World Karate Championship (Game)

World Karate Championship

GAME » on November 30, 1985

Amstrad CPC (Platform)Atari 8-bit (Platform)Atari ST (Platform)Commodore 16 (Platform)Commodore 64 (Platform)MSX (Platform)PC (Platform)Wii Shop (Platform)ZX Spectrum (Platform)

One of the earliest fighting games released for computers puts two karateka in one-on-one kumite matches with a variety of karate techniques.

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Overview

International Karate is a karate-themed fighting game developed and published by System Three Software in Europe for the ZX Spectrum (Platform) on November 1985, with later conversions for the Commodore 64 (Platform), Atari ST (Platform), Amstrad CPC (Platform), Atari 8-bit, Commodore 16 (Platform), MSX (Platform), Apple II (Platform), and IBM PC compatibles throughout 1986. In North America, the Commodore 64, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit, Apple II, and PC versions was released by Epyx as World Karate Championship.

One of the earliest fighting games released for computers, International Karate puts players in one-on-one fights as generic karateka. Similar to Data East's 1984 arcade game Karate Champ (Game), International Karate uses the rules of competitive kumite in that players are not fighting to knock out the opponent, but to score points based on the strength of their strikes (with quick hits granting a half-point and strong hits granting a full point).

The game later received a sequel, known as IK+ (or International Karate +, sometimes known as Chop N' Drop), as well as a handheld successor (International Karate 2000 (Game)). The Commodore 64 version of the original game was later digitally released by Commodore Gaming (Company) for the Wii (Platform) (as a Virtual Console (Concept) title) in Europe on March 28, 2008 and in North America (under the original International Karate name) on February 23, 2009.

The game's similarities to Karate Champ, as well as its success in North America, led to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. by Data East against Epyx in late 1986. While the district courts ruled that Epyx had infringed on Data East's copyright, and Epyx was required to recall all copies of the game, the ruling was later reversed in a court of appeals due to its similarities being standard in the sport of karate. This appeal is important in video game law, as it was used to defend alleged video game clones throughout the 1990's and 2000's (such as Data East themselves defending the fighting game Fighter's History against claims of infringing Capcom's Street Fighter II).

Gameplay

Techniques

When Button is Not Held Down:

Forward - Quick step forward.
Backward - Quick step backward, ending in guard stance.
Up+Forward - Quick punch.
Up+Backward - Turns around and performs a quick punch.
Up - High jump.
Down+Forward - High kick.
Down+Backward - Crouching punch, ending in crouch stance.
Down - Sweeping kick, ending in crouch stance.

When Button is Held Down:

Forward - Mid kick.
Backward - Roundhouse kick.
Up+Forward - Somersaulting leap forward.
Up+Backward - Somersaulting leap backward.
Up - Jump kick, ending in guard stance.
Down+Forward - Low kick.
Down+Backward - Turns around and performs a mid kick.
Down - Turns around and performs a quick punch, ending in crouch stance.

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