Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu

 It's amazing how many video games really are out there in the world. And the existence of this one certainly shocked me.

We head back to the TurboGrafx-16 this week, a console that I'm quickly finding I really enjoy. I think a lot of it comes down to finding so many of these titles so new. I had heard of, and in some cases played, some of the more popular titles on the console before. Splatterhouse, the Bonk titles, even Alien and Devil's Crush were all titles that I at least had on my radar. I knew the TG16 was known for shoot 'em ups, so seeing the large number of quality games in that genre didn't surprise me. So many of us of a certain age learned a lot about obscure games from the Angry Video Game Nerd, who has discussed TG16 games like Darkwing Duck and Fighting Street (which is just a port of the original Street Fighter). Of course, if he's talking about a game, it's typically not going to be because it's good. I've never played Darkwing Duck, but I will support my fellow foul-tempered New Jersy-ian in saying the original Street Fighter is absolutely terrible. But as with any console, there's a wide gulf between the top and bottom of the TG16 library and that gulf is filled with games that I'd never heard of until recently. One that jumped out immediately, for what I would hope would be fairly obvious reasons, was Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu. Yes, that Jackie Chan.

I'm not going to lie, I thought this was a fan-made game when I first saw it online, like a passion project some hardcore gamer put together and took the extra step of releasing in physical form. But nope, it's a real thing. And I don't even have the whole "it was a TG16 game" excuse for having never heard of it, because it actually released for the NES first in 1990. Odd how it was an afterthought on a console everyone had, but here we are. Jackie Chan himself needs no introduction, he's a certified movie legend, appearing in a variety of action and comedy films, and many more that blend the two genres. By the 1990's, he had already racked up hundreds of film credits, both in the west and his native Hong Kong, everything from being an extra as a child to starring in films he also wrote and produced. In 1991, he even scored the role of the Beast in the Mandarin dub of "Beauty and the Beast," which I think is kind of weird but also cool. I guess it makes sense that there would exist a game based on Jackie Chan's films, but I do think it's kind of odd that there's a game based on, just, Jackie Chan. But alas, here we are. And while it wasn't anything spectacular, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu was a solid platformer that offered a decent amount of challenge coupled with surprisingly strong presentation.

Developed by Now Productions and published by Hudson Soft, JCAKF puts you in the role of, who else, Jackie Chan as he sets off on a quest to rescue his sister. You will fight through five levels, each with a boss at the end, battling a wide variety of enemies and avoiding environmental hazards. Anyone who has played a side scrolling platformer from this era will know exactly what to expect, you run, you jump and you fight enemies as you move left to right towards the end of the level. You have five continues, with more earnable via bonus games, to get through. Lose them all and it's back to the beginning. Of course, you aren't ill equipped for the challenge, you are playing as the world's greatest martial arts stuntman after all. Jackie has a wide variety of punches and kicks at his disposal, as well as a super charged fireball attack that will destroy anything it touches. He can also learn special attacks via powerups, from a spinning kick to a sweep attack to an upward strike for taking out airborne opponents. These have limited uses though and you can only have one at a time. The powerups are relatively easy to find, you will almost always have a special attack at the ready and health seems to be relatively easy to come by. You get powerups by, and I'm not making this up, punching frogs, who appear alongside enemies. The enemies drop orbs, which will give you an extra life if you collect enough.

First and foremost, I think the game looks great. The kind of chibi-esque, big head version of Jackie Chan is hilarious and the goofy looking enemies further add to the lighthearted vibe. The stages all look nice as well, though the backgrounds are a little bit blander than what you might see in a typical 4th generation platformer. Some of the bosses look truly spectacular, they are super detailed and while they don't have a lot of animation, the ones they do have are well done. Again, the TG16 continues to impress me with its graphical capabilities, it lacks the processing power of the Mega Drive or the scrolling and scaling capabilities of the SNES, but it has a style all its own and there are a lot of instances where its sprites seem like they look cleaner than what you would see on its more popular brethren. I can tell you this, this version of JCAKF damn sure looks better than the NES version, though I guess that's to be expected. The sound is alright too, it's nothing special but it's of decent quality and really fits the atmosphere. I might have expected the developers to go the more gritty, intense route when creating a game based around Jackie Chan, it felt like he was doing more serious action movies in the late 80's and early 90's. But the more comedy-sided version of Chan fit surprisingly well for a platformer.

The level design isn't anything special here, but it doesn't actively detract from the game either. You have mostly long, flat levels with the occasional platform or branching path thrown in. Some paths are more difficult than others but lead to greater rewards. It's the same as it is, was and always will be in games like this. The enemy placement is really strong here and JCAKF probably does this better than most of these kinds of games. Sometimes enemies are placed in a way where you have to actually think about how you are going to take them out, while other times they are kind of served up to you as fodder. There are also plenty of times where you will be in 50/50 situations as well, so it's a good variety. Sometimes it's a little difficult to hit flying enemies and the hit detection isn't the best, but that's often offset by fact that you almost always have the required tools at your disposal. I also think the frequency of powerups is just about perfect. There isn't too much health, but there's just enough that the game doesn't feel oppressive. You can't just spam your special moves, but you don't really have to be stingy with them either. Again, these all seem like small things, but they are all critically important in 2D platformers.

Of course, JCAKF has plenty of flaws, a few of which keep it from reaching elite 90's platformer status. First and foremost, the controls were a major issue for me. I don't know if I would call them bad, but they were extremely stiff and often felt like a chore to work with. This wasn't typically an issue when fighting, but it was definitely noticeable in platforming. Having to make one or two jumps was usually okay, but any stage that involved anything more than that was an absolute bear. As I mentioned previously, hit detection was a bit of an issue, especially with smaller enemies. You had to hit what felt like dead center to do anything to them. It wasn't as big an issue with the larger enemies, but even there it made judging distance a challenge and I took a lot of hits I felt like I really shouldn't have. I also don't like that enemies that take multiple attacks to defeat don't get on-hit invincibility for very long. This sounds like it should be an advantage, but I very frequently hit an enemy and then got hit by them before I could strike again. The game is also relatively short, even for an early 90's platformer. The five levels are fairly long, but there are still only five of them and they do kind of start to run together after a while. These aren't game breaking flaws, but they are definitely serious and I feel like they held back what could have been a great game.

I can't call JCAKF great, but it's definitely good and its graphics and presentation are an outstanding representation of what the TG16 was capable of. Compare this to the NES version and it's night and day. It's certainly an interesting idea for a video game, of nothing else. If the controls were implemented a little better I think it would have gone down as, at the very least, a hidden gem. But even with stiff controls and finnicky hit detection it's still pretty solid. At minimum, JCAKF is an interesting curiosity that's worth a second look. Fans of old school 2D platformers will probably like this. Jackie Chan fans will definitely find something to enjoy, whether they prefer his more comedic or more action oriented work. It's probably not a game I'd revisit frequently, but it's a good, solid effort.

7/10