Game music of the day: Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu

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GR's ongoing tribute to the beloved world of videogame music

Game: Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu

Composer: Sinkon Kiyoshi

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Long before he became a viable Hollywood star via Rush Hour and Rumble in the Bronx, Jackie Chan starred in a colorful side-scroller for the NES, appropriately (and quite literally) titled Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu. Even on a system with a billion 2D action games, Jackie's brawler stood out with big chunky sprites and, obviously, a memorable 8-bit soundtrack.

The embedded song plays early, and always struck me as remarkably sad; the graphics are so vibrant and Jackie's face so emotive that you'd assume the music would be similarly upbeat. Yet here's this track, so somber and meloncholy in tone. Despite its potentially tear-inducing feel, it's still a sharp piece of NES music, and thankfully other songs are suitably chipper.

Unsurprisingly, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu has not appeared on Wii's Virtual Console. Between Hudson's dissolution and the license to Mr Chan's likeness, I wouldn't expect this to ever pop up again. A shame, really, as it's a perfectly fun game and not at all some long-lost, unplayable relic a modern celebrity would want to bury. Maybe... some day?

Brett Elston
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.