Atari XL/XE - International Karate [System 3] 1986

[Gamewitzer]

Too bad the music doesn't loop.

[nopochoclos]

In Commodore 64 version, has more details, see the background,, fish moving in water, birds, now i testing my 3 Atari , see has no detail like C64 ... Sun reflexing in water with movement...

[StaxX28]

@nopochoclos,

sorry but...

you confuse with International Karate plus ! ( IK+) ;)

[nopochoclos]

@StaxX28 Maybe... but in IKplus on Atari if exist, has these animations too?

[StaxX28]

@nopochoclos,

yes !

look at:

youtube dot com /watch?v=bVEAbdyDdcs

this is a work in progress ! ;)

[Oldlard]

The knife always got me too :/

[TheInformalstyle]

Archer Maclean was the best Atari 8-bit coder of that time. This and Dropzone were two of the best games on the system. He even did all the graphics himself.

[P5BDeluxeWiFi]

@TheInformalstyle Way Of The Exploding Fist cough cough @graphics

[666Shaskon666]

*-*

[ataricommodore]

This music is .beautiful :).

[JeffBlazer74]

Loved this game! Great post!

[digimikeh]

this game is the master of fighting games like mortal kombat, street fighter... etc etc...

[HinataChan30]

@digimikeh Wasn't there something a bit older than this?

[digimikeh]

@HinataChan30 - no haha, this is the oldest :P

[DGSE]

Oh yesss i remeber playing this game on my atari 130 XE!!!

*It was so cool !!

[1xWertzui]

Which version of IK is the first?

[rubbishmang]

Was this the game seen in Bloodsport? When Ray Jackson and Frank Dux meet for the first time?

[michelrpg]

@rubbishmang no, different game. Same basics though

[MrAsrgr]

@rubbishmang LOL I remember that! No it's not this game, I think the game they were playing was called Karate Champ and you had two joy sticks. This is International Karate. Other things I remember about Blood Sport were Chung Li and Van Dammes really bad hair-do.

[thesman32]

is it only sound effects or music dont you get both at the same time like the c64

[HypnoToad72]

POKEY trumps SID any day - compare the backing music on the Atari 800XL to the Commodore 64 - Atari rules.

[1xWertzui]

@HypnoToad72 SID wins single handedly! :) It is capable of much more than POKEY! (I don't really know the technical stuff behind them) Nice chiptune although!

Yes, I AM a C64 fanboy because I have never seen any Atari 8bit computer before, nowhere in Hungary, but that does not mean I wouldn't appreciate one!

Well, I love everything that sounds weird, just like the computers of the eighties.

[jammerc64]

@HypnoToad72 your sense of humour is really great ;)

[chemistryguy]

I thought I'd found all the old games I had. I'd completely forgotten about this one.

[CRASHSYNDROM]

yeees..the begining of the beginnign...and other great game was montezuma revenge

[xoen6]

This is best version of all.

I am just honest.

[hoques1432]

Please people, stop discussing about whether or the SID is better than the POKEY, that's just kindergarden. No doubt the SID is more advanced and stuff, but hey. Me, loving SID and POKEY, I can say that you need the right programmers in order to get good sounds. And the fact that the SID is listed everywhere is connected with the C64's fame. If you do it right, you can get goo dmusic on pretty much every chip; it's the talent and effort that counts.

Phew, that's all. Great game and tune btw ;)

[DONCALD29]

tyvm mine coming out of loft soon on big lcd ;-)

[Barry3443]

archer maclean made the best atari 8-bit games. always polished, playable and graphically superior

[thorgallpl]

has anyone ever finished the level with flying objects?!

[bitterbotter]

Ha love it!

The memories...

[newsungod]

Thanks for uploading this and reminding me how much of my life I wasted playing this and other excellent games on my XL :) In the 80s in Poland, where I grew up, there was a program on the radio that would broadcast various software titles. You recorded the lovely noises on your stereo, put the tape into the Atari casette player and you had a new software :D That's how I got my first graphics program; Magic Paint (?). And 1.79 MHz was all the cpu speed you needed in those days...

[MartinRmoutil]

Great game I played it a lot. And a lot better. :P

[Aueneye]

I've never played this. But still I weep tears of nostalgia.;/

[szuvax]

pamietam to :D

[MrAsrgr]

I remember bigger games like this used to take about 15 minutes to load from tape on the XL. It was because of this I got a 1050 disk drive - with US Doubler chip for extra whizzy speed!!

[Kajfas]

haha, I was never know, how to break that bricks....

[xmikerx666]

God this takes me back...mental loading times off tape...and you didnt care...

[odraconiandevil79]

Looks identical to the C64 version with a slight music variation.

[SuperAudioboy]

Its quite funy watching everyone argue over which is best - c64 or atari 25+ years on! but what is good about them is that both atari 8 bit and c64 STILL have dedicated fans and the ole arguements will no doubt go on resulting in NOTHING. Its like 2 different cars, one is faster and the other handles better. Depends what you like.

[kirk1968]

Awesome! We played this and Bruce Lee all the time in college on my 800XL, the 2-player action was really good for back then.

[Peereboompje1981]

OMG, the sound sucks so very bad compare to c64 music.Thats why Atari sucks thats much!!!!

[thorgallpl]

the c64 version sounds bad comparing to this.

[blenderuser]

are you kidding??? :D

[leknightcluber]

@thorgallpl Why??? you are wrong ears

the c64 has the best sound of the 8-bit platforms

[thorgallpl]

@leknightcluber

i agree that c64 had a better sound chip but in this particular case atari sounds better.

[MrDisco64]

in music, bands like the canadians crystal castle use the poke chip. although the commodore chip is a real synth not just a tone generator. from the musical standpoint the c64 is better from the beeps perspective the atari is cool...

[Ahle2]

This acutally looks as good as the C64 version....impressive...

They used the display list in a proper way and was able to overcome the 4 color limitation without making it look like it was vertical divided. (as most Atari game using display list trickery)

[dreamcastII]

you know what you are talking about. What other games for the Atari do you think are as good as this graphically / technically ?

[apol111]

grałem w to w 90 roku mając 4 lata... ale czasy

[komadzyn2]

To gra mojego dzieciństwa, 1988 rok. Jedna z lepszych gier na Atari 800 XL. Atmosfera, niezapomniana muzyka. Nie pamiętam dobrze, ale chyba można było w nią grać w dwie osoby

[eugenealive]

I played this game when i was 8. After 20 years this music makes me goose bumps. Dang it's great!

[peterkray]

Same here... I wish I could go back .

[simplyeighties]

Loved the music on this! One of my favourite XL/XE games!

[Schattendragonfly]

Guys, this game was realy amazing! So many hours spent! :]

Anyone ready for a match? :]

And, does anyone know how to get this music??

[christschinwon]

I loved the music so much back then I remember taping it on a portable recorder but now I cant find the tape : ( !

[Schattendragonfly]

truveo,com/Atari-800-XL-World-­Karate-Championship-Longplay/i­d/25395049

Here's what I've found! Enjoy! :]

[christschinwon]

wise find mate. I'd totally forgotten about the bonus stages!

[BALTAZARFAP]

hey me tooooooooooooo

[simplyok]

ohhhhhhhhhh my god..I loved that game!!!! I´m back to 1986!!!!

[DJMuppet339]

i cant stand tv now-a-days! there is nothing good on. im gonna get on cam. ne1 want to watch? n

[olynxmano]

Actually, SID is for music making the better chip, because it IS a syntesizer chip. POKEY ist mainly an input/output chip with 4 noise generators.

But, for sure, the abilities of combining the soundchannels gives more possibilities than people may think....

[kramPojken]

Is it only me, or does this song sound allot like 'black rain' (the movie) in the main melody.

[humanvynil]

yeah i also find a similarity, the famous theme

[baone91]

a ripoff of karate champ by data east..

[Commodorian]

It's nothing like karate champ

[Commodorian]

Data East lost the court battle. They both have similar features but IK plays differently and has different graphics and sound, it is a lot faster and more fun to play.

[fatherfocus]

me gusta mas esta version del tema que la de Ryuichi Sakamoto genial perfecto game

[Rotsch006]

i remember just loading the game and let the main theme go :D

[FrakAttack]

Great memories.

[cosine303]

not bad, but I HATE system 3. They ripped off my friends, they did music for a game and never got paid (and more I heard). I've heard nothing good about them from people who worked with them. Amazing games, but thats down to the talent of the coders/muso/gfx people.. Archer Mac Clean is a legend!! and some people should have stayed out of the software industry if they were such sharks.

[CAVALERA99]

PERFECT...OLD TIME....

[DIEGOKEN242]

That song...

Ryuichi Sakamoto?

[StaxX28]

Rob Hubbard ! :)

[AlphaFirefly]

@StaxX28 DAMN SCIENTOLOGY!

Oh.. ROB Hubbard... hmm... >:/ skeptical...

[AlphaFirefly]

This song is great for making sweet sweet luv.

[pressfiretostart]

Yep, it is based on Ryuichi Sakamoto's piece from the film "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence".

[krzysg1982]

Watergate-Heart of Asia trance from mid 90s as far as i remember.

[krzysg1982]

@DIEGOKEN242 Watergate-Heart of Asia trance remix from mid 90's... for some reason i after i paste i couldnt post the response.... i know it is little late( 2y) :P

[DIEGOKEN242]

@krzysg1982 Thank you very much!!! =)

[Couly]

This was brilliant. fond memories, way before streetfighter 2 even.

[abhitron]

I like the sound effects.

[10547688]

Моя любимиая игра на атари в 1989.

[stephenleal01]

This was an awesome game. Thanks for the post. Brings back grand memories!

[2PeteShakur]

C64 FOREVER!!! \o/\o/\o/^_~

[JimmyPeep]

Atari xl graphics sucked compared to c64. And programming the XL was a bitch. The music chip was crap as well compared to the C64.

[Brigand22]

Why do you aimless trolls insist on peppering these pages with this nonsensical shit?

You're annoying and obviously friendless. Get a bit more, dick head!

[JimmyPeep]

How pathetic u are. Afraid of someone's opinion. Get a life.

[Brigand22]

Did you even stop to look at the irony of your post, fool?

Secondly, your 'opinion' was completely baseless, offering no sane focus of contention - rendering it pointless. "Atari xl sucks" isn't a fucking worthwhile means of debate.

You made it for the simple reason to satisfy your inflated desire of being a scrappy troll queen.

Go away.

[DXMDEALER]

Im impressed by how similar the music is on C64 and the Atari system

[mts00007]

I hade this game on my ATARI 800XL, IT'S MUCH BETTER ON THE ATARI,

[gamorbab]

Why would it be better on the Atari? Looks pretty much the same game except for the horrible sound on the Atari version (you can't even get the digi-sounds and music simultaneously on Atari). So, objectively speaking, the Commodore 64 version is the one that is much better. Maybe you just got confused, mts00007?

[mts00007]

not confused at all, it was BETTER on the ATARI. i had both machines, so i should know.

[Arjozof]

Atari's sound chip was LIGHT YEARS ahead of C64's SID, offering 4 channels of advanced synthesis. Pity so little effort was actually done to code this chip in comparison to C64

[waskoma]

well, the sid was elected into the 25 most important chips by byte magazine, while the pokey wasnt :)

SID music is being professionally remixed, played by real orchestras, real SID music is played on gigs, there are bands dedicated to playing SID music, none the poor pokey can say.

[Arjozof]

that's because C64 was much more popular home computer than Atari XL. that does not mean SID was superior - it wasn't.

[waskoma]

wuahaha :) you are a joke :) pokey can not do half of the hings the sid can do. sid is a true synth chip, while pokey is just a few counters sounds as shit as its predecessor the atari 2600.

[Arjozof]

pokey from atari 800xl was MUCH more advanced than this simple SID. just read fuckin' wikipedia

[waskoma]

there I have pasted the wiki facts about sid for you. pokey can not do half of those :)

[waskoma]

* three 16 bit separately programmable independent audio oscillators (8 octave range, approximately 16 - 4000 Hz) * four different waveforms per audio oscillator (sawtooth, triangle, pulse, noise) * one multi mode filter featuring low-pass, high-pass and band-pass outputs with 6 dB/oct (bandpass) or 12 dB/octave (lowpass/highpass) rolloff. The different filter-modes are sometimes combined to produce additional timbres, for instance a notch-reject filter.

[waskoma]

* three attack/decay/sustain/release (ADSR) volume controls, one for each audio oscillator. * three ring modulators. * oscillator sync for each audio oscillator.  * two 8-bit A/D converters (typically used for game control paddles, but later also used for a mouse) * external audio input (for sound mixing with external signal sources) * random number/modulation generator * 16 bit square wave width modulation

[zombiemod]

Are you kidding me??

SID was far and away superior to pokey!!

Come on guys, the evidence is there on the net, the SID dumps all over pokey, pokey was made in 1979 ffs - 3 years before the C64!!!

No doubt you'll be saying IK's music on this video was just by a bad sound programmer yeah? Cos the C64 version is 100% better!

[thorgallpl]

@zombiemod you should check out how atari can play sid music. its unbelievable how flexible pokey is!

[thorgallpl]

@gamorbab the music stops in the c64 version too...

[dkovacs]

Looks like the C64 version, sounds bad though.

[UNGLELK]

the best final xD

[sw1tched]

great game...!!! one of my favorites!!...the disk version was one of the first cheats ever!! haha...when you lost say on the 3rd stage, you just eject the disk, press any key, and it would get confused and reload you starting on the 3rd stage...haha reinsert the disk and try again!!

[hiphophobbyklub]

24-7

[Rotsch006]

omg a lot of years without listening to that theme, beautiful :')

[danielthomas]

This was the only version of Karate Champ (cough) that I could ever get into. It's a deep fighter for one button and a joystick, isn't it? Some of those sound effects were terrific.

[StaxX28]

Yes, only one button ;)

[wladwlad]

Aaah, I *LOVED* this one, the music, the graphics... thanks for posting... Sweet memories. That theme's really great, I should rip into mp3 :)

[MDL2006]

I had this game back in the late 80's..Incredible memories!!

[Al99]

Got a whole box of these ;) :D

Gonna show them to my children one day :D :D

[GamesEmotions]

A must for any videogame collector. Absolutely! :)

[bluenote71]

I had this game. thanks for posting.