Kung-Fu Master was a super popular arcade game in the early 80s and is one of the first examples of a side-scrolling beat ‘em up.  I remember seeing it everywhere in arcades back then, and the port on the NES was also fairly big.  If you like that style of game, you may want to check out Xiaomei and the Flame Dragon’s Fist on Switch and PC (reviewed on Switch here).  It’s like a 16-bit upgrade to Kung-Fu Master.  Two marital artists, Xiaomei and her sister Xiaoyin are training to master two techniques.  Xiaoyin is mastering the Dark Dragon Fist while Xiaomei learns the Flame Dragon’s Fist.  Xiaoyin becomes jealous of Xiaomei’s mastery of the art.  So when Xiaoyin goes missing and trouble starts brewing from the mountain where the Dark Dragon resides, Xiaomei sets off to find her sister and defeat whatever evils come her way.

If you’ve every played Kung-Fu Master, you’ll know what to expect here as gameplay is exactly the same.  Even the placement of your energy bar and stage markers are in the same place!  Xiaomei can punch with one button and kick with the other.  Press up to jump and you can also use a limited special attack.  Fend off waves of enemies that are also just like the ones in Kung-Fu Master, including the guys that run up to you in packs of three, spear throwers (instead of knife tossers), and tiny dudes.  At the end of each stage is a boss and you must defeat them to move onto the next stage.  The levels are at least a little varied in the backgrounds, as the first is a bamboo forest although the second stage looks exactly like the temple from Kung-Fu-Master.

The main problem I had with this one is that it’s just too darn hard!  Even on the Easy setting, I could barely get to stage 2. Hit detection felt a little off and there was too many flying enemies. Granted I was never good at Kung-Fu Master either, but I remember it being better than this.  You can unlock a mode where you can play as her sister Xiaoyin but you have to beat the game first with Xiaomei so that’ll never happen with me!  But if you miss games like Kung-Fu Master you may want to check this one out.

Kid Factor:

Xiaomei and the Flame Dragon’s Fist is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  You can punch and kick bad guys who just fall off the screen with an “argh” as do you when you lose all your energy.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary just to play.  Younger gamers may find it too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews