Back to the basics: Origins of the 2D fighter...

[Gunstar]

With all the latest SuperDUPERturboSONIC Street Fighter Alpha 3 Omega 2 REmix or Dead or Alive vs. Techen X Championship games constantly flooding the market, it's nice to take a trip down memory lane to the simple, yet still all too fun Karate games of the '80s. One of the original head to head 2D fighters was an arcade game call Karate Champ or Champoinship Karate, or something similiar. This game may have come out on the C64, but the home version us Atarian's know is the classic World Karate Champ. Which also came out on the C64 and possibly the Apple IIe/c computers.

Lets return to a time of two black belts going head to head with the referee to call half and full points, 2 full points wins the match. Back when Just getting in one good hit for over a thousand points (when the average was 250-400) made you jump up and yell like you where at a football game. This game is fantastic. Great graphics, a variety of moves, but just the basics, and timing and position are all important. A match that may consist of a full minute of jumping, dodging and missing, where it only takes two well placed hits to win. A match that is won with hlf a point because time ran out. A match where you have to beat the computer twice, but he only has to beat you once. It doesn't get any better than this if your sick of all the modern day eye candy. Two players equals hours of fun!