Thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni for making a good point that we should probably include the first edition of Internationl Karate in the GTW64 archives, which should have featured graphics by Jon Hare.
International Karate was meant to have been one of the first C64 commercial releases of Jon Hare’s work, but for reasons unknown – Archer Maclean decided to re-do all of the graphics for the final release…
“By 1986, International Karate was finished. The early graphics which had been created by Jon Hare of Sensible Software were completely re-drawn by the game’s final programmer Archer Maclean” – C64 wiki
We haven’t actually seen screenshots or anything of the original game with Jon’s graphics in, and it would be good to see if a version with them still remaining could be salvaged.
We learn later in 2015, thanks to Retro Gamer magazine, that the game was originally being developed by LT Software. When we asked Jon for more details, he confirmed that LT Software were commissioned by System 3 originally to develop the game. Jon did all the art for the game, but it is rumoured that the game was not progressing too well, and Archer was brought in – who re-developed the game from scratch.
Additionally, it is suggested that the coder (who we have no name, apart from a description that he had long hair and a big black beard) did a runner after police found his pot plant collection. Hopefully if he feels he’s safe these days, then we’d love to hear from him and about his version of the game!
Contributions: Fabrizio Bartoloni, Jon Hare
Supporting content
Update history
- 20/04/15 – More details about LT Software’s involvement
- 18/04/15 – Details about possible coder for the game.
