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Karate Champ

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Karate Champ

May 1, 1984

Main game

2.19 average rating based on 47 ratings

5
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Single players compete against a computer opponent while two players fight each other in this Karate game. Players each use two joysticks which allow for a variety of different moves. The best two matches, out of three, wins.
Release Dates
May 1984 Full Release (Japan)
Arcade
Sep 1984 Full Release (Worldwide)
Arcade
Oct 12, 1985 Full Release (North_America)
Apple II, Commodore C64/128/MAX
1987 Full Release (Europe)
Commodore C64/128/MAX
2010 Full Release (Worldwide)
iOS
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User Stats
113
In Collection
11
Wish Listed
0
Playing
15
Backlogged
How Long Is Karate Champ?
No playthrough data yet
GigaDeathNullGolem
GigaDeathNullGolem gave Aug 15, 2022
GigaDeathNullGolem gave Aug 15, 2022
Tough Challenging Sparring Match Sim
This review is for the Arcade version

Two joysticks. Various combos from pushing the knobs in different 8 directions. Quite a bit of combos with different, speeds, ranges and score values. Your goal is to get 2 points (some of the KO moves give half points) before your opponent. For a simplisitc game its not bad in terms of getting the timing down. It's still just not that fun to play because there isnt that much here despite what is a neat concept.

I can see this being alot more fun against a friend though.

ApramPepo
ApramPepo gave May 21, 2022
ApramPepo gave May 21, 2022
Another beyond baisc early NES game.

At first I got confused between this game and I didn't understand why people were giving it bad ratings. Then I realized my mistake and play the Intended game and that was much worse than what I played.

It's either that people were easily amazed back then, or someone picked this game up over Super Mario Bros, Duck hunt, Excitebike, or any of the other decent arcade games that were available at the time.

It's just basics, slow, one or two moves, high score, you get the idea. Just forget about it.

kingbk83
kingbk83 updated their status Sep 28, 2023
kingbk83 updated their status Sep 28, 2023

I used to hate this game, but then I played it a lot at a bar in college that had it, and I really grew to like it.

Is it a primitive fighting game? Yes. Outdated? Yes. But there is also more depth than appears.

It's a fighting game, but also a strategy game/puzzle game. Kind of like Punch Out is not just a boxing game. It's a game that requires you to study the opponent and then do the right move at the right time. It's not a button masher or special move spawning over and over again that so many fighting games have turned into. It really evens out the playing field. It's all realistic moves, needing to be executed at the right time.

I got it off Arcade Archives for Switch a while back and sometimes, when I just have a few minutes to kill, I'll see how high of a score I can rack up.

I'll admit though, I still suck at the bull bonus round.