The Karate Kid was a classic movie released in 1984 that I got into watching a few years back. I also enjoyed watching one of the sequels to that movie called: "The Karate Kid Part 2" which came out 2 years later in 1986. Not long after Part 2, LJN decided to make a video game off of this second Karate Kid film. The game was simply titled: "The Karate Kid", and it was an adventure/fighting style of game where Daniel Larusso went to Okinawa. He encounters "Chozen" who was the main villain in Karate Kid 2, and he fights his way through Chozen's thugs and a typhoon. I thought this game sucked! Plain and simple! The gameplay was boring and hard, the plot was just a bad version of the second movie, and The Karate Kid on NES was so forgettable!!

Graphics 6/10: The graphics are typical for those of an early NES game. You can't expect much here, but The Karate Kid is not a good looking game at all! It isn't completely horrible, but it's just another one of those bland/boring looking NES games from the mid to late '80s. The sprites look stupid looking, but the backgrounds aren't that bad. LJN did put a little bit of effort into making the game look sort of appealing, but they just couldn't do much with what they had to work with at the time. This was before the better looking NES classics like: Super Mario Bros. 3 or Kirby's Adventure. The Karate Kid video game came out in the days of: Legend of Zelda and Metroid, so it wasn't going to be a very attractive game.

Music 9/10: The music in The Karate Kid is one of the things I like about it. It sounds very much like the tracks in Karate Kid 1 and 2. I really liked the Far East theme for many of the numbers in this game. The bonus stages sound pretty cool and so does the title track. I don't think the soundtrack is absolutely flawless or amazing, but it is the only thing I like about this game. There are no songs that sound boring in the NES game. LJN took the Asian style of music from the Mr. Miyagi training montages and tried to put them into this game, and they pretty much succeeded at that. It isn't as good as the music from the first two films, but it comes pretty close.

Gameplay 0/10: This has to be the weakest part of the LJN version of The Karate Kid. The player controls Daniel Larusso as he punches and kicks his way through 4 very difficult levels. What I really hate about this game is the way you have to push the Up button in order to jump. WHY? This is something I can never get used to. Fortunately, Daniel does have a health meter, and he can grab health along the way. Although, he has only 3 lives to get through the game with and no continues. This is just a badly designed game all around, and I'm not done yet!! THERE'S STILL MORE!! This is a very short game, but let's talk about how ridiculous and dumb these levels are.

The thugs and stage hazards are impossible to avoid getting hit by. Not only that, but you'll constantly die from falling in the water. The control always seems to feel off. You can't hit an enemy without them hitting you first and knocking you backwards, usually into the ocean where Daniel dies!! The typhoon level is where I always get a Game Over and have to start again and again and again!! THIS BECOMES NOTHING MORE THAN AN ENDLESS LOOP!! I GET TIRED OF THIS GAME REAL QUICK, AND THERE IS ALMOST NO REPLAY VALUE TO IT AT ALL!! There isn't much to say about the gameplay of The Karate Kid on NES. Daniel just punches and kicks his way through Okinawa, but occasionally he'll enter a door and have to play a bonus stage. OH BOY!! HOW EXCITING!!!

WHAT IS THE POINT OF THESE THINGS!!?? IT'S NOT LIKE DANIEL GETS EXTRA LIVES, CONTINUES, OR HEALTH IF HE WINS!! HE JUST GETS EXTRA POINTS!!!! THIS IS JUST CORNY AND DUMB!! THE BONUSES ARE POINTLESS!!! I always find myself accidently entering one and having to play it when I don't want to!! The worst one is the swinging hammer!!! OMG! What would Mr. Miyagi say about this!! Unfortunately, he was still around to see this game, I just hope he never had to play it!! Especially these bonus stages!!! Daniel gets to: Break the Ice, Catch a Fly with Chopsticks, and Dodge the Swinging Hammer. If he wins he gets extra points! MIYAGI WOULD GIVE THESE BONUS STAGES (AND THE GAMEPLAY ITSELF) A BIG THUMBS DOWN!!!

Story 8/10: This game takes place in Okinawa just like in Karate Kid Part 2. Daniel starts out fighting in a karate tournament just like in the first movie, then he goes to Okinawa to save Kumiko from Chozen and his gang of thugs. He encounters: Mr. Miyagi, Sato, and the girl who got trapped on the pole during the typhoon along the way, and they give Daniel extra health. In some ways, this plot IS a rip-off of the second movie, but I do kind of like it. I said earlier that this was one of the weaker points to this game, but after writing about it, I feel a little different. It does do a pretty good job of bringing the events of Karate Kid 1 and 2 to a video game. It isn't original at all, but it isn't all that bad either.

Content 0/10: The Karate Kid on NES is a joke as far as content goes! It only has 4 stages, and the game can be beat in under 10 minutes if you are some kind of Nintendo expert or have a really good cheat system. For me, I usually just end up playing 2 or 3 of the levels over and over again in an endless loop. Even after level 3, the game doesn't offer anything else. There is only one last level where Daniel goes to the festival and saves Kumiko from Chozen on the bridge just like in KK2. The ending is pretty stupid too! It basically copies the ending from the first two movies where Miyagi smiles and winks at Daniel and tells him: "Congratulations Daniel-San!"

Difficulty 10/10: Of course you would expect me to rate the difficulty to the Karate Kid a 10 out of 10. It is impossible! Daniel never can land a punch or kick on many of the enemies without them hitting him first or by being hit by some kind of flying object that knocks him into the water killing him! Level 3 is the worst one with the wind blowing you around, and you have to dodge all this flying debris. Daniel will always fall in the ocean and die on this stage because he has to try to jump this bridge that has basically fell apart. You have impossible platforming, enemies that gang up on, and you can't defend yourself, etc. This game has terrible difficulty! Even if you cheat, you can't beat it!

Overall 4.6/10: The Karate Kid game is not the worst game I have ever played. The music and storyline are pretty cool, but everything else about it stinks! The game almost has no content, and it does not have any re-playability to it at all! The difficulty is WAY TOO MUCH!! I hate having to use the Up button to jump. I also have trouble trying to jump these difficult sections while fighting Chozen's gang all during a typhoon! You'll always get knocked into the ocean on this part. LJN failed to make a good video game out of one of the greatest movies from the 1980s. Even though this isn't the worst game out there, I still give it a pretty low score.