Kung-Fu Master

:"The fictional character Shang-Chi is also known as The Master of Kung Fu.Infobox VG
title=Kung-Fu Master


caption=Arcade flyer of "Kung Fu Master".
developer=Irem
publisher=Irem
Data East USA
designer=
release=Arcade version:
vgrelease|JPN|December 1984
genre=Beat 'em up
modes=Up to 2 players, alternating turns
cabinet=Upright, mini-upright, and cocktail
arcade system=CPU: Z80 main, M6803 Snd, 2x AY-3-8910, 2x MSM5205 (=Irem-M62)
display=Raster (Horizontal) 4:3
input=4-way Joystick, 2 buttons
platforms=Arcade

"Kung-Fu Master" is a 1984 arcade game developed by the Japanese company Irem Corporation. It was manufactured under license in the United States by Data East. It was released in Japan as "Spartan X" (スパルタンX) and credited "Paragon Films Ltd., Towa Promotion", who made the movie starring Jackie Chan called "Spartan X" ("Wheels on Meals") upon which it was based. The game contains elements of Bruce Lee's "Game of Death".

Story

The player takes the role of Keiji Thomas, a man in a Keikogi and slippers. Thomas's girlfriend, Sylvia, has been kidnapped by "Mr. X", and Thomas must fight through five side-scrolling floors full of enemies to rescue her.

Brutally summarized as "rescue girlfriend – hit people", the US and UK version opened with the clumsy phrase "Thomas and Sylvia were attacked by several unknown guys...."

Gameplay

The game was the first beat 'em up. It is cited as the inspiration for subsequent successes like "Double Dragon", "Final Fight", "Captain Commando", "Streets of Rage", "" and "Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja".

Thomas can punch with the A button and kick with the B button. Either move can be done from a crouching or jumping position. Punches are worth twice as much as kicks and do twice as much damage, but their range is shorter.The first floor of the temple contains Grippers (standard Kung Fu henchmen who charge Thomas and grab him, draining his life bar) and Knife Throwers (men who throw knives high or low). Subsequent levels introduce Tom Toms (small dwarves who can surprise Thomas by jumping on his head), poisonous moths, fire-breathing dragons (Thomas must punch or kick them before they breathe fire), snakes, and confetti balls. (These hang in mid-air for a few seconds and then explode into three pieces after a few seconds; Thomas must jump kick these before they explode. If Thomas is hit by any pieces of debris from an exploding confetti ball, he takes massive damage.)

Each of the five floors ends with a different boss who must be defeated before Thomas can climb the stairs to the next floor. The first two bosses are ordinary men armed with a stick and honed boomerangs, respectively. The third is a Giant, the fourth a Black Magician, and the fifth is Mr. X, a versatile Kung Fu master. Thomas must complete each floor within a fixed time. The timer starts at 2000. If it falls below 330, an acoustic warning sounds. If a boss defeats Thomas, the boss laughs. Although there are five bosses, the game only uses two different synthesized laughs. (The NES port uses a third, high-pitched synthesized laugh for the Black Magician.)

Once the player has completed all five floors, the game restarts with a more demanding version of the Devil's Temple, although the essential details remain unchanged. A visual indication of the current house is displayed on the screen. For each series of five completed floors, a dragon symbol appears in the upper-right corner of the screen. After three dragons have been added, the dragons symbols blink.

Ports

Kung-Fu Master was ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, BeOS x86, Commodore 64, DOS, Java, Linux, NES/Famicom, MSX (Irem/ASCII version as "Seiken Achō"), PlayChoice-10 (arcade, nearly the same as the NES version), Sega SG-1000, Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Windows. It was also made for the 8-bit Gameking console, under the name of "Nagual". Some of the 8-bit conversions offered highly degraded performance, sound and image resolution. The NES version was ported and published by Nintendo under the title "Kung Fu" in North America and the PAL region. It is is also one of two NES/Famicom games that had Jackie Chan as its lead character, the other being "Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu".

Other ports (mostly different):
*"Spartan X": Game Boy (Irem, 1990) - Original game that has similar gameplay to the arcade and NES versions, but with new enemies and stages.
*"Kung Fu (Karate)": ZX Spectrum (Bug Byte, 1984, first home computer port)
*"Spartan X": IAC/Irem Arcade Classics for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, Japan only (1996, I'Max)
*"Kung-Fu" Master DX: EmuDX (2005)
*"Kung-Fu" Master: cell phone
*"Kung-Fu Master 3D" (WIP, 2005)

equels

A Japanese-only sequel to the game was released for the Famicom in 1991, titled simply "Spartan X 2". In this game, the main character's name has changed to "Jonny Spartan," and his costume resembles a red jumpsuit. The storyline is also quite different, with no mention of Sylvia, but rather "Jonny" is now a member of an unnamed crime-fighting unit charged with foiling a group of drug smugglers.

There is also a game by Irem known as "Vigilante", which shares the same gameplay.

Agnès Varda featured the game prominently in a film of the same name ("Kung-Fu Master"), dealing with an affair between a 40 year-old woman and a fourteen year-old boy obsessed with the game. When he finally beats it, he cannot get the message to her because she has been caught and has a restraining order. The film was retitled "Le Petit Amour" for U.S. release so it would not be perceived as a martial arts film.

References

* [http://www.ggdb.com/GGDB/Details.asp?VID=1484 'Kung Fu Master (Coin-Op) by Data East', "Great Game Database.com"] Retrieved April 15 2005
* [http://www.gamespot.com/wsc/sports/sidepocketforwonderswan/news_6071057.html 'Data East goes bankrupt', "GameSpot"] (July 7 2003) Retrieved April 15 2005
* [http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=1331 Bousiges, Alexis. 'Kung Fu Master', "Arcade History"] , (March 2 2005) Retrieved April 15 2005.

External links

*StrategyWiki
*KLOV game|id=8361
*moby game|id=/kung-fu-master|name=The home versions of "Kung-Fu Master"
* [http://caesar.logiqx.com/html/games/kungfum.shtml "Kung Fu Master"] at "Catalogue of Arcade Emulation Software - the Absolute Reference"
* [http://www.classic-retro-games.com/Kung-Fu-Master_155.html Windows remake of "Kung-Fu Master"]
*WoS game|id=0002780