Yie Ar Kung Fu

[Wesley]

When I was a youth, I spent much of my free time in any of the local video arcades. Back before PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, and all that kind of crap, if you wanted good games, you had to pay for them one quarter at a time. There were sports games, adventure games, war games, strategy games, driving games, and Fighting Games! I like video games. All kinds. But let me tell you something, a good game has a level of difficulty high enough to provide a challenge, so that when you overcome this challenge, that little victory is a well earned reward! Also, fighting games tap into the mix of adrenaline and testosterone so prevalent in adolescent boys. Many companies the world over got rich, one quarter at a time, off of awkward greasy faced teens.

But back to the subject that started this little exposè : Yie Ar Kung Fu. Until this point most games had a joystick and one button. The only real strategy was to get close to whatever it was on the screen and push the button. Or, conversely, to try to avoid whatever it was on the screen, and push the button. Yie Ar Kung Fu combined both of these strategies in a game that plays like a classic Kung Fu movie... Only they added a second button! One for punch, one for kick. Button plus joystick direction gave you one of sixteen different devestating kung fu attacks! I must say, after PacMan (one joystick, no buttons) and the like, this game blew my mind! Here is an awesome and well written article about the phenomenon of old school games. http://bavatuesdays.com/summer-of-love-yie-ar-kung-fu/ And if you ignore the typo at the bottom of the article and go back and watch the video of a perfect game, you will begin to understand why I was so enthralled by this game.


Here is a bonus: look at the hairstyle on Tonfa. So cool! Silly as it sounds, this videogame is one of the reasons I grew my hair long!