Kung-Fu Master was released in December 1984 outside Japan. Originally known in Japan as as "Spartan X".

Licensed to Data East for US manufacture and distribution. Kung-Fu Master was the first game that Irem licensed to Data East and was also the first of two genre-defining fighting games released by Data East that year; the other being 'Karate Champ', the world's first one-on-one fighting game.

Differences between Spartan X and Kung-Fu Master:
* During the demo screen the word Kung-Fu (in 'A KUNG-FU MASTER, THOMAS....') is spelled 'KANFU' in Spartan X.
* Spartan X has an additional copyright notice that is not in Kung-Fu Master : '(C)1984 Paragon Films Ltd., Towa Promotion'.

A bootleg of this game was released by O.K. corp. in 1985.

Mike Sullivan holds the official record for this game with 1,349,040 points.

CONSOLES:
[AS] Nintendo Famicom (1984) "Kung Fu"
Atari 2600 (may.12, 1987) "Kung-Fu Master [Model AG-039]" by Activision
Nintendo NES (oct.1985) "Kung Fu [Model NES-SX-USA]"
Nintendo NES (apr.15, 1987) "Kung Fu [Model NES-SX-NOE]"
Atari 7800 (1989) "Kung-Fu Master [Model AM-039-04]" by Absolute Entertainment

HANDHELDS:
Nintendo Game Boy (1991) "Kung Fu Master [Model DMG-SX-NOE]"
Nintendo Game Boy (feb.1991) "Kung Fu Master [Model DMG-SX]"

COMPUTERS:
Apple II (1985) "Kung Fu Master"
Commodore C64 (1985) "Kung Fu Master"
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1986) "Kung-Fu Master" by U.S. Gold
Amstrad CPC (1987) "Kung-Fu Master"
PC [MS Windows, Online] (dec.9, 2011) "IREM Arcade Hits" by DotEmu
Apple MacIntosh [Online] (aug.21, 2011) "Irem Arcade Hits" by DotEmu
PC [Desura] (nov.2, 2013) "IREM Arcade Hits" by Plug In Digital