Kung Fu Master Game History
During the 1980s martial art mania was rife. Whether through films, t.v. series and even music, it seemed everybody was “Kung-Fu fighting.” So it’s no surprise that the video game market jumped on the bandwagon. The game; Kung-Fu Master. It’s legacy! Being cited as the main inspiration behind many other successful 1980s beat ’em ups.
The History of Kung-Fu Master: Enter The Dragon
The game was first released in Japan in 1984, and was developed and published by Irem Corporation. It was also licensed for release in America by Data East. The Japanese version of the game was called Spartan X, and believed to be named after a Jackie Chan movie of the same name.
The game is a single or two player alternating turn beat ’em up. The gamer plays the character of Keiji Thomas, who’s girlfriend has been kidnapped by a Mr. X. The objective is straight forward, Keiji must battle his way through five different levels to rescue his beloved Sylvia.
The levels are flooded with various enemies for Keiji to battle. These range from;
Knife Throwers - who throw knives high and low
Grippers - who can grab Keiji and rapidly drain his energy
In the later levels, other enemies include;
Tom Toms - are dwarves who jump on Keiji’s head
Fire Breathing Dragons – Keiji must punch or kick these before they breathe fire
Confetti Balls - Keiji must kick and destroy these before they explode
Poisonous Moths
At the completion of a level our hero has to face a boss character. The first boss is just an ordinary game character, only he carries a stick. The second boss level sees Keiji fighting another ordinary game character only this time throws boomerangs. The third boss is a Giant, the forth boss a Black Magician and the final boss is none other than Mr. X.
Conversions
After the success of the game in the arcades, Ku-Fu Master made it’s way onto various other home computer and console systems, including;
Atari 2600
Atari 7800
Amstrad CPC
Commodore 64
ZX Spectrum
Nintendo also published an N.E.S version for the American market aptly titled Kung-Fu. Considering the success of Kung-Fu Master the only sequel to be released was entitled Spartan X 2. This was released for the Famicom system in 1991 for the Japanese market only. A version was planned called Super Kung-Fu Master, but it never saw the light of day. There is a version called Kung-Fu Remix which is now feely downloadable on the internet.
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