Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu

One of the best and underrated NES games of all time

Jackie Chan, star of countless bad martial arts movies and Hong Kong detective flicks back in the 70's; Jackie Chan, star of silly, yet fascinatingly complex fight sequences in bad martial arts movies in the 80's and 90's; Jackie Chan, personal hero of Pulp Fiction direction Quentin Tarantino; Jackie Chan, the inspiration for his own cartoon show currently playing on Kids WB; Jackie Chan, the man who is half Bruce Lee, half Leslie Nielsen and finally, Jackie Chan, star of not one, but two video games!!!

Jackie Chan's first video game attempt on the NES shines. With an intro that closely resembles the opening sequence of Ghosts 'N Goblins, Chan's sister is kidnapped by the demon wizard, so the master of Kung Fu treks across five beautifully animated stages to restore peace to China. Graphics in this game pop out to the eye. Players first notice the abundance of characters with disproportional large heads and the gigantic cartoony, yet brilliantly rendered, graphics. True to his character, Jackie has a wide range of emotional expressions and movements. The ending credits of the game highlight his comedic side. One can't help to laugh upon seeing the temporarily defeated Chan spasm on the ground, or the rear-grabbing Chan who just fell into a pool of lava. Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu sports a great soundtrack, similar in scope and feel to the classic Ninja Gaiden games. The adventure itself retains a style of intense, yet oddly enough, laid-back action. The player will certainly fight for his hero's life with vigor against the armies of the demon wizard, but the action doesn't reach the point of an insane number of enemies who will gang up and pumble Chan to death. One could complain the game is almost not challenging enough, but with only five lives, (unless one uses the 99 lives + stage select code) the player must go through playing the game a few times to beat it. In addition to Chan's punch, flying kick, and sweep, by punching frogs (yes, it's weird, but frogs) Chan can acquire a limited usage of special techniques like the barrel roll and hurricane kick. Chan executes these moves, as well as his jumps and running, flawlessly. The only negative ascept of play control: Chan has the evil "re-hit" rule appliying to his, so the player can be smacked senseless if he just stands still. One the lucky side, enemies are also suspectable to this, bosses execluded. The above qualities create a gaming enviroment friendly to play, although granted, once one beats the game, there's hardly much need to play in again, unless one desires to find all the bonus stages. Still, execellent graphics, music, and play control with a moderate challenge level make Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu a super NES game that's not to be missed.

Graphics A+

Sound/Music A

Challenge B-

Play Control A

Replay Value B

Fun Factor A

Overall A 1/2 links     

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