The Drunken Master fighting style is one of the more popular martial arts techniques under the kung fu umbrella. This was popularized by Jackie Chan in his earlier movies where he uses unorthodox moves, dodges, and strikes to bamboozle his opponents, but not before gulping down some booze.
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Such aunique fighting stylehas to be translated into fighting games. Luckily, game developers have created some notable fighters that have indeed embraced the ebb and flow of getting hammered before and during a martial arts match, often with hilarious and impressive results. Here are some of thebest drunken fighters in fighting games.
8Jamie Siu — Street Fighter
Street Fighteris widely considered to be thepioneer of fighting games. But it is telling that while the franchise has included a wide array of fighters boasting various fighting styles, they have yet to add a drunken master to their roster.
That’s where Jamie comes in. He mixes drunken master kung fu with break dancing to add more rhythm and irregular movements when he engages opponents. Jamie also has a special drink he carries with him, and his gameplay revolves around taking swigs in between knocking down his opponent. Successfully drinking gives him access to more powerful attacks and special moves, but Jamie needs to complete the drinking animation when in a match to gain these buffs.
7Cheng-Fu — Double Dragon
Cheng-Fu is the happy-go-lucky drunken fighter in Neo Geo’sDouble Dragonfighting game. He utilizes the Zui Quan martial arts style—the same one that Jackie Chan’s character, Wong Fei-hung, uses in theDrunken Mastermovie.
Appearance-wise, Cheng-Fu’s character design clearly pays homage to Jackie Chan’sDrunken Mastercharacter, even up to his demeanor and aloofness. His moves might look goofy and erratic compared to the other fighters, but are just as deadly. Cheng-Fu can take down opponents who do not take him seriously.
6Drunken Fist — Shaolin Vs Wutang
TheShaolin vs Wutangseries is a love letter to kung fu and other famous martial arts movies. This indie fighting game pays homage to the likes of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, and other notable martial artists and delivers in making the game look, sound, and feel like an old-school kung fu movie.
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Unsurprisingly, the Drunken Fist character is made to look like Jackie Chan in theDrunken Mastermovies. Drunken Fist’s movement and attacks are expertly done to mirror Jackie Chan’s moves. Players can avoid attacks and wallop enemies with combos that look like Drunken Fist is fumbling about his jug.
5Bo’ Rai Cho — Mortal Kombat
TheMortal Kombatseriesis no stranger to weird combatants, and Bo’ Rai Cho fits in the game’s roster, for better or worse. Depicted as an unhygienic, disheveled drunkard, Bo’ Rai Cho is a deceptively skilled fighter who uses his unassuming appearance to score wins against his opponents.
He drinks Outworld wine in large quantities before and during matches to fuel his unique fighting style which includes belly bashes, fart clouds, and his signature puke puddles that would disorient his enemies. These tactics often lead to Bo’ Rai Cho hitting them with vicious strikes and combos.
4Lei Wulong — Tekken
Lei Wulong is one of the morepopular characters in Tekken. He is the number one detective for the Hong Kong International Police Force (an obvious nod to Jackie Chan’s character in thePolice Storymovies). He entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament to investigate the connection between the tournament’s organizer and the mafia.
As a fighter, Lei utilizes a mix of various animal-style kung fu stances on top of Drunken Boxing. Lei can be elusive in the right hands, thanks to his multiple animal stances. He has access to unique dodges and severe punishes against opponents who fall for his feints. His Drunken Boxing is one of his go-to stances. During this stance, Lei can mask his strikes with his stuttering legs and wavy arm motions. That said, Lei doesn’t need to drink alcohol to access this stance.
3Shun Di — Virtua Fighter
Shun Di isVirtua Fighter’s resident Drunken Master. He is considered to be one of the best teachers of kung fu back in the day. However, due to his knack of pushing his students to the breaking point, he has lost most of his students. During a drinking session, one of his friends mentioned that their student bagged the top prize in an international fighting tournament. Hearing this made Shun Di want to participate in a world-fighting tournament to find that student.
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Shun Di’s “Suiken” fighting style incorporates the seemingly unbalanced motions of a drunkard with deceptively hard-hitting strikes. This makes Shun Di’s martial arts unique to the otherVirtua Fighterroster.
While most drunken master characters in fighting games give a nod to Jackie Chan or Beggar So,Dead or Alivechose to make their drunken fighter have a more unique design.
Brad Wong is depicted to have more handsome features and is often wearing modern casual outfits. He still carries a gourd filled with alcohol that he uses to drink and fuel his drunken master techniques.
He has the biggest move set in the games he is featured in, giving him access totons of combo strings. This plays to the unpredictable nature of a drunken master. However, this is balanced by having most of his attacks strike slower than other characters.
1Chin Gentsai — King of Fighters
Chin Gentsai is the drunken master of theKing of Fightersseries. His appearance is a nod to Beggar So, the old alcoholic master who taught Jackie Chan’s character the ways of the drunken fist in theDrunken Mastermovie.
In his youth, Chin Gentsai was a well-renowned martial artist. But as he grew older, he eventually found his way under the bottle. During one of his drinking binges, he meets Sie Kensou, and subsequently Athena Asamiya, and Bao. Chin began mentoring his newfound students which led to the formation of the Psycho Soldiers.
Chin’sdrunken master techniquesees him jumping into his opponents with the hope of knocking them down. Drinking liquor mid-match gives him access to his Fire Breath move. The more he drinks, the stronger his attacks get as well.
