Kung Fu - NES - 1985

Kung Fu is a conversion of the Kung-Fu Master arcade game released by Irem in 1984.  The game is a simple side scrolling beat ‘em up in which you have to rescue your kidnapped girlfriend. I was in two minds on whether to include this as why have arcade conversions when the real thing is so much better?  I thought I’d give it a chance anyway and gave it a go.  Then another.  Then another.  It had me hooked so I had to add it to my list.

Not the most original plot.

The game is set over 5 levels, each ending with a boss.  The first level hosts only two types of enemies but more are added as you progress.  Your character only has a limited number of moves – he can crouch, jump, punch and kick. The punch attack scores more points than the kick but has a shorter range.  You have a limited time in which to complete each level and bonus points are added to your score depending on the remaining time and any energy left.

I’m not a massive fan of the Street Fighter style games that require 6+ buttons and memorising special moves so Kung Fu appealed to me due to its simplicity.  The graphics are obviously not as good as the arcade machine and neither is the animation; however I find the sound to be better.  Overall, Kung Fu is a great, addictive little title.  It is a bit repetitive though this is to be expected in a game such as this.

I felt bad beating on these little fellas.

Highway Encounter - Sinclair Spectrum & Amstrad CPC - 1985

[Spectrum]  The graphics on both Amstrad and Spectrum versions are more or less identical.

Highway Encounter is another isometric game from 1985.  It was programmed by Costa Panayi, the man behind TLL and Cyclone.  In this game you control a droid that has to escort a ‘Lasertron’ device from one end of a straight road that leads conveniently to an alien base at the other end.  Once the device has been pushed to the end of the road it destroys the alien base.  You then start over after a nice animated sequence.

The game begins with you controlling one robot that has to clear the way for the Lasertron. Ingeniously your extra lives are lined up behind the Lasertron and are programmed to automatically push it along the road until it meets an obstruction.  If the robot you are controlling is destroyed, one of the other robots becomes available.  If you get down to your last droid you must use it to clear the way and also push the weapon.

The highway is made up of 30 screens and contains various obstacles that must be cleared out of the way.  Among the obstacles are simple barrels that bar the route or indestructible moving mines that need to be made safe.  This can be achieved moving objects in front of the mines to stop them moving across the centre of the road.  These objects can be moved by pushing or shooting them with your laser.  Your laser fires three shots in quick succession then you must wait a second or so for it to recharge.  You will also need your laser to shoot the aliens which patrol some areas.

Highway Encounter is a very good game but if anything is too easy.  Clearing the obstacles requires very little head scratching and the enemy aliens are quite easy to destroy.  The main challenge comes from the time limit which can get a little tight if you are slow at clearing a path through the obstacles.

[Amstrad] The two versions only really differ in sound effects.  Neither is better.

On a side note, in early 2010 a previously unreleased Atari ST version of Highway Encounter came to light.  I haven't had a proper chance to play the game but it has a different road layout to the 8-bit versions and is noticeably harder.  Costa Panayi kindly gave permission for the game to be freely distributed…

Fairlight - Sinclair Spectrum - 1985

The obligatory 'pile everything up to reach the treasure' puzzle.

Fairlight was one of the first and one of the best of the isometric perspective games that started appearing in the wake of Ultimate’s filmation series.  It was a 1985 release for the Sinclair Spectrum and came out in 1986 on the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC.  I don’t remember much about the game though I do remember falling to my death within sight of the Book of Light.  Apart from some of the rooms the only other thing I really remember are the pygmy type guards which when killed leave behind their helmets.  They regenerate when you leave the room but the helmets can be picked up and disposed of in a safe area.  The Spectrum really struggled when there were around a dozen of these guards wandering around on the same screen.

There is a lot of waffle in the instruction booklet about the history of the land of Fairlight. All you really need to know is that you play a character called Isvar tasked with finding the Book of Light in Castle Avars and returning it to a wizard. 

To this end you have to explore the castle while avoiding or killing enemies.  The enemies variously range from whirlwinds and bubbles to monks and man-eating plants. A lot of the enemies can’t be killed while combat just involves hitting the attack key.  You start off with 99 health points and lose some if falling too far or coming into contact with the enemies.  Food and drink can be found which replenish 10 health points at a time.  A discovery I made this time is that if a whirlwind touches an item it permanently disappears – this is a good way of getting rid of the guard helms.

There are many items to be found and the puzzles mainly involve discovering their uses.  You have 5 inventory slots in which to carry items but, unusually for the time, each item had a given weight so the heavier the item the less you could carry.

The Commodore 64 version looked and sounded good but played too slow.  On the right is one of the less garish Amstrad CPC screenshots.

It’s not difficult to distinguish the best version but they all have issues.  My vote goes for the Spectrum version. It has the best graphics in my opinion though they are monochromatic. During the game it plays a tune that can get annoying after a while and you don’t get choice of effects or the music.  The tune cuts out between screens too which makes it more annoying.  The Commodore 64 has the best sound and a choice of playing the tune, footstep sounds or silence during the game.  The graphics are virtually the same as Fairlight on the Spectrum though the game plays at a much slower pace.  Although the Amstrad version runs at a fair lick the footstep sounds would soon drive me mad (there is no way to play music in game).  It also has the same bizarre colour choices (only more so) that afflict Ultimates isometric CPC games. The Amstrad can display yellow and red so why have dark blue torch flames?  Weird.

The caves contains a hidden door that leads to the Book of Light