Mark, Glen, Gil and Akira about to take on the dreaded... Eyepatch Guy.
- "104% of all games in the late 80s and early 90s were just reskinned arcade brawlers that the developers knew you would never beat, if only out of disinterest. They weren’t designed to be good, they were designed to bilk you out of seventy-five cents because Super Hang On was busted. And Super Hang-On was always'' busted."Robert Brockway's
rather, ahem, precise review-slash-opinoin of the early 90s' Beat 'em Up video game industry
Karate Blazers is a 1991 Beat 'em Up action game produced by Video System.
The Karate Blazers are a team of martial artists training under their mentor, a Chinese martial arts master, honing their skills in a dojo within a crime-infested city. When their master gets assasinated by an old enemy of his, one seeking the secrets behind a "Killing Blow" technique developed by said master and the master's daughter kidnapped as leverage, the Karate Blazers sets off to avenge their mentor.
The game allows up to four players at once. Oddly enough, unlike Final Fight, Streets of Rage and Captain Commando or so many other similar games from the early 90s, the player's Life Meter is depicted as a circle rather than a straight bar, while meters are granted only for bosses, and not low-level mooks (which makes it difficult to determine how many more punches can an enemy take after being knocked off their feet).
Players can choose between the four Karate Blazers:
- Mark, the Nomadic Mercenary
- Glen, the Invincible Wrestler with Thunderous Fists
- Gil, the Mysterious Fighter (though the game doesn't explain why he's "mysterious")
- Akira, the Passionate Ninja with a Blundering Personality
Glen and Gill notably had a quick cameo in a later Video System game, Sonic Wings.
Karate Blazers contain examples of:
- Acrofatic: There are overweight mooks wearing red headscarves with bulging bellies can move surprisingly fast despite their girth.
- Asian Lion Dogs: Chinese stone lions can be seen in the final stage, and smashed to bits for extra points and health items.
- Badass Longcoat: One of the game's deadlier enemies - black mooks armed with swords - are dressed in trench coats, and are among the game's stronger Elite Mooks. They look somewhat like Blade, though it's unknown if it's intentional or just a coincidence.
- Bookends: The game's first and last boss is... the same guy. Some unnamed bare-chested brute with an Eyepatch of Power, who uses the same attacks both times. Although it goes without saying that the second fight is harder since the boss now have additional Elite Mooks as backup.
- Construction Vehicle Rampage: The warehouse level will sometimes throw bulldozers at the players, who needs to jump aside or get damaged. Unfortunate mooks standing in the way tend to suffer the same fate.
- Crate Expectations: Crates of various sizes appears in the warehouse and factory stages, and can be smashed for points and items.
- Damsel in Distress: The unnamed daughter of the heroes' martial arts mentor, who's kidnapped by a criminal organization. Their subsequent rescue mission kicks off the game's plot.
- Evil Overlooker: In the opening FMV before the game, this is how the unnamed eyepatched main villain is depicted, looking over the four heroes.
- Excuse Plot: One that the opening credits literally fills in with a slideshow. You get stills of the playable characters Mark, Glen, Gill, and Akira making some flashy kung-fu poses, a shot of their master's unnamed daughter looking scared while being threatened by a gun, cut to gameplay.
- Eyepatch of Power: On the first and final boss (who may or may not be the same person). To the point where the Sonic Wings Wiki straight up identifies him as "Eyepatch Guy"!
- Flunky Boss: The game have five boss battles (three if you want to be technical; the first and last is the same guy) and all of them are surrounded by mooks. Which the game will regenerate if you defeat.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Enemies in hazmat suits and wearing gas masks appears in the warehouse level.
- Informed Ability:
- Glen, the "Invincible" Wrestler, have roughly the same amount of health as the other players.
- Akira is supposedly a ninja... but he fights with punches and kicks, with none of his moves exactly shouting "NINJA!" at the players.
- Informed Flaw: Akira is described in the intro as having a "Blundering Personality", implying him to be The Klutz. This trait isn't displayed in-game at any point and his character plays out roughly the same as his fellow brawlers.
- Martial Arts Headband: Worn by Gil and Akira, two out of four heroes.
- No Name Given:
- Your mentor's daughter, whose abduction literally kicks off the plot with you spending the entire game beating up mooks to rescue... is just "mentor's daughter". Wat.
- Also, let's meet the bosses!... none which have given names (their onscreen life-meter displays only identify them as "BOSS", yes, all of them). So you scroll over to the Sonic Wings Wiki, did a search for Karate Blazers, and get awesomely creative monikers like "Eyepatch guy", "Orange-haired Guy", "Sword Guy", among a few others.
- Palette Swap:
- Several of the mooks use recycled sprites, with minor differences in their clothing and attire. Notably, there's an unnamed dreadlocked enemy (which gamers call "Jamaican thugs") which uses the same head three◊ times◊ over◊.
- The first and final boss uses the same sprite, albeit re-coloured. No mention on whether they're the same guys or they're twins.
- Several of the mooks use recycled sprites, with minor differences in their clothing and attire. Notably, there's an unnamed dreadlocked enemy (which gamers call "Jamaican thugs") which uses the same head three
- Robotic Reveal: There are enemies in the factory wearing gasmasks and full-body suits which appears to be human... until you beat them down. Then they explode, blowing off their suits, and revealing their metal exoskeletons which continues fighting you.
- Rolling Attack:
- Mark's special move, which somehow allows him to cartwheel across the arena while surrounded by a Ring of Fire emanating from his hands and feet... green Technicolor Fire, to be precise.
- One of the bosses can do this as well◊, though instead of cartwheeling like Mark he instead crumples his own body into a ball.
- Roundhouse Kick: All four Karate Blazers can do this by hitting the kick button repeatedly. Their kicks even have a visible energy aura that knocks enemies off the ground.
- Shockwave Stomp: Glen's special move that creates a shockwave circle around him by thrusting his fists to the air, which knocks over everyone not on his side.
- Slide Attack: Players using Akira can perform this move by crouching and hitting jump, allowing Akira to skid left and right tripping over enemies in his way.
- Use Your Head: Glen can execute a strong headbutt that knocks over enemies.
- A Winner Is You: Congrats on beating Karate Blazers! You then get... two still screenshots, first depicting the four Karate Blazers posing together, the second depicting the four Karate Blazers posing together with their master's unnamed daughter, before the end credits roll... over a repeated footage of the game's opening FMV.
