I like Kung Fu Master best, especially the excellent NES / Famicom port, but I suspect most posters will prefer Splatterhouse, and Kung Fu Master will be a distant third place.
I remember playing Kung-Fu and Rush n’ Attack on the NES round my mate’s after school on many afternoons. Used to watch TMHT and stay for dinner... beans on toast with a big glass of coke.
but I suspect most posters will prefer Splatterhouse, and Kung Fu Master will be a distant third place.
My guess is that Splatterhouse will easily win, with Kung-Fu Master in 2nd place. I don't think Vigilante is a very popular game, but I might be surprised. The Amiga version is pretty good, but also really tough like Kung-Fu Master.
Kung Fu Master was one of the games I was best at in the arcade - could get to the end of the fourth level, where I lost all my lives. That was still good enough to draw a few onlookers in the 80s. It wasn't until years later that I learned how to beat the boss. I think I even started a thread on here about how to do it. It got no replies, but I eventually stumbled across the solution.
Kung-Fu Master is an amazing game, and remember you've got four years of arcade evolution between that and the other games.
The thing I love about Kung-Fu Master is that it's clearly Bruce Lee and it's ripping off Game of Death where Bruce Lee ascends a pagoda of enemies with differing skillsets, but the game is called Spartan X in Japan, the localised name of the excellent Wheels on Meals starring Jackie Chan.
Obviously, the music is amazing from the opening introductions as you read poor Silvia's kidnap note (diddle dee diddle dee dur dur, diddle dee diddle dee dur, diddle dee diddle dee dur dur, DUR DUR) through to the dramatic tune in the halls of the Devils's Temple.
Although calling him a Kung-Fu "master" is stretching things a little. He can punch, kick, duck kick or jump kick against an army of burly men who just want a cuddle or falling plant pots.
Vigilante is also great and is a visually stunning update of Kung Fu Master.
The weapons are a great addition and the nunchucks are one of my favourite video game versions.
I also like the big biker who shouts "C'mown!"
Ultimately, I'm going to go for Splatterhouse.
Initially, my love of Jason Voorhees and the ridiculous Friday the 13th series drew me to it, but watching other people play revealed loads of little tips and tricks.
If you duck kick on the level with the boss with a sack on his head and chainsaws for hands ("how does he have a wee?" "Very carefully"), you can juggle the two shotguns you find and save the ammo for him.
If you duck in the sewer level, there's a hidden stick under water.
Move to the farthest left and duck kick, you can clear the room with the maggots.
It's only certain mirrors that spawn your doppelganger. (If you're playing an evil psychopath, is your mirror equivalent a good guy?)
The possessed dining room can be tackled in a certain order.
It was also an unexpected level of gore that I'd never seen before in a video game.
Heads get decapitated with a blood spurt, enemies splatter against the back wall as you wallop them with a stick, maggots burst out of hung corpses and so on. Yikes!
This, of course, was never quite carried over to the LCD version!
One thing, I never got was the plot. Are you trying to save your girlfriend or are you a murderer, willing to kill your victim at any cost?
For me, it's impossible to choose 1 of these since they all hold special memories from different times, places and situations.
They are all great games though and I loved playing them all equally.
I prefer the *vibe* of Vigilante better, it feels industrial and badass and I've always been a sucker for the atmospheric urban backgrounds and vivid cloudscapes.
I prefer the *vibe* of Vigilante better, it feels industrial and badass and I've always been a sucker for the atmospheric urban backgrounds and vivid cloudscapes.
I remember liking it back in the day in the arcades and on the Amiga. It doesn't seem to get mentioned much when people talk about scrolling beat 'em ups, probably because it's not like Final Fight and Streets of Rage. And it's also a tough game until you get used to it. The gritty industrial atmosphere really screams 80s action movie.
I prefer the *vibe* of Vigilante better, it feels industrial and badass and I've always been a sucker for the atmospheric urban backgrounds and vivid cloudscapes.
I'm with the verbal wanderer on this one. There was something special about Vigilante. I adored both the MS and PCE versions. Splatter house is a fun if weirdly paced game, but back in the day kung-fu master was unsurpassed, though as mentioned already it was released waaaaay before the others.
I always felt like Vigilante was a stunted version of KFM in terms of gameplay, it's very similar but much more leaden and slow in feel. But that's why it feels the way it does! It's classic, iconic, badass feel.
KFM def the quickest and most playable, I somehow can't fit the awesome Splatterhouse into this equation, I see it more as a founding member of a great series of games.
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