International Karate +, or IK+, took the most familiar kind of game of the mid-1980s, two martial artists trading kicks under a referee, and added one more fighter. Three karateka share the screen, and every round is a free-for-all. You score by knocking down either opponent, and at the end of the round the fighter in third place is out. System 3’s advertisements put it plainly: “A Third Fighter. Some amazing backgrounds. New moves. Re-mixed music. And balls.”
Archer Maclean, who had rewritten International Karate for the Commodore 64, wrote the sequel. ZZAP!64 gave it 93% and called it a “classic in the making”. Spectrum, Amstrad, Atari ST and Amiga versions followed over the next year.
Fast facts
- Publisher: System 3, distributed by Activision.
- Programmer: Archer Maclean (credited on the Commodore 64, Spectrum and Amiga versions).
- Music: Rob Hubbard, a remix of his music for the first game.
- Released: Commodore 64 in autumn 1987, at £9.99 on cassette and £14.99 on disk; Spectrum and Amstrad CPC early in 1988; Atari ST (£24.99) by December 1988; Amiga by February 1989.
- Reviews: ZZAP!64 93% (C64); CRASH 91% (Spectrum); Your Sinclair 7 out of 10; Amiga Computing 82% (Amiga).
- Award: best 8-bit soundtrack in the Golden Joystick awards announced in June 1989.
- Predecessor: International Karate (1985).
From two fighters to three
The first game had been measured against The Way of the Exploding Fist in every review, and in America its C64 version had become the subject of a copyright case over its likeness to Data East’s Karate Champ. The International Karate entry tells that story. Maclean later said the idea for a sequel came from a conversation with Activision in mid-1986 about taking fighting games “to the next level”. His answer was the third fighter.
How it plays
CRASH set out the rules. There are 14 moves on the joystick, some with the fire button held and some without, including a double kick, a head-butt and a back flip. A knock-down earns one point for a scrappy blow and two for a clean one. A fighter who reaches five points ends the round early; otherwise the round lasts 30 seconds. The top two go through and the third is out. The player climbs through the belts from white to yellow, green, purple and black, and each level is harder than the last; CRASH warned that black belt needed “fast reflexes to survive”.
Having two opponents changes how you fight. In the one-player game you have to watch both of them, and a double face kick can floor both at once. In the two-player game, Amstrad Action pointed out, the two humans could gang up on the computer’s fighter and stay in the game longer.
Every few rounds comes a bonus screen. Your fighter stands in the middle holding a small shield, and balls bounce in from both sides. Each one you deflect is worth 100 points, and the balls speed up until one gets through and knocks you over.
The fighting happens in front of a single backdrop, with rippling water and a setting sun, and it is full of small details. ZZAP!64 liked “the spiders and leaping fish”. System 3’s advertisement for the Atari ST version listed falling leaves, birds, inch-worms and a periscope, and let on that pressing T on the keyboard made the fighters’ trousers fall down around their ankles.
Reviews
ZZAP!64 reviewed the Commodore 64 original in November 1987. The reviewer listed what had changed, an extra opponent, new moves and new music, and found the result “incredible”. The feel was “superb”, and the “three player free-for-all is incredibly frenetic”. “A tenner is a high price to pay for a fighting game, but they don’t come any better than this.” It gave 95% for presentation, 92% for graphics and 89% for sound, and 93% overall.
The Spectrum magazines split. CRASH gave it 91% and a Smash in February 1988. “IK+ is definitely the best fighting game on the Spectrum,” one reviewer wrote; “I’ve been playing it for two days solidly without a sign of boredom”. The rippling water and “smoothly-animated, fast-moving characters, leaping and flipping around the screen in barely-restrained chaos” impressed another, and the verdict was “vastly better than all other beat-’em-ups - even The Way Of The Exploding Fist”. The 128K Spectrum played Hubbard’s remix; the 48K machine made do with sound effects.
The other two were less excited. Your Sinclair gave it 7 out of 10: “Yes, it’s another karate game, but with slicker programming and presentation it’s well up to the standards of ’88.” Sinclair User found it “a decent beat-’em-up which doesn’t really add anything to an already overloaded section of the games market”. On the Amstrad, Amstrad Action’s second reviewer had the same mixed feeling: “This is, without doubt, the best martial arts game around — and I’m bored with it.”
The 16-bit versions followed a year later. Amiga Computing gave the Amiga version 82% in February 1989. Later in the year the readers of Computer & Video Games voted IK+ the best 8-bit soundtrack of the Golden Joystick awards.
Sources
- ZZAP!64 issue 31, November 1987, pp. 12–13: Commodore 64 review (the reviewer’s comments; ratings; Overall 93%). Same issue: System 3 advertisement (“A Third Fighter…”, prices, Activision distribution).
- CRASH issue 49, February 1988, p. 68: Spectrum review (Archer Maclean; the rules, moves, belts and bonus screen; the reviewers’ comments; Overall 91%).
- Your Sinclair issue 27, March 1988, p. 33: Spectrum review (7 out of 10; the double face kick).
- Sinclair User issue 72, March 1988: Spectrum review (Archer Maclean, £7.95).
- Amstrad Action issue 30, March 1988, p. 41: Amstrad review (£9.99 cassette, £14.99 disk; ganging up in the two-player game; the second opinion).
- ACE issue 15, December 1988: System 3 advertisement for the Atari ST version (£24.99; the background details and the trousers key).
- Amiga Computing, February 1989, p. 76: Amiga review (Archer Maclean; Overall 82%).
- Computer & Video Games issue 92, June 1989: Golden Joystick awards (International Karate Plus, best 8-bit soundtrack).
- Retro Gamer Collection vol. 1 (2007), pp. 86–89: Archer Maclean on the idea for IK+.