Kaiser Knuckle, the Video Game by Taito Corp. [Japan]

Type of the machine : Video Game
Kaiser Knuckle © 1994 Taito.

A one-on-one fighting game featuring nine selectable characters and three end bosses, controlled with a single joystick and six buttons. In addition to the usual kicks and punches, each character also has a number of special moves, that can be utilized via complex joystick and button combinations. In the one player game, players can chose their first opponent, with subsequent opponents chosen randomly by the game.

Unusually for a game of this type, Kaiser Knuckle features blood; something that had hitherto only been associated with Midway's "Mortal Kombat" series. The blood option can be switched off in the game's dip settings.

Kaiser Knuckle was Taito's answer to the Capcom and SNK fighting games that were dominating the arcade scene in the early 90's, and while playable enough in its own right, and featuring, as it does, colourful graphics and highly animated backdrops, Taito's offering couldn't compete with the "Street Fighters" of the world, either on commercial or gameplay terms.

Taito F3 System hardware
Prom Stickers : D84

Main CPU : 68EC020 (@ 16 Mhz)
Sound CPU : 68000 (@ 16 Mhz)
Sound Chips : ES5505 (@ 15.23805 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 320 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 58.97 Hz
Palette colors : 8192

Players : 2
Control : dial
Buttons : 6

Released in July 1994.

This game is known in US as "Global Champion".

An updated prototype of this game is known as "Dan-Ku-Ga".

The US version ("Global Champion") is slightly different, it has the 'Winners Don't Use Drugs' screen.

On the Japanese verion, there are some little features that have been cutted away in the world and US version :
- After you've choose your character and your first opponent, first to begin your first fight, you can see a little sequence that show the prologue of the story of the character you've choosed.
- Some speeches said by the characters Kazuya, Liza, Li-Huan and Jim mc Coy (after they winning a round, or before the fight beegin) has been removed.
- The portraits of Kazuya, Liza and Li-Huan are different. Those was re-drawned in the non-Japanese versions.
- In the Japanese version, there are Super moves.

Image illustrator : Nobuteru Yuki
Project leader : Takeshi Kobori
Planners : Takeshi Kobori, Hiromi Mikami, Yuji Sakamoto, Hiroshi Aoki
Main character designers : Yuji Sakamoto, Takeshi Kobori
Character designers : Hiroto Nizato, Hiromi Mikami, Atsushi Iwata, Shinichi Arai, Makoto Fujita, Horitaka Kawamoto, Takayuki Isobe, Shin Tanaka, Shinjiro Sugitani, Seiji Kawakami, Kazuhiro Numata, Yukio Abe, Nobuhiro Hiramatsu, Hiroyo Kujirai, Tomohisa Yamashita, Tsuyoshi Tanigawa, Hideyuki Kato, Keisuke Nishioka, Tatsuya Ushiroda, Hiroshi Nishida
Assistants : Peacock, Production IG, VAP
Main programmmer : Hiroshi Aoki
Programmers : Kosuke Usami, Kumi Tsuchiya, Tatsuo Nakamura, Isao Oyama
Music composer : Yasuhisa Watanabe (Zuntata)
Sound effect designers : Katsuhisa Ishikawa (Zuntata)
Recording engineers : Munehiro Nakanishi (Zuntata)
System engineers : Katsumi Kaneoka, Hironobu Suzuki
Designers : Kumi Mizobe, Takeshi Kobori
Mechanic engineer : Koichi Otsu

* CAST :
Kazuya : Kazuki Yao
Barts : Ryutaro Okiayu
Lihua : Saeko Shimazu
Liza : Aya Hisakawa
Gekkou : Hideo Ishikawa
J-McCoy : Kazunari Tanaka
Wulong : Yasushi Horibata
Marco : Ichiro Otowa
Boggy : Andrew Holms
Gonzales : Hisao Egawa
Azteca : Ryu Kuzu
General : Steve Yamashita
Narrator : Randy Sexton

Game's rom.