Developer: Irem Publisher: Nintendo Released: October 1985 Genre: Beat ’em up
When I look back on my video game career I count myself fortunate to have been born in time for the NES launch. Although I played the Atari 2600 and its contemporaries those games were too simple to hold my attention for long. But when the NES launched it quite literally changed the game. New genres emerged left and right and the foundations for what we enjoy now were formed. Kung Fu Master was the first beat em up and was insanely popular in the arcade. The NES port was one of its flagship games at launch and a game that would teach me some of the skills that I would use for years to come.
Kung Fu has a complex history in terms of its name and story. In Japan it is known as Spartan X and is a tie-in to the Jackie Chan movie Meals on Wheels. At this point both the movie and Jackie Chan had yet to hit America and so they would drop the license in favor of the generic Kung-Fu Master title. The NES port by Nintendo was stellar for its time; you have to remember we were coming off the back of an entire generation where arcade ports barely resembled their source material. Donkey Kong on the Colecovision was an outlier. Kung Fu was my first beat em up and sparked my interest in the genre. It seems quaint now but this is where the genre started.
As basically the progenitor of the genre Kung Fu will not wow you with its mechanics. Thomas has a punch, kick, a sweep kick and a jump kick. There are no weapons or other such power-ups to speak of. In fact there is no way to restore health aside from completing the level. It sounds bare bones but Kung Fu makes the most of its meager setup through clever design.
There is no denying Kung Fu’s simplicity. Because you can’t recover from injury prioritizing which attacks work best on each enemy is a must. The generic grippers will make a bee line to drain your health and are easily to deal with. Knife throwers tend to hang back from the crowd and vary the level of their attack. Tom Toms will either grab you or perform a flip attack if you crouch low. On their own most of these enemies is not a threat. But as they attack in groups it can get dicey and any mistake means dealing with the end level bosses with less than ideal health. Even though the bosses have obvious patterns it can still be tricky as they can kill you in seconds.
The five levels of the Devil’s Tower feature a steady ramp up in difficulty. After the first level each stage introduces some new element or enemy. The even numbered floors mostly feature snakes, dragons (!) and flies that either need to be avoided or hit at certain angles. Once Tom Toms appear enemy packs become more of a threat. I credit Kung Fu as the game that taught me pattern recognition, priority, and for giving me an appreciation for games that have an even difficulty curve. For a game released so early its high praise in that it colored how it taught me to look at the NES library going forward, even if I did not realize it at the time.
Ultimately though Kung Fu is a short game. There are only five levels and once you get in a groove the game is over in less than ten minutes. But that did not stop us from playing it over and over at release. Now granted it is not like the NES had a robust library at launch but still. Competing for high scores and even seeing how many loops you could complete added to its longevity. Even though it was fun it still can’t hide the fact that there is not much meat to this game’s bones.
In Closing
Kung Fu is an important milestone within its genre. It inspired the legions of brawlers that would follow in its wake. I respect its place in history but can acknowledge that there is little reason to revisit it today. Fun for a brief spell but not much else.
