Thomas and each boss have a health meter, and the game temporarily becomes a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles. As he ascends the tower, he has to fight many enemies along the way and five end-of-level boss battles, a concept inspired by Game of Death. The player controls Thomas, the titular Kung-Fu Master, as he fights his way through the five levels of the Devil's Temple to rescue his girlfriend Sylvia from the crime boss Mr. Irem and Data East exported the game to the West without the Spartan X license.

Nishiyama, who had previously designed the side-scrolling shooter Moon Patrol (1982), combined fighting elements with a shoot 'em up gameplay rhythm. However, the game is more heavily inspired by the Bruce Lee film Game of Death (1972), which was the basis for the game's concept. It is loosely adapted from the Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung film Wheels on Meals (1984), called Spartan X in Japan, with the protagonist Thomas named after Jackie Chan's character in the film. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, the game was based on Hong Kong martial arts films.

Kung-Fu Master, known as Spartan X in Japan, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game developed by Irem as an arcade game in 1984, and distributed by Data East in North America.