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Review: Meh on, meh off

Nintendo NES,

Play Karate Kid, The Online

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bsnowotter
04-20-13 12:05 PM

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BtotheH
04-21-13 12:07 AM

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Nintendo NES

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bsnowotter's Score

6.5

04-20-13 12:05 PM

bsnowotter is Offline

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bsnowotter

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Karate Kid is a 2d, sidescrolling beat-em-up (plus minigame collection) which rips off quite faithfully the look and basic move set of the classic arcade/NES game Kung Fu and adds crane kick and drum punch special moves for good measure.

Completing this game is a brief affair involving a low level of challenge. After a brief Karate tourney representing the end of the first Karate Kid film, Daniel San, over the course of 3 levels (2 if you count the next two as basically the same area) recreates some of his experiences from Karate Kid 2 and kicks butt in Okinawa. After copying the look of Kung Fu's main character and creating a basic foe for Daniel with the same move set, the creators of Karate Kid said "we're done" and did not bother ripping off any of the other interesting foes, there is one variant of the bad guy who charges with a spear, sometimes bad guys throw potted plants, and there are struggling birds and twig obstacles in the typhoon level. At the end of each stage is a boss character who is the same as the normal bad guys but takes more hits to defeat and is accompanied by a repetitive, somewhat menacing tune.

To make the game feel more like an authentic movie tie-in, your girlfriend and Mr. Miyagi sometimes show up at designated points in the levels. If you jump up and touch them, they disappear and you get a boost of life!

More successful at making the game feel like a good movie tie-in are the minigames, which are brief, optional and quite fun (while repetitive). It is good fun to dodge the swinging hammer, to feel like a bad-butt (family-friendly please!) while karate-chopping blocks of ice into nothingness (test your might!!), and perhaps most entertainingly to catch flies in chopsticks (tons of flies in rapid succession?!!!? impossible!). These mini games are well made, feature good graphics and make you feel like you are actively practicing Miyagi's teachings. I would have liked to see even more of these, perhaps a paint the fence, sand the floor or wax the cars minigame. These games are available if Daniel enters houses during the course of the game and if you do well you are awarded with more crane kick and drum punch ammunition.

The music is dull but functionally dramatic. The sound effects are good, adding to the satisfaction of beating up people. Addiction-wise I did not award super high marks as there is no replay value, variety or depth, though I think most moderately patient gamers who give the game a try may be tempted to play it to the end, it does not take very long and minimal frustration stands in the way of the experience.

To be fair to this mediocre move tie-in game, by choosing to be on the easy/non-frustrating side and by recreating some scenes and drama from the films, it quite admirably provided some fun back in the day to kids wanting to kick butt karate style on the NES. In retrospect however it definitely earns a "meh" for lacking the ambition and imagination to create a deeper and more interesting game. Those looking for a greater challenge could beat this game as a warm up and then try your luck at "Kung Fu" in the Mame or Nes section!

P.S. I just beat it in about 10 minutes! I rule.

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(edited by bsnowotter on 04-20-13 12:31 PM) Post Rating: 1 Liked By: Furret,

04-20-13 04:43 PM

TheFadedWarrior is Offline

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TheFadedWarrior

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Nice review, but there could be more to it. You could have explained each section (the parts of the game you rated such as addictiveness), and you could have added a little more detail. It's good anyhow.

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(edited by TheFadedWarrior on 04-20-13 04:43 PM)

04-21-13 12:07 AM

BtotheH is Offline

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BtotheH

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I knew this game exsisted but I never tried It. It sounds like the game has more then what I would expect It to have so I have to say thanks for the Info. Also good job on your review, you described the game In detail. I like the game Kung Fu so chances are I will enjoy the game for what It Is worth.

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