Games of the 8-, 16- & 32-bit era

Karate Champ

Title	Karate Champ
First release	1984
Developer	Technōs Japan
Publisher	Data East
Platforms	Apple II, Arcade, Commodore 64, Famicom Disk System, NES / Famicom
Genre	karate video game
Also known as	Karate Champ - Player Vs Player
Players	1–2 players
Co-op	No
Releases	Arcade: 1984-01-01 Commodore 64: 1984-02-14 NES / Famicom: 1986-11-01, 1986-11-01 (NTSC) Famicom Disk System: 1988-07-22
Wikidata ID	Q1439988

Execute precise martial arts techniques using two joysticks to combat an opponent in two-dimensional matches. Instead of managing health bars, players must land decisive strikes to win rounds. Success in these fights unlocks various bonus rounds, after which the competition moves to new backgrounds with increasing difficulty levels.

Description: REG-Vault, CC BY-SA 4.0

View on Wikidata Read on Wikipedia

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), gaps filled from REG-Vault and TheGamesDB and Arcade Database (ADB). Only retro platforms tracked by this site are listed; the year is the earliest release date recorded on Wikidata.

Sources

Wikidata (Q1439988) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0

REG-Vault (famicomdisk/karate-champ) · last updated 2026-10-26 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (apple2/karate-champ) · last updated 2026-10-12 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (nes/karate-champ) · last updated 2026-10-25 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

TheGamesDB (49190) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (12311) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (1470,108568) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (42818) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

Arcade Database (ADB) (kchamp) · last updated 2026-10-03 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · internal use only

Arcade Database ADB

MAME romset	`kchamp`
Title at ADB	Karate Champ (US)
Manufacturer	Data East USA
Year	1984
Genre	Fighter / Versus
Players	2
MAME driver status	GOOD

Artwork: ADB (Arcade Database); artwork © original manufacturer (Data East USA); snaps by ProgettoSnaps via ADB. Non-free, internal use only (hotlinked, not downloaded).

Scraping using Arcade Database by motoschifo · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · romset via Wikidata P2451 (wikidata-qid) · fetched 2026-10-03 17:33 UTC · no fields filled (other sources take precedence)

Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Data East · internal use only

1 / 14 Box art Box art (front) 1

Image credits

Box art, Screenshots, Logos (9): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Data East · internal use only. REG-Vault page

Box art, Screenshots, Logos (4): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded) · © Data East · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Screenshots (1): Source: libretro-thumbnails (upstream libretro-thumbnails (art by developers/publishers; see repo README)) · © Data East · internal use only.

Sprites

No sprite sheets yet. Find sprites on The Spriters Resource ↗ /

Videos

Arcade Longplay [852] Karate Champ

World-of-Longplays · Arcade version · longplay · 50:55auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:41 UTC

Arcade Game: Karate Champ (1984 Data East)

Old Classic Retro Gaming · Arcade version · longplay · 1:22:30auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:41 UTC

"Auto-matched" videos were found automatically (title + platform match via the YouTube Data API) and may occasionally be wrong. Videos are hosted by YouTube (embedded via youtube-nocookie.com; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play) and belong to their channels.