Posted by Spanner on May 21, 2010 19:18 (May 21, 2010 19:18)
To say that Data East's 1984 tournament fighter Karate Champ changed the face of the arcades--being one of the first beat-'em-ups the world ever saw--there have been very few adaptations made. Finally, some 26 years after it first smashed its way into the coin-op arena, Karate Champ has received one of its first ever pixel perfect conversions on iPhone.
Our good buddies over at Australia-based Revolutionary Concepts (the developer responsible for the auspicious iPhone conversion of Cobra Command) have just launched Karate Champ onto the App Store, and it's packed with retro deliciousness.
A lot of retro adaptations have struggled on iPhone due to the difficulties with virtual joysticks, but Karate Champ enjoyed quite different controls that lend themselves beautifully to the touchscreen. You'll undoubtedly recall the dual joystick set-up on the original coin-op cab, which has been recreated for the iPhone app and translates impressively into quick, accurate gesture controls.
You can zoom in on the characters, practice your moves in an all-new dojo feature, add scan lines to the display for authenticity, and go head-to-head in local wi-fi or Bluetooth multiplayer.
Karate Champ is live now on the App Store priced at a very reasonable £1.19. Think about it this way - if you saw Karate Champ in an arcade, you'd put a shit load more than a quid in its coin box, and you wouldn't be able to take the machine home with you afterwards. There's no excuse not to snap up this tasty slice of gaming history.
