Since history always repeats itself, it should come as no surprise that the video game industry follows suit. Well, that and the fact that nostalgia sells, too. If you own a PlayStation 4 or a Nintendo Switch, you can now download the 1985 hit title Yie Ar Kung-Fu for a swift nostalgic kick in the face courtesy of publisher Hamster’s Arcade Archive range.
The mid-’80s arcade fighting game, which was developed and published by Konami and is now almost 35 years old, was a pioneer in its genre, setting the foundation for the games to come.
Playing as a kung fu master called Oolong who bears a striking resemblance to Bruce Lee - and is actually called Lee in the MSX and NEX port - players fight a number of other martial arts masters to honor their father’s memory by becoming the Grand Master. Some of the masters even use weapons, such as nunchaku and shuriken, while Oolong must fight unarmed. Each opponent - of which there are eleven in the arcade version and five to thirteen in the home ports - has a unique appearance and fighting style.
According to Destructoid, the game is now available for purchase for $7.99. It was the first fighting game to feature health bars for both fighters that lead to a KO when drained - something we’ve seen in practically every major fighting title ever since. Its only fighting predecessor, Karate Champ, which was developed by Data East, used a point-scoring system similar to other genres of the time. However, neither Data East nor Konami became big names in the fighting games genre as time went on, though they remain well-remembered for their efforts. Yie Ar Kung-Fu was a commercial success in Europe.
However, this is not the first time that the classic has become available for modern consoles. In 2005, an emulated version of the game was released in Japan for PlayStation 2, while both the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS got the game with updated graphics back in 2007. The arcade version of the game was made available in Microsoft Game Room in 2010, while the MSX version was released for D4 Enterprise’s Project EGG service in 2014.
If the difficulty is too much for you - or not enough - you can tweak that option, as well as recreate “the atmosphere of arcade display settings at that time,” as Nintendo puts it in the description of its Switch version. Your high scores can also go up against other players from all over the world, which is certainly a motivational factor for anyone missing the thrill of seeing your name above that one guy who is constantly racing you at the local arcade. The only difference is that you don’t have to move from the warmth of your own home this time.
Source: Destructoid
