Karate Champ (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Data East's 1987 martial arts fighting game for the NES, Karate Champ.

"Point! Begin!"

This video shows the entire first loop of the game. Once the loop resets, I let the CPU beat me senseless to get a game Over. There isn't any sort of ending.

Being originally released in 1984, the Technos-developed arcade game was one of the first versus-style fighting games made, and it laid the very foundation that the entire fighting game genre was (and still is) built on. And it was just plain cool, with the voices and the big, goofy looking characters. Van Damme also played it in Bloodsport, which gives it major rep points.

The NES version is a reasonably faithful translation of it. The coin-ops unique dual-joystick setup becomes something a bit more contrived and less intuitive on the limited NES pad, but you do get used to it after awhile - at least, you will if you hope to get anywhere. Button mashing usually ensures a quick loss, so you have to know how to pull off each specific move without hesitation. It's super creaky and dated, but it is still very playable. I think anyone that says otherwise probably just didn't have the desire and/or patience to learn it. It can be tedious and often difficult, but it's absolutely playable, and I personally enjoy playing it.

If you're learning how to play, a good tip is to always start out with a straight punch. It works quite often, and is good for a half-point every time. Another one that though harder to do is even more reliable: start by jumping straight over your enemy. He'll usually try to attack as you go by, so as soon as you land, while he's recovering from the whiff, immediately do a back kick into his torso. Sucker.

Random side note: This NES port was developed by SAS Sakata, who ended up doing a lot of really solid NES games for Data East. These included, among others: Karnov, Bump'n Jump, the Jinguuji Saburo series (these were the earliest Jake Hunter games - the only ones in English are on the DS), Robocop, and Werewolf: The Last Warrior.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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