MAME Club [3/1/04] - Yie-Ar Kung-Fu

[Flack]

Greetings all! Along with the Emulation Forum duties I've also inherited the MAME Club. The club seems to be doing fine, I'm only doing to make two minor, minor changes. New entries will be posted every Monday morning, and I changed the post header to include the date. Other than that, everything's the same! Unfortunately, due to the short notice I don't have this week's choice, so I'm going to make a command decision and pick one of my favorite videogames of all time: Konami's Yie-Ar Kung-Fu! Next week we'll pick up where we left off with ECWSandmanECW's choice.

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/Y/wYie_Ar_Kung-Fu.png

This week's game was chosen by me. The next person on the MAME Club list will get to choose their game the coming week and must PM me with the chosen title by Friday night at the very latest.

When writing your review, post it right here in the sticky topic and include any thoughts you have about the game. It would also be nice to let us know other aspects of the emulation. Here are some things that would be good to know:

Did you like/dislike the game? Why?
What type of machine are you running it on? Specs?
What version of Mame?
How long did it take you to beat it? Score?

Again, YOU are the reviewer. Let us know anything and everything you think about the game!

A download for this game will be posted shortly!

Club Members

Gamereviewgod
Wisesalesman
scooterb23
ddockery
AlanD
digitalpress
IntvGene
NE146
jonjandran
Flack
IGotTheDot
zektor (me!)
buttasuperb
chadtower
Sotenga
Stark
ECWSandmanECW
christianscott27
TripppsK
vespertillio
ghsqb
TheSmirk
anotherfluke
BHvrd
ManekiNeko
MarioAllStar2600
Ze_ro
slip81
Qbert
k8track
Hamsnibit
Lady Jaye
Sofa King Gud
jgenotte
Schenley
Kaine23

Next week's picker: ECWSandmanECW!

[Sotenga]

SCORE! This is one of my more often played games off of Konami Arcade Classics, and what I feel like doing right now is ranting about the formidable gallery of foes that Oolong has to battle against.

Buchu: Heh... flying fat man. He ain't so tough. I know I'm not the only one that likes giving him a nice, well-directed punch and/or kick to the nads. :D

Star: Yeah, so she can throw sharp projectiles. So she's kinda hard. Did you know that you could hit her stars, and although neither of you would take damage for doing so, when you hit one, she trembles as if she was hit directly? Odd...

Nuncha: Show-off. You can get a free hit off on the bastich in the opening if you work fast enough. And no, you cannot steal his weapon. That would be cool. Yeah.

Pole: I don't like this midget. He's got too much reach. But I can trap him if he jumps back and forth. And no, you can't steal his weapon either. Maybe in a sequel to Yie-Ar Kung Fu? And yes, I know there were two games on the MSX.

Feedle: a.k.a "The Feebles," you should quit the game and step away from the screen if you lose to this gang of "one-hit wonders," thusly named because they only take one hit.

Chain: I often like to get hit with this guy's chain, then walk towards him with the chain still extended. I lay the smackdown on him afterwards. And no, you can't grab HIS weapon either.

Club: This guy's beard really makes him look like a communist for some reason... well, his full name's probably "Club Shield," because he's got a shield too. Low attacks only. No, you can't grab his club. Why do I want to grab weapons?

Fan: She's pretty easy. For some reason, you can walk under her deadly fans easily, and just walk right up and perform a boot to the head, Tae Kwon Leap style.

Sword: Nope, not even going to suggest grabbing his weapon. Just beat him up. Nice Elvis suit he's got there. Seriously, he looks like Elvis with a beard and a sword.

Tonfun: The guy no one likes. I actually think Blues is more of a pain. I just jump back and forth, hitting him shall he come near. I wish I had tonfa sticks.

Blues: GRARGH! F U, man! You die! EEEEEEEEVIL! :angry:

I love this game. Better than Karate Champ, IMO. :)

[Flack]

The first time I saw Yie-Ar Kung-Fu was in 1985 at Yukon on Wheels, my local skating rink. No matter how easy or hard you think the game may be, it's more difficult when you're wearing roller skates.

As far as I'm concerned, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu set the mold for fighting games for years to come. You play the oddly named Oolong. Your opponents consist of ten different warriors with ten different weapons that you must fight one at a time. Buchu and Star are fairly easily defeated, but Pole and Nuncha have a way of trapping you against the side and pummeling your face with wood until you're on your back, legs twitching.

Yie-Ar Kung-Fu is one of the few arcade games I've ever actually beaten, a feat which I can usually do on one quarter. That doesn't stop me from playing it over and over again. It's a classic and a favorite of mine. Besides MAME, YAKF also appears on the NES, PSX (Konami Classics), and C64, among others. The C64 version gets heavy rotation on my GP32.

[Gamereviewgod]

Well, Cuewarrior will be happy. :P

I'll chime in later this week with thoughts.....I've never actually played it! :embarrassed:

[IntvGene]

This is another great game from Konami at the time (1985), and although I never played it in the arcades, it gets some decent rotation on MAME. Is there any similarity to Oolong and the character from another of Konami's arcade games, Shao-Lin's Road? They look identical to me, at least. Do they run off of similar boards?

It's a very fun game. I wish that they were a little more original with the names of the enemies. I mean, why put the giant question mark under the guy who's name is Sword? :-P

I don't know if I like Karate Champ or this better.. they're different games, but both very good and key to the development of the fighting genre. I can't stand fighting Star and Club.. they're the ones I hate the most.

If anyone needs the ROM, I think you can find it here:
http://webkey.kemuland.com/key/yiear.zip

[Ze_ro]

Well, this is good timing... I just picked up Konami's Arcade Advanced for the GBA a few weeks ago, and this is one of the games on it. Anyone know how faithful this port is?

I've always sucked at this game, but I don't think I ever took the time to really get any good at it (Mostly due to IK+ on the C-64... competing with that is a tough match for any game). I've never been able to beat the guy with the nunchucks, since he seems to always be slightly out of range from me, yet knocks me senseless anyways.

I always thought the jumping was rather annoying too, since you always flew way over the other person's head.

--Zero

[Flack]

In later rounds, the key is jumping. Pole, for example, will smack you continually while out of reach for your attacks. Get in the corner and you'll get "polled" in the corner right to your death. You'll have to keep jumping over and over. Eventually, you'll land right next to him -- then it's time for a quick kick and get the heck outta there.

It's funny, Yie-Ar Kung-Fu and Karate Champ are two completely different games, but now both of those genres have kind of merged. All fighting games now allow you to either fight your way through a list of unique enemies, or allow two people to fight against each other.

[Sofa King Gud]

I can't beat Tonfun! The rest of the guys were easy, but now I'm agrivated with him. When you look at his name, you'll notice Not bacwards, then fun. Not fun! Yet, this game is far from being anywhere near "not fun", for I find it a real great classic, with actual tactical fighting. But geez Tonfun!!! :angry:

[Sotenga]

I can't beat Tonfun! The rest of the guys were easy, but now I'm agrivated with him. When you look at his name, you'll notice Not bacwards, then fun. Not fun! Yet, this game is far from being anywhere near "not fun", for I find it a real great classic, with actual tactical fighting. But geez Tonfun!!! :angry:

You have tried the "ping-pong" strategy, I assume? If not, then what I do to waste this biotch is just keep jumping back and forth, back and forth, just keep doing so until he comes close enough and you see a window of opportunity to attack. Then hit him with a good move with a long reach (the crouching kick or standing low kick is recommended) whenever you can. This strategy requires much patience. You can sometimes jump for about fifteen times in a row or so before you can even touch him, but it will work if you persist.

And if you have tried this, you're screwed, give up, you can't win. LOL

Kidding over there. Maybe the game just hates you. :P

[ECWSandmanECW]

The dentist I went to when I was 7 , had this game in his game room. I got up to Pole and died. Ill try to beat him tomorrow.

[Sofa King Gud]

I can't beat Tonfun! The rest of the guys were easy, but now I'm agrivated with him. When you look at his name, you'll notice Not bacwards, then fun. Not fun! Yet, this game is far from being anywhere near "not fun", for I find it a real great classic, with actual tactical fighting. But geez Tonfun!!! :angry:

You have tried the "ping-pong" strategy, I assume? If not, then what I do to waste this biotch is just keep jumping back and forth, back and forth, just keep doing so until he comes close enough and you see a window of opportunity to attack. Then hit him with a good move with a long reach (the crouching kick or standing low kick is recommended) whenever you can. This strategy requires much patience. You can sometimes jump for about fifteen times in a row or so before you can even touch him, but it will work if you persist.

And if you have tried this, you're screwed, give up, you can't win. LOL

Kidding over there. Maybe the game just hates you. :P

Let us just say, I am not the most patient guy around. LOL
Alright here I go... Playing...
........................
Totally whupped his arse on the second try! 8-)
Now for Blues...
........................
Impossible! I get him down to 3 or less everytime, and then he starts to cheat, and pin me in mid air, and take 6 kicks in a row and hit me with all of them! It also seems that everytime I kick him high, I am the one really getting hurt/hit. Of course, all last bosses cheat somewhat, but this guy is unbeatable!

[ManekiNeko]

Love that game! It's one of the most charming and fun tournament fighters I've played, although the gameplay is admittedly primitive by Virtua Fighter or Street Fighter II standards. I still can't beat the last boss Blues, although believe me, I've tried. And tried, and tried, and tried.

If you liked Yie-Ar Kung Fu, try the spin-off Kicker (aka Shao-Lin's Gate)! It's packed with more martial arts mayhem than a dozen cheesy kung fu flicks.

JR

[Sotenga]

I can't beat Tonfun! The rest of the guys were easy, but now I'm agrivated with him. When you look at his name, you'll notice Not bacwards, then fun. Not fun! Yet, this game is far from being anywhere near "not fun", for I find it a real great classic, with actual tactical fighting. But geez Tonfun!!! :angry:

You have tried the "ping-pong" strategy, I assume? If not, then what I do to waste this biotch is just keep jumping back and forth, back and forth, just keep doing so until he comes close enough and you see a window of opportunity to attack. Then hit him with a good move with a long reach (the crouching kick or standing low kick is recommended) whenever you can. This strategy requires much patience. You can sometimes jump for about fifteen times in a row or so before you can even touch him, but it will work if you persist.

And if you have tried this, you're screwed, give up, you can't win. LOL

Kidding over there. Maybe the game just hates you. :P

Let us just say, I am not the most patient guy around. LOL
Alright here I go... Playing...
........................
Totally whupped his arse on the second try! 8-)
Now for Blues...
........................
Impossible! I get him down to 3 or less everytime, and then he starts to cheat, and pin me in mid air, and take 6 kicks in a row and hit me with all of them! It also seems that everytime I kick him high, I am the one really getting hurt/hit. Of course, all last bosses cheat somewhat, but this guy is unbeatable!

Hmm, Blues... now that guy, I can't give you a set strategy for. Being the final opponent in a fighting game, yes, he is cheap. The only move I can recommend is the split punch. (down/away and punch) For some reason, he seems to be susceptible to this technique, even moreso than the crouching kick. After you drain half of his life (four hits), he does become ultra-cheese, not falling for the ping-pong strategy at all, but until you hit him four times, go ping-pong. When it comes down to that point... all I can say is that it comes down to pure attrition. Crotch-punch him like there's no tomorrow, and with a dash of luck, you will have conquered your rival, and will bask in the glory of the beautifully animated FMV ending sequence that shows what went on behind the scenes... you can distinguish a young Jackie Chan in a motion capture suit, and yes, this is unabridged bullsh*t. You just get to fight everyone again at a higher difficulty, but keep in mind this game was made before endings in video games were well-known. LOL

I hope I have helped somehow. If not, I tried. If so, no need for thanks. :)

[scooterb23]

I loved this game growing up.

I beat it once I believe...every other time, Fan beat the crap out of me...for some reason I was never able to get my stuff together against her.

I shall try again tomorrow :)

[Ze_ro]

Crotch-punch him like there's no tomorrow, and with a dash of luck, you will have conquered your rival, and will bask in the glory of the beautifully animated FMV ending sequence that shows what went on behind the scenes... you can distinguish a young Jackie Chan in a motion capture suit, and yes, this is unabridged bullsh*t.

LOL

Actually, I always wondered if there were a game or two out there that were so ridiculously hard (or so completely crappy) that no one ever got to the end, and because of that, there was some amazing ending sequence out there that no one had ever got to see because it took so much time and effort to get that far.

I guess in this day and age though, every game has at least one obsessive fan who will actually manage to finish it.... and emulators with save-state, cheat/game genie support just make things easier.

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

You have tried the "ping-pong" strategy, I assume? If not, then what I do to waste this biotch is just keep jumping back and forth, back and forth, just keep doing so until he comes close enough and you see a window of opportunity to attack. Then hit him with a good move with a long reach whenever you can.

Wow, that works really well... I was finally able to beat Nuncha (and can now consistently destroy him).

I was able to beat Pole on the first try, but every time since, I've had trouble with him. He has a tendancy to hit me out of the air, and on a number of occaisions has actually hit me as I'm jumping, and then ran over and hit me as I was falling too! :angry:

Feedle was a joke.

Chain is a pain in the butt too. I got a pretty good rhythym going where I'd back off enough so that his chain couldn't hit me, then jump in and hit him with an attack or two, but I often end up trading hits, so it kind of comes down to sheer luck.

I've yet to beat Club... I can usually do some damage to him, but it's hard to jump in close since he seems to back off more consistently.

I'm still playing the GBA version though, so maybe some stuff was changed. I'll have to give the actual MAME version a try and see if there are any major differences.

--Zero

[Sofa King Gud]

I can't beat Tonfun! The rest of the guys were easy, but now I'm agrivated with him. When you look at his name, you'll notice Not bacwards, then fun. Not fun! Yet, this game is far from being anywhere near "not fun", for I find it a real great classic, with actual tactical fighting. But geez Tonfun!!! :angry:

You have tried the "ping-pong" strategy, I assume? If not, then what I do to waste this biotch is just keep jumping back and forth, back and forth, just keep doing so until he comes close enough and you see a window of opportunity to attack. Then hit him with a good move with a long reach (the crouching kick or standing low kick is recommended) whenever you can. This strategy requires much patience. You can sometimes jump for about fifteen times in a row or so before you can even touch him, but it will work if you persist.

And if you have tried this, you're screwed, give up, you can't win. LOL

Kidding over there. Maybe the game just hates you. :P

Let us just say, I am not the most patient guy around. LOL
Alright here I go... Playing...
........................
Totally whupped his arse on the second try! 8-)
Now for Blues...
........................
Impossible! I get him down to 3 or less everytime, and then he starts to cheat, and pin me in mid air, and take 6 kicks in a row and hit me with all of them! It also seems that everytime I kick him high, I am the one really getting hurt/hit. Of course, all last bosses cheat somewhat, but this guy is unbeatable!

Hmm, Blues... now that guy, I can't give you a set strategy for. Being the final opponent in a fighting game, yes, he is cheap. The only move I can recommend is the split punch. (down/away and punch) For some reason, he seems to be susceptible to this technique, even moreso than the crouching kick. After you drain half of his life (four hits), he does become ultra-cheese, not falling for the ping-pong strategy at all, but until you hit him four times, go ping-pong. When it comes down to that point... all I can say is that it comes down to pure attrition. Crotch-punch him like there's no tomorrow, and with a dash of luck, you will have conquered your rival, and will bask in the glory of the beautifully animated FMV ending sequence that shows what went on behind the scenes... you can distinguish a young Jackie Chan in a motion capture suit, and yes, this is unabridged bullsh*t. You just get to fight everyone again at a higher difficulty, but keep in mind this game was made before endings in video games were well-known. LOL

I hope I have helped somehow. If not, I tried. If so, no need for thanks. :)

Hey, thanks! But, now I must succeed... Here I go...
Nope, I give up... And I'm never playing it again. I wasted half an hour on Blues alone, and he cheated horribly every time. I've had enough! You've helped me, but there's nothing to do about a cheap boss like Blues.

[Sotenga]

Hey, thanks! But, now I must succeed... Here I go...
Nope, I give up... And I'm never playing it again. I wasted half an hour on Blues alone, and he cheated horribly every time. I've had enough! You've helped me, but there's nothing to do about a cheap boss like Blues.

G'damn... sorry to hear that. You know, I still can't knock out Igniz in King of Fighters 2001... okay, so I can win through a time-out victory, but I can't officially beat him, so I know what the feeling's like. But you're welcome anyway. I try, and if it don't work, then it's been said, and now it's done. It happens. Someday, I know you'll whomp Blues. Reach for the stars, Sofa. :)

EDITIDY-EDIT: I managed to beat Blues on my last life just about... five minutes ago. My original strategy is bunk, here's what to do. The ping-pong strategy only works until you hit him twice. From then on, allow him to walk towards you, then when he gets close enough, go for the split punch. Whether or not it connects, jump over him, then lure him to you again, and gofer the crotch punch. Repeat as necessary. See if this works. :)

[Sofa King Gud]

LOL
Maybe I'll continue to play... And btw, I have the game saved right at Blues, so I'm already sort of cheating. Oh well, I'll try that strategy, even though I was trying something similar to that...

Holy shiat, I beat it! You are my hero! :D Wow, I thought he had me pinned, but I jumped away, but he hit me while I was leaving over his head, sending me back in the way I came from, bouncing off the invisible side of the screen... LOL Then, I threw a high straight kick at his face, and I thought I would be pinned again, but instead I did that cool kick where he goes on his back and kicks up. And luckily, I hit him as he was trying to jump over me.
But, it happened so fast, it was crazy!
TAKE THAT BLUES! :P
It makes me like the game even more... :D

[Sotenga]

LOL
Maybe I'll continue to play... And btw, I have the game saved right at Blues, so I'm already sort of cheating. Oh well, I'll try that strategy, even though I was trying something similar to that...

Holy shiat, I beat it! You are my hero! :D Wow, I thought he had me pinned, but I jumped away, but he hit me while I was leaving over his head, sending me back in the way I came from, bouncing off the invisible side of the screen... LOL Then, I threw a high straight kick at his face, and I thought I would be pinned again, but instead I did that cool kick where he goes on his back and kicks up. And luckily, I hit him as he was trying to jump over me.
But, it happened so fast, it was crazy!
TAKE THAT BLUES! :P
It makes me like the game even more... :D

Eh, no need to thank me... just imparting what I know about the game. 8-)

Once again, cheers to Konami for this classic title... there were two MSX games, but neither of them kick as much ass as the original.

[Ze_ro]

I've yet to beat Club... I can usually do some damage to him, but it's hard to jump in close since he seems to back off more consistently.

Wouldn't you know it... right after I posted that, I went and gave it another try, and was able to get all the way to Blues! Tonfun didn't seem all that hard, and I almost got a perfect win against Fan. I was only able to get a couple of hits against Blues of course.

I really wish Konami would have been a little more imaginitive with the names :roll:

--Zero

[kainemaxwell]

First time I played Ye Air was on my NES multcart and loved it actually. Played the arcade game once, I think my rom set isn't working for it anymore though. :(

[Flack]

First time I played Ye Air was on my NES multcart and loved it actually. Played the arcade game once, I think my rom set isn't working for it anymore though. :(

http://members.cox.net/robohara/yiear.zip
http://members.cox.net/robohara/yiear2.zip

[kainemaxwell]

Thanks a bunch! maybe weekly someone can host the game of the week for MAME and NES Clubs?

[kainemaxwell]

Thanks a bunch! maybe weekly someone can host the game of the week for MAME and NES Clubs?

[Happy_Dude]

This game rocks. I have the actual Arcade board. :D
So if anyone knows where I can find a wiring harness ....... ;)

[Flack]

Thanks a bunch! maybe weekly someone can host the game of the week for MAME and NES Clubs?

Joe has offered to do this, I just didn't have time to get it to him (kind of a rush pick this week). I'll try and make sure future ones are online and link to them in the first post.

[kainemaxwell]

Ah, cool. I was wondering when someone would impliment that for both Clubs. I love being a member, but not having the rom/game and with many sites gone under makes it tough.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

This is one of the coolest games i´ve ever played, i spent a lot of hours in the NES and never played the Arcade version (only for MAME), the best character is Chain!!!