NES Kung Fu

[Joe C.]

So, how many times have you beaten this game? 

 

I had forgotten how to beat the 4th stage boss and needed a refresher how to beat him.

 

Fun game and dig the music.

[CapitanClassic]

Duck to dodge fireballs. Two gut punches (down+punch). Wizard disappears and then reappear. Repeat 

[Austin]

I probably fire up this game once a year for a few attempts. Still holds up great. I've never made it more than a couple of loops in however.

[mbd39]

For the fourth boss I like to do a jump kick and land right beside him, and then do three quick duck punches. You also can't punch too fast or he'll move.

 

As for loops, maybe around 6. I've rolled the score by breaking a million points. It's a fun challenge. Count the enemies you kill and if the 12th is a jumper, jump kick him for 5k. This bonus keeps going until you kill a 12th enemy who isn't a jumper, and then it doesn't work until the next stage.

 

 

 

 

 

[Leonard Smith]

One of the few NES arcade ports that actually outdoes the arcade original.

Mainly, the control is less stiff and awkward and flows better than the coin op. 
I've beaten many times...had this in the 80's and it was a fun title.

Plus Nintendo didn't bastardize the main concept like they did with pretty much all their other ports (for example - Strider, Double Dragon, Rygar and others).  Good thing we didn't get a "Kung Fu - The Adventure" type of reimagining

[Austin]

39 minutes ago, Leonard Smith said:

Plus Nintendo didn't bastardize the main concept like they did with pretty much all their other ports (for example - Strider, Double Dragon, Rygar and others).  Good thing we didn't get a "Kung Fu - The Adventure" type of reimagining

Nintendo didn't "do" any of those ports. I get what you're saying though. A lot of people prefer and/or at least enjoy those reimaginings however.

[Leonard Smith]

I understand that.  
I should have clarified that common practice by all companies on the NES was to re-interpret arcade conversions.  Nintendo themselves were guilty of this as well.

 

[mbd39]

8 hours ago, mbd39 said:

For the fourth boss I like to do a jump kick and land right beside him, and then do three quick duck punches. You also can't punch too fast or he'll move.

 

As for loops, maybe around 6. I've rolled the score by breaking a million points. It's a fun challenge. Count the enemies you kill and if the 12th is a jumper, jump kick him for 5k. This bonus keeps going until you kill a 12th enemy who isn't a jumper, and then it doesn't work until the next stage.

 

 

 

 

 

Oops, I meant hugger not jumper! There is no jumper bonus.

 

I guess there are jumpers, those little guys (Tom Toms) who try to jump on your head.

[Tanooki]

I still have my original cart and manual from sometime in 1986.  It was one of the earliest games I picked up that year after getting a (pre)deluxe set model system for christmas the year before.  To be fair I haven't touched any blackbox games much in a long while, but it was a go to for a long time, right along with Balloon Fight, as were also Donkey Kong 3, Popeye, and Mario Bros after going through SMB1, Hogans Alley an the two pack ins for a stretch.  I know I'd not do it now but I could roll over the Kung Fu castle there repeatedly, it gets a little harder each time, probably a lot, but 100s of hours playing it by then it doesn't seem as noticeable.

[schuwalker]

On 8/26/2022 at 1:13 PM, Leonard Smith said:

One of the few NES arcade ports that actually outdoes the arcade original.

Mainly, the control is less stiff and awkward and flows better than the coin op. 
I've beaten many times...had this in the 80's and it was a fun title.

Plus Nintendo didn't bastardize the main concept like they did with pretty much all their other ports (for example - Strider, Double Dragon, Rygar and others).  Good thing we didn't get a "Kung Fu - The Adventure" type of reimagining

I do think Kung Fu is probably my favorite port of "Master" but better than the arcade? Let' not get crazy here.

 

Are you playing this on MAME? One thing I noticed after using my Xarcade stick is I hate micro switch controllers. I play this fairly often @ Galloping Ghost arcade - they have the dedicated Data East version. My gameplay is such an improvement there compared to at home; I really believe it lies with the actually joystick using leaf switches.

 

I watched some Youtube videos of the two versions. NES one is easier, even on the B difficulty, compared to it's arcade counterpart. Take the fourth level boss, the NES one the magician generally throws his magic fireballs at the head; the arcade one, he's switching between head and body shots at a rapid pace. He also conjures up his doppelganger more often - does he do this on the NES?

 

It comes down to do you prefer a easier version of Kungfu Master? Stick with the NES. Harder... the arcade.

[Leonard Smith]

The arcade version feels stiff and tough to control in comparison to the NES version.

I'm talking about the real arcade version, not emulated on MAME or anything like that.  The NES version is more fluid and easier to control and pull off jump kicks and whatnot.

Additionally, the Atari 7800 version carries over the stiff controls from the arcade version and is thus less fun to me.

 

[mbd39]

2 hours ago, schuwalker said:

I do think Kung Fu is probably my favorite port of "Master" but better than the arcade? Let' not get crazy here.

 

Are you playing this on MAME? One thing I noticed after using my Xarcade stick is I hate micro switch controllers. I play this fairly often @ Galloping Ghost arcade - they have the dedicated Data East version. My gameplay is such an improvement there compared to at home; I really believe it lies with the actually joystick using leaf switches.

 

I watched some Youtube videos of the two versions. NES one is easier, even on the B difficulty, compared to it's arcade counterpart. Take the fourth level boss, the NES one the magician generally throws his magic fireballs at the head; the arcade one, he's switching between head and body shots at a rapid pace. He also conjures up his doppelganger more often - does he do this on the NES?

 

It comes down to do you prefer a easier version of Kungfu Master? Stick with the NES. Harder... the arcade.

 

The NES magician conjures his doppelganger but only if you're taking too long.

 

The magician is difficult enough on the NES so the arcade version must be crazy hard.

 

[schuwalker]

On 8/28/2022 at 3:59 PM, mbd39 said:

 

The NES magician conjures his doppelganger but only if you're taking too long.

 

The magician is difficult enough on the NES so the arcade version must be crazy hard.

 

Hard is a understatement. He is one boss I've still never figured out some sort of pattern all these years. His attacks are completely random which makes it worse and combine that w/ later dragons (loops), he's not only unpredictable now but faster. The whole fourth level is absolutely insane the further you loop the game.

[MaximRecoil]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:04 PM, Joe C. said:

So, how many times have you beaten this game?

 

Exactly one time, just a few minutes ago. The cartridge arrived in the mail today and after about 10 tries I beat "Game A." Well, I beat the final boss with two jump kicks, it showed me an ending scene, and then it sent me back to the beginning so I turned it off. Does the game just loop indefinitely?

 

I loved this game when I was a kid in the '80s, though it seemed a lot harder back then. I never even made it past level 2 because all that crap falling from the ceiling always killed me. I never owned the cartridge so I didn't get a lot of practice on it. I only got to play it at Ryan's house, a kid I went to school with. He wasn't much better than me at it. The only other person I knew who had an NES was my cousin Mike (this was before the NES exploded in popularity in the US in 1988), but he didn't have Kung Fu. The only games he had that I liked were Super Mario Bros. and Excitebike.

 

I'm a lot better at video games as an adult than when I was a kid, which is funny, because when I was a kid, I hardly ever saw adults playing video games (at least not seriously; sometimes they would play just to humor their kids), so everyone I knew who was good at video games was a kid.

 

A few examples:

 

My highest score on Super Punch-Out (arcade) in the '80s was about 375,000. As an adult it's about 3.3 million:

 

https://youtu.be/SYbiqPDNBqU

 

I owned Karateka (Atari 7800) as a kid but no matter how many times I tried (and I tried many, many times), I could never beat the guy in the green uniform (second-to-last opponent). My 7800 and cartridges that I had when I was a kid are long gone, but I got another one about 10 years ago and I not only beat the "green beret" as I used to call him, but the final boss too:

 

https://youtu.be/ODktLc-rM04

 

I owned Space Attack (Atari 2600) as a kid, which is as easy to beat as falling off a log when the difficulty switches are in the easy position, but is very hard when they are in the hard position. I only beat it with just the left switch on the hard difficulty setting a few times when I was a kid, and always by the skin of my teeth. As an adult I've beaten it with both difficulty switches in the hard position without losing any lives:

 

https://youtu.be/a9khm_sUVic

 

My late best friend Corey's favorite video game when we were kids was Ikari Warriors (arcade). He was good but I was terrible at it. As an adult I can beat it without losing any lives:

 

https://youtu.be/-lijJ5hKizo

 

Corey still had a higher score than my highest score though, but he achieved that as an adult too. He never beat the game when he was a kid, though he could get close to the end back then.

Edited November 7, 2022 by MaximRecoil

[WERY]

I lost my track on the number of times I've beaten this game. I used to speedrun it a few years ago and made a sub 4 run. Remember the game as a kid when I tried to beat it over and over again. It was frustrating until I've learned the game. 

[Emehr]

This (as well as Renegade) is one of those games I'll fire up for a quick playthrough if I can't decide what else to play so I couldn't say how many times I've beaten it. It's one of those ports that I prefer to the arcade original, much like Space Invaders on the 2600. As a teenager I would play it with my NES Max using the turbo buttons for kick and punch. Super fun to play I love the vocal effects of the main character and the bosses. Definitely one of my top "pick up and play" games for NES.

[7800Knight]

I only beat the game once and that was by luck.

 

I could never get over it just called "Kung Fu" instead of Kung Fu Master.  Did you know it was one of the "Black Box" launch titles for the NES?  It is a solid port.

[davyK]

Really loved this port. Played it so much. I think I might have got to the 3rd loop?  Can't remember.

[Austin]

22 hours ago, davyK said:

Really loved this port. Played it so much. I think I might have got to the 3rd loop?  Can't remember.

I think the third loop is about as far as I made it too. I should give it another go and try again!

[0078265317]

Zero.  Unless gamegenie counts.  I never got beyond the second floor.

[zylon]

Played it once in arcade, and got further than I ever did on NES. On that, I rarely get past first guy that's a different color. I did enjoy using it for phone and intercom pranks back then. Vigilante was another one I did horrific on, lol

[BassGuitari]

I can usually get through two loops unless one of the bosses hits me with some bull$#!*. I might have beaten the third once, but that could be wishful thinking. The game is definitely not having it with me anymore by that point. 😆☠️

Edited June 15, 2023 by BassGuitari