International Karate

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Archer Maclean

When I write these reviews, since I'm based in North America, that tends to dictate what name of a game I use when a game uses different titles in different regions - it's almost always the North American release title. International Karate is an exception to that rule. Released as World Karate Championship here in the United States, it didn't last on store shelves very long out here due to a lawsuit from Data East claiming that the game infringed on their copyrights for their game Karate Champ. The U.S. court system agreed that it did, and World Karate Championship was pulled from store shelves shortly afterward. Europe didn't seem to have that fate, however, so for that reason, combined with the fact that it came out in Europe first, I've decided to just stick with the International Karate name for this review. Now that I've used up most of my space to explain all of that, I suppose I can get on with comments about the game, eh? Anyway, International Karate is a pretty impressive game for the time. A one-on-one fighting game, it contains nearly a dozen different moves that you can use to knock your opponent down. It's a rather slow-paced game where button-mashers won't usually win - the people who deliberately use specific attacks at the right moments are usually the ones that will end up as the winner. For the most part International Karate is good fun, but it's not without some flaws - hit detection can take a while to get used to, for example. However, if you're in Europe and looking for a solid karate game, then International Karate will do the trick. If you're in the United States, then you may need to import this title "internationally" in order to play it.

Review added: 07/22/2026