I’m waving goodbye to my 20′s and to celebrate I’m counting down 30 games from the last 30 years.  Join me while I countdown 30 great years of game memories.

The Way of the Exploding Fist

This Australian-developed karate gem was a keystone of competitive gaming in my household.  It also happens to be the game that kickstarted my fascination with one-on-one fighting games.  Developed by sadly now defunct Melbourne House, the The Way of the Exploding Fist is more grounded than your standard fighting fare of today, employing real karate scoring systems focusing on execution and technique, rather than the depleting health bar that dominates the genre.  As with real Karate the game was as much about defence and positioning your fighter than it is about attacking.  Of course landing a clean blow will help –  win you the match in fact – but maintaining composure through good defence is key to opening up that opportunity.  While it is far from slow and plodding, The Way of the Exploding Fist is a deliberate and methodical fighting game.  Needless to say mastering the game requires patience and practice.

It also happened to animate beautifully with all moves easily identifiable and as close to real as the technology of the time allowed.  It wouldn’t be a far stretch to argue that it was at the time the most impressive looking and moving game of the time.  While I played it on the Commodore 64 it was also available on other personal computers of the era.  But like many other games of the era the  C64 version had the technical advantage.

 Have a favourite game from 1985?  Tell us in the comments below.  Don’t forget to come back soon for the next game in our countdown.  Miss a year?  Catch up below.

 1984 –1983

<Image Source: Lemon64.com>