Wu-Tech! Wu-Tang Clan Once Had Their Own Video Game

In 1999, a Playstation video game, 'Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style,' was released in recognition of the New York City collective.

When a Staten Island hip-hop group released a song that captured the hearts of New York City fans and then the world, no one expected the phenomenon those nine emcees came together for. The Wu-Tang Clan released their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1992 (the theme of the album and the emcees were based on the 1978 martial arts film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin).

Inspired by the martial arts movies that came on television and were also popularized through video cassettes back then, the group was heavily influenced by the fighting styles of various movies. Several years later, in 1999, a Playstation video game, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style was released in recognition of the New York City collective.

CBR recently discussed the origins of the game.

The video game was based on a Shaolin master named Master Xin, the group’s mentor, who was kidnapped by an enemy in hopes of stealing the power of Shaolin from him. The members of the Wu-Tang Clan were students of Master Xin, who taught them “honor, virtue, and the unwavering qualities of bravery” in the face of danger. The enemy, Mong Zhu has his minions kidnap Master Xin. This was when the Wu-Tang Clan formed together to leave Staten Island to travel to the Chinese fortress of Mong Zhu to rescue the man who was responsible for teaching them all they knew.

As they went to get their master back from the clutches of Mong Zhu, they were met with defenders of the enemy in their quest to save Master Xin. Along the way, they met different warriors and disciples of the captor, as the game is reminiscent of the same type of Chinese martial arts movies with a mix of the 70s blaxploitation films that occupied the movie screens as well.

Just like in the cinema of that time, where the villains and heroes each possessed special skills as their weapons, it was the same for members of the hip-hop group in the video game. A person playing the game ccould select a particular Wu-Tang Clan member as a fighter.

Examples included Method Man utilizing a giant, but slow hammer; Ghostface Killah used his metal fists as weapons. RZA took on the characteristics of a traditional fighter, with twin swords as his weapon of choice, while his cousin, Ol’ Dirty Bastard used an unorthodox yet effective style as his power.

Although this game wasn’t the first game patterned after a recording artist, (1994’s Revolution X starred Aerosmith, Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker was released in 1990, and 1982’s Journey Escape was made for the Atari 2600), Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style was the first video game to feature hip-hop artists and music while featuring the group members as characters you can play.