Most likely, you all know Jackie Chan and love him dearly for his movies, but for the sake of clarity, here's a short recap. Jackie Chan is one of the world's most famous action stars, having starred and produced in over 100 movies since the mid 70's. Born April 7th, 1954 in Hong Kong, he started his martial arts and Chinese opera training at the age of 6 under the eye of Master Yu Jim Yuen. It was his training here that gave him his unmatched skills in acrobatics and martial arts which eventually led him to become a member of the 7 Little Fortunes, a touring group consisting of other famous classmates like Sammo Hung (Martial Law, Magnificent Butcher), Yuen Biao (Prodigal Son, Wheels on Meals) and Yuen Wah (Kung Fu Hustle, Eastern Condors). He and the others eventually found work as stuntmen, and Jackie can be seen in Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury with Bruce Lee, being killed by Lee himself. As the 80's rolled on, Chan found his own audience with his unique mixture of comedy, action and incredible stunts with hits like Drunken Master, Wheels on Meals, Project A and Armour of God. He wasn't noticed by mainstream audiences in the US until 1996, with Rumble In The Bronx, and since then, he has enjoyed super stardom worldwide, and is to this day a box office draw all over the world. In Asia, and Japan particularly, Chan was already a superstar in the early 80s. At any given time, you would find endless amounts of Jackie Chan merchandise, be it his cantopop cds, photobooks, posters, gum or male underwear with his name on it. It should come as no surprise that there were quite a few video games based on him and his likeness, but very little is actually known about them to the wide public, mostly because of the obscurity and varying quality. The man has appeared across many consoles, from PC-88, to Playstation 2. Let's take a look at them and see how they hold up to the trademark style of Chan.

Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu (NES) Jackie Chan The Kung Fu Master (Arcade)

Canon Ball 2 - PC-88 (1984)

The very first game to be based on Jackie Chan is Cannon Ball 2 on PC-88. The game is inspired by the 1984 all-star movie Cannonball Run II. The game is a simple arcade racer popular at the time where you drive upwards avoiding other cars along the way. As in the movie, the primary goal is to race across America in an illegal cross-country race, and you must pick up fuel tanks along the road before you run out. There is also a timer on the top right ticking down as you go along the straight roads of the USA. While some might find it a stretch that this game would be based on Jackie in particular seeing the movie itself starred so many famous contemporary figures, the movie was promoted as a Jackie Chan movie in Japan, and Pony Canyon had the rights to Chan's image, even though the game itself makes no mention of him. The game itself is near impossible to find, and while it's a novelty for some, it's probably one that should just be ignored. I couldn't find any disk image of this title, but a few Japanese websites indicates that the game was pretty unplayable, with choppy gameplay and little action.

Canon Ball II (PC-88)

Jackie Chan in PROJECT A - MSX (1984)

Title Screen

Jackie Chan in PROJECT A (MSX)

Pony Canyon made their first real efforts of porting Chan's amazing action into a video game with Project A, based on the movie with the same name released in 1983. In the movie, Chan plays Dragon Ma, a marine police officer in Hong Kong. The seas of Hong Kong have been infested with pirates, and Ma leads his squad to stop the swashbucklers once and for all. However, because of the tension between the Police and Marines, fights between them breaks out and Ma is forced to go on his own to stop them, and eventually gets the support from his comrades and bitter police counterparts. While the movie was groundbreaking at its time for the incredible stuntwork, martial arts action and production values unheard of in a Hong Kong movie, the game is sadly not as breathtaking. You control Ma as he infliltrates the cave of the pirate king San-Po, which is taken from the final act of the movie faithfully enough. The game plays a bit like Karateka, as you walk along left to right, fighting pirates and flying bats. On the screen, the Kaizoku (Pirate) counter displays how many are left on that stage. The biggest problem is the incredibly stiff controls. Like Karateka and IK+, you push directions to do different moves. You have the standard punch, kick, and a Double Dragon 2-style back-kick for when you fight multiple pirates from both sides. Here lies another problem - you get gang raped by the pink boat boarders constantly, and your timing must be spot on to hit them. The bats fly at different altitudes and come at you at the same time, leading you to be swarmed by them as well. When you face the pirates, the sprites start flickering and you have no control over where they are or how many you are fighting at once, and you'll find yourself dying without knowing exactly what happened. Once you have knocked down the pirates, you have to duck down and stab them for them to die. This finishing touch is taken from the movie where Yuen Biao ambushes the pirates and stabs them to death. It certainly isn't much to look at either, which is to be expected by MSX 1 standards. There are only 2 short jingles, one for the start of each level, and one for each time you die, both highly simplistic and lasting 4-5 seconds each. The graphics are incredibly simple, and other than the title screen, there's not much here telling you that you are indeed controlling Chan himself. There's not much fun to be had with the severe flaws to both the controls and gameplay. Being the first Jackie Chan game, it sure ain't pretty.

Jackie Chan in PROJECT A (MSX) Jackie Chan in PROJECT A (MSX)

Jackie Chan in Spartan X - MSX (1984)

MSX Cover

Title Screen

Jackie Chan in Spartan X (MSX)

Wheels on Meals, a fan favorite among most Jackie Chan fans, was released in Japan as Spartan-X. The movie takes place in Barcelona, as Thomas (Jackie) and David (Yuen Biao) are working as fast food vendors on the streets of Spain. They operate from a futuristic yellow van which can transform into a small road shop, and enjoy their simple lives. This gets turned upside down however when their mutual friend Moby (Sammo Hung) is searching for a woman named Sylvia, who ends up in their house. What they don't know is that Sylvia's family is after her to steal her secret heritage. Again, it's debateable if Pony Canyon actually got any of this translated into a video game. Using the same engine as Project A, you still use the different directions to do different moves, though now the arsenal is more beefed up, and the game displays how to do the different moves on the title screen. They did add a new section to the gameplay however. The beginning of the game has Jackie turned into a Ninja Turtle running towards the castle Sylvia is being held at. As you run the 10KM in less than 2 minutes, you meet ongoing motorbikes trying to run you down. This is taken from the beginning of the movie where Jackie and Biao fight of a bike gang making trouble on the streets of Barcelona, but boy did they stretch it here. The scenery consists of green grass and trees, and why Jackie is running while in the movie there is plenty of scenes of them racing their van, raises some questions about the design choices in this game. The fighting parts are a bit more responsive this time, and the background is more interesting, but not by alot. While Project A only had a straight white line and some ridges, this game features more details inside the castle, and you fight the enemies one at the time. The enemies you fight are based on the badies from the movie, Benny Urquidez, Keith Vitali and the sword wielding Jose Sancho. It ain't video game magic just yet, but it's an improvement over Project A in pretty much every way. It also features some pretty bland in game music during the fights, but it's hardly memorable.

Jackie Chan in Spartan X (MSX) Jackie Chan in Spartan X (MSX)

Spartan X / Kung Fu - Arcade/NES/Famicom (1984)