"Before there was Ryu and Ken, there was Red Guy and White Guy"

The younger group of gamers who can't remember what one-on-one fighting games were before the umpteenth version of Street Fighter II will probably wonder why I gave this a nine. There are no 60-hit combos (Killer Instinct), fireballs (Street Fighter II and virtually every subsequent game of the genre) or gory finishing moves (Mortal Kombat, Primal Rage et. Al) so why the 9?

Well, it's simple. In 1986, fireballs and Fatalities weren't but mere twinkles in the eyes of video game developers. The chariot preceded the Indy car; Karate Champ came before those later fighting games.

That said, for its time Karate Champ was innovative. It was, at the very least, the first head-to-head fighting game to get any real attention in America (and not just because it was shown in a scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and it was an inspiration for the games that would spark a craze in both the arcade and console gaming circles some five years later. Even the color of the Karate Champ combatants' gis (karate suits) might have forseen those of Ryu and Ken in SFII.

Graphics: 6

Even for 1986 the visuals are not very impressive. Then again, if you are playing a game for graphics you are not playing this or any other game of its time. An adept BASIC programmer could probably replicate the graphics from this game on an Atari 8-bit computer system (on which I cut my gaming teeth, along with the 2600). Blocky bitmap matrix sprites, while of decent size, move as stiffly as if their gis are made of a knight's armor. The backgrounds are outdone by such games as the original Super Mario Bros. and even some later Atari home system games.

Sounds: 7

You hear tinny "voices" doing typical Kung Fu movie grunts, screams and various noises along with equally cheesy sound effects which accompany punches and kicks. By the standards of its day it was good enough. A real-life karate competition is probably not going to have thumping music, as it clashes with tradition. No special effects like unintelligible Japanese phrases (like "Shoryuken" or "All-you-can" as it's often understood by many SFII players) which didn't become fashionable until this type of game became the biggest thing since Elvis.

Control: 9

You have two joysticks, giving this game a rather unconventional but effective control layout. The two sticks are used for a reasonably wide array of moves considering most games then had two buttons for two actions if even that. Once you get used to it, the controls become easy to use.

Gameplay: 8 (One player) 10 (Two-player)

Playing this game is a matter of timing and anticipating your opponent, much like a real fight. You can't scream "Hadoken!" and send a fireball flying across your screen to fry your foe; you have to get in close and nail him before he hits you. It is easier to figure out the AI's patterns than competing against another player, which is why the difference in ratings here.

The bottom line: This game is probably not for the younger set of players who are spoiled by the sights and moves of modern fighting games, but the game should be credited for laying the foundation of a genre of games that (for better or worse) took the gaming scene as a whole by storm. Ryu, Ken, Guile, Sub-Zero, Terry Bogard, Jacky Bryant and every other fighting-game character perhaps owes their existence to the exploits of White Guy and Red Guy in Karate Champ.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/29/04