Kung Food

Did You Know?

• Robert A. Jung reviewed Kung Food for IGN on July 7, 1999, rating it 6 out of 10.
• Winston Wolf reviewed the game for HonestGamers in 2011, giving it a 3 out of 10.

Plot

The protagonist is a researcher at a top secret ODnet videogames center, where experiments create Rynoleum, a compound that deforms all life it contacts. Discovering ODnet plans to use Rynoleum in a videogame, risking millions of lives, the protagonist takes samples and stores them in a kitchen freezer, as the compound is stable only when frozen. Later, the freezer is left open, raising the temperature; the protagonist is transformed by the Rynoleum while trying to shut it. Now shrunken, the hero fights monsters through the kitchen, freezer, fridge, floor, counter, window planter box, and outside. After defeating the last enemy, a sprinkler washes off the Rynoleum, returning the protagonist to normal.

Development and release

Lore Games, initially founded for the play-by-mail game Lore Lords of Britain, developed Kung Food after Atari sent them a Lynx development kit. Designer Steven Mitchell, who had worked on BBC Micro ports of 007: Licence to Kill and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi for Domark, was joined by coder Christian Urquhart, artist Paul Johnson, and composer Tim Harper. Urquhart recalled pressure from Atari to produce the game, noting that getting multiplayer to work was the most challenging but also fun.