Karate Champ
Karate Champ, released in Japan as Karate, is a 1984 fighting game developed and published by Data East for arcades. The player utilizes dual-joystick controls to input various moves, in order to defeat enemies in a best-of-three matches format. The game was commercially successful, especially in the United States where it was the highest-grossing arcade game of 1985 and the best-selling home computer game up until 1989. It established and popularized the one-on-one fighting game genre, for which it is considered one of the most influential games of all time.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1984
- Developer
- Technōs Japan
- Platforms
- 2 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 1 July 1984 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Technōs Japan |
| Publisher | Data East |
| Platforms | Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade |
| Genres | karate video game |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q1439988, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Karate Champ? How long to beat it
Total play time for Karate Champ is about 0.7 hours to do everything, and around 0.6 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 0.6h | 3 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 0.7h | 1 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Karate Champ sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Karate Champ lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 34ahead of 1% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 25ahead of 69% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Karate Champ
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Karate Champ appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Karate Champ qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Karate Champ
What platforms is Karate Champ on?
Karate Champ is available on Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade. It first released in 1984.
Who made Karate Champ?
Karate Champ was developed by Technōs Japan and published by Data East.
How long does it take to beat Karate Champ?
about 0.6 hours for the main story, 0.7 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.