Kaiser Knuckle / Global Champion (Arcade) - All Throws & Desperation Grab Moves

Character selection:

Kazuya - 0:00
Barts - 0:12
Gekkou - 0:25
Wulong - 0:43
Lihua - 0:55
Liza - 1:21
Jay McCoy - 1:29
Boggy - 1:43
Marco - 1:59
Gonzales - 2:31*
Azteca - 2:46*
The General - 2:53*

*Boss characters were accessed using ROM hacks created by Yumeji.

Kaiser Knuckle (Global Champion outside of Japan) is a 2D versus fighting game made by Taito for arcades in 1994. An updated version of the game called Dan-Ku-Ga was developed, but ultimately cancelled.

Kaiser Knuckle is clearly an attempt to capitalise on the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II, and other similar games. However, this Street Fighter clone adds cool new features to the classic formula. The plentiful blood effects also suggest that Kaiser Knuckle was inspired by the Mortal Kombat series.

The stages of Kaiser Knuckle are more interactive than in Street Fighter II. The player can break through the walls on either side of each stage (not including boss stages) to reveal extra areas. There are also more breakable objects, and the ground can be visibly damaged when characters slam into it. The background has fire and electric zones, which amplify the effect of special moves.

Kaiser Knuckle has a Power meter similar to the Super Combo Gauge of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which fills up as the player takes damage. When the player's life bar is low, they can perform a desperation attack. Boss characters do not have super moves in this version of the game.

I find the character designs of Kaiser Knuckle to be at least as good, if not better than Street Fighter II.

The mulleted Ryu clone Kazuya has a tilt-a-whirl back breaker, which makes him more interesting. He also has a grab move where he hits his opponent with his geta (Japanese wooden sandal), which is certainly unique.

Barts, the Ken / Guile of the game looks pretty cool. He has some moves which would usually be associated with a grappler character like Zangief, namely a German suplex and air piledriver.

Gekkou resembles the referee from Samurai Shodown, and has jumping throws which are similar to the ninja characters of that game.

Wulong is the typical Bruce Lee clone, similar to Fei Long from Street Fighter II. His rapid floating kick combo grab move is also reminiscent of Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat.

Lihua looks somewhat similar to Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown, and also wields a sword. However, the Amazonian warrior Liza has a bird assistant, making her also comparable to Nakoruru. She also has an additional monkey assistant who can defend her by catching projectiles. Liza may have inspired the character Rila in the 1996 arcade fighting game Breakers. Rila is another jungle woman, who has a similar ending cutscene to Liza, in which she buys a new outfit with her prize money.

Jay McCoy is an alternative to the Boxer (M. Bison / Balrog) character from Street Fighter II, except he has the ability to kick. His stage is pretty cool, as the player can break through the ropes of his boxing ring. However, I find his design to be too similar to Barts (at least in terms of his blonde hair).

Boggy the breakdancing master looks similar to the breakdancer Dee Jay from Street Fighter II. I think this character could have had more interesting throws like Dee Jay's monkey flip, to show off his acrobatic ability.

Marco is a character based on Frankenstein's monster. He fights like a hybrid of Dhalsim and Zangief from Street Fighter II. His strong grappling ability combined with extendable limbs makes him dangerous at both close and far range. Unfortunately, this makes Marco an overpowered opponent who is annoying to fight against. I recommend choosing Marco as the first opponent in the game, to get him out the way at a lower difficulty level. Despite this, I really like the design of the character and his classic haunted house stage backdrop.

Gonzales is a Russian judo practitioner who is probably inspired by Zangief. His extreme grab moves bear little resemblance to Judo, such as his powerbomb and a spinning air throw. The computer player will prioritise Gonzales' throwing techniques, which are often unblockable, making him a very cheap opponent. The best way to defeat Gonzales is by using jump kicks and low kicks. Fortunately, his grab moves are very easy for the player to use, as they do not require complex command inputs.

Azteca is a cross between Blanka and Claw (Balrog / Vega) from Street Fighter II. He may also be inspired by the Aztec warrior Tam Tam from Samurai Shodown. He has a grab move using his hair, which also may be inspired by the Samurai Shodown character Kyoshiro.

The General is a rip-off of characters like Dictator (Vega / M. Bison) from Street Fighter II, and Brocken from World Heroes.

Overall, I was impressed by the range of throws available in Kaiser Knuckle. The game is very high quality in general, and is only let down by the cheap AI.

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