International Karate Plus

International Karate + is a karate computer game published in 1987 by System 3 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC. Conversions of this game were later released for the Atari ST, Amiga and AmigaCD32. It is probably the most famous karate game for the Commodore 64. Its shortname is AKA IK+ . In 2002, following the retro-gaming trend, Ignition_Entertainment released IK+ for the Game_Boy_Advance and Playstation, both of which are faithfull to the Amiga/Atari ST version.

In the game, three karateka fight against each other on a beach, trying to be the first who scores 6 points. After every 2 rounds, there is a bonus game which is either deflecting bouncing balls or kicking away bombs. The game can be played by 1 or 2 player (game)s, at least one fighter is always controlled by the computer. The game is similar to other karate titles that appeared for the C64 before (e.g. Way of the Exploding Fist), but the finely tuned moves, dynamic gameplay and (for C64 standards) smooth animations made this game even more enjoyable than its predecessors. Also, the over-the-top sound effects, taken from old kung-fu movies, add much to the gameplay experience.

Unlike the predecessor International Karate , there was only one backdrop, but it was a well drawn backdrop.

Archer Maclean did most of the work on developing the game, but the music was written by Rob Hubbard. In august of 2005, the music from International Karate will be performed at the third Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany.

=Easter eggs=

The game is notorious for containing many Easter egg (virtual)s. Usually, they are accessed by pressing a key or typing out a string. The most famous being that whenever somebody presses the T button on the computer keyboard, the trousers (karategi bottoms) fall down and the player-Sprite (computer graphics) blushed. Other easter eggs make a few characters (such as Pacman) appear in the background.

=Cheats=

Pausing the game while a karateka is unconscious causes that karateka to become invulnerable upon regaining consciousness. This works for both player- and computer-controlled karateka. Whether this is a computer bug or a deliberately introduced cheat is unknown.

In 2001 a hacked version of the game was released for the C64, called IK+ Gold . Amongst other improvements it added a 3-player option, for which a multi-player adapter was needed.

=See also=

International Karate

=External links=

*[http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,7471/ International Karate + on MobyGames] *[http://ant.simianzombie.com/games/ik/ik.php IK++ , a Flash remake of the Amiga version of IK+]