed by an all too literal underwater fight scene. At first I thought the game was choking, but nope, you're seriously fighting as usual underwater. Baffling. The weak final boss caps things off. I hit the "1LC for replay value" threshold almost immediately and coasted over it within the hour - not a fatal flaw in itself, if a game is at least gratifying in some way, but there's precious little engagement to be had here. It's not a particularly good looking or sounding game either, certainly not in comparison to the crisp simplicity of the original.
"Neat ideas in need of a better game:" the game adds two power attacks executed by charging down, SFII/Doki Doki Panic-style, and hitting Punch. Enemies in front get an MK-esque uppercut, enemies behind get an awesome throw I'm surprised I've not seen before in other games: a very nasty move which sees our man Spartan seize the enemy's ankle and toss them overhead to crash down squarely on the roof of the skull. Enemies felled by these attacks go careening off the screen taking down any others in their way, giving some satisfaction. It's particularly cool to chuck a would-be backstabber into the projectile user that's got you pinned down, taking them both out. At this point, rather than wonder what might've been, the logical thing is to play The Ninja Warriors Again.
I don't own a copy myself, as I'd hope can be inferred by my not having much to say about it.
Ninja and mecha sidescrolling action games are my two favourite sub(subsubsub,etc)genres ever.