Home > Pretty Flashing Lights > Archives > 2005 > September > 12 > Entry
Seventh best game EVER
What’s this about? Explanation below.
My list of “Ten Games That Have Had Probably Way Too Much Influence On My Life” continues …
No. 7: “Karate Champ” (1984)
The Game: Man faces man in this great-grandaddy of “Mortal Kombat” and “Tekken.”
Two joysticks … one controlling your body and the other the form of attack, gave you a few dozen options during the fight. Winning two out of three moved you along the tournament ladder … with the background scenery changing as you toured the world, winning matches.
Periodic interludes challenged you to break objects or survive an attack by a raging bull.
What Was So Great About It: The simplicity of the game design made it easy to start out and loads of fun to play against your friends. The underlying complexity of it and the rapidly learning AI, though, kept it challenging. For example, this guy is blocking all my attacks. Now, I have to do a sommersault over his head and kick him from behind. (Man, I loved doing that.)
Impact On The Rest Of Humanity: The game’s basic design — though heavily adapted and improved upon — is essentially the same as the fighter games of today. Who knew?
Comments