The 87th Best Game of All Time
In 2006, Famitsu magazine published a list of what their readers voted as the Top 100 games of all time. (I know this post is from 2007, but the list is from March 2006.) And ever since I discovered that list, I’ve been obsessed with it.
There is so much to talk about here. SEGA is present but primarily for their dating sims. JRPGs dominate. The Famicom performs quite well. I’m thrilled that Wizardry makes the cut. Tokimeki Memorial makes the list three separate times for some reason. But perhaps the weirdest thing on the entire list is what lands at #87 on the rankings: Kung Fu.
Yes, Kung Fu was voted as the 87th best game of all time. Even in the world of nostalgia and rose colored glasses, these voters put Kung Fu ahead of Tetris and Super Mario Bros. 3! How is this possible? Controversially, I don’t think Mario 3 is all that it’s cracked up to be, but behind fucking Kung Fu?!?
I don’t even think Kung Fu is a bad game. I actually think it’s pretty good! I’m not even really judging this placing in the sense that I don’t think it belongs on the list, but I’m just shocked that frickin Kung Fu had the type of legacy where it got that many votes. Certainly over here in the US, people know what Kung Fu is, but does anybody think of it as a classic? How many people would you need to poll before you found someone who would rank Kung Fu ahead of Tetris and Mario 3? The fact that this was a (presumably) majority opinion among Famitsu readers is stunning.
Well since I stumbled upon this list again and was sat there thinking about Kung Fu, the 87th Best Game of All Time, I decided I might as well go play through it again. It deserves a fair shake, after all. It’s even better than Tetris, so how could I not give it another try?
The thing about sitting down to beat Kung Fu is that it sounds like a nice idea for an evening and then it turns out it’s a nice idea for about 15 minutes. My first two runs I game over’d on the Floor 4 boss, who the manual calls the Black Magician. Classic old video game bad guy name. Third attempt I beat the game. Handled Mr. X on the first try and saved Sylvia without too much trouble.
Of course, this is an early NES game and was originally an arcade game so it’s no surprise that it’s so short and that it’s meant to be played over multiple loops in a bid for a high score. But for some reason I thought it was a little longer and a little more difficult than that.
I have no desire to chase a high score with Kung Fu the way I do with a lot of the early NES games like Donkey Kong 3 or Balloon Fight or Pinball, but it’s not bad. But 87th on the all time list?? Seriously? As I continued staring at the list trying to make sense of this, another thing I noticed is the complete lack of other games of this ilk. It’s basically devoid of other beat ‘em ups and is similarly devoid of these early arcade/Famicom games. Balloon Fight is not on the list. Neither is Donkey Kong, or the original Mario Bros., or Pacman, for that matter. Not necessarily shocking omissions, except for the fact that freakin Kung Fu made the list somehow. The arcade game-likers didn’t show up to vote for any of their stalwarts but managed to get Kung Fu in here?
I had to go find the survey methodology. There must be an explanation for this!
Well, dear reader, I could not find any info about how this survey was conducted. I found pictures of the booklet (included with Famitsu’s 900th edition), I found posts from Japanese bloggers discussing the list, and I found survey methodology for other Famitsu Reader Polls, all of which were different from one another. But I found no definitive answer on exactly what the voting system was here. So I cannot say with any confidence how this poll was conducted. If you know anything, reach out! I’m dying to know.
In the absence of evidence, I think there are two assumptions that we can make with relative certainty. 1) Famitsu readers in 2006 were, generally speaking, on a completely different planet from what an American in 2026 is thinking. The overall color of the list is alien to us, with the heavy emphasis on a few JRPG series and dating sims. Those trends are so huge and obvious that they cannot be mistakes. 2) There are a handful of weird outliers, like Kung Fu, that are probably best explained by poor survey design. That’s the best reasoning I can muster right now.
Back to the game itself for a moment. Is Kung Fu worthy of the title of 87th Best Game of All Time? I obviously don’t think so, but it is a fun little game. I think beat ‘em ups have for the most part aged very poorly. The “golden age” beat ‘em ups are largely boring button mashers that are not engaging as an adult at home (but were perhaps engaging as a kid in an arcade), and are often bogged down by annoying game design that became industry standard for some reason (how many games allow you to knock down enemies but then force you to wait for them to stand back up before the fight continues?). Kung Fu, to its credit, is not weighed down by any of that. There are no awkward special moves, no repetitive voice samples, no waiting for downed enemies to get up. It keeps the line moving and is a fun little test of your reflexes with simple and clean visuals. Maybe it’s the 87th Best Famicom Game?