HuCARTography II: THE Kung Fu

I'd like to set an expectation up front here. Some weeks I might cover two games. Others, when it counts, I might cover one. There may even be weeks where three games get a look in one of these posts. I'm also reserving the right to occasionally post about things outside the realm of PC Engine games, as well as not posting anything at all if other things are going on in my life. In that spirit, look forward to a Game of the Year thing sometime around the end of the Gregorian calendar in lieu of a HuCARTography entry.

Anyway!

*****

THE Kung Fu / China Warrior

Developer/Publisher: Hudson | 27 November 1987 (JP) / November 1989 (NA)

Foreknowledge

And so it came to pass that the first game released on the PC Engine read “Vol. 2” in the corner, while the second read “Vol. 4”. Whither “Vol. 1”? Hither, naturally.

The bespoke serialization of these games would suggest that THE Kung Fu was meant to be the launch title for this system. One look at screenshots of this title and it will be immediately clear why this was flagged for such a position. THE Kung Fu features some of the largest and most detailed sprites featured on any home console to date, making for killer screenshots and television B-roll to promote the new system.

Then you turn the game on, and realize that Kung Fu on the NES does the whole “fun video game” part of being a video game a hundred times better.

Former site contributor Jeff Gerstmann (which still feels strange to write) was fond of dragging out this particular battle axe whenever slobbery TG16 fanboy things wafted in his direction, and it’s easy to see why. The game is eminently easy to dunk upon, accomplishing so very little with so much. Twelve levels slowly walking forward punching wasps and dodging rocks? No thank you. Its position as the de facto “launch” game for the system, actual chronology be damned, only adds to the anemic feeling around the system's North American life. Consider that the NES launched with a remarkable port of Donkey Kong, or the even better Super Mario Bros. for those outside of Japan. The Mark III/Master System had a great version of Hang-On to show off at launch, which remains a fun little arcade racer despite losing its music in the conversion. Hell, the Atari 2600 launched with Combat, and that might be the best game on the system.

The PC Engine had a belt scroller which feels shallow compared, again, to a creaky two year old arcade conversion at time of release.

Anyway let’s see if we can find the fun! *nervous emoji*

Hindsight

So here’s the thing: China Warrior is basically a rhythm game. You know that minigame in Rhythm Tengoku, the one where you are a karate man who punches various objects thrown at you with oddly intricate timings?

Yeah, that one? That’s a huge part of Hudson’s THE Kung Fu here. Everything that is not a boss fight is an extended riff on that; or, more accurately, Osawa et al may well have had this game in mind when they put together that little portion of the Rhythm Heaven universe. Whereas Irem’s Kung Fu/Spartan X has combat that feels a little more rough and tumble, catch as catch can while you make your way to whatever you do plot-wise in those decades old arcade games, China Warrior is more of a game of memorization and pattern management. And given the arrangements of obstacles and enemies in the game, that starts to feel a little bit Bemani. How apropos, what with Konami owning Hudson and by extension this very game.

That’s not to say it’s a one to one thing, however. Part of Rhythm Heaven’s charm, or indeed the reason rhythm games work in general, is how tight the controls are. You have to get very close to the metal (or great at calibrating display and sound outputs) to succeed at those games at a high level. This, uhh, lacks that nuance. It’s a game about punching rocks and stacks of enrobed figures, all in predictable patterns which one can commit to memory.

These are then punctuated by boss fights that are the actual bad part of the game. All of the pattern recognition, rhythmic stuff goes right out the door at these fights and instead you’re just made to mash and hope you saved enough health/found enough power ups to tank their damage. I’d say this is just another sad story of a pre-Street Fighter fighting game thing, but 1) Street Fighter 1 debuted a few months before THE Kung Fun, and 2) we’ll be dealing with that particular little ass disaster soon enough.

The more musical case I’m trying to make for this game is bolstered, I’d argue, by the first Good soundtrack on the PC Engine. I’ll make a confession here: part of the reason I wanted to buy this console in the first place is because I figured the audio quality I heard over the years via emulation had to be somehow scuffed. My dear friends, that’s just how the PCE/TG16 sounds. There’s a particularly tinny, crispy sound to the system that is unmistakable. There’s also a distinct lack of low end to most of the music, which as a former touring bassist is up there with Not Liking Rush as one of the cardinal sins. Still, I’ve come to appreciate developers who could coax the 6502-derivative chipset in here to sing. And seeing as Hudson developed about a fifth of the total library for the platform, it’s good to see them getting it done here at or near launch. The title theme has an immediate Hong Kong action film schlocky energy, chopsticks lick be damned, and the main level music has a nice driving riff that I find a pleasant accompaniment to punching assorted people and things. Shame the boss music is also a bit of a letdown though.

That’s THE Kung Fu though, a game that is certainly iconic but ultimately disappoints. Coupled with the dubious merit of being the canonical launch title for the system despite not actually launching with the system, and you got yourself quite a stew. It’s worth firing up just to see Hudson’s first best shot on the hardware, what with its enormous sprites and kinda baller level music. Just don’t go trading it for Kung Fu on the NES.

*****

Times I’ve played the China Warrior riff on an air guitar: Once. Maybe twice. Look, I'm a simple guy.

Turbo Ratio: Roughly 1:1. Between being an early game in Japan that looks to have sold well, and a fairly undesirable game even in the TG16 collector lunatic world, you should pay in the $40 ballpark in either direction at time of writing. That’s a bad price for China Warrior!

*****

Finally, making his debut on this blog, here's what noted TurboGrafx-16 lover spida1a had to say on the subject of China Warrior.

Next week, let's wrap up the first calendar year of PC Engine games just in time for their 35th anniversaries.

<---HuCARTograph I: The Opening Salvo

HuCartography III: The End of 1987--->