The CoCo Show: A TRS-80 Color Computer Podcast · Amigos Retro Gaming

Eastworld Karate is a MYSTERY game from the MELTING POTS OF SIN! We FIGHT IT OUT on The Coco Show 58!

·39 min·3 clips

Aaron uncovers that Eastworld Karate has no videos on YouTube and almost no information online.

Eastworld Karate is the oddball today. Aaron introduces it as a mysterious Color Computer game, and the weirdness shows up fast enough that note taking almost feels unnecessary. Brent goes along with it. The opening drifts through Radio Shack jokes, old karate memories, and the possibility of dragging a gi out from 10th grade. Then the joystick becomes the problem. The review turns into a test of what the fighter can do: jump, kick high, thrust forward, punch, duck, and block if the controls happen to be in the mood. The move list sounds better on paper than it feels in play. A flying head kick, a roundhouse to the face, a thrust kick, and a punch get sorted into high and middle attacks with mock seriousness. Defense is where the game starts picking fights of its own. Blocking exists, but Aaron and Brent cannot get it to answer high or middle attacks in a way that feels dependable. Ducking is the one thing that behaves. If the opponent throws a head kick while the player is low, it misses, and that becomes the closest thing the game offers to a defensive plan. The difficulty settings make it funnier. One setting is super easy and four is completely invincible, but even easy can still beat them up. Aaron does get wins, and he ties that to his brown belt with the kind of grand authority the show gives to tiny retro stakes. The live chat gets a warm nod near the end. By the end, this is not a neat verdict. It is Aaron and Brent poking around a strange karate game until the controls, the jokes, and the small victories all become part of the fun. The final feeling stays fond: even a rough CoCo game can be worth loading when nobody knows what it will do next.

As heard by us

A baffling Coco karate cartridge becomes a clear, funny look at odd controls and stubborn defense.

Eastworld Karate works as a Coco oddity because Aaron and Brent keep moving between memory and hands-on play. They lay out the joystick moves, show how diagonals change attacks, and explain the blocking rules while keeping the banter loose enough to make the discussion feel…

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Why you'd press play

You want a weird Eastworld Karate breakdown that keeps the jokes intact.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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