Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu OST

Well for a game that seemed unplayable I’d be more than happy to play its music over and over again. Not only does the soundtrack of Jackie Chan’s Action Kung Fu not suck, it’s actually a pretty decent size for a NES game
to boot. We’ll have a detailed look inside:

The cool thing about the entire soundtrack is that all of it is really action packed. It has the intenisty and awesome running lines of Double Dragon or Zanac, but it also has some space between all of the melodies more like Ninja Gaiden. All of the music has a style that is very unique. All of the track titles are also named after what I guess would be kung fu stances, like tiger claw or bouncing dragon.

note all songs hosted on mediafire because there were none on youtube. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The first track I’ll bring up is “Bouncing Dragon”. This track is freaking awesome and I’d say the titled conveys the image pretty well. It’s a driving melody that makes you feel like you’re flying. There’s also some very double dragon like build-up in this one.
Bouncing Dragon

The next track up is a cool – what I’m guessing to be an – underground theme. It has a lead bass that plays a melody similar to the opening of the boss theme for FF7. The Drum’s are pretty kickin’ too: “Falling Spider”
Falling Spider

The next standout track is “Flying Turtle”, which has a similar feel to “Bouncing Dragon”. It definitely fits its description very well and it’s a really happy fun track.
Flying Turtle

It seems like the composer really knew how to balance the good and evil styled tracks as the next one, “In the Dark” is another very sweet song. The melody isn’t overly pulling but I think the instrumentation, buildup, and layering is what really adds an atmosphere.
In The Dark

Next up on the list of win is “Jumping Tiger”. This is a cool track with a rolling feel to it. The opening melody sounds very silly, but as it switches to the B and C sections you hear some really cool polyphonic melodies and what I call NES echoes. There’s just something about NES compositions that gives certain songs this kind of epic echo to certain samples.
Jumping Tiger

Then we have the song “Leaping Fish” which is a mindblowingly awesome and energetic track. To be honest though, it sounds like an end track, and had they used that as a substitute for the actual, it would have been amazing. Still, I wouldn’t let that detract from how cool this song is.
Leaping Fish

Then we have my favorite track from the whole thing, “Momentum”. This track is freaking sweet. I’d describe it as a cross between Ninja Gaiden and maybe Mother.
Momentum

The final track I’ll post (in alphabetical order ^^) is “Watch Your Step” which is another solid track fraught with peril. It has nice A and B sections, once again the first section could pretty easily  be the ending theme.
Watch Your Step

Ok I lied, even the ending theme is worth posting here. It sounds like a sorrow filled Megaman track. It’s definitely not my favorite, but it’s not a half bad finisher to a solid OST. The slow, quiet, echoing fadeout really sells it too. “Ending Theme”
Ending Credits

The composer himself, Sinkon Kiyoshi, is a relatively unknown composer and it’s tough to find a lot of information about him. Other than this game he is not widely known

~Dan