Shoryuken!... beat her.
Yie Ar Kung-Fu is an early Fighting Game released in 1985 by Konami. It pioneered many aspects now familiar in fighting games including health bars, opponents of various fighting styles, and female fighters. The game was ported to many video game consoles, with special porting, albeit with lesser, different and new set of characters, being made for MSX and NES.
A Beat 'em Up sequel, Yie Ar Kung-Fu II: The Emperor Yie-Gah (Emperor Yie-Gah's Counterattack), was released in 1986.
Tropes used in Yie Ar Kung-Fu:
- Acrofatic: Buchu and his NES/MSX counterpart Mu/Wu are rather large men who regularly attack with flying tackles.
- Action Girl: Star/Lang and Fan are the first female fighters in fighting game history.
- Bald of Evil: Some opponents the players face are bald.
- Bilingual Bonus:
- A voice (Oolong?) says "xiè xiè" ("thank you" in Chinese) upon getting an extra life. Buchu says "nǐ hǎo" ("hello" in Chinese) when he receives a groin attack. "Yie Ar" from the title is Chinese for "one two."
- Blues seems like an odd name for the final boss until you realize that Blues is pronounced "buruusu" in Japanese. Another name that is pronounced the same way is Bruce.
- Boss Game:
- In the first, only Oolong is selectable. On the GBA version, you can be all of the bosses in multiplayer.
- Subverted in the second game which is a beat-em'up with mooks.
- Boss Warning Siren: Played with in the second game. The boss names are shown as you progress the stages fighting the mooks, but the bosses themselves don't show up till you reach the last part of the stages. If you reach that part, the music will change as you face the bosses.
- Bruce Lee Clone: Lee resembles Bruce Lee, especially on the arcade cabinet, and on the cover art of some console versions.
- Combat Hand Fan: Fan, the eighth opponent in the first game, attacks by throwing hand fans that have an annoying ability to follow your movements.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The CPU is notorious for having the opponent just avoid Oolong's attacks and get in two or three hits before the player can react.
- The Computer Shall Taunt You: Nuncha will randomly twirl his nunchucks and strike a pose, leaving him open to attack. To a lesser extent, Pole/Wang always twirls his staff above his head before going into an attack sequence, but he will move of the player tries to attack.
- Dark Action Girl: Lan Fang and Mei Ling in the second game.
- Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: With actual kung fu and Chinese weapons, to boot.
- Fat Bastard: Buchu/Mu/Wu are rather large men. Also, Tao in the MSX/NES ports.
- Gasshole: Po Chin in the second game attacks with gas clouds.
- Groin Attack: Any attack that hits Buchu's crotch causes his eyes to bug out and he says "nǐ hǎo."
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: How nearly every opponent fights.
- Improbable Use of a Weapon: Fan and Lan Fang constantly uses paper fans as projectiles.
- Mad Bomber: Han Chen in the second game throws bombs.
- Mirror Boss: Blues uses the same fighting style as Oolong.
- My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: The final boss, Blues, has the same moves as Oolong, including his high jumps.
- Not Quite Flight: Oolong/Lee and Blues can jump very high. Buchu/Mu/Wu can do a flying tackle that defies both his physique and physics in general.
- Paper Fan of Doom: Fan's weapon of choice. Also, Lan Fang in the second game.
- Playing with Fire: Tao in the MSX/NES versions shoots fire balls.
- Prehensile Hair: Yen Pei has his hair in a braid in a classic Chinese fashion in which he fights solely using it in a fashion of Chen's chain attacks.
- Punny Name: Blues is a similar name to Bruce Lee.
- Revenge of the Sequel: The Japanese title for the second game is called Emperor Yie-Gah's Counterattack: Yie Ar Kung Fu II.
- Set Swords to "Stun": Sword's, er, sword does just as much damage as any other weapon or martial art.
- Shock and Awe: Li Jen, the Final Boss in the second game, is a wizard who fights you hand-to-hand while lightning bolts rain down from above.
- SNK Boss: Blues, the final boss, is the only opponent who can jump like Oolong. This makes him really hard to hit.
- Theme Naming: Opponents are usually named after the weapon he/she uses. In fact, the only exceptions are the unarmed fighters: Oolong, Buchu, Feedle, and Blues.
- Took a Level in Badass: So to speak. The first and weakest enemy of most versions of the original game, Buchu, is the strongest enemy of the MSX and NES versions, under the name Mu.
- Trope Maker: First fighting game to feature health bars, fighting to a KO, characters using different fighting styles, female fighters, groin attacks, changing music when health is low, and more than one win pose.
- Variable-Length Chain: Chain/Chen, like his name suggests, uses an extending chain.
- Victory Pose: The first fighting game to feature more than one for certain characters.
- Villain Protagonist: You can play as Yen Pei, Lan Fang or Po Chin in the second game's two-player mode.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Nuncha is the first opponent to pose a real challenge.
- Would Hit a Girl: Oolong must defeat two women during the game.
