As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #49, June 2008.

In 1984, the same year that Technos released the first true strategic fighting game, Irem would release the first side scrolling beat 'em up ever to hit the arcade. Kung-Fu Master put the player in the role of Thomas, a master of the title Chinese martial art. Thomas' girlfriend Sylvia has been kidnapped by Mr. X and he has imprisoned her on the fifth floor of a pagoda, with a different fighting style master guarding passage to the next floor. In addition, a detachment of henchmen and obstacles have been dispersed throughout the pagoda to prevent Thomas from reaching the top. The game is based on the 1984 Jackie Chan film "Wheels on Meals" (also known overseas as Spartan X), however the pagoda setting and bosses are elements incorporated from Bruce Lee's unfinished film "The Game of Death." Kung-Fu Master did well in the arcade and introduced a genre that would become cemented with games to come such as Double Dragon, Final Fight, last month's NES'cade subject Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and countless others right up until present day.

As Thomas climbs higher the enemies become quicker and more diverse. Simple henchmen known as Grippers first appear on the first floor but are present throughout the entire game. They attack in large groups and grab onto Thomas, draining his energy bar until they are shaken off. The best course of action is to defeat them with a single kick or hit before they get close enough to cause damage. Knife Throwers are also present throughout the game and appear on the first floor. They walk toward Thomas but stop before getting too close. Once stopped they throw a single knife at a time, either high or low, which must be ducked under or jumped over respectively. Knife Throwers require two hits to defeat and will throw additional knives shortly after their first. From the second floor on, small dwarf fighters known as Tom Toms join the battle which will sometimes flip up and jump on Thomas' head to cause damage. The second floor introduces falling objects which must either be destroyed or avoided. Green pots hit the ground and shatter, allowing a contained snake to be released that will slither along the ground. The snakes can either be jumped over or defeated with low level attacks. Red lanterns hang from the ceiling and must be destroyed before they burst into deadly confetti. Lastly, yellow eggs fall to the ground and hatch into fire-breathing dragons which temporarily block the way and can be defeated through conventional means, while avoiding their fiery breath. As with the second floor, the fourth floor contains special enemies, this time poisonous moths which fly out of openings on the wall. They can either be dispatched through normal attacks or avoided all together. Most of the time a combination of both techniques is the best way for Thomas to make his way passed them.

The staircase guard at the end of each floor has a unique fighting style, again paying homage to "The Game of Death." The first floor is guarded by the Stick Master, based upon the Escrima master from the third floor of the pagoda in "The Game of Death." Floor two leads to a battle with the Boomerang Fighter who is a unique character to the game. The third floor features Mr. Big, based upon The Giant who was played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In the film he was at the top of the pagoda and fought with an unknown free-flowing style which represented the highest level of martial arts. The Black Magician waits at the end of the fourth floor and is able to summon a number of projectiles including the snakes and dragons from the second floor. At the end of the fifth floor Thomas finally reaches Mr. X, who fights in the same fluid style as Thomas, basically his equal. After defeating Mr. X, Sylvia is rescued only to be captured again as the game restarts with increased difficulty.

Eventually the arcade original would be ported onto the Nintendo Famicom using the Japanese title of Spartan X. When the Nintendo Entertainment System hit wide release in the USA, Spartan X was retitled and released as one of the original "black box" launch titles, dropping Master from the title and simply becoming Kung-Fu. The NES hardware was one of the first home game systems that could do the beat 'em up genre proud with detailed visuals and smooth movement. Kung-Fu is no exception. The backgrounds have been simplified, opting for solid blue opposed to the detailed purple walls with red pillars and woodwork as seen in the arcade. Compared to how the lighter colored sprites tend to look washed out against the detailed arcade background, I actually like the NES crispness against the solid blue. As for the sprites themselves, they are nicely detailed and representative of their arcade counterparts. Sprite colors are slightly reworked, more than likely due to NES palette limitations but again I think they snap off the background better colored the way they are on the NES.

The floors follow the same layout as they should with floors two and four offering the falling objects and moths as they did originally. Grippers, Knife Throwers and Tom Toms all behave as they should however I find them easier to wiggle away from here than in the arcade. Each of the bosses put up a good fight and are faithful recreations, right down to the laughs they have after defeating Thomas. The staircases aren't anywhere as detailed but considering the NES version lends itself to more of a straight on viewpoint instead of a slightly isomeric one, this is quite passable. I do miss the little animation of the door to the previous level falling down into the floor, blocking access back down that the arcade had. Aside from the close-up of Thomas reading the note from Mr. X and the attract screens, the NES version has everything visually and mechanics wise the arcade does.

Audio is better than the original with the loud battle cries reworked to be quieter and more appropriate. The notes that loop in the background as well as the little level introductory and ending tunes are recreated perfectly. As has been said, the laughing sounds the bosses make if they defeat Thomas even make it over onto the cartridge, a nice touch. Control is simple with the directional pad used for movement, the B button for kicks and the A button for punches. Combinations of directional movement and attack type result in different attack heights and moves. I've always felt that the over all control was smoother and more responsive on the NES than in the arcade version, with quicker feedback. Additionally due to slight perspective differences, the player has more time to react on the NES as it takes longer for enemies to reach Thomas. This makes the NES port an all around better game in my opinion as the player actually has some time to make decisions, rather than just endlessly twitching back and forth to defeat enemies.

This really is a no-brainer. Kung-Fu on the NES is a great game, it's a lot of fun if you're looking for a classic arcade diversion and of all the ports that had come before or after it stands as my favorite. I feel that while the NES port is scaled down in terms of graphics, the changes suit the game better and what one is left with is a tighter package. The visuals feel more memorable and classic on the NES than they originally did in the arcade. NES owners more than likely have a copy of this game already or at the very least have played it as it is very common. However it can sometimes be hard to find as it's a game that doesn't leave libraries all that often. A sequel to the Famicom version was released under the title Spartan X 2, however it followed the more conventional beat 'em up formula and never saw release outside of Japan.
 

"InsaneDavid" also runs a slowly growing gaming site at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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