The Karate Kid: Street Rumble
Those of us of a certain age grew up feeding quarters into arcade machines featuring side-scrolling beat’em ups. Games like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The X-Men, and even The Simpsons all were adapted into these button pounding games. They were easy to pick up and play, but difficult to beat, and that made for some great memories both in the arcade, and at home when the games were eventually adapted for consoles. I have a lot of fond memories of playing Double Dragon 2 with my cousin, and trying to reach the final level, which we never did.
Like arcades, these games are not as prevalent as they once were, however, they are experiencing a bit of a resurgence thanks to the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge. When Shredder’s Revenge was met with both commercial and critical success, other game companies took notice and began adapting nostalgia properties into side-scrolling brawlers. Properties like GI Joe, The Toxic Avengers, Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, and The Phantom have all been adapted recently. Although, the genre has never fully died, since developer WayForward has been producing great side scrolling games like the underrated Gameboy Advance version of TMNT and another game that utilized the same engine, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Recently, I completed my Karate Kid series re-watch, and I was reminded that I saw a Karate Kid game for sale on Woot for $11. In the past, I’d glanced over the Cobra Kai games, but they looked low-budget, but I decided to see what Karate Kid: Street Rumble was all about. I was shocked to see it was a 2D side scrolling beat’em up, and despite the huge red flag of the Game Mill logo on the bottom corner of the cover art, I decided to gamble with my eleven dollars.
When I originally looked up this game, I read that it was developed by Brazilian studio Flux Game Studio, a small indie studio known for making the previous Cobra Kai games, along with the widely panned The Walking Dead: Destinies. This information, repeated quite a bit online, is not correct. The game was developed by Odaclick Studios known for their work on Bit Heroes, and the full development of Brawl Cthulhu.
Not having a resume of successful games, I went into this with low expectations. The uninspiring menu screen didn’t reassure me that this was a hidden gem, but once the game loaded, I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was. The animated sprites were wonderful Anime-inspired representations of the characters from the movies, and the backgrounds and villains were all equally impressive. It isn’t on the level of Shredder’s Revenge, but this is a very good-looking 16-bit game.
I jumped straight into the action and discovered the developers adapted the major plot points from the original three films, which makes for a nice random collection of levels, but a terrible overall story since The Karate Kid is more of a story of finding oneself and not randomly beating up wave after wave of bad guys. But in the game’s defense, no one ever cared about the stories of these types of games, you just wanted a variety of levels and enemies, along with some fun.
Trying to adapt the movie’s storylines into the game does make for some interesting boss battles. In the second level, your boss is Captain Johnny, which is the first film’s main villain Johnny Lawrence in his soccer uniform kicking a ball at Daniel. Sure, it represents a short scene from the film, but it’s a bit of a stretch to turn this moment into a boss battle.
The gameplay is actually tight, and the button combos look and work great. It’s easy to get into a flow of light attacks and then comboing with heavy attacks and occasionally hitting your special. There is nothing unique about this gameplay, but there doesn’t need to be. It’s a tried-and-true method and makes for easy, mindless fun. I do appreciate the developer’s addition of a “dodge” style maneuver, where you can step out of the line of an attack. It’s not a block, and it makes for a great addition to the gameplay.
I appreciate being able to pick from Daniel, Ali, Mr. Miyagi, and even Kumiko right from the start, and I love how the designs are true to the characters. The static screens between levels are less impressive but do propel the story along.
I also enjoy the little homages to Double Dragon. There are some choices in weaponry for some of the bad guys/girls, and even the way they run onto the screen that is clearly lifted from the 80s arcade classic.
My only true complaint about this game is in regard to the level design. The levels look great and play well, but they feel very empty. You’ll run across the occasional backpack or trash can, but there aren’t many environmental factors to take into consideration, so it truly is a game of just pushing left and smashing buttons. I think a bit more diversity could have really put this game over the top. I do appreciate how in between major levels you have levels with mini-games, something that you don’t see as often these days.
Street Rumble was priced at $40, which was absurd. This game is worth $15-$20 for fans of the genre and probably should have started at a $24.99 price point. I’m very happy with the $11 I paid, and currently it’s on sale for $10 on Steam, and $14 on the Nintendo Switch which are very fair. Like most side scrolling brawlers, I’m sure playing with others would only enhance the experience, but I’ve been happy with my solo play thus far. I’ll update this should I run across any glaring issues with the game as I continue my playthrough, but right now I have to say, I’m having fun kicking random thugs in the face. The Karate Kid: Street Rumble has gotten more play out of me, than Undisputed, the latest boxing game that I bought a little over a month ago if that says anything.