Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Another game that I always struggled to understand the appeal of. Poorly imagined sprites and backgrounds expose a limited fighting game where most opponents fall to the same move. Am I missing something?

OK, so you could just leg sweep all the opponents until you knocked them all out - or taken a knockout yourself when your opponent stun-locked you (Pole, Blues, I'm looking at you). In the end, that's all the gameplay this game offered to you - fast and furious though it may have been - it wasn't very deep. In most cases it resulted in a lot of button-mashing to it's detriment.
It is presented beautifully though, and Galway's title cover of Jarre's "Magnetic Fields part 4" is amazing.

I remember waiting for this to be released. I went into WH Smiths and asked the bloke on the counter, "Do you have Yie Ar Kung-Fu in?" He laughted at me - he'd never heard of the game! .

Anyway, lots of memories playing with my best friend, taking it in turns to see who can progress the furthest or even beat Blues!

Hate that Zzap! 64 never gave it the praise it so obviously deserves. One of the rare times when the humble CBM64 outdoes the mighty Arcade version.

A flawed little classic that I personally played and associate moreso at the end of the classic C64 days as the 'final personal martial arts game' (yet I know the release date says 1985, I didn't get a copy until late 80s). I don't want to rehash or mention the fatal flaw as a spoiler though here, but let's just say: you or later enemies can simply take the other out without hope for recourse.. The initial appeal is stunning but the aforementioned flaw prevents me from revisiting and actually playing and enjoyed past the the first few levels. Still dig it of course but the flaw is severe enough to penalize. Now if some released a 'fixed, improved' redux edition elminating said flaw - that would get a 10 instantly and I'd probably sh*t my pants.

When I saw screen shots of the Amstrad version I was jealous because it looked better than the C64 version. Then when I saw it move I wasn't jealous anymore. When jumping it's more like slow motion floating. Like kung fu fighting on the moon. God it's soooooooooooo sloooooooooooow. Do a jump and you nearly have time to go and make a sodding cup of tea before he lands on the Amstrad version. The C64 version on the other hand is fast and has excellent sound and music.

The music and the gameplay are simply stunning! One of the best games of the Commodore 64. A litlle bit easy but totally addictive 10/10

The main problem is that it feels like you have very little control over what your character is doing on screen, and no control over whether you land a hit or receive one. As the previous commenter said the gameplay devolves into button mashing.

It has some nice presentation, a Jarre soundtrack and good sprite graphics. But underneath the gameplay is suckage of the finest quality.

3/10.

Nice music and decent graphics. Too bad the gameplay is mindless button mashing.

There's one small detail which I found very helpful when playing; the little arrow below your character - it moves according to your joystick position in real time. Make the game feel correct and to the point accurate. So many fighting games have these awful controls and you are not always sure which move did what or if it hit the opponent. Did the arcade have this too?

I've played the NES version, was quite surprised to find this here. Will defenetly try to get my hands on this!

I could complete it any number of times on one credit, it kept looping around. Probably the only game I could do that on. It seems hard at first, but eventually you learn what works. Beautiful game. All those different opponents, AND with different weapons! The guys and gals you meet are not just the same sprite as the hero with different colours. Unique. Spectacular. My favorite beat em up. Everything - the graphics, the music, the names (Nuncha!).

Bought this. Completed it several times. Good fun for a while. However, played the incredible "Exploding Fist 1" first, so, didn't keep coming back to YAKF for long. Unlike Fist 1, YAKF's puny sprites and ineffectual blocking moves didn't match it for me. Limited. However, soon there were IK and IK+ to look forward to. And, C64 martial arts' gaming was looking better than ever!

I must laugh at Zzap! Review of this all-time classic. Easily better than the arcade or recent-ish Xbox Live Arcade version, playability is fast and fun, sprites and animation ace and I love it how you must develop different strategies against opponents so it's not about just mindless button bashing.

This is pretty good actually. I understand why it was rated fairly low by Zzap! Tho. It's easy to be enthusiastic about a game like this when it's a free file for an emulator or costs only a few quid to download to a console. It's easy to indulge nostalgia at little or no cost. Any decent game review should take into account value for money, and I think this is where they knocked a good 10% off it's score.

Unlike many games of this period, I'd say that time has been good to YKF almost in spite of itself. It's simplicity, frivolity & slight silliness mean folk are happy to pick it up and take it at face value nowadays. I know I do and it's good slice of arcade fun with good sound and colourful graphics. Nothing more.

I injoyed this on the C-64, plus ive downloaded this on XBOX LIVE it has HD graphics, so it looks even better, what a class game this is.

Yie Ar Kung-Fu, winner of the most controversial poll in Lemon history making it Lemon's Favourite Arcade Conversion! Well done.

@lobogris: once you beat him, the game starts over again, so may I suggest to you: don't bother...

Great game, amazing tune but I still can't beat that motherf*cker of Blues! Once he catch you, he repeatedly storm a rain of kicks to you... Really impressive endboss. I allways arrive at this level without losing a life and without cheats, of course Anyone has passed blues away or is an invulnerable demigod?

This one shouldn't be taken too seriously, as it is by no means as difficult as it looks at first sight. Still, it's fun, or as Gurt put it: "Very arcadey".

Legendary title! Good humour and unforgettable to play with friends.

I use to play this on C64 the game play is ultra hard and fast... One of the best kung fu game out in its day, today it's still got what takes

This game is immensely fun because you can just come along, pick it up, play it then go away again - very arcadey. Moreso than any other fighting game, especially on C64.

My description above may not make sense but try playing it casually and see what I mean.

I refer this loading tune over Jean Michell's original, since his version are too cramped with bling blang noises.

I actually prefered this to the arcade version!

That poleman is easy to beat. Just use down+fire combo.

One of the best martial arts games u can get even to this day !!!

This game was amazing at the time because of the range of moves used. More so by the opponents than the player. Pole was a bitch cos if he caught you he'd hit you you about ten times and it was all over. In fact I have fond memories of screaming words I don't even know how to type at my C64 whenever it happened.

That was my favourite game... Damn I remembered my childhood...

it is not a tear drop...

Nice one on one fighter with a nice difficulty curve! Still find it highly amusing when you jumped in the air only to land on someone's outstretched leg and for a big star to appear right at your genitals as you shudder. Great fun! That high pitched whine when you were low on energy was really offputting though!

Really cool and addictive game. A lot of different characters to fight against each with their own abilities. Classic gaming here.

Good fun. Like Int. K+. Why O' Why couldn't they adapt these fighting manouvers and playerbility to games like Double Dragon, T. Renagade and so on. ??

"Pole" was a bitch due to his range!!! A great little arcade fighter with fantastic music!!!

I'm not really into martial arts, but I found this game very tough to play, but kind of addictive. The music by Martin Galway is also excellent. Nice C64 Jarre rendition

I am not a big fan of martial arts games and the like but having purchased this a part of a Konami arcade collection I was soon immersed in the world of these kung fu dudes.
Oolong was a master of this art and he had to be when in competition against Fan Girl, Club Boy and Chain Lad. I particularly liked the grating sounds that accompanied the start?? Of each fight.
Good stuff!

Very good game but you get awarded too many free lives. I've beaten all opponents several times over despite being knocked out 10+ times

Yeah, played this game often and beat the final guy (with same skills) two times in a row, keep pressing the button as quickly as you can!!! Ofcourse some opponents had to be beaten with a different technique, gameplay is ultra-smooth/fast and music is awsome, keep focus 9/10

Damn cool.

This is such a simple but fun game... You may wake me up in the middle of the night for this one.

But that Fan woman drives me nuts... I only kicked her ass 1 time and I lost about 80 times... Grrrrrrr.

Love the title screen/loading music, it's Jean Michel Jarre's Magnetic Fields 4.

Nice game but a bit too easy, I can do a complete curcuit of this game many many times over. It's a bit dissapointing that your score goes back to 0 when you reach 1, 000, 000. Occasionally I lose a life to Blues or Pole but I find the others very easy to beat.

Ok loading screen... Very cool in game title music... All characters from the arcade game (bar one) is there... Both backdrops are present... The speed of the game is faster than the original aracade version... All in all, very god stuff!!! ... If I were to fault it, it would be the fact that the main character isn't wearing blue trousers (as in the aracade version). This for me was the only let down... Martin Galways music is spot on to the original (better maybe!!!) ... And it's all in a single load!!!

Having just played the arcade original in MAME, I must say this is easily on par with it. Actually this is somehow more fun.

Nice rendition of Jarre's magnetic fields 4 whilst loading

Verry nice game indeed... And people are right games like this paved the way for the street fighter series.. Verry nice game play and music think this is my konamis all time classic: ) some chars u face were really hard though but I remembered in the end I could clock this game like 4 times in a row or so but still it was fun

peace out !

This, like 'Rambo First Blood Part Two' was not-bad game with an AWESOME opening theme. I'd boot the game just to hear the music sometimes.

For some reason the Amstrad version was always regarded more highly which I could never understand. I thought this Commodore version was much better.

Well ABS, did you ever try switching on the autofire, jumping all the time and hitting the opponent with a low kick (diagonal on the joystick, from what I recall?) The opponent had no chance to escape as well Brilliant game, anyway, one of the best beat'em ups for the commie (also the arcade was great, spent hours and hours on that in my youth)

Very good conversion, probably faster than the coin-op! But it has a couple of problems: if a fighter begins to beat you, often you can't do nothing against him! Great music. 7/10

This game paved the way for the likes of StreetFighter 1 and 2 and in it's day was a real treat. The loading tune was pure class and some of the baddies were absolute granite, making the game a real challenge.

One of the best games ever for the 64. Wonderful graphics and gameplay, along with an good tune makes it totally complete !!! IT RULES !!!

A slick and polished beat-em-up, YAKF stood out due to the many different fighting styles employed by your opponents. Unfortunately, the same touch that elevated it above the many identikit fighters of the '80s was also its downfall: the later, armed enemies used increasingly cheap tactics, resulting in a less-than-fair fight and ultimate frustration. But it's still worth a look, even as a more varied alternative to IK+.

Surprisingly a good coin-op conversion of this game, music and graphics r well done. I really hated the last guy, I don't know if I ever beat him.

One of the best Commodore 64 games. The graphics and music blew everyone I knew away when it first came out, and the gameplay was better than the arcade. Excellent.

I thought this game was good, (but being a little boy way back then I would!). I admit though that after a while, it did get a bit dry goin though from butcu to blues 10 times in a row!

Oh my god - besides IK the BEST Beatnup ever! You will drive crazy by hitting the fire-button 10times a second to beat Blues. Chain wasn't that bad, too..
One of best loading track by Galway! A MUST-HEAR it and get goose pimples ;v)

Great music tune! Game isn't so good

This games character is Oolong, which orginated from a Bruce Lee film "The Way of the Dragon" in which he played a character called Tang Lung.

Each level you face a different adversary, each of them masters a different weapon. This game is pure class!!!

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