Karate (Game)

Karate

GAME » on October 1982

The earliest known game based on the combat sport of kumite, with two karateka trading punches and kicks to score points.

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Overview

Karate, known in some releases as Kung Fu, is a belt-scrolling fighting game developed and published by Ultravision (Company) (sometimes known as Funvision (Company)) for the Atari 2600 (Platform) in late 1982. Although the original game is rare to find, it later received a re-release by Froggo Games in 1987.

The earliest known game based on the combat sport of karate kumite and designed by black belt Joseph Amelio, Karate has up to two players moving around the ring while gaining points by successfully landing punches and kicks.

Gameplay

The game is played in two-minute matches, both single-player and multiplayer versus, where the player win a round by getting the most points through successful punches and kicks (with Player 1 winning on ties). Players track their round wins by their belt color (starting from white, then brown, green, yellow, and black), and defeating their opponent on a black belt wins the game.

Similar to some other martial arts games of the 1980's, such as International Karate, the game has multiple techniques depending on not only the button being pressed/held, but also which direction the joystick is held (a precursor to modern "command attacks"). There are four attacks in total, with the direction of the joystick being the same regardless of which side the fighter is on:

Up Punch (Neutral, Up) / Straight Punch (Down) - Simple and quick. Scores 10 points.
Straight Kick (Right, Up-Right, Down-Right) - Slightly slower, but scores 15 points.
Up Kick (Left, Up-Left, Down-Left) - Slightly slower, but scores 20 points. Landing the kick at a certain spot on the opponent's head (close to its front) causes a knockdown for an additional 40 points.

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