Karate Champ

"Put faith in the punch"

This game looks like Hugo Boss, but smells like HI Karate. Dig? Okay, I'll be honest. I'd rather much sit at home and eat chips than even dust off this less than mediocre title. The game is extremely easy, and although I don't really like it much, it does compliment my array of old carts. Nothing like ''oh yeah, I used to play that all the time'' to get the blood pumping! Let's take a look at this game, shall we?

Graphics 4/10
Big sprites. Really big sprites. Red, tan, black, white, and a little green. That's about it color wise. You control a master of the martial arts wearing a white gi (player 1) or a red gi (player 2). The characters are rather generic looking (they just used palate swapping on the characters), with the exception of the ref and the magical vases that fly around in the bonus stages. It really seems that this game was hurried along. It's a shame, too, because this had the potential to be decent.

Sound 2/10
Will the sounds ever stop? ''Begin''. I hear that in my sleep. The sounds of punching and kicking are almost the same, and the sound of them connecting is rather generic at best. The only thing somewhat decent about this game is the music it plays, but then it gets tiresome at times. I found myself hearing the theme when I wasn't even playing the game. Annoying? Yes. More fun than listening to Yanni? Debatable.

Control 7/10
Well at least Data East tried to make this somewhat controllable. You punch and kick, and pending on the direction you've pressed on the D-pad you can do anything from a standard forward punch (the game calls it Rev. Punch) to a Roundhouse kick. There are even sweeps and jumping kicks, although you only really need the power of the punch. I was able to successfully complete the game using the punch only. The controls are responsive, but the reaction on screen is somewhat delayed. If you jump kick but didn't mean to, good night. The cpu will bust you right in the groin with a high roundhouse. You'll sometimes want to give your controller a ridge hand chop in rage of the awesome responsiveness it produces at times.

Replay Value 8/10
What can I say about the replay value? I never got tired of popping Mr. Red in the face with the Reverse punch. The way the CPU kneels and holds his nose is hilarious. The game really never ends nor does it really get that hard. The only thing annoying about this game is the bonus rounds. You will need to master all of the moves to be able to pull this one off successfully. Lets not forget the TORO either...but that is some thing you'll have to see for yourself.

Overall 2/10
I'm sorry, but Karate Champ is a game that falls short in the semi-finals. I'd rather play Flying Warriors. But if you have fifty cents to blow, I can't think of a better game to spend it on. When you get tired of playing it, you could always live the childhood dream of busting blocks like a true Karate Champion.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/02, Updated 10/17/02