Karate Champ
Developer(s)	Technos Japan Corporation
Publisher(s)	Data East
Release date(s)	1984
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Cabinet	Standard upright
Monitor	Vertical orientation, Raster, standard resolution (Used: 224 x 256)
Input	2 joysticks per player

Karate Champ (original title: 空手道 Karate Dô, "The Way of Karate") is a 1984 arcade game developed by Technos Japan Corporation for Data East. It is one of the first fighting games and was the first to use today's common side-perspective. It is still considered to this day as the most balanced fighting game ever made. A screenshot of Karate Champ by me This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Technos Japan Corporation is the defunct Japanese video game publisher that originated the Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio-Kun (including River City Ransom) and Double Dragon franchises. ... Video game publishers are companies that publish video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer. ... Data East (データイースト dÄ“ta Ä«suto) was a Japanese video game company, also known as DECO (Data East Corporation, データイースト株式会社 dÄ“ta Ä«suto kabushikigaisha). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a listing of computer and video game genres with brief descriptions and examples from each genre. ... Screenshot of Kung Fu Master (1984, Irem). ... This arcade cabinet, containing Centipede, is an upright. ... Nineteen inch (48 cm) CRT computer monitor A computer display, monitor or screen is a computer peripheral device capable of showing characters and/or still or moving images generated by a computer and processed by a graphics card. ... Suppose the smiley face in the top left corner is an RGB bitmap image. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Technos Japan Corporation is the defunct Japanese video game publisher that originated the Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio-Kun (including River City Ransom) and Double Dragon franchises. ... Data East (データイースト dÄ“ta Ä«suto) was a Japanese video game company, also known as DECO (Data East Corporation, データイースト株式会社 dÄ“ta Ä«suto kabushikigaisha). ... Screenshot of Kung Fu Master (1984, Irem). ...

Overview

In this game, the player assumes the role of a Karate competitor and fights against another player or the computer. Using two joysticks, players can execute a number of moves. Karate or karate-dō is a martial art of Okinawan origin. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ...

Gameplay consists of a two dimensional fight between Karate characters wearing white and red gi, followed by various bonus rounds for the successful player. This pattern repeats itself in the next, more challenging round set against a new background. Unlike most later fighter-type games, there are no health bar or hit points. A hit successfully landed ends the round and earnes the player or his opponent either one point or half point (along with a numeric score for the top ten but this has no effect on winning a match per se). The first to two points is the winner. GI may stand for: Galvanized Iron Gastrointestinal, a division of the human anatomy in medicine Generic identifier Geodætisk Institut, a former Danish cartographic institute Geographical indication Game Informer, a video games magazine Government issue, meaning army enlisted personnel Government Issue, A 1980s Hardcore Band G.I. Joe, a...

Karate Champ led to the creation of a direct sequel called Karate Champ - Player vs Player which was also released in 1984. Both versions are very similar in the sense that they use the same hardware, have the same sprites and title screen, and the gameplay is essentially the same although the computer AI is greatly improved along with control and hit detection. Whereas the original game started with the first level taking place at a dojo and all the following levels taking place at a tournament stadium, Player vs Player has the characters fighting it out over girls at locations around the world. The original Japanese title of Karate Champ - Player vs Player is Taisen Karate Dou which can be translated in English as "Way of Karate Competition - Beautiful Young Girl Chapter". Unlike its precedor, Taisen Karate Dou / Karate Champ - Player vs Player was developed by Data East themselves with no involvement from Technos.

Media

The game was featured in the Jean Claude Van Damme's movie Bloodsport. Van Damme plays it at a Hong Kong bar with his friend as soon as he checks into the hotel. Jean Claude Van Damme (born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg in Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Belgium, outside of Brussels, on October 18, 1960), is a Belgian martial artist and actor who is most known for his action movies. ... Bloodsport is a 1988 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. ... Tourists sit outside a bar in Chiang Mai, Thailand A bar in Switzerland. ... A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging, usually on a short-term basis and especially for tourists. ...

Ports and release informations

Karate Champ was ported to the Apple II, Commodore 64 and the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... NES redirects here. ...

The Apple II and Commodore 64 ports were both developed by Berkeley Softworks .

The NES version was developed by Data East USA in 1986, making it one of the rare games that was developed by the U.S division of Data East. The port was later released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System but never made it to the cartridge-based Famicom. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Famicom Disk System, attached to a late-model AV Famicom The Family Computer Disk System (FCD) was released on February 21, 1986 by Nintendo as a peripheral to their overwhelmingly popular Family Computer (Famicom) console in Japan. ...

External links

• The KLOV entry on Karate Champ
• The KLOV entry on Karate Champ - Player Vs Player
• The MobyGames' entry on the home versions