Kung Fu is a fun game, but even back then it probably didn't have too much lasting appeal.
Kung Fu stars some dude. I have no idea what his name is, but he's pretty much a stereotypical martial arts, Kung Fu-ish guy. The game might have a story too, possibly, but I have no idea. If it does have a story, it's just there to set you up to knock the crap out of a ton of ninjas and stuff. The gameplay itself is as basic as it comes. It's a side scroller with enemies coming at you from both sides. Usually a maximum of about 4 or 5 on the harder parts. You punch and kick with A and B, respectively. You jump by pressing up, and kneel by pressing (and holding) down. You move left and right, although you're pretty much only supposed to be moving in one direction each level. A few different enemies will come at you. Normal, weak enemies that can only hurt you a little bit when they're able to get right next to you, knife-throwing enemies which obviously prefer a wider ranged attack, and the like. You also face off with some pretty tough bosses. A few of the game's flaws show through here. First of all, the controls for punching and kicking work perfectly, but jumping by pressing up is pretty cumbersome. And you can really only do the more powerful moves by jumping. It's really no problem when you're facing the normal enemies, but the bosses require some pretty darn good reflexes. But even if you have good reflexes, the character you're controlling doesn't always act on what you're trying to do perfectly, when what you're trying to do requires jumping. I also noticed a slight problem with collision detection, which is pretty obserd for a side scroller. Basically once, while I was facing the first level boss, he kneeled down and tried to hit me with a low attack, but I was in the air at the time. But the hit still connected, and drained a good 1/3 of my health bar. On the opposite end of that, I also noticed some kicks I tried that looked as though they connected, but they didn't. All in all though, it's a rare problem, but it does add to the game's challenge.
Speaking of challenge, this game is much harder than it looks. The boss battles, even the first one, is nearly impossible. And the knife-throwing enemies are pretty tough to take out without getting hit at least once or twice by them. The game does, however, have extremely responsive controls when it comes to punching and kicking. The same split second you hit the button, the guy performs the attack, which makes you feel quick and deadly, good stuff.
Knocking out enemies is fun and definitely rewarding. However, with only 5 levels, and a gameplay style that really doesn't warrant playing for more than, say 5 minutes at a time, Kung Fu doesn't have the lasting appeal of the more top-tiered NES games. It's definitely a game that you'll have big fun with for a few minutes, and it's worth a download, but don't expect to be playing it for hours or anything. As for the graphics and sound, well they're pretty bad, even by NES standards. The enemies don't all look the same, but all the enemies of each class, be it the weak, or knife-throwing or the like, all look the same within the level. There has also been much better animation on the NES. As for the sound, there's no music during gameplay, which would have benefited this game. The character sounds rather annoying, making a loud, high-pitched, stereotypical martial arts noise whenever you hit a button (that's really the best way I could describe it). There is a cool effect though, when a boss beats you, he does a maniacal laugh, which is pretty cool. Overall though, graphics and sound get a thumbs down.
I personally really enjoyed this game though. Despite it's flaws, like a pretty tough challenge, a few minor gameplay glitches and poor graphics and sound. Kung Fu is a fun game, but even back then it probably didn't have too much lasting appeal. It's worth a download though, or if you can find the original for less than a dollar or so and you still have a NES system to play it on, check it out. It's great fun while it lasts.