Yie Ar Kung-Fu
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| Yie Ar Kung-Fu | |
|---|---|
 Oolong (blue pants) vs. Buchu (white pants) in a screenshot of Yie Ar Kung-Fu |
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| Developer(s) | Imagine Entertainment, Konami |
| Release date(s) | 1985 |
| Genre(s) | Fighting game |
| Mode(s) | Two players, alternating turns |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Commodore 64, MSX, Famicom, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Tatung Einstein, Xbox Live Arcade |
| Media | Floppy disk, audio cassette, cartridge |
| Input | Keyboard, joystick |
Yie Ar Kung-Fu is a computer game where the main character, named Oolong, fights martial arts masters. This game originated as an Arcade machine and was subsequently widely ported to platforms including the MSX, NES, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Yie Ar Kung-Fu will be released on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 in 2007 and for the Nintendo DS in the upcoming compilation Konami Classic Series: Arcade Hits. In recent years, this game was re-released on some TV game products.
A sequel Yie Ar Kung-Fu II was released a year later.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
The martial arts masters are listed below (in fight order):
- Buchu
- Buchu 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.
- Star
- The first female opponent Oolong faces. Star is a young ninja girl in a pink outfit who uses shuriken to slow Oolong down along with fast punches and kicks.
- Nuncha
- Nuncha is a man in a yellow gi swinging nunchucks at Oolong in an effort to slow him down.
- Pole
- 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
- Feedle is basically an endurance test for Oolong. Feedle is unarmed but has a trick of splitting into three different beings. For Oolong to win, he must beat all three Feedles. (On the BBC Micro version, Feedle did not appear on screen; instead, he threw items from off-screen at Oolong, who was required to dodge or kick them to survive. Also, in some other home versions, such as the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC, Feedle was not in the game at all.)
- Chain
- Chain awaits Oolong at the start of the second gauntlet. (At the end of the first one in the Commodore 64 version.) He's a large man which swings a giant chain with a claw-like attachment at the end.
- Club
- Club is another large man that attacks Oolong. Club swings a giant spiked club and wears a shielded glove on his right arm to block most of Oolong's attacks.
- Fan
- Fan is another female warrior who wears a cheongsam and is more feminine than Star. Fan throws steel fans at Oolong like shuriken and seldom attacks. The fans fall in a feather-like pattern.
- Sword
- Sword is a dangerous warrior who comes ready to pounce on Oolong with a Dao sword and impressive aerial moves.
- Tonfun
- Tonfun is the final opponent Oolong must face before meeting his ultimate challenger, Blues. Tonfun attacks with 2 tonfas and fast-paced martial arts. Oolong has to time his attacks and hope that Tonfun makes a mistake to survive.
- 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. When Blues is defeated, Oolong is the winner and the game begins again with Buchu. (ON the BBC Micro version, Blues is replaced by a second round of Feedle.)
[edit] Characters in the NES's and MSX's port
The MSX and NES ports has many differences from its arcade counterpart. The hero is called Lee and faces only five opponents:
- Wang
- armed with a pole. Unlike Pole, he doesn't use his pole to gain momentum.
- Tao
- who throws small fireballs in the same way as Star.
- Chen
- this game's version of Chain.
- Lang
- this game's version of Star, but with quickier shots and moves.
- Mu
- similar to Buchu (though Mu is white and seems bearded, while Buchu is black and has a shaven face), except that he can fly horizontally in order to attack Lee.
After Chen's defeat, there is a bonus round where the hero must hit objects thrown at him to score points.
It is also from MSX that comes the only sequel known to a YAKF game: bearing the name YAKF 2: The Emperor Yie-Gah, its opponents are also different from the arcade (although the first two are "homages" to Chain and Fan).
[edit] Hidden Characters (Game Boy Advance version)
There are two hidden characters in version found in the GBA game Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced:
- Bishoo
- a woman dressed in white who attacks with daggers.
- Clayman
- a living statue who attacks with a bigger sword than Sword's sword.
The characters are available in the special two player mode found on this collection.
[edit] Trivia
- Yie-Ar is pronounced (Yee-Err). Its name means one-two in Chinese and is normally spelled yi-er.
- Star and Fan are considered the first girls of fighting games before Street Fighter II's Chun-Li.
- Regardless of the move that defeated them, male characters always fall unconscious lying on their backs with their legs apart (while twitching their feet), and female characters always fall demurely lying on their sides.
- Rumors spread that Oolong and Blues are brothers from their similar styles. Oolong means "black dragon" and Blues is a play on Bruce, as in Bruce Lee.
