|
 | Konami, 1985 Dust off that old tracksuit and don your Dad�s slippers and prepare to kick some serious butt!! A long time ago, many moons before Tekken, Virtua Fighter or Soul Caliber were about, indeed years before Capcom had dreamt up Street Fighter, this was the �Daddy� of the Multi-stage beat em up fight fest. Enter���.. �Yie Ar Kung Fu!!� |  |
 | The game is based around 2 fight tournaments, with the idea being to battle each foe to the death with the next enemy providing a greater challenge. The graphics are sprite based as were most games of this era and are very vibrant and colourful. You play Oolong who isn�t too dissimilar to one particular Bruce Lee. |  |
 | Movement is controlled through use of an 8 direction joystick and two buttons each providing a variety of kicks, punches and crouching moves. A third button appears to give you a lower, �mid-level� jump. You start off in the �Hot Fighting History� tournament fighting your way through 5 opponents. First up is a giant man Buchu, a huge obese wrestler who, despite his bulk, makes for an easy target to hit. Each foe has a �special� move � yeah, they had special moves even in �85 okay!! Buchu�s forte is a horizontal flying attack which is easily avoided through use of the jump move. Moving on you next encounter Star, a martial artist and accomplished �shuriken throwing� expert. Later levels include foes that attack with an assortment of weapons including chains, swords, nunchakas, poles etc. |  |
 | After defeating 5 opponents you move onto �Master Hand History� which for all intents and purposes is merely a different backdrop. Here you will come up against 6 further opponents culminating in a fight against what can only be described as your long lost brother, Blues, who fights with no weapons but has the same array of kicks and punches as you. |  |
 | The opponents do provide varying challenges, although some of the earlier foes provide a greater challenge than some of the later ones with Pole being a good example. Until you find out his �weak� spot you�re gonna go through a few credits. Once this is sussed though, you should progress quite easily. Should you defeat your final enemy, Blues, you'll start at the beginning again, but you'll find that everyone has been in training since you last defeated them, and are much more capable fighters the second time around. |  |
 | Another point of interest, is that you get large points bonuses for getting a "Perfect" victory. These bonuses start at 10,000 for Buchu, and increase by 10,000 for each subsequent opponent. This being the case, it's certainly worth spending the time to figure out a strategy for each opponent! Although this review was based on the Arcade version, the home computer versions were all very good, even if the Spectrum one was a tad too easy. Mamemeister |  |
| Back to Arcade Reviews |