Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Game No.	363
Voting	7.57 points, 23 votes
Developer	David A. Collier
Company	Konami
Publisher	Imagine, The Hit Squad
Musician	Miki Higashino (original), Martin Galway (C64 conversion)
HVSC-File	/MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/Yie_Ar_Kung_Fu.sid
Release	1986
Platform	Commodore C64 / C16-C116-Plus/4, Acorn BBC Micro / Electron, Amstrad CPC, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Arcade, Nintendo NES / Game Boy / Game Boy Advance / DS, Sony PS1 / PS2, Microsoft Xbox360
Genre	Sport, Fighting sport, Arcade
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (in turns)
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Follower Yie Ar Kung-Fu II

Description[edit | edit source]

In the antique China, the home of Kung Fu, there are tough manners. According to Confuzius, the talented are supported and boosted, the incompetent falls by the wayside. But as it is proper for a main hero, he is fortunately a very talented boy. His training is advanced enough to compete in the last tests...
In the role of the Kung Fu fighter Oolong (black dragon) you need to face ten opponents of different type and with different weapons one after the other. If this challenge is overcome, you get the title of grandmaster, as the father already was...

Aim of the game

According to the story line you should defeat ten warriors in a duel. But as the game starts again after the final opponent, the aim is: survive for as long as possible and amass as many points as possible.

Design[edit | edit source]

The opponents present themselves one after the other.

Yie Ar Kung-Fu is a classical man-against-man beat'em up. There are two different background graphics for the fighting scene, which are pretty impressive for the time in which the game was created.

Screenshots

Ouch, the family jewels! Then I prefer throwing stars...

Greetings from "Game of Death"...

One of the stronger opponents...

Very ladylike, with fan - but unfortunately also deadly...

One club, one bruise - Well that was that with the grand master title...

Right on! There it lies, the pig!

Hints[edit | edit source]

Controls & points[edit | edit source]

This one was only for warmup, no we can start...

If the opponent does not go to the weapon, then the weapon goes to the opponent...

Controls	Description	Points
	Jump	-
	Jump right	-
	Walk right	-
	Face Punch	500
	Duck	-
	Leaping Punch	1500
	Walk left	-
	Jump left	-
	Flying Kick	2000
	Rising Kick	1500
	Round House Kick	500
	Angle Kick	1000
	Leg Sweep	500
	Ground Kick	1000
	High Kick	1000
	Lunge Punch	1000

The opponents[edit | edit source]

Buchu

A sumo ringer that joins without weapons and has the ability to fly towards the opponent like a rocket. He is rather slow.

Star

A young woman that throws with Shuriken, but she can also defend herself with fast kicks and blows.

Nuncha

A Nunchako fighter in a yellow suit, this can only be a homage to Bruce Lee.

Pole

A small man with a big quarterstaff, in expert groups als named bo or simply staff. He can downright benumb Oolong with his fast cane strokes.

Chain

Oolong should better be careful, this opponent's morning star has an enormous reach.

Club

This guy is the first opponent of the new gallery. He can hit pretty severely with his thorny club and he also carries a shield.

Fan

This lady does not only use her steel Kung Fu fan to hit, she also likes to throw with it. These annoying things partially prefer unpredictable flight paths.

Sword

A ninja fighter that only knows well enough what you can do with a sword...

Tonfun

A very fast fighter who is equipped with two Tonfas. And he can handle them.

Blues

Kind of the mirror image of the main hero Oolong. Blues can do everything that Oolong can do and this even much faster. He is the final opponent, if he is defeated the tournament starts again with Buchu.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Tactics

Pole is an annoying opponent, as he has the habit of releasing a whole series of blows against which you cannot do much. But he is easy to defeat if you lure him with many quickly done "leg sweeps" and then give him a few "angle kicks" in close combat.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Trainer:

There is an improved version of the game by the group "Remember" which has next to built-in trainer functions and a highscore saver also some bugfixes.

POKEs:

Unlimited energy: POKE 47270,173: SYS 828
Invincibility: POKE 36445,173: SYS 828
No enemies: POKE 41603,208: SYS 828

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.57 points at 23 votes (rank 241). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	8	6th December 2014 - 8 out of 10 points - 21656 downs
Lemon64	8	6th December 2014 - 7,5 out of 10 points - 149 votes
C64.com	9	6th December 2014 - 8,5 ouf of 10 points - 19081 downs
Ready 64	8	6th December 2014 - 7,52 out of 10 points - 25 votes
Kultboy	8	6th December 2014 - 7,51 out of 10 points - 35 votes
The Legacy	6	6th December 2014 - "good" - 10 votes
ZZap64	7	Issue April 1986 - 68% - p.24
ACE	10	Issue November 1989 - 5 out of 5 points - p.114
Computer & Videogames	9	Issue January 1986 - 9 out of 10 points - p.83
Commodore Force	6	Issue August 1993 - 62% - p.22
Commodore User	9	Issue March 1986 - 5 out of 5 points - p.10 Issue August 1989 - 73% - p.60

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Shmendric: A nice beat 'm up, that I liked to play in the old days. At this time there were already better, but above all much worse games of this type.

Lobotlon2084: Like the big Confuzius said: swollen kissel in no time! You do not get mole and not less selved hele, with pleasant glaphics and oliental sounding backglound music duling the game. Of coulse you must not compale Yie Al Kung Fu with "selious" beat'em ups as Exploding Fist ol Intelnational Kalate, because fol this is the numbel of leally game lelevant blows and kicks to leduced: you actually only need the kick at the shinbone and the jump kick to get thlough the whole game. The gleat title tlack by Maltin Galway is fol me the highlight in this simple but successful alcade convelsion. 7 out of 10 points."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Different versions[edit | edit source]

Yie Ar Kung-Fu was originally an arcade game

Aside from significant differences in the graphics, also number and types of the characters differ. The list above refers to the C64 conversion. In the single versions and editions for the other systems there are further enemies and "hidden chars", as Bishoo, Clayman, Katana, Wang, Tao, Chen, Clone and Wu. Also the hero is not always named Oolong, but on the NES and MSX he is named Lee and there is also another background story here, which is continued in the follower Yie Ar Kung-Fu II.
In comparison to the original arcade game only the fighter Feedle is missing on the Commodore 64. He has the ability to reproduce himselt to confuse the opponent. This would have been hard to do with the resources of the C64. Otherwise is this version very close to the original.

Screenshot comparison of different conversions[edit | edit source]

Amstrad CPC version.

ZX Spectrum version.

C16 version.

Nintendo Entertainment System version.

MSX version.

BBC Micro version.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

Allegedly, the character "Blues" has its name from "Bruce" Lee - pronounced with a Japanese accent.

The music in the title screen is Martin Galway's interpretation of the piece "Magnetic Fields #4" by Jean Michel Jarre. It is quite possible that the excellent live version of the piece on the double album "Concerts in China" inspired him to use the track as a title tune for a Far Eastern fighting game.