Karate Master - Knock Down Blow | Game Brain

Karate Master - Knock Down Blow Game Cover

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Karate Master - Knock Down Blow is a single player fighting game. It was developed by Crian Soft and was released on October 30, 2013. It received positive reviews from players.

KARATE MASTER Knock Down Blow, is an explosive fighting game of full contact karate (kakuto Karate), which will involve you not only in fierce fights, but also in the preparation and training needed for a Karateka to strengthen body and spirit.

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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84%

Audience ScoreBased on 422 reviews

gameplay23 positive mentions

grinding39 negative mentions

Authentic representation of Kyokushin Karate and martial arts techniques with satisfying and realistic combat mechanics.
Engaging progression system combining fighting, RPG elements, and training minigames that add depth and a sense of achievement.
Nostalgic retro graphics and soundtrack that capture the feel of 80s and 90s martial arts movies and classic arcade fighting games.

Game features a steep grind that involves repetitive minigames and working to earn money, which can become tedious.
Frequent bugs and technical issues including broken achievements, occasional crashes, and poor translation undermine the experience.
Controls can be stiff or unresponsive especially on keyboard; some moves require a controller and tutorials or in-game explanations are lacking.

gameplay
75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
65%
4%
The gameplay is generally praised for its solid, nostalgic, and technical fighting mechanics that capture the feel of classic 90s martial arts games, combining RPG elements with engaging 2D combat and enjoyable minigames. However, it is often criticized for grindiness, frustrating instant-kill mechanics, occasional bugs, and a reliance on some luck that can disrupt progression. Overall, it offers a fun, challenging experience for fans of retro fighting games despite some rough edges and limited depth.
- “Gameplay is fun, mini games are great, and the progression feels awesome.”
- “The gameplay for a 2d fighting game is awesome - good timing and distance will get you the wins, not button mashing or insane combos. The moves are realistic, the damage, the training sessions, everything is exactly what it was like to be a karate fighter in the 80's.”
- “Which is to say its a very competent, decently technical karate 'sim' while being easy enough to pick up and play yet sufficiently challenging. The underlying mechanics are very solid and make for enjoyable technical battles where button mashing generally gets you killed.”
- “Well, it is pretty fun at the start, but by the mid/end game it gets really grindy if you want to stand a chance against the harder opponents. Also, not a fan at all of the instakill mechanic. It's cool in concept, but when a tournament run ends in 2 seconds because a single tap to your leg shattered your femur, it starts to get really tedious. Plus, that recovery minigame is probably going to put my keyboard in a graveyard.”
- “The mechanics are janky as hell, the progression is a grind, and the apparent RNG of bones breaking due to well-timed strikes affects you at least as much, if not more, than the computer.”
- “0 logic in its activation and the only purpose is to slow down player progression through 'sudden death' mechanic.”
graphics
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
63%
9%
The game’s graphics are praised for their charming, retro 80s/90s arcade and pixel art style, evoking classics like Neo Geo and Art of Fighting with detailed sprites and nostalgic visuals. While the hand-drawn and pixel art are well-executed and immersive, some character portraits and certain backgrounds receive criticism for roughness or inconsistency. Overall, the graphics effectively complement the game’s vintage martial arts theme and gameplay despite occasional imperfections.
- “The vintage-style graphics further enhanced these deep emotions, immersing me in a familiar yet invigorating experience.”
- “The graphics really capture the feel of the transitional period between the 16-bit and 32-bit console eras (think neo-geo), and they are of much higher quality than your average indie fare.”
- “The visuals and sound really help there, seeing a realistic amount of blood splattering the fighters and the floor, heavy blows sounding like an explosion as the game momentarily shudders as the screen is framed with a red haze, and the dizzying effects when injuries occur lead to a real sense of risk and struggle.”
- “The graphics aren't superb sadly, the sprite work, while effective, does look very rough, especially on some of the fighters, and some of the backgrounds are poorly rendered polygon work, though it has some of the better audiences I've seen in a game.”
- “Story is terrible, artwork is bad, the way the interface and level selection/story progression is time consuming and dumb, luck seems to be a factor.”
- “Long loading times, terribad graphics, but a blank canvas where game creativity was about pushing boundaries and exploring what games could be.”
story
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
70%
15%
The story is generally viewed as weak, simplistic, and poorly written with minimal depth or emotional engagement, often hindered by bad translation and clunky dialogue. While some appreciate its cheesy, retro 80's vibe and nods to martial arts tropes, most find the narrative forgettable and lacking meaningful plot development or characterization. Ultimately, the gameplay and training mechanics are praised, but the story mode mainly serves as a basic framework without significant impact.
- “Like any good story that blends fantasy and reality, things start low-key and relatively realistic, and become more and more fantastical and superpowered slowly and over time, as you become more invested.”
- “That said, although it is only a game, Karate Master 2 Knock Down Blow is very realistic in its storyline and touches on all the aspects of discipline, determination, responsibility, and achievement that all of us martial arts practitioners have become familiar with over the course of our real-life training.”
- “In between the fighting and the B-reel script you get to train your fighter in a fantastically diverse set of mini-games (some are genius, others... not so much), and there's a limited RPG style progression system where you'll tinker with the stats of your fighter, and can even suffer injuries and get to participate in a mini game where you have to recover from those (and the first time that happens, you get some cringeworthy story for that too).”
- “Unfortunately, I got something sort of like Punch Club where the game is just above adequate and the story is a poorly-translated, poorly-written mess.”
- “The story bits are painful to read because of the poor translation, and not in an "all your base are belong to us" kind of way either; it's just hard to follow what's going on.”
- “The game features a mix of tournaments, one-shot fights against various opponents, special encounters such as 'do a flying kick over a car!', and occasional expositions of horribly written story, with English so badly written even Google Translate looks at me and throws its arms up in despair.”
music
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
64%
7%
The music in the game is widely praised for its retro 1980s/1990s arcade and martial arts movie vibe, with energetic tracks that enhance combat intensity and atmosphere. While many find it fitting and nostalgic, some mention issues with repetitiveness and occasional mismatched styles, like saxophone segments. Overall, the soundtrack is a key highlight that helps maintain player engagement despite grinds and gameplay flaws.
- “The action is surprisingly fun, and the music is good stuff, perfect for some intense combat; I vibe with the menu music, too.”
- “As one of the fighters takes serious damage, the music turns into an adrenaline-rising masterpiece - I simply love that beat.”
- “The sound effects and music really make this game shine, once again perfectly capturing that bygone era that a lot of us spent middle school listening to as we played our games.”
- “A really big issue is that you can only turn down the music, yet the actual sound effects are ear-splitting unless you go back and turn down your volume.”
- “The other songs are either forgettable or bland.”
- “The only real issues anyone will have with the game is the fact that it’s grindy at times and the repetitive music.”
grinding
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
98%
Grinding in the game is frequently cited as tedious and repetitive, especially toward the mid to late stages where it becomes necessary to level up stats and earn money for progression. While some find the grind adds to the sense of a "karate journey" and enjoy occasional engaging mini-games, many players feel it slows pacing and can be frustrating, detracting from the overall experience.
- “Well, it is pretty fun at the start, but by the mid/end game it gets really grindy if you want to stand a chance against the harder opponents. Also, not a fan at all of the instakill mechanic; it's cool in concept, but when a tournament run ends in 2 seconds because a single tap to your leg shattered your femur, it starts to get really tedious. Plus, that recovery minigame is probably going to put my keyboard in a graveyard.”
- “4) Farming about 40 minutes a minigame that is always the same to earn money to open the dojo.”
- “Unfortunately, the game does have some issues: occasionally the controls would become unresponsive, and the game can be rather repetitive as grinding is necessary to max out your stats and get enough money to get through the game.”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor largely stems from its hilariously bad and inconsistent English translation, which adds a charming, B-grade action movie vibe that players find entertaining. This, combined with quirky dialogue, funny glitches, and some idiotic yet amusing events, makes the game lighthearted and fun without taking itself seriously. Fans of retro style and martial arts appreciate the comedic, often unintentional humor woven throughout the gameplay and story.
- “Despite the retro graphics, the hilariously ill-translated dialogue and generic plot, I can't help myself coming back to it.”
- “Now the game was obviously translated from Japanese and it isn't perfect, but this leads to some hilarious lines, one of my favorites being "I'll break your idiot face, you sucker!" It's like one of those badly dubbed Japanese films, you can't help but smile at it.”
- “That being said, the dialogue (in English, at least) is hilariously inconsistent - whether or not the developers intended to give the game that "b-grade action movie" dialogue - and is entertaining at many times, to say the least.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from frequent and frustrating bugs, including freezing, slowdowns, glitches in combat and menus, and awkward physics, which significantly impact playability. While some players appreciate the underlying gameplay, the numerous stability issues make it feel unfinished and detract from the overall experience.
- “Training glitches and freezes the game, fights suddenly becoming slow, invisible black holes constantly pulling you in.”
- “It's a real shame because I still enjoyed it and there is great combat beneath the abrasive buggy exterior but this feels like an unfinished flash game; I guess there's no quality control on products released on Steam!”
- “The game is super buggy and doesn't even have Xbox 360 controller support.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
The game's optimization is generally satisfactory, running well even on lower-end systems with 1GB of RAM and handling large sprites effectively. However, some users experience stuttering issues that impact playability, suggesting it may need further updates to meet modern performance standards.
- “Optimization is very good indeed even with such big sprites.”
- “Optimization - it really runs satisfactorily on computers with 1 GB of RAM, although this is the first game on itch.”
- “You learn actual karate techniques from your master and then apply them in the kumite section in order to improve your performance.”
- “Unless the game gets patched, updated, reworked, and optimized to keep up with modern games, or at least to make it enjoyable, I wouldn't recommend getting this.”
- “Had to refund this game since I got stuttering problems which made it completely unplayable.”
- “Optimization - it really runs satisfactorily on computers with 1GB of RAM, although this is their first game on itch.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game offers minimal replayability, with most players finding the experience satisfactory only during the initial playthrough. Once the story and training challenges are completed, there is little incentive to revisit, especially as fights become too easy and no new content or challenges are introduced. However, at a low price point, some may still find it worth a try despite its limited post-completion appeal.
- “Heavily flawed, no replay value. You may have to search for how to do things. Developers have abandoned the game, but for $4, I can recommend it.”
- “By the time you've completed the story, visited all dojos around the city, and finished a satisfying experience of training regimens including jump kicking over a car and tackling a bear, there's not much left in terms of replayability.”
- “After training up your stats, fights become too easy, only requiring several punches to end. The story doesn't introduce more challenging tasks or complex events, making the replay value effectively zero.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere effectively captures the gritty, authentic feel of an 80's martial arts underworld, enhanced by fitting training music and realistic gameplay. While the original version offered a darker tone and multiplayer features, the current game still delivers a nostalgic and immersive karate fighting experience.
- “A few things in the first one (itch.io) worked even better, including the plot and the dark atmosphere of a martial arts underworld, as well as the previous possibility of multiplayer.”
- “The gameplay for a 2D fighting game is awesome - good timing and distance will get you the wins, not button mashing or insane combos. This also captures the atmosphere of the 80's good fighting games. On the karate side, the moves are realistic, the damage, the training sessions, everything is exactly what it was like to be a karate fighter in the 80's.”
- “The training music is good and it creates a nice atmosphere for training the character.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect is minimal, with a basic and uninspired narrative that fails to create meaningful emotional engagement. The story follows a cliché plot, offering little depth or investment for players.

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6h Median play time

8h Average play time

5-12h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 3 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Karate Master - Knock Down Blow is a fighting game.

On average players spend around 8 hours playing Karate Master - Knock Down Blow.

Karate Master - Knock Down Blow was released on October 30, 2013.

Karate Master - Knock Down Blow was developed by Crian Soft.

Karate Master - Knock Down Blow has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its story.

Karate Master - Knock Down Blow is a single player game.

Similar games include Karate Master 2 Knock Down Blow, Possessed, Gunpowder, The Legend of Emperor Tian, Cyber Tamer and others.

Karate Master - Knock Down Blow

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