Kung-Fu Master (video game)

Kung-Fu Master, known as in Japan, is a 1984 beat 'em up game developed and published by Irem for arcades. It was distributed by Data East in North America. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama, the game was based on Hong Kong martial arts films. It is a loose adaptation of the Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao film Wheels on Meals (1984), called Spartan X in Japan. The protagonist Thomas is named after Jackie Chan's character in the film. It is also heavily inspired by the Bruce Lee film Game of Death (1972), which was the basis for the game's concept. Nishiyama, who had previously designed the side-scrolling shooter Moon Patrol (1982), combined fighting elements with a shoot 'em up gameplay rhythm. Irem and Data East exported the game to the West without the Spartan X license.

The game was a major commercial success, topping the Japanese arcade charts and becoming America's second highest-grossing arcade game of 1985, while receiving critical acclaim for its fast-paced, side-scrolling gameplay and detailed, colorful graphics. A port for the Nintendo Entertainment System (known as the Famicom in Japan) was developed by Nintendo under the direction of Shigeru Miyamoto, released as Spartan X in Japan and Kung Fu in the West, selling 3.5 million copies worldwide. It was also one of the top five best-selling Commodore 64 games of 1986. It spawned the sequel Spartan X 2 (1991) and the spiritual successors Trojan (1986) and Vigilante (1988).

Kung-Fu Master was a highly influential game. It is regarded as the first beat 'em up video game, and an early example of the side-scrolling character action game genre, which became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s. Miyamoto's work on the NES port inspired his development of the side-scrolling platformer Super Mario Bros. (1985), while Nishiyama was hired by Capcom where he used the boss battles as the basis for the fighting game Street Fighter (1987). He later worked for SNK on fighting games such as Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters. Kung-Fu Master also influenced other media, such as the Red Ribbon Army saga (1985–1986) of the manga and anime series Dragon Ball, as well as the French film Kung Fu Master (1988).

Gameplay

The player controls Thomas with an eight-way joystick and two attack buttons to punch and kick. Unlike more conventional side-scrolling games, the joystick is used not only to crouch, but also to jump. Punches and kicks can be performed from a standing, crouching or jumping position. Punches award more points than kicks and do more damage, but their range is shorter. Thomas has a health meter indicating how much damage he can take. He can absorb a significant amount of damage, but loses a life if he takes too many hits.

Underlings encountered by the player include Grippers, who can grab Thomas and drain his energy until shaken off; Knife Throwers, who can throw at two different heights and must be hit twice; and Tom Toms, short fighters who can either grab Thomas or somersault to strike his head when he is crouching. On even-numbered floors, the player must also deal with falling balls and pots, snakes, poisonous moths, fire-breathing dragons, and exploding confetti.

The Devil's Temple has five floors, each ending with a different boss (described as "sons of the devil" at the start of the game). Each boss has a health meter like Thomas, which leads to the game temporarily becoming a one-on-one fighting game during a boss battle. In order to complete a floor, Thomas must connect enough strikes to completely drain the boss's energy meter; he can then climb the stairs to the next floor. Thomas has a fixed time limit to complete each floor. If time runs out or his meter is completely drained, the player loses one life and must replay the entire floor. Upon completing a floor, the player receives bonus points for remaining time and energy.

The bosses of the first four levels are Stick Fighter, Boomerang Fighter, Giant, and Black Magician. The boss of the fifth floor is Mr. X, the leader of the gang that kidnapped Sylvia. Once he is defeated, Thomas rescues Sylvia and the game restarts at a higher difficulty level.

One extra life is granted at 50,000 points. The game ends when all lives are lost.

Plot The player controls Thomas, a kung fu master who dons a sleeveless white keikogi, he one day notices that his lover is missing in action and is only left a mysterious letter that reads: "Your love Sylvia is in custody now. If you want to save your dear Sylvia's life. Come to the Devil's Temple at once. 5 sons of the Devil will entertain you."

As Thomas rushes to the rescue, he punches and kicks his way through the five levels of the pagoda called the Devil's Temple to save his girlfriend Sylvia from the five floor guardians, especially the crime boss who only goes by the codename "Mr. X".

As Thomas ascends the tower, he must fight and knock down many enemies off the tower along the way and five end-of-level boss battles, a concept inspired by Game of Death. Thomas and each boss have a health meter, and the game temporarily becomes a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles.

Development The game was designed for Irem by Takashi Nishiyama. Kung-Fu Master is based on Hong Kong martial arts films. It is a loose adaptation of the Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao film Wheels on Meals (1984), called Spartan X in Japan, specifically the final part that involves Thomas (Jackie Chan) climbing a Spanish castle to rescue Sylvia (Lola Forner), with the help of Moby (Sammo Hung) and his cousin David (Yuen Biao). The game also borrows from Bruce Lee's 1972 film Game of Death, with the five-level Devil's Temple reflecting the movie's setting of a five-level pagoda and a martial arts master in each level. In contrast, Wheels on Meals takes place in Spain as opposed to the game's East Asian setting. The final part of Wheels on Meals had borrowed its concept of climbing an enemy base by fighting enemies along the way from Game of Death. The game was also influenced by the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon (1973).

Nishiyama had previously created Irem's 1982 arcade side-scrolling shooter game Moon Patrol. Nishiyama designed Kung-Fu Master by combining a shoot 'em up gameplay rhythm with fighting elements.

The music and sound for the arcade game were composed by Masato Ishizaki. Nishiyama initially believed the game did not need any music, as it was a martial arts game and he thought it would sound more impressive to just have the sound effects. Ishizaki had a melody in mind for the game, leading him to suggest that two versions be made, with and without the music, and asked to see which sounded better. After hearing both versions, Nishiyama agreed that the music version sounded better and included Ishizaki's melody in the game.

Prior to the game's development, Nishiyama was invited to join Capcom by its founder Kenzo Tsujimoto in 1983, after he had left Irem. Nishiyama decided to remain in Irem up until the development of Spartan X. He eventually decided to leave Irem and join Capcom before the game was complete. Ishizaki later went on to compose the music and sound for R-Type (1987).

Release The arcade game was originally released as Spartan X in Japan on November 24, 1984. It was then released internationally as Kung-Fu Master in North America in March 1985 and in Europe in early 1985.

Ports In June 1985, the game was released for the Family Computer in Japan. It was released as Spartan X in Japan, before releasing internationally as Kung Fu for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and PAL regions. The game was converted and published by Nintendo and designed and directed by Shigeru Miyamoto. He was interested in the project because of the side-scrolling action gameplay, which was something he had in mind for the platformer genre. He wanted to gain experience developing side-scrolling games with Excitebike (1984) and Kung Fu. Koji Kondo designed the sound effects for the Famicom port.

The game was converted to the Atari 2600 by Dan Kitchen, shortly after developing the 2600 version of Ghostbusters (1984). This version of Kung-Fu Master is considered a significant programming feat considering the technical limitations of the Atari 2600.

Kung-Fu Master was also converted to the Atari 7800, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Commodore 64, MSX (Irem/ASCII version as Seiken Achō), PlayChoice-10 (arcade, nearly the same as the NES version), and ZX Spectrum.

Reception

Arcade In Japan, the Game Machine arcade charts listed Spartan X as the top-grossing table arcade cabinet for two months in early 1985, from January 15 through February 1985. It regained popularity in Japanese arcades following the release of the Famicom port later that year. In Europe, it was a major arcade hit in 1985.

In North America, it was a major hit in arcades, reaching number one on the US arcade earnings charts upon release, and selling 5,000 arcade cabinets by April 1985. It was later the second top-grossing upright arcade cabinet on the RePlay charts in November 1985 (just below Capcom's Commando). It ended the year as America's second highest-grossing arcade game of 1985, below the Data East fighting game Karate Champ. Kung-Fu Master was later also America's eleventh highest-grossing arcade game of 1986, according to the annual RePlay chart.

Claire Edgley of Computer and Video Games gave the arcade game a positive review in March 1985. She was positively surprised by the "hard-hitting" action, the "very fast" and "breath-taking" pace, and large number of enemies. She also praised the controls, referring to Thomas as "a whirling, kicking, jumping, fighting machine" controlled by an eight-way joystick and two buttons, the "energy levels" which allow the player to "absorb a large number of hits" from enemies, the smooth "lifelike" picturesque graphics, and the catchy music jingles. She concluded by saying if "you thought that Karate Champ was good — wait 'til you try this one!"

Mike Roberts also gave the arcade game a positive review in the May 1985 issue of Computer Gamer. He stated it was part of the "current craze" for arcade martial arts games, but said it had "more of a story line and game play" than others, noting the progression through five floors, simplified controls, abilities such as ducking and jumping, and multiple "standard baddies" followed by "super baddies" who are tougher to beat; he refers to the final opponent as the boss of organization X. Matt Fox later reviewed the arcade game in 2013, praising the gameplay, animation and innovation.

Ports In Japan, the Famicom version sold 1.42 million copies. In North America, the NES version titled Kung Fu was the top-selling video game in the United States during July 1986, and again in September. The NES version went on to sell 3.5 million copies worldwide. In Europe, the Commodore 64 port topped the UK Gallup software sales charts in February 1986, and went on to become one of the top five best-selling Commodore 64 games of 1986. The ZX Spectrum version also sold well.

Top Score reviewed the NES version in early 1987, calling it "a fantastic reproduction of its arcade counterpart" and an action-packed winner. Tony Takoushi of Computer and Video Games called it "a near perfect conversion with all the gameplay and levels" intact from the arcade original, praising the gameplay as well as the "solid" graphics and sound. In 2017, IGN ranked the NES port at number 62 on its list of top 100 NES games. They said that, despite being a "dumbed-down port" compared to the arcade original, it was a fun game with rewarding gameplay, challenging boss battles and replay value.

Commodore User gave the Commodore 64 version a positive review in February 1986. Rick Teverbaugh reviewed the Commodore and Apple versions for Computer Gaming World in 1986. He called it "a karate game with adventure elements thrown in" and said that it looked better on the Commodore than on the Apple.

Legacy