Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire is an upgraded version of The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan. It adds a desperation move system, an improved combo system with a special combo counter above the lifebars that records the highest number of combos during a match, and an "escaping" feature where players can struggle out of combos or stand up as fast as possible by rapidly moving the control stick and tapping the buttons simultaneously. Fists of Fire also makes all three versions of Jackie Chan into playable characters expanding the roster up to nine playable characters, and makes adjustment to the character balance by strengthening and weakening the statistics of certain playable characters from the first game, while adding and removing a few moves to some of them.