Vault 1541: Jackie Chan: The Digitized Dragon

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Jackie Chan: The Digitized Dragon

Happy birthday to martial arts movie star Jackie Chan who turns 66 today. I'm a fan of his movies and own more than 60 of them between VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and digital platforms, but surprisingly I've only played one of of his games and at the time had no idea it was related to a Chan movie. That would be the Data East arcade classic Kung-Fu Master that is known as Spartan X in Japan, and that's also the Japanese title of the film known in North America as Wheels on Meals which stars Jackie (plus Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao). However, other than the Japanese title the only thing the game and movie have in common are character names. Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu for the TurboGrafx-16 (TG16) and Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and the PlayStation title Jackie Chan's Stuntmaster are probably his best known console games. Those are also the games I have reviews of below.

There are Game Boy Advance (GBA) and PlayStation 2 (PS2) games based on the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures as well, though the PS2 game did not release in the U.S. The GBA has a game based on Around the World in 80 Days too where players control Jackie's character Passeportout (I do have a sealed copy of this one but don't own a GBA!). Other games include five MSX computer titles based on Chan's films and the arcade game The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan (1995) which was later updated under the title Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire. Lastly, Jackie has (or had) a Facebook game and a couple of games on the XaviXPORT. If you're unfamiliar with the XaviXPORT, it's a console with motion controls that debuted in 2004 with a strong focus on sports and physical fitness.

Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu
One review is for the 1990 NES game and three are for the TG16 version that released in 1992. I'm not certain if the levels are the same but the story is slightly different on each platform. In the NES game the Jackie character needs to rescue his sister Josephine from the Prince of Sorcerers. On TG16 the game has Jackie fighting to rescue his girlfriend Josephine from an evil power.