Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a fighting video game that was developed and originally published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for the Sega Genesis in June 1994.
It is based on the 1993 film of the same name, which is a semi-fictionalized account of the life of Bruce Lee. The game allows players to control Bruce Lee across several stages that take place in different time periods of his life and fight against some of his adversaries.
The SNES version of the game features nice graphics and sound for a fighting game, I don’t hide that I quite prefer it although the Sega Genesis one is not that much different.
Bitterly the game has been criticized for its slow-paced and shallow gameplay, and it is known for being quite challenging. Players take on the role of Bruce Lee and face opponents who seem to have unfair advantages, as they can block most attacks and have dangerous special attacks that quickly drain the player’s health bar. I don’t criticize it, realism pays a cost, therefore this is a quality not a negative note about the game’s playability, and Bruce would agree.
In the game, players face various adversaries, allowing the players to experience Bruce Lee’s life and struggles, making it an interesting experience for fans of the martial arts legend. The game features a single-player mode as well as a co-op and multiplayer mode for up to three players.
When the player loses all of his 3 lives available he has to face the Demon Guardian like in the movie
Either the Sega Genesis than the SNES versions of the game offers little in the way of historical information but instead jumps right to the fighting after a brief introduction.
Using a combination of legend and fact surrounding Bruce Lee and his untimely death, the game has Bruce Lee always running in fear of the demon who chases him through life, fighting a variety of people from the movie. Some major flaws in the game are that halfway through, a group of opponents, scantily clad, Zena-like warriors attack you with staffs on a movie set.
They aren’t in the movie and they are harder to beat than the demon at the end of the game. I breathe a sigh of relief when I beat them. Don’t fight the demon without nunchucks though, it ain’t pretty since he has a giant kwan-do (a Chinese halberd-like weapon).
