Commodore 64 Nostalgia: Kung-Fu II: Sticks of Death (or Caveat Emptor)
Despite the long name, I really don’t have all that much to say about Kung-Fu II: Sticks of Death as I barely remember it. To be honest, I didn’t remember it at all until I pulled out the “reference card” and looked up images online.
Cover Art Bait and Switch
I’m sure the reason that I don’t remember it is that this is one of the first games that I had that helped teach me caveat emptor (“Let the buyer beware”). If you look at the cover art of the game, it features a Bruce Lee “clone” fighting another man with a bo staff. As I was into martial arts, having taken karate, I was always on the lookout for martial arts inspired games. As my weapons were tonfa and the bo staff, this game seemed right up my alley.
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However, it was not be as the game, in truth, had little to do with modern day karatekas and ninjas than it does as an “ancient Egyptian brawler” where you fight ancient Egyptian men and “dog”-faced enemies. Very disappointing.
Fighting Warrior Conundrum
Okay, after researching this game for this post, I now understand why the game looks as it does–it truly was “bait and switch.” The game itself is called “Fighting Spirit” and is based on ancient Egyptian deities and monsters. It doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry, but apparently it was renamed for the American market. I’m assuming that the box art was attempt to cash in on the martial arts craze of the mid 80s with the popularity of movies like The Karate Kid.
As I didn’t really have the money in my allowance to subscribe to magazines per se (I just purchased them ad hoc every month and rarely the same type for variety’s sake), I wouldn’t have known that this game was not what it purported to be.
I barely remember playing it and what I do remember is that that it wasn’t very fun. And judging by the lack of buzz online (few YouTube videos, no Wikipedia entry, very few sites talking about it), it looks like I wasn’t the only one with that impression.
Sidney
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