Wheels on Meals
In the mid-1980s, side-scrolling character action games emerged, combining elements from earlier side-view, single-screen character action games, such as single-screen platformers, with the side-scrolling of space shooters. These new side-scrolling character-driven action games featured large character sprites in colorful, side-scrolling environments, with the core gameplay consisting of fighting large groups of weaker enemies using attacks/weapons such as punches, kicks, guns, swords, ninjutsu or magic. The most notable early example was Irem's "Kung-Fu Master" (1984), the first beat 'em up and the most influential side-scrolling martial arts action game; in turn, it was based on two Hong Kong martial arts films, Bruce Lee's "Game of Death" (1973) and Jackie Chan's "Wheels on Meals" (1984), This side-scrolling arcade action format became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s, with examples including ninja action games such as Taito's "The Legend of Kage" (1985) and Sega's "Shinobi" (1987), run-and-gun shooters such as Namco's "Rolling Thunder" (1986), and beat 'em ups such as Technōs Japan's "Renegade" (1986) and "Double Dragon" (1987).