The Way of the Exploding Fist++

The Way of the Exploding Fist was released on the Commodore 64 in June 1985. It's one of the best fighting games of all time and all modern fighters owe a massive debt to this game.

Screen Shot

COGS Version

How can you improve on one of the best 2 player fighting games of all time? Easy.... make it 4 player!!! As well as adding the extra players, The graphics have been updated for modern 16:9 TVs/monitors and allow the game to scroll. I've tried to make the game play and feel as close to the original as possible. Parallax scrolling, you can never have too much parallax!

Controls

Press A Button to start.
Each additional player presses their A Button to join.
To add CPU fighters, press B Button.
Up changes your fighters robe colour while waiting to play. Down makes them crouch so you can work out which one is you.
Left and Right changes the CPU fighters skill level. You can see this by the CPU symbols. The more, the better the fighter.
Press Start when everyone has joined to start the fight.
Esc twice in quick succession will quit the game.

The moves are exactly the same as the original

For more info about using controllers and keyboard see Controllers

Game Modes

If there are 2 fighters, the game plays much like the original. The first person to make a hit wins the round and the fighters reset. First to 6 points wins.
If there are more than 2 fighters, it's more like IK+. The fight continues until one fighter has 6 points.

What's Coming?

The game is fully playable with the most iconic background but I'm working on new features:

More backgrounds. All the other backgrounds will be updated and added. I'm liking the idea of each background corresponding to a different game mode....
More game modes. Currently there are 2 game modes. Other potential game modes:
- Last man standing. All fighters start with 6 points and are out when they lose them all.
- Team battles. Each player picks a team and your attacks only work on the other team.
- Single player against multiple bad guys. Bruce Lee style.

Download

Windows x64	macOS x64	Linux x64	Linux Arm64

Download	Download	Download	Download

Version History

The version is stored in the CogsApp.cogcfg file.

Version:                 0.7.2R

Date	Version	Info
04-Nov-22	0.7.1R	Intial, multi player only demo.
05-Dec-22	0.7.2R	Added CPU players and classic game mode.
07-Dec-22	0.7.2P1	Patch: Fix low punch. Add missing lib for Pi Ubuntu.
12-Dec-22	0.7.3R	Frame rate fix/improvements.

Installation

Windows x64

Copy the ExplodingFist folder out of zip file. I create a Games directory in my home folder but anywhere will do.
Run the ExplodingFist.exe from the ExplodingFist directory.
Windows will usually pop up a "Windows protected your PC" window. This is because COGS is a brand new site.
Select "More Info" and "Run anyway" to run the game. You won't need to confirm again.

Windows Warning

macOS

You'll need to get your terminal out to install on macOS. I'll look at creating an application bundle but for now you'll need to go geeky. Download the zip file to a appropriate place. I create a Games dir in my home dir.

    cd Games
    unzip ExplodingFist_macOS_x64.zip
    xattr -c -r ExplodingFist
    cd ExplodingFist
    ./ExplodingFist

macOS Frame Rate Issue

There seems to be an intermittant framerate issue on some macOS machine. Occasionally the game starts but seems to miss frames and generally run poorly. Quitting and restarted usually sorts it. I'm investigating the cause.

You can run the game windowed, which seems to solve the problem:

    ./ExplodingFist -w720

Linux

Unzip the download:

x64 (Intel)

unzip ExplodingFist_Linux_x64.zip
cd ExplodingFist
./ExplodingFist

arm64 (Raspberry Pi)

unzip ExplodingFist_Linux_arm64.zip
cd ExplodingFist
./ExplodingFist

I've tested COGS and Exploding Fist on a Pi4 running Raspberry Pi OS and it works fine with no slowdowns. It should work on a Pi3 but I've not got one and they are unobtainable at the moment. If it is running slowly, setting the refresh rate down to 30 Hz might help. Let me know how it runs if you try it on a Pi3.

www.cogsgames.org