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Kung-Fu Master (1988) - Easter Eggs
Rory Joscelyne • 29 July 2024
VGMP: DO NOT WATCH THIS TRASH
First things first - DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE.
Kung-Fu Master may have the licence for the game, and it may include a few scenes at Arcades, but the story is nothing to do with gaming - and the story it represents is a literal crime. A vile, vile crime.
With that out of the way, there are some interesting arcade machines visible throughout this film - all of which are here. So you have been saved from having to watch this vile garbage - and saving you the criminal act of watching it.
KUNG-FU MASTER
There are a few instances of the game being played. In the end the main male character completes the game and shows off the ending, where Thomas rescues Silvia. It even shows off the Engrish error, calling Thomas a "Kanfu Master".
SVT and POPEYE
The first time we come across is Kung-Fu Master, always housed within this generic "SVT" cabinet. We never see a copy of the game in a Kung-Fu Master cabinet. We also see Popeye in the background.
SPECTRUM
Not strictly an arcade game, but this was a cool close-up on the Spectrum pinball machine.
SUPER BREAKOUT and KARATECO JUNGLE
During one brief sequence (again all
these arcade segments are mega-brief as gaming is not the meaning of the movie, and they're being used for grooming a minor), we pass three arcade cabinets. Karateco Jungle on the right, Super Breakout is in the middle and a generic cabinet on the left.
SCORE and PUCMAN
During the arcade montage, we see two cabinets relatively clearly. There's SCORE on the left, which I couldn't find anything about online. The camera never goes higher than this, but I'm assuming Score the second half of a game name, or this is a generic cabinet for other games.
Of more interest is the cabinet behind the main actress. PucMan. That's not a spelling error, and it is what it sounds like. A very early Pac-Man cabinet that still bears the game's original title. I could not find any photos of this cabinet online, the closest was the original West-German release of the game which was named Puck-Man. Because this movie was made in 1988, and filmed in a generic French town, it appears one of these old French cabinets slipped through the net and remained in service - a piece of missing history recorded in this film by pure chance.
PANTHERA and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
A series of pinball machines, and a closeup of an unknown sci-fi game playing on a generic JVF cabinet.
UNKNOWN GAMES
Two arcade titles I am not knowledgeable enough to identify, playing on what appear to be generic arcade cabinets. If you can help us identify these cabinets, please let us know.
PUNCH-OUT, PAC-MAN
Nintendo legend Punch-Out and the much more recognisable Pac-Man cabinet are on display here.
ASTRO WARS, ROADBLASTERS and COLT 1986
We get a clearer view of this arcade selection. Astro Wars is a 1979 arcade machine, Roadblasters is a 1987 arcade machine - making it one of the most modern games visible in the movie.
Much more interesting is the arcade machine being played to camera right, with a man shooting the screen with a light gun. Zooming in on the marquee art shows either the name WOZ, WCZ or WGZ. I could not locate this cabinet - but this doesn't look like the sort of art you'd have on a generic cabinet. But
there is another mystery connected to this cabinet. With a sharp eye you can spot the title screen saying COLT 1986. When you look this up, it is a light-gun game that has no known artwork online. However it is
listed as a potential bootleg game, so perhaps it doesn't have one. Either way this small French arcade is housing a bootleg arcade game alongside a then-brand new Roadblasters cabinet.
OUTRUN FOOTAGE
We get a wonderfully clear shot of Outrun's attract mode. Outrun was only released in 1986 and would have been one of the most technologically advanced arcade machines available during the time of filming.
OUTRUN and KICK & RUN
We see the full sit-down Outrun cabinet being played - and the cabinet is in astonishingly good condition here. Likely a brand new purchase. There's also an alternate colour marquee for Karateco Jungle.
We also see a cabinet of Kick & Run just to the left of Outrun, and a generic arcade cabinet to the right called VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO.
BOMB JACK
We never see the full cabinet, but we do get this momentary close-up of a Game Over screen from arcade game Bomb Jack, released in 1984.
POPEYE
A better look at the Popeye arcade cabinet. Popeye was a 1982 Nintendo arcade game, however the keen-eyed of you might have noticed an issue. If you know arcade machines, you know that this appears to be a generic arcade brand with a few Popeye stickers slapped on - the cabinet is definitely not
the original arcade machine.
Even more worryingly is it seems the world of Popeye has gotten a bit darker than first thought, as the screen clearly gives the instruction "Your Mission - Rescue Hostages". I don't know what game this is, but it's clearly not knockoff Popeye.
DIG DUG
Seen in the background of a few shots, this ending sequence shows the only near-close shot of the DigDug arcade machine - but not any ordinary DigDug machine. According to the below Youtube video at 13:30, this particular design is actually a very rare version of the cabinet made in Ireland. The regular cabinet looks slightly different to this (it includes a standard marquee artwork).
That's everything I could find in Kung-Fu Master!
Again, I cannot repeat this enough, please
do not watch this movie. There is no need to seek it out as all of the cool gaming trivia is showcased clearly here, and the film itself is an immoral and disgusting movie that supports child abuse. 95% of the movie is that disgusting narrative, less than 5% are the screens shown here.
We hope you've enjoyed this group of Easter Eggs, and please join our Discord to let us know if there's anything we missed!
Blue Streak, speeds by... Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) is Hollywood's first big blockbuster attempt to bring Sonic to the big screen. A much more popular effort than the 1996 anime movie, this one sees Sonic come into the "real world", but that doesn't mean that it isn't jam-packed full of Easter Eggs. And some of them are references to other Sega franchises.
We look into all the Easter Eggs in the Paramount+ series of Knuckles (2024)
Also known as Sonic the Movie, the Japanese OVA was actually a run at a possible series that never materialised, instead leaving us with two episodes hastily stitched into a "feature". And boy, did they push taste and decency for some of this. Other than Robotnik chasing underage skirt, it's largely inoffensive. But unfortunately that story angle wound up kick-starting a long running VGMP joke of Sonic adaptations having to reference breast milk (which the 2020 Sonic movie also references).
I love The Wizard. It's so bad. The first major disagreement between Rory and Jamie in VGMP, Rory fully recommended The Wizard as a movie, whereas Jamie fully rejected it. It's not hard to see why this movie caused such a rift of opinion - it genuinely tries to be a deeper and emotional story, but it's still a Nintendo marketing product (and an out of date one, at that). One thing The Wizard does have, is a lot of videogame references.
The House of the Dead movie brings together two major events in film. It's the first foray by Uwe Boll into video game adaptations - the start of a terrible career. And it was the last ever movie to use the turn-table technique for 360 degree shots, as it was too dangerous to keep using - much like allowing Uwe Boll to have a film career. This film doesn't have many proper references, instead lazily throwing in random micro-shorts from the first three House of the Dead games (in no particular order, for some reason).
The first appearance of Jon Gries in a video game culture movie, and he would return in Noobz (2012) to steal yet another movie. Joysticks is an awful comedy movie, attempting to cash in on cheap teen humour of the time with a big dose of objectifying women. But to it's credit, it does showcase a lot of great arcade cabinets from 1983, and all in fantastic condition too! These screengrabs are ripped from the limited-run Blu-Ray release of the movie, which represents the best this film has ever looked. However this was a relatively low budget feature of it's time, so don't expect prestine visuals.
Tron is an undisputed 1982 classic that had a major impact on 80's culture and gaming aesthetics as a whole. And yet, when we reviewed it, it turns out the movie itself is a big bag of style over substance. The main videogame the movie revolves around is Space Paranoids, and it is not a real game. Several videogames were later made of Tron, but none of those appear in this movie.
The Controller / Video Game Earth Force, is a terrible film from 2006 with graphics that make the PS1 look like Advent Children. Starring Bob Rue as William Fence, this film has become infamous within VGMP as it is the film that nearly caused Jamie to leave the show.
Gamebox 1.0 is an odd 2004 movie starring the guy who played Harvey in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. You could technically call it a dramatic horror, if any of it was dramatic or a horror. As you can see from the shot above, the details were so vital to this film that there's a guy at "work" just staring at a blank screen. Regardless of the low budget nature of the film, there are still a surprising number of references hidden in this movie.
Noobz is an attempt to create an edgy comedy akin to Adam Sandler in his prime. Sadly it lacks the comedic timing, the writing and the production values to pull off such a feat. In the screenshot above you can see the pathetic attempt to add sex appeal to a movie by hastily taking a pair of scissors to the poor actress' tanktop. It's not even a clean line! Released for a limited blu-ray run in Germany (of all places), Noobz still somehow manages to pack in references from (and sponsorship by) the following video game (and video game related) companies; CBS Interactive Microsoft Corporation Epic Games Inc Triforce Sales LLC Apple Inc GAEMS CompuExpert Game Informer Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc Play N Trade Majesco Entertainment Company Square Enix Penny Arcade Lucasfilm Ltd Digital Interactive Systems Corp. Konami Midway Mortal Kombat Warner Bros Entertainment Inc Final Fantasy Tomb Raider Let's go through all the references shown visually in Noobz!
