I found this game in the Bargain Bin circa 1994. I never thought it would have turned out to be one of my all time favorite games. I also never would've imagined how underrated the game is, and how little you can tell from its packaging.
Budokan is one of the few games where you're in a tournament to compete against other martial artists, unlike most games which are to save the world.
Budokan is a ground breaking game with concepts beyond its release year of 1989.
It has shadows that change angles according to the light source. The background is animated. One example of an animated background is water running at the fountain. Another is a bird that flies around the background. Another ground breaking feature is that despite the designers having to cut down the number of moves, there are still a lot you can do. Adlib support is excellent, and it even supports audio through the PC Speaker. Many of the games resources are compressed with LZW compression. It's amazing how much functionality and graphics they fit into about 707KB.
The cover of the box for the PC version is awesome, it has a silhouette of two Kendo practitioners sparring.
My only complaint about Budokan is that the controls are a little
slow to respond.
You can either spar Karate vs Karate, Kendo vs Kendo, Bo against Bo, Nunchaku against Nunchaku, or freestyle which is any of the above against any of the above. You can also compete against 3 different skill levels.
Budokan also has a light side. If you idle at the courtyard, a tentacle eventually surfaces from the water. If you idle at the tournament screen, eventually you see a silhouette of Godzilla. In the courtyard, if you go to the lower right hand corner and press b, you can play a Breakout mini game.
In the main tournament, you get to fight different characters with different weapons. One uses Karate, another uses Tonfa (similar in concept to the night stick used by the Police), another uses Nunchaku, another uses shuriken, another uses a Naginata (Bo staff with a spear at the end).
The ending is the best part of the game. I wish I could say what it is, but it might spoil the game for some of you.
Budokan is worth playing, especially if you're a fan of the martial arts.
