Y is for Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Yie Ar Kung-Fu was one of those games that I enjoyed watching other people play (who played it well) more than attempting to play it myself.  Granted, I first encountered this game as a younger kid at the local A&W restaurant, and I had yet to start developing my skills at fighting games.  However, Yie Ar Kung-Fu disappeared off my radar right around that time, so I had little actual playing exposure to it.  I have tried the game when I randomly found one in the wild or at an expo, but I still remain pretty amateurish at it.

One of the things I always liked about Yie Ar Kung-Fu was the way the characters would fly around the screen while fighting.  If you've seen the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and recall the tree fighting scenes, the action seems similar in some ways.  I also liked the whole "against all odds" aspect, whereby your character is always fighting against characters who have some sort of weapons, making victories attained seem that much more incredible.

Looking back at Yie Ar Kung-Fu, one can see the foundation of game play which eventually became the the root of such fighting games as Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and the like, though the latter games improved on features, graphics and added player versus player combat.  Still, for what it was, Yie Ar Kung-Fu had exciting game play.  After all, I was very much entertained by watching others play the game.

What games did you enjoy watching other people play more than playing them yourself?