Kung-Fu Master

The Good
Kung-Fu Master is a side-scrolling action game released in the arcades in 1984 by Irem, running on the M-62 hardware. It was originally released as Spartan X in Japan as a tie-in based on the Jackie Chan film Wheels on Meals when it was released in the west. It received ports on popular 8-bit platforms such as the Apple II, Nintendo NES, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and MSX.

The game is housed in a black arcade cabinet with artwork showing Thomas defeating an enemy with a low-kick plastered on the left side. The marquee features all the main characters from the game, with Mr. X preventing Silvia from shouting out to Thomas. It’s strange how Silvia resembles Annie from the movies based on a musical, but with blonde hair and a bow-tie. The CRT monitor is surrounded by images of characters from the game, and a dragon, as well as Silvia and Mr. X, looking down at them.

In Kung-Fu Master, you play Thomas trying to rescue his love Silvia who is kidnapped under your watch and held somewhere on the fifth floor. Mr. X, her captor, challenges you to defeat the “five sons of the devil” blocking access to the next floor. To get her back, Thomas must punch and kick his way to the other side of the floor where he encounters one son. Once he does so, he climbs the stairs to the next floor ready to face the next boss.

The enemies come in different varieties. You will first encounter men wearing pink vests, who have their arms up ready to give you a hug. Once they do, the only way to break free of their grip is to wiggle the joystick left and right. I find it amusing that it can be a “threesome” or “foursome”. There are also midgets and men wearing bandanas. What’s common about all the enemies is that they approach you from both sides, so it is important to stay alert. From the second floor onward, there are also vases that drop on you as you pass. When they break, they will release dragons that either scurry past you or breathe fire at you.

The graphics are quite colorful, and the animations of the different characters are excellent. I find it quite amusing that Thomas is the only one walking as if he’s on drugs. The backgrounds are basically the same with Japanese lettering on posts and murals in between them. Kung-Fu Master features cut-scenes in between some of the levels.

The game’s AY-3-8910A sound chip provides the digitized sound effects, while the MSM5205 provides the music. The music is done by Kōji Kondō, who also worked on the Mario and Zelda games. He composed three pieces for the game, with the most notable one being the background music while you are fighting your way through each floor. I love the echoes Thomas makes when he runs out of energy, and also Mr. X’s laugh in the cut-scenes.

The Bad
There is no continue feature, which means if you run out of all your lives, you are jettisoned back to the start.

The Bottom Line
In Kung-Fu Master, punch and kick your way to the end of each floor using the variety of moves available to you, defeat the boss, and climb up the stairs to get to the next floor. That’s about it really. The graphics and sound are very good, and there is always the opportunity to have “just one more go”.