Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu (1990)

Preliminary: (This is for the original 1990 NES release.) Tbh I was not expecting much, esp with this being an NES game after the SNES release and a bit tired of platformers rn. But the Look is really good for an NES game, the Sound oddly alluring, and the controls may be goofy but better than expected

Cool world map feature. Surprised it's only 5 levels? We shall see. The positive is, that's a decent amount of . My biggest worry rn is some of the enemies take so many hits, which is a bad sign for the bosses' number of hitpoints. But only 5 levels, seems manageable. I was able to figure out the first boss quite quickly. Intuitive is good. Here goes nothing.

Day 1

The Level 2 music is a jam indeed. And I love that there's no timer in levels.

This is full of unique ideas and cute touches! I like the turtle shell platforms :-p Er, that have uh jet engines or whatever. I like that you get an angry face when moving/fighting :-p and then a cute smiley face when standing still. Hard to get a screenshot of angry face tho since I have to be doing an action to trigger it. And I'm liking the "power-up" attacks so far too. Really solid game.

I like the woods in the background here

Ok yea I'm really enjoying this. Great music and the gameplay reminds me of the first Castlevania where you learn how far you kick or your special kick/roll attack/etc go and you use it at that precise time and feel good about yourself :-p I'm already on the last level and the music is so good for it!

Kinda weird that it's some sort of flying cloud world spider for the final boss but

Like always I love when an ending sequence shows night, dusk, day, sunrise, etc.

I missed most the funny credit screens. Only captured these. But great ending and credits music, great great great. It's funny cuz the title screen is super lame, no music or anything, I did not expect to enjoy this so much. This is not only likely a 5 star but I'm teetering on a favorite. Which is so telling. End of year games are always when I get my Favorites, since Zelda hit in North America, at least.

Look: 9/10 Solid, unique, impressive for an NES game.

Sound: 9/10 Full of bangers

Play: 9/10 I was instantly hooked and didn't put it down. Not perfect, but a great platformer in the vein of Castlevania.

Feel: 9.5/10 It all culminates into a really nice, cute surprise. After a long day, nice to play a simple pick up and play. At most read the manual for the special attacks and psych waves, otherwise just jump right in.

Attachment: 9/10 Exemplary for the NES platformer genre.

Overall: 9.1/10

Completion: Main Story

Playtime: 1h 15m

(This is the 33rd game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)

I don't really have much to say about this game, so let's rapid-fire this. Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu is a platformer starring well-known martial artist and actor Jackie Chan that released on December 14th, 1990 for NES.

The special thing about this game is that Jackie can do special kicks that can target enemies behind you, in front of you or above you. The game also has a solid soundtrack with some great songs. As far as its gameplay goes, it's one the easier side of 1990 platformers, but also on the unimaginative side. It's really an average fair through and through in that regard, and it gets pretty repetitive through the five levels this game has to offer.

Don't get me wrong, it's easier accessibility and no existing fetish for placing enemies anywhere and everywhere, plus not supplying the player with just one hit point like some other games of its ilk makes Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu a member of the better half of platformers of the year according to me.

It also boasts good graphics in tune with the Martial Arts theme and China setting, plus the game has nice animations for Jackie Chan's attacks. And the face he does when he falls on lava and touches his butt resembled the real Jackie's "pain face" really well and was pretty funny to see.

OVERALL

Very average and almost forgettable platformer / run & gun. That's neither bad nor great, it's just not a game you will hear anything about amongst the great platformers of the 90s. The soundtrack might have its fair share of fans still though.

WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME

• Ed Semrad for EGM, Issue 16 (Nov 90): "Jackie Chan is another average jump and kick game."
• Martin Alessi for EGM, Issue 16 (Nov 90): "It's not highly original, but the game plays better than most similar titles."