Step forward Mr Oolong and test your might for this review will be a fight to the finish.
So i bet a few of you are wanting to know what Yie Ar Kung Fu is all about well. In this game you take control of a guy called Oolong who has to fight all the martial arts masters given by the game. You are unarmed and some of them have weapons. Yes i know it sounds abit unfair but that just makes the feeling of winning that much more. You are trying to win the title of Grand Master and honor the memory of your father. To do this you have to use your variety of punch and kick blows reachable by combining the joystick with one of the buttons. He also has the greatest jumping ability of all the game's fighters, with the exception of Blues.
When you win a fight male characters always fall unconscious lying on their backs with their legs apart Oolong flails his feet, and female characters always fall demurely lying on their sides. Feedle disappears. There are only two female fighters, and the rest are male. It is only fair of me to list the people or masters you get to fight in this game.....If you are good enough that is:
Buchu:
He is a big sumo wrestler who uses a leaping motion to land on Oolong with his body. Buchu may be big, but he's also slow. Buchu does not use weapons to fight. He is the first opponent in the first gauntlet and when gets hit in the crotch, his eyes bug out and the game says "nǐ hǎo" which is Mandarin Chinese for "hi" or "hello".
Star:
She is a young ninja girl in a pink outfit who uses shuriken to slow Oolong down along with fast punches and kicks.
Nuncha:
This man is a yellow gi swinging nunchaku evil person. According to an article at the "Hardcore Gaming 101" e-magazine his outfit and weapon are a homage to Bruce Lee's role in the movie Game of Death.
Pole:
Is a short man who carries a large bo and uses it on Oolong. Pole also uses it to pole vault for extra momentum for his moves.
Feedle:
This is a differant type of battle as this is a endurance test. Numerous enemies or the same enemy who can replicate himself attack from both sides of Oolong.
Chain:
This guy is the start of the second gauntlet. He's a large man which swings a giant chain with a claw-like attachment at the end.
Club:
This is another large man (Large men seem to realy like attacking Oolong). He has a giant spiked club and bears a shield on his right arm to block most of Oolong's attacks.
Fan:
She is the last of the female fighters. She wears a cheongsam and is more feminine than Star. Fan throws steel fans at Oolong like shuriken and attacks very fiercely. The fans fall in a feather-like pattern.
Sword:
This is a very very dangerous warrior who comes ready to slice and dice Oolong and he has a good use of impressive aerial moves as well.
Tonfun:
This is the final battle before the ultimate challenger steps up. He will attack you in a fast paced way and the only way to win is to time your attacks and hope that Tonfun makes a mistake.
Blues:
Blues is almost a mirror image of Oolong without a shirt on and can match him move for move. Oolong has to find some weakness on Blues to win. Since none of his clothes are blue, his name could be another Bruce Lee reference, based on his first name's pronunciation when said by a Japanese speaker. When Blues is defeated, Oolong is the winner and the game begins again with Buchu.
Yie Ar Kung Fu first came out in 1985 and has been on many many systems which include the Arcade, NES, MSX, Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and the Electron.
So if you are in the mood for some oldschool retro hardcore fighting then this game is realy going to make your day.