The NES version is noteworthy because it's one of the only times Nintendo ported another company's game themselves. It's interesting to see that it was the best, most faithful port for 11 years.
NES was harder than the other consoles. I used to beat all levels like a champ in other consoles just because I used to play it on NES version at home.
@@tenienteclegg68 Me 3! I was looking at the other versions on here and by golly The NES is my top one, too. Dude I tried playing the original Arcade Kung Fu Master, and while it has more defined graphics and interesting music and for some reason the game makers decided to add The Devil to the mix, the game play controls themselves sucked big fat hairy fungus infested toes. By far dude the NES had the best controls and game play. Sometimes the "Arcade" version isn't the best game play overall as I have learned in the years of play. I actually remember when Arcades had their own buildings and their own CORNORS of the Malls. Darn I'm gettin' old but I'll tell ya I'm glad I was around during that hey day. Have a good one, dude.
@@SHINOBI_13exactly and so many great games from this era of video games that I played and enjoyed just like many other people did like yie ar kung fu galaga defender Pac-Man dig dug lunar pool elavator action lode runner F1 race road fighter mappy ice climbers raid on bungeling bay circus Charlie warpman baseball tennis battle city super Mario bros arkanoid urban championship etc
I played the Amstrad CPC version a lot, we got it right after Ghosts’N’Goblins I think. It was really good for a 1986 CPC game, it has almost smooth scrolling ! You didn’t get many conversions that felt as good. Also love how on the Amstrad they installed a lift in the temple for some reason, maybe stairs were too complicated to draw.
All things considered, it looks like the actually put effort into the amstrad version. It's kind of refreshing when the amstrad version is usually the worst of these conversions.
The beat 'em up daddy! This game was so good and addictive, with tight challenge that makes you want to come back for more. My uncle owned a campsite where there were 2 arcade cabinets: the original Space Invaders (the color version) and Kung-Fu Master. I loved both. They were among my first arcade thrills and, as such, they hold a special place in my heart. Now I never bothered about the home versions so far but Famicom and Saturn seem to be the ways to go.
us gold for you. ocean programmed it and probably would have done a decent job, us gold had a habit of forcing teams to get rushing stuff out. not that everything they released was bad but they had a fair few questionable releases especially later on
of all the 8bits its amazing how far ahead and polished the NES version is from 1985. This was when Nintendo was just a Japanese company looking to enter the US market and there were no memory mappers or special chips in the cart. Possibly earliest instance of voice samples in an NES game. It's an amazing game technically and very well polished compared to what else was out there in the period
@@jasonlee7816 I am a big fan of retro gaming (despite only having been born in 2006) and even knowing most arcade versions with NES counterparts, I though this was NES only
@@jasonlee7816 lmao ya bud, I was born in 1995 but I look about 10 years older than I am thanks to low-level progeria. nature's cruelest joke. I got this for christmas from an aunt and uncle, it was one of the first games I had for NES. Probably the same day I got the console, as I would bet it was Christmas 87 or so. But, I didn't really backtrack into gaming past probably until my late 20s or so.
The horror that awaited me upon buying and loading this on my speccy , left a lifetime scar on my sanity. Thankfully somebody has made a new unofficial port called Mister kung fu , which is amazing and would have been a winner back in the day
Looks like the Amstrad CPC got a really good version, instead of a poor Spectrum port (which in itself was poor even for that machine) And the Atari VCS/2600 version looks great considering the hardware.
The Amstrad CPC version was really good, the only issue is that you had to press the space bar to alternate between punches and kicks if I remember well. So you really had to play it with a joystick that stuck to your desk.
To be fair, the Commodore 64 version of the game honestly had the best hitting sound effects of any version of the game, including the original Spartan X/Kung Fu/Kung Fu Master/Seiken Achoo arcade game...seriously, the sound effects literally sounded like they came from an actual martial arts movie from around that time.
The only version (so far) I've played is the Game Boy one, and it's interesting to see that it's the only one where the player character goes into street brawls instead of dojo fights.
Did you know: the Jackie Chan film 'Wheels on Meals' spawned the Spartan X franchise. In 1984, it was adapted into the early beat 'em up video game Spartan X (released as Kung-Fu Master internationally)
Great memories of this back in 1985(ish) would have been 9 or 10years old. Tubys fair would come every September for the St leger races. Me and my mates would scrape and scrounge every 10pence we could get old of, we also washed cars in the morning for money for the fair. One weekend afternoon (probably Sunday around 2pm) we went to the fair and they had to us an unknown name game. Kung-Fu master and the first time i saw it it was awesome. Needless to say i put a lot of 10pences in that machine. Me and my mates would pull a scam and tell the guy at the cash counter that we put money into the machine and it never gave us a credit, sometimes it worked, sometimes we got threw out. So at home i first got this on the 2600, then played it on Commodore64. Great times, great memorys and as always - A GREAT VIDEO. Thankyou.
Holy crap. The C64 version was _pretty spot-on._ Surprisingly, the Atari console versions were pretty great, too! Shame about that Spectrum ZX one. If they'd spent half the time on coding the game that they did on the music, it _might_ have been half-way decent. (:
NES, by far, was the best version. IMO, it was even an improvement over the Arcade version due to the many choices in design and creative direction to adapt it to the home console. The sprite design, sound design and virtually all other aspects of the game had this particular creative integrity that the early NES games had over any other during that time. It’s not even close!
Made much later and updated to appeal to modern sensibilities? Making it more similar to Double Dragon and making a cooler setting/cooler looking bosses...
This game made my 13 year old son question my sanity..... lol and when I dared him to do better, he tried for over an hour to get past the first level on the apple 2 version....
Bhavig Pointi I have a feeling it will. Irem has released several games already as part of Arcade Archives, one of them being Vigilante, which is a spiritual successor of Kung Fu Master.
What happened with the Saturn and PS1 ports? Saturn has the poor MIDI, muffled voice clips, and poorly scaled graphics (Why couldn't they just use black borders? Or given us multiple screen options?) And PS1 has even more muffled voice clips, and excessively repetitive music (due to cutting off one big segment of it)
For my own sentimental reasons....the Amstrad cycle 464 will always be my favourite home conversion....it looked great in 1986...the colours so rich...and larger sprites....it still looks great....otherwise its the 7800 version & NES...the arcade of course is king.... The Apple II looks a bad joke...
I enjoyed the 2600 version. Played very fast and was extremely impressive for the system. I liked it better than the NES version, which was the first I played.
Retrosuta, I'm beginning to desire full game comparisons from you. Do you think you might ever entertain that? Would be a long video, but worth watching
I won't deny that I had thought about it a while ago, haha, but it would take me too long to make some videos and some comparisons would be impossible to do due to the difficulty of some versions. It's crazy but I don't rule out doing it in the future, lol.
It's always fun check how developers dealed with the strong/weak points of any system. My favourite is the NES. It has a nice balance in every aspect. BTW, did you that exists a Ranma ½ themed hack for this version?
I had the NES/Famicom version in a pirate cartridge of 52 games when I was younger! (Probably, the inspiration behind the infamous Action 52...) The game I had was known to me as Spartan X, the Japanese version. I haven't heard about such other ports, and, thanks to emulation, I've gotten to know the original arcade and some of the other 8-bit ports. I'm going to talk about what I felt about them, as well as the surprising 32-bit remakes. Commodore 64 / C64 (1985): Why so slow!? Probably, for the time of release, it was reasonable. The programming still feels respectable, but kind of slow in cramming everything... NES / Famicom (Kung Fu) (1985): Still a favorite of mine! Even when lacking details of the setting, which makes it kind of bland graphically, you can see that Nintendo had a serious respect towards the speed of the game and, also, advancing in putting digitized voices different from the arcade, with incredible clarity! A wise port, considering all the limitations of the system for the time, and still ahead in technical effort. (The Arcade PlayChoice-10 version is the same game, and, so, my words are all the same.) Apple II (1985): Considering the age and limitations of the system as well as the time of the release, it's kind of reasonable, but still a poor effort for the system. Not that good. MSX (Seiken Achoo) (1985): I don't know if there's a direct connection, but it seems to be an improved version of the Apple II port. The scrolling feels OK, but the real highlight is the design of the characters. Amstrad CPC (1986): The programming knows that the best thing about the Amstrad CPC is its color pallete, and, so, the recreation of the setting in the graphics is the highlight, as well as its scrolling. Sad that it misses so much about the sound. ZX Spectrum (1986): The horror. The nightmare. It feels SO WRONG!!! U.S. Gold imprint of puke! The only compliment I can give, though, is the effort of making a soundtrack that, despite being quite different from the original melody, feels intriguing considering the deficiencies of its 48k memory and a chip that wasn't specifically thought for music composition. The melody of glitching noises feels to be reminiscent of Jean-Michel Jarre, or basically plagiarized from him. Atari 2600 / VCS (1987): It was programmed by Activision in the second life of the old system and it shows. The technical prowess is pretty clear. It feels like a direct response to the NES version. The speed is pretty impressive! Atari 7800 (1989): It's graphically even more impressive, the setting and design feels top-notch, but... the sound is the very same of the 2600!! The problem of the 7800 is its same sound chip of the 2600, which facilitates very much the retrocompatibility of the system. It kills the advancement. However, it's forgivable because the game doesn't demand that much in terms of sound. But, what is excelling on 2600 feels to be not that much for the 7800. At the end, 7800 version is just an enhanced 2600's. Sega Saturn (Irem Arcade Classics) (1996): Of course, this system can do even more, but Irem (the original publisher) has chosen the strategy of making an (almost) perfect arcade port, being part of a collection. The resolution is in a square, kinda different from the original arcade, being kinda weird to see at the first sight. Sony PlayStation / PSX (Irem Arcade Classics) (1996): Also part of a collection of Arcade classics, it feels slightly faster than the Saturn; however there's something weird happening with the music of the stage! The harmonic progression instead of being I - IV - I - V - IV - I in a loop, it's going only I - IV - I! WHY!!!!???? The Game Boy version is a thing apart and it's definetely a brilliant remake. It marries the original arcade with the Vigilante's urban setting, with an addition of platforming elements. It feels like a different beast but, at the end, it's still "Kung Fu Master".
The original (arcade) version has, technically, the best graphics, but I think the NES version looks better, because the arcade version's Thomas sprite has a goofy look and walking animation. Also, I think the NES version plays better, because it uses a normal method for jumping forward (press diagonally up on the D-pad), whereas the arcade machine, inexplicably, uses a 4-way-restricted joystick, so there are no diagonals, nor does the game even recognize diagonal inputs if you use an 8-way joystick or gamepad with it. Also, I like that the NES version has two different sound effects for punching and kicking, which even the arcade version doesn't have. My only complaint about the NES version is the solid blue wall/background. That seems lazy to me. Even the lowly ZX Spectrum version has some details in the background, i.e., windows, pillars, and wall accents.
Kung Fu Master was one of my favorite games to play in the arcade - and at home on the NES as "Kung Fu". As Teacher of The Art of Guitar Kung Fu, I enjoy the "parallel" of the oriental theme music combined with a 12 bar blues chord progression. The composer must have been aware that both the "Mongolian" scale and Pentatonic Major scale are One and the same. Any guitarists or aspiring guitarists out there? You can learn ALL POSSIBLE 2048 scales and modes on the guitar (or just a few - it's up to you!). "Guitar Totality" information here: www.mesenbergmethod.com/ Or, check out my Art of Guitar Kung Fu class - You might get a "kick" out of it! skl.sh/3bwJ1Sb 🌎✌🎶
ZX spectrum version got me laughing, the standing kick and crouching punch seems like its hitting exactly on the groin plus the falling enemies with their legs open in pain. That aside my favorite is the famicom version which is called spartan x.
Speccy version is... hopefully we didn’t get a lazy port from that on the Amstrad for once. The intro music sounds like a speccy rendition of Depeche Mode’s Told You So.
Aaarrrgh! The lazy speccy port plaques many a cpc game. Some weren’t too bad to play but it was such a waste of the Amstrads mode 0 colour palette. A massively underrated 8-bit computer that had some great games when talented programmers coded it. Check out the R-Type 128k remake if you haven’t already. This was originally one of those poor speccy ports you referred to. 😳
@@MGForums yes I saw this version before, it’s pretty amazingly close to at least the Master System one (not as smooth obviously). When used properly, even by mainstream programmers of the day at that time when they didn’t fully master it, it could produce great games !
@@MGForums and some Speccy ports were good, Mode 1 had a sharpness to it that I also really liked, so I didn’t mind games like the Ultimate or Gargoyle Games titles to look « Spectrum like », in fact I loved the Spectrum aesthetic, but not in arcade conversions.
Había un juego similar en play store que tenias que tocar a la izquierda y derecha donde venian los enemigos eras un pelado samurai algo así, también recuerdo los colores naranja y celeste asociados al juego
Nintendo version is the best and the PlayStation and sega arcade reboots look good as well. I still play the nes version on 1.5x speed, great for the reflexes. Edit: The gamboy version looks pretty cool as well.
🕹️ Explore retroserk, my other channel dedicated to retro game reviews and comparisons in Spanish. Join the fun! youtube.com/@retroserk
The NES version is noteworthy because it's one of the only times Nintendo ported another company's game themselves.
It's interesting to see that it was the best, most faithful port for 11 years.
The best port... just for millenials who only knew NES and/or Genesis systems
I play the NES game annually. CLASSIC. :)
@@RetroNick
I have it on my *Miyoo Mini* and it is a great game to play in a long queue!
NES was harder than the other consoles. I used to beat all levels like a champ in other consoles just because I used to play it on NES version at home.
2600 version is damn impressive given the horizontal scrolling limitations that the system had.
It's even better than the Sinclair Spectrum version.
It's impressive but the collision detection is beyond diabolical.
You should check out Double Dragon 2600.
Atari wasn't messing around! The enemies come at you like they are on motor cycles!
@@solarflare9078 it's the worst version of the game.
The nes version is the one i always played and loved
me too
@@tenienteclegg68 Me 3! I was looking at the other versions on here and by golly The NES is my top one, too. Dude I tried playing the original Arcade Kung Fu Master, and while it has more defined graphics and interesting music and for some reason the game makers decided to add The Devil to the mix, the game play controls themselves sucked big fat hairy fungus infested toes. By far dude the NES had the best controls and game play. Sometimes the "Arcade" version isn't the best game play overall as I have learned in the years of play. I actually remember when Arcades had their own buildings and their own CORNORS of the Malls. Darn I'm gettin' old but I'll tell ya I'm glad I was around during that hey day. Have a good one, dude.
Me 4, Im still playing it till this day and its still that good, I have nothing but love for this title on NES original copy on my Super Retro Trio!
@@SHINOBI_13exactly and so many great games from this era of video games that I played and enjoyed just like many other people did like yie ar kung fu galaga defender Pac-Man dig dug lunar pool elavator action lode runner F1 race road fighter mappy ice climbers raid on bungeling bay circus Charlie warpman baseball tennis battle city super Mario bros arkanoid urban championship etc
The Amstrad-version is more modern in that sense that the hero is moving to the next level by elevator instead of walking up the stairs (9:19)
Dont know if the Pagodas had elevators though :)
Why would an evil ancient temple have an elevator?
I played the Amstrad CPC version a lot, we got it right after Ghosts’N’Goblins I think. It was really good for a 1986 CPC game, it has almost smooth scrolling ! You didn’t get many conversions that felt as good. Also love how on the Amstrad they installed a lift in the temple for some reason, maybe stairs were too complicated to draw.
All things considered, it looks like the actually put effort into the amstrad version. It's kind of refreshing when the amstrad version is usually the worst of these conversions.
I remember this is my local arcade. My friends and I ended up breaking the joystick. Loved the NES version.
did you get kicked out or have
to pay for a damaged joystick?
@@jasonlee7816 I picture the entire arcade staff sneaking behind him like those grabby guys in the game
@@Mordecrox
And making him squeal like a piggy!
The beat 'em up daddy! This game was so good and addictive, with tight challenge that makes you want to come back for more. My uncle owned a campsite where there were 2 arcade cabinets: the original Space Invaders (the color version) and Kung-Fu Master. I loved both. They were among my first arcade thrills and, as such, they hold a special place in my heart.
Now I never bothered about the home versions so far but Famicom and Saturn seem to be the ways to go.
The Atari 7800 version is also pretty good.
I still have nightmares about buying the spectrum version
Me too - I’m assuming that they were rushed to release for a Xmas deadline as this is surely the worst version on show - £7.95 as well 😮
us gold for you. ocean programmed it and probably would have done a decent job, us gold had a habit of forcing teams to get rushing stuff out. not that everything they released was bad but they had a fair few questionable releases especially later on
The music intro xD"
Wait you BOUGHT it? I thought everyone pirated computer games in those days.
@@58jharris someone still had to buy a copy to pirate to start with
My money's still on the original Nintendo version.... It was just so smooth, plus he got to wear those cool Bruce Lee slippers!
Punches and kicks look satisfying on the MSX. NES version is the only one I've played or knew existed.
To be honest, I'm happy that Kung fu Master made it to the atari 2600!
What makes you say that?
It's unplayable
To be honest, I don't care if it's unplayable. It's my opinion on it.
Oh. I'd say it definitely sounds better than the speccy.
I was surprised to see that Activision made this version.
of all the 8bits its amazing how far ahead and polished the NES version is from 1985. This was when Nintendo was just a Japanese company looking to enter the US market and there were no memory mappers or special chips in the cart. Possibly earliest instance of voice samples in an NES game. It's an amazing game technically and very well polished compared to what else was out there in the period
It's easy to forget it's a 1985 game.
the kick was a voice sample
WHOO
NICE ONE NINTENDO
It's interesting that in the Apple II version they opted to replace the standing kick attack with a bash to the chin with a giant phallus
I was just thinking the same thing, haha
I actually didn’t know that This Kung Fu game was originally a arcade game, I only knew the NES version existed.
yo same!
is it because you weren’t around (born) until the 1990’s or 2000’s?
@@jasonlee7816 I am a big fan of retro gaming (despite only having been born in 2006) and even knowing most arcade versions with NES counterparts, I though this was NES only
@@jasonlee7816 lmao ya bud, I was born in 1995 but I look about 10 years older than I am thanks to low-level progeria. nature's cruelest joke.
I got this for christmas from an aunt and uncle, it was one of the first games I had for NES. Probably the same day I got the console, as I would bet it was Christmas 87 or so. But, I didn't really backtrack into gaming past probably until my late 20s or so.
Yea this game was the arcade in which I spend most of my change
The horror that awaited me upon buying and loading this on my speccy , left a lifetime scar on my sanity. Thankfully somebody has made a new unofficial port called Mister kung fu , which is amazing and would have been a winner back in the day
13:40 Kung-Fu Zombies
Mr. Vampire
I spent hours playing NES version. Really good game
Sin duda la más meritoria la de Nes, con esa fidelidad al arcade tan sólo12 meses después
Looks like the Amstrad CPC got a really good version, instead of a poor Spectrum port (which in itself was poor even for that machine) And the Atari VCS/2600 version looks great considering the hardware.
The Amstrad CPC version was really good, the only issue is that you had to press the space bar to alternate between punches and kicks if I remember well. So you really had to play it with a joystick that stuck to your desk.
To be fair, the Commodore 64 version of the game honestly had the best hitting sound effects of any version of the game, including the original Spartan X/Kung Fu/Kung Fu Master/Seiken Achoo arcade game...seriously, the sound effects literally sounded like they came from an actual martial arts movie from around that time.
Should be Grampa Kung Fu on the MSX. It's hilarious how slow he walks. Edit: I should have saved my comment for the Speccy version.
2600 version was super impressive; I wish Double Dragon was that good!
I remember the absolute crushing disappointment i felt when i was a kid, the first time i loaded the spectrum version
The ZX Spectrum version is some Synthwave fever dream.
One of the All time Classic Favourite games i loved ever since i saw it in the Arcades.
The only version (so far) I've played is the Game Boy one, and it's interesting to see that it's the only one where the player character goes into street brawls instead of dojo fights.
It's amazing how many variations of the same game there was back then.
Did you know: the Jackie Chan film 'Wheels on Meals' spawned the Spartan X franchise. In 1984, it was adapted into the early beat 'em up video game Spartan X (released as Kung-Fu Master internationally)
for zx spectrum I suggest the beautiful unofficial 2018 version! (named "Mister kung fu")
Thanks for the suggestion. It looks world's better than the official game.
Great memories of this back in 1985(ish) would have been 9 or 10years old. Tubys fair would come every September for the St leger races. Me and my mates would scrape and scrounge every 10pence we could get old of, we also washed cars in the morning for money for the fair.
One weekend afternoon (probably Sunday around 2pm) we went to the fair and they had to us an unknown name game. Kung-Fu master and the first time i saw it it was awesome. Needless to say i put a lot of 10pences in that machine. Me and my mates would pull a scam and tell the guy at the cash counter that we put money into the machine and it never gave us a credit, sometimes it worked, sometimes we got threw out.
So at home i first got this on the 2600, then played it on Commodore64. Great times, great memorys and as always - A GREAT VIDEO. Thankyou.
1-NES, 2-Atari, 3-Amstrad, best of the 80s.
The mighty speccy was doomed with the offical port. But God is greater and gave us in 2018 the Mister Kung-Fu, a proper port made by heroes!
0:33: Game Start
The Gameboy versions are more like Vigilante than Kung Fu.
The NES/Famicom version took the cake for me.
y eso que la de play station se ve casi co mo la de arcade
The Arcade One..
IF HAS NO DAMAGE!!!
It's amazing that this was even doable on the VCS.
Holy crap. The C64 version was _pretty spot-on._ Surprisingly, the Atari console versions were pretty great, too! Shame about that Spectrum ZX one. If they'd spent half the time on coding the game that they did on the music, it _might_ have been half-way decent. (:
The Adobe flash player version is over the top. Jump kicking the baddies' heads off. I got a kick out of seeing that. Lol
NES, by far, was the best version. IMO, it was even an improvement over the Arcade version due to the many choices in design and creative direction to adapt it to the home console. The sprite design, sound design and virtually all other aspects of the game had this particular creative integrity that the early NES games had over any other during that time. It’s not even close!
I thought the knife was going to hit the lady in the face.
The Atari 7800 looks like the purple guys got made into zombies with their arms out in front.
My favourite version is the Atari 7800. By far the best version.
I like how in the Apple version, the character alone is like 60FPS and when enemies popup the FPS tanks to like 10FPS
zx spectrum version can just be a demoscene and we'll be happy with it
Why is the Gameboy version different? Going to the right, more modern setting and slightly different enemies... strange!
It's kind of a sequel.
Made much later and updated to appeal to modern sensibilities? Making it more similar to Double Dragon and making a cooler setting/cooler looking bosses...
That boss with the crazy chainsaw!
@@darthpaul99 - Reminds me of the chainsaw zombie "Biggy Man" from Splatterhouse, except that guy dual wields chainsaws...
Good lord... every time i see anything the Spectrum does, I can;t help but think... man I'm glad I had a Commodore. What a pile of crap.
Yeah, the ZX Spectrum is overrated garbage lol
Man I guess I lucked out having a NES at the time, most of those other ports were really rough.
This game made my 13 year old son question my sanity..... lol and when I dared him to do better, he tried for over an hour to get past the first level on the apple 2 version....
did he fail (not succeed)?
@@jasonlee7816 He threw up his hands and said "this is lame".
I love this game!
I hope this comes on switch as a remodel.
Bhavig Pointi I have a feeling it will. Irem has released several games already as part of Arcade Archives, one of them being Vigilante, which is a spiritual successor of Kung Fu Master.
I used to love KM at the arcade, though I never got through 2nd floor :(
What happened with the Saturn and PS1 ports?
Saturn has the poor MIDI, muffled voice clips, and poorly scaled graphics (Why couldn't they just use black borders? Or given us multiple screen options?)
And PS1 has even more muffled voice clips, and excessively repetitive music (due to cutting off one big segment of it)
名作コミック[ファミコンロッキー]では捕らわれのヒロイン、シルビアが真のミスターXというまさかの展開でしたが、主人公の轟勇気のトーマスに倒され、塔から落ちる結末でしたが。
In the C64 version Thomas had severe stomach cramps
The Speccy version - who programmed that music?! were they ever allowed near a computer again?!
I really prefer the Atari 2600 version
Played this on my cousins c64 back then. The port is slower but I think it retain the gameplay and visuals quite well.
I really miss a demonstration of the "enemy pile up", or "gang hug" maybe - it's the most advanced thing this game has to offer.
Was Spartan X 2 for the Famicom ever released for another platform?
Yup,
the NES.
Commodore 64 still kick asses!
For my own sentimental reasons....the Amstrad cycle 464 will always be my favourite home conversion....it looked great in 1986...the colours so rich...and larger sprites....it still looks great....otherwise its the 7800 version & NES...the arcade of course is king....
The Apple II looks a bad joke...
I find it funny that if you leave the auto generated subtitles on , the msx keeps saying no no no no
I enjoyed the 2600 version. Played very fast and was extremely impressive for the system. I liked it better than the NES version, which was the first I played.
Retrosuta, I'm beginning to desire full game comparisons from you. Do you think you might ever entertain that? Would be a long video, but worth watching
I won't deny that I had thought about it a while ago, haha, but it would take me too long to make some videos and some comparisons would be impossible to do due to the difficulty of some versions. It's crazy but I don't rule out doing it in the future, lol.
1:41 This is when I do the victory dance 🎶🕺💃🎶
Wow, I had no idea Ronald McDonald featured as the main character in the MSX version!! 6:13
Atari version was surprisingly awesome, NES is my go to for this classic.
I feel like this game was in almost every fish and chip shop and asian takeaway in England at one time or another during the 80s.
Oh my! 0:39 What is holding up the floor on the arcade?
Guess later today I will rewatch NATRAPS-X series.
I forgot this game existed….
The music on the ZX spectrum sounds way more badass.
こんなにバージョンあったのか
聖拳アチョーなんて知らなさすぎるｗｗｗ
In Spectrum kicking the balls 🥎🦶
You're not going to showcase the arranged soundtrack from the "Irem Arcade Classics" versions?
Not too many knows this, but you can press down forward punch for fireball
The C64 version of Kung Fu Master along with Popeye are two early arcade ports for the system that could have been done so much better.
I think it's a great game for the 2600. Funny the boss looks like a Marines drill seargent though. Probably much scarrier than some guy with a sword.
I love this arcade game any decent ports of this?
It's always fun check how developers dealed with the strong/weak points of any system. My favourite is the NES. It has a nice balance in every aspect. BTW, did you that exists a Ranma ½ themed hack for this version?
Let’s Compare Kung Fu Master / Spartan X
1: Arcade (1984)
2: Commodore 64 (1985)
3: NES (Kung Fu) (1985)
4: Apple 2 (1985)
5: Msx (Seiken Achoo) (1985)
6: Playchoice 10 (Kung Fu) (1986)
7: Amstrad Cpc (1986)
8: Zx Spectrum (1986)
9: Atari 2600 (1987)
10: Atari 7800 (1989)
11: Saturn (Irem Arcade Classics) (1996)
12: Playstation (Irem Arcade Classics) (1996)
13: Game Boy (Japan Version) (1990)
14: Game Boy (International Version) (1990)
I had the NES/Famicom version in a pirate cartridge of 52 games when I was younger! (Probably, the inspiration behind the infamous Action 52...) The game I had was known to me as Spartan X, the Japanese version. I haven't heard about such other ports, and, thanks to emulation, I've gotten to know the original arcade and some of the other 8-bit ports. I'm going to talk about what I felt about them, as well as the surprising 32-bit remakes.
Commodore 64 / C64 (1985): Why so slow!? Probably, for the time of release, it was reasonable. The programming still feels respectable, but kind of slow in cramming everything...
NES / Famicom (Kung Fu) (1985): Still a favorite of mine! Even when lacking details of the setting, which makes it kind of bland graphically, you can see that Nintendo had a serious respect towards the speed of the game and, also, advancing in putting digitized voices different from the arcade, with incredible clarity! A wise port, considering all the limitations of the system for the time, and still ahead in technical effort. (The Arcade PlayChoice-10 version is the same game, and, so, my words are all the same.)
Apple II (1985): Considering the age and limitations of the system as well as the time of the release, it's kind of reasonable, but still a poor effort for the system. Not that good.
MSX (Seiken Achoo) (1985): I don't know if there's a direct connection, but it seems to be an improved version of the Apple II port. The scrolling feels OK, but the real highlight is the design of the characters.
Amstrad CPC (1986): The programming knows that the best thing about the Amstrad CPC is its color pallete, and, so, the recreation of the setting in the graphics is the highlight, as well as its scrolling. Sad that it misses so much about the sound.
ZX Spectrum (1986): The horror. The nightmare. It feels SO WRONG!!! U.S. Gold imprint of puke! The only compliment I can give, though, is the effort of making a soundtrack that, despite being quite different from the original melody, feels intriguing considering the deficiencies of its 48k memory and a chip that wasn't specifically thought for music composition. The melody of glitching noises feels to be reminiscent of Jean-Michel Jarre, or basically plagiarized from him.
Atari 2600 / VCS (1987): It was programmed by Activision in the second life of the old system and it shows. The technical prowess is pretty clear. It feels like a direct response to the NES version. The speed is pretty impressive!
Atari 7800 (1989): It's graphically even more impressive, the setting and design feels top-notch, but... the sound is the very same of the 2600!! The problem of the 7800 is its same sound chip of the 2600, which facilitates very much the retrocompatibility of the system. It kills the advancement. However, it's forgivable because the game doesn't demand that much in terms of sound. But, what is excelling on 2600 feels to be not that much for the 7800. At the end, 7800 version is just an enhanced 2600's.
Sega Saturn (Irem Arcade Classics) (1996): Of course, this system can do even more, but Irem (the original publisher) has chosen the strategy of making an (almost) perfect arcade port, being part of a collection. The resolution is in a square, kinda different from the original arcade, being kinda weird to see at the first sight.
Sony PlayStation / PSX (Irem Arcade Classics) (1996): Also part of a collection of Arcade classics, it feels slightly faster than the Saturn; however there's something weird happening with the music of the stage! The harmonic progression instead of being I - IV - I - V - IV - I in a loop, it's going only I - IV - I! WHY!!!!????
The Game Boy version is a thing apart and it's definetely a brilliant remake. It marries the original arcade with the Vigilante's urban setting, with an addition of platforming elements. It feels like a different beast but, at the end, it's still "Kung Fu Master".
Thanks for your detailed review!
Atari 2600 Very good
so is the zx spectrum's music
The Commodore 64 version clearly shows that the hero suffers from serious spinal problems...
Pap pap pap lol are those kicks or gun shots??? Lol
I had the Apple II version, and I thought the player looked a lot like Popeye.
The original (arcade) version has, technically, the best graphics, but I think the NES version looks better, because the arcade version's Thomas sprite has a goofy look and walking animation. Also, I think the NES version plays better, because it uses a normal method for jumping forward (press diagonally up on the D-pad), whereas the arcade machine, inexplicably, uses a 4-way-restricted joystick, so there are no diagonals, nor does the game even recognize diagonal inputs if you use an 8-way joystick or gamepad with it. Also, I like that the NES version has two different sound effects for punching and kicking, which even the arcade version doesn't have.
My only complaint about the NES version is the solid blue wall/background. That seems lazy to me. Even the lowly ZX Spectrum version has some details in the background, i.e., windows, pillars, and wall accents.
When the Atari 2600 port is better than the ZX Spectrum's, that's when the programmer should know they messed up.
Kung Fu Master was one of my favorite games to play in the arcade - and at home on the NES as "Kung Fu". As Teacher of The Art of Guitar Kung Fu, I enjoy the "parallel" of the oriental theme music combined with a 12 bar blues chord progression. The composer must have been aware that both the "Mongolian" scale and Pentatonic Major scale are One and the same. Any guitarists or aspiring guitarists out there?
You can learn ALL POSSIBLE 2048 scales and modes on the guitar (or just a few - it's up to you!). "Guitar Totality" information here:
www.mesenbergmethod.com/
Or, check out my Art of Guitar Kung Fu class - You might get a "kick" out of it!
skl.sh/3bwJ1Sb
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ZX spectrum version got me laughing, the standing kick and crouching punch seems like its hitting exactly on the groin plus the falling enemies with their legs open in pain. That aside my favorite is the famicom version which is called spartan x.
There is a new version on Spectrum - th-cam.com/video/Wyi7X6k3yYg/w-d-xo.html
I watched your link, I never knew there was a 2018 remake. You can tell the improvements just by comparing it.
That game is really hard! Could never beat the nes version!
The sega mastersystem version was called kung-fu mastersystem😛
NO KUNG FU KID FOR SMS
The spectrum version is shocking and the sound well a noise.amstrad versions with no music is still 100 per cent improvement over the spectrum .
I like the Atari 2600 / VCS and the Atari 7800.
Speccy version is... hopefully we didn’t get a lazy port from that on the Amstrad for once. The intro music sounds like a speccy rendition of Depeche Mode’s Told You So.
Aaarrrgh! The lazy speccy port plaques many a cpc game. Some weren’t too bad to play but it was such a waste of the Amstrads mode 0 colour palette. A massively underrated 8-bit computer that had some great games when talented programmers coded it. Check out the R-Type 128k remake if you haven’t already. This was originally one of those poor speccy ports you referred to. 😳
th-cam.com/video/8y67EaQWpy0/w-d-xo.html
@@MGForums yes I saw this version before, it’s pretty amazingly close to at least the Master System one (not as smooth obviously). When used properly, even by mainstream programmers of the day at that time when they didn’t fully master it, it could produce great games !
@@MGForums and some Speccy ports were good, Mode 1 had a sharpness to it that I also really liked, so I didn’t mind games like the Ultimate or Gargoyle Games titles to look « Spectrum like », in fact I loved the Spectrum aesthetic, but not in arcade conversions.
The Saturn and PS1 have better sound than the older versions. More groove for the king-fu moves.
Había un juego similar en play store que tenias que tocar a la izquierda y derecha donde venian los enemigos eras un pelado samurai algo así, también recuerdo los colores naranja y celeste asociados al juego
Nintendo version is the best and the PlayStation and sega arcade reboots look good as well. I still play the nes version on 1.5x speed, great for the reflexes.
Edit: The gamboy version looks pretty cool as well.