Preview: Kung Fu (NES)

The NES gets another arcade port, and this time it’s Irem Corporation’s Kung Fu Master, or as it will be known in the US, Kung Fu. Data East will be handling the port to console, and we at Solid State Gamer will now be giving you our first impressions of Kung Fu for the NES.

The story of the game is simple, a bunch of thugs have captured your girlfriend and taken her to a temple, and you must get her back. But it won’t be easy. You can’t use platforming or stealth to get your way past the criminals to your love, there is no place to hide. You will have to get out there and promptly punch, kick and dodge knives to get your true love back.

Fight your way up, you ask? Isn’t that going to be hard? Don’t fret, all your kung fu moves have been mapped to your NES controller. To move, you simply need to use the D-Pad. But you will need to do more than move to survive. Pressing A will make you punch and the B button will make you do a kick. But your enemies are smart enough to avoid them, so you need to outsmart them. Pressing down on the D-Pad will make your character crouch, and you can use both of your attacks while in this position, which will be handy in battle if you can master it.

The enemies will use any resources they have to kill you. They are ususally easy to beat, but come in large numbers, so you can easily be overwhelmed if you stay in there too long. After a while, a boss fight will come, with the enemy armed with a weapon. It can range from a knife to a boomerang, but each is very deadly if you don’t dodge them. Defeating the boss will grant you access to a stair to get to next floor, and once you have completed all five floors, your girlfriend awaits you.

Sounds simple? It is a tough game. But is the game fun enough for you to get your black belt on and kick some butt? Find out in our upcoming review.