The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

In my youth, there was an Indian convenience store called "Farrah's" that had a distinct curry aroma when you entered the shop, so we dubbed it "The Spice Shop". They carried one coin-operated arcade game at a time and one of the first games we played there was "Karate Champ".

It was the first game to my knowledge that had no buttons but the player instead controlled two joysticks. By manipulating one joystick in one direction and the other in another way, you could perform various moves. Right on joystick 1 combined with Up on joystick 2 would perform a lunge punch. Right on joystick 1 combined with left on joystick 2 would perform a roundhouse kick. You felt a real sense of accomplishment once you mastered the moves.

The judge would announce "begin" and would also say "half point" and a very enthusiastic "FULL POINT!" for successful attacks. The speech capabilities at the time were quite impressive.

On the X-box the translation is faithful, although because the joysticks on the old machines for this game were four-directional, you have to be precise with the joystick movement as it can't "read" diagonal movements. It can be frustrating as your character can't move if the joysticks aren't pressed precisely, but lots of practice will correct that.

This is a great two-player game and if you're playing against another who knows the combinations, it can make for some intense battles. My buddy Rob & I liked this game so much, we almost bought a full-size arcade machine of this game off Ebay a few years back. Sadly, it was sold to someone else before we could bid, but in hindsight, worked out for the best as it's now on my X-box. This game is so good, it even made an appearance on Jean-Claude Van Damme's Bloodsport back in 1988.