Kung Fu Master

Kung Fu Master marquee

Kung Fu Master cabinet

Kung Fu Master title screen

Kung Fu Master game screen

This was one of the first side-scrolling beat-em-ups. It's loosely based on the Bruce Lee movie Game of Death, where your character has to make his way up the floors of a tower, beating progressively tougher enemies along the way. While the character doesn't sport Lee's swank jumpsuit, he does make Lee-style "kiyai" yells when he unleashes attacks. Before coming to the home systems, this was a popular arcade game.

Kung Fu cartridge  Kung Fu

This is the Nintendo cartridge, which for some reason was renamed to just "Kung Fu". Gotta love that "distinctive" artwork.

Kung Fu  Kung Fu

Kung Fu  Kung Fu

The game was also released for many other systems, including the Atari 2600 (left) and 7800. Check out the great graphics on the 2600 version.

Kung Fu  Kung Fu

There was also an "enhanced" version of the game released for the GameBoy that dropped most of the original plot and had you fighting strange enemies like the chainsaw-wielding punk pictured here.

Kung Fu  Kung Fu  Kung Fu

A sequel came out (ingeniously titled "Kung Fu 2") for the Japanese Famicom, their version of the 8-bit Nintendo. After it received less-than-stellar reviews, any plans to bring the title outside of Japan were scrapped.

Kung Fu Quest

The game still has its' fans today. In fact, there is a new unofficial version of it called "Kung Fu Quest" that you can play online here.


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