Kung-Fu Master (Irem, 1984)

Designed by Takashi Nishiyama and developed by Irem Software Engineering, with music by Masato Ishizaki.
Originally published as "Spartan X" for the Japanese arcades by Irem in 1984, and distributed as "Kung-Fu Master" by Data East in North America in 1984 and in Europe in 1985.

Nintendo Famicom / NES version developed by Nintendo:
Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto
Programming by Toshihiko Nakago
Music by Koji Kondo
Published as "Spartan X" in Japan, and "Kung Fu" elsewhere in 1985 by Nintendo.

Apple II version:
Programming by Clayton Jung and Mike Farr
Art by Erin M. and Donna Steiner Buttlaire
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in North America by Data East in 1985.

Commodore 64 version adapted by Berkeley Softworks.
Programming by Chris Hawley
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in North America by Data East in 1985, and in Europe by U.S. Gold in 1986.

MSX version developed and published as "Seiken Acho" by IREM/ASCII Corporation in 1985.

Amstrad CPC version by Choice Software.
Programming by James Edward Cosby
Loading screen by C. Thornton
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in Europe by U.S. Gold in 1986.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Written by David J. Anderson (for Ocean Software)
Loading screen by F. David Thorpe
Published as "Kung-Fu Master" in Europe by U.S. Gold in 1986.

Atari 2600 version programmed by Dan Kitchen. Published as "Kung-Fu Master" by Activision in Europe and North America in 1987, and by HES in Australia in 1987.

Atari 7800 version developed and published as "Kung-Fu Master" in North America by Absolute Entertainment in 1989.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Seeing as Kung-Fu Master was released on practically every major 8-bit home computer and the NES, there should be no question that this arcade classic is one of the biggest games of its time. This beat'em-up grandaddy was loosely based on an old Jackie Chan movie, titled Spartan X (hence the original Japanese title), although it has been said, that inspiration was also heavily drawn from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death. Released in November 1984, Kung-Fu Master has the distinction of being the first side-scrolling martial arts action game, prototyping later beat'em-ups as much in the way of structure and narrative, as in gameplay mechanics. So, celebrating the game's 40th anniversary this year, I thought it would be proper to write and sync up this comparison to that. Be warned, though - it's a long one, so you might want to grab a cup of coffee before you read any further.

Army Moves (Dinamic Software, 1986)

Amstrad CPC, MSX and Sinclair ZX Spectrum versions:
Programming by Víctor Ruiz Tejedor
Graphics by Víctor Ruiz Tejedor and Santiago Morga B.
Loading screen by Javier Cubedo
Music by Manuel Cubedo
Amstrad and Sinclair versions published by Dinamic Software (Spain) and Imagine Software (rest of Europe) in 1986.
MSX version published by Dinamic Software and Imagine Software in 1987.

Commodore 64 version:
Programming by Zach Townsend
Graphics by Andrew Sleigh and Jane Lowe
Music and sound effects by Fred Gray
Published by Imagine Software in 1987.

Commodore Amiga version:
Programming by Marc Wilding
Graphics by Simon Butler
Music and sound effects by David Whittaker
Published by Imagine Software in 1987.

Atari ST version:
Programming by Marc Wilding
Graphics by Steven Cain
Music and sound effects by David Whittaker
Published by Imagine Software in 1988.

IBM-PC compatibles version:
Programming by Victoriano Gomez
Title screen by Javier Cubedo
Published by Dinamic Software in 1989.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

In the 80's, and to some extent, 90's as well, Spanish game developers were more or less known primarily for using highly suggestive imagery for game cover art, perhaps to render themselves more appealing to more adult audiences. Before this style would take off properly, Dinamic Software did publish a few reasonably highly considered games, such as Saimazoom, Camelot Warriors and the home conversions of the arcade game West Bank. One of Dinamic's most well-known game series would take off with Army Moves from 1986, which I personally found through Ocean's game compilation called Live Ammo on the C64. I figured, now would probably be a good time to dig into all seven versions of the game, as I have been trying to balance things out a bit here on the blog, and I have strong suspicions that the C64 version might not win this time. Let's see.