Yie Ar Kung-Fu is an arcade fighting game produced by Konami of Japan. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) during the same year. Yie Ar Kung Fu's gameplay style made it unique at the time and it was widely considered the first fighting game of all time.
The game was kind of always included in Chinese counterfeit compilation NES game cartridges containing many games being sold in the Philippines during the early 1990s.
The Story
Help our hero win the Martial Arts Championship. The Championship has gathered martial arts masters of different disciplines, all desiring to be the champion. In Yie Ar Kung-Fu, our man must use his own fighting skills and face masters of different weapons and more to fulfill his destiny. Will you fight like a dragon or run away in dishonor?
The Graphics and Sound
The graphics are good for a 1985 game but limited. The background is always a dark room with an Asian theme. The five cartoony characters look charming, some of them got weapons and some special skills like fire balls or ninja stars.
The music is nice and there is only one theme (except the winning time tune) in the whole game. I swear I have heard that melody before in some old martial arts movie but I can't seem to remember.
The Gameplay
As a 1985 game, it is quite revolutionary in its gameplay. Many classic and modern fighting games take elements from Yie Ar Kung-Fu.
Our hero only has basic movements, a mid and a low punch, a high, mid and low kick, and a flying kick (the best move). All the movements do the same damage. The enemy is knocked down after 9 hits, the same damn thing happens to you. You only got 3 lives but you gain more as you get the higher scores.
The hitbox detection in this game is kinda loose but it is not too bad.
Once you beat all the five contenders, you face them again and they are tougher than before. Then it all goes in a loop again and they are getting more difficult to beat.
All you could do really is to achieve higher scores and do it as an endurance mode to see how far you could go in the game. A two player option like fighting against a friend could have been something great and extremely challenging with the simple controls.
My Verdict
Yie Ar Kung-Fu isn't that bad but a very fine example of an early fighter. As it stands, it is an interesting, historical video game gem, and one can plainly see how bigger and better fighting games were inspired by it.
Play it on the NES or play cheap using your favorite NES emulators.