Best of the Best: Championship Karate

Futura and Loriciel

Industry	Video game development and publishing
Headquarters	France
Products	Best of the Best: Championship Karate (video game)

Best of the Best: Championship Karate is a 1992 fighting title centered on kickboxing, featuring elite black belt fighters vying for the championship crown. Notably, the Sega Genesis edition offers exclusive compatibility with the Sega Activator motion-sensing controller.

The game was created by Futura and Loriciel (for Game Boy, Genesis, and NES platforms) and distributed by Loriciel in Europe and Electro Brain in North America. It serves as an enhanced iteration of Panza Kick Boxing (1990), which was available on multiple computer systems as well as the TurboGrafx-16. Pascal Jarry acted as lead designer and programmer, with artistic contributions from Marco De Flores, Christophe Perrotin, and Isabelle Maury, while the soundtrack was composed by Michel Winogradoff.

In 1994, martial artist and actor Ron Yuan commended the title as the premier SNES fighting game from a technical martial arts standpoint, emphasizing its appeal to dedicated martial arts fans.

Reception

According to Juris Graney of The Australian Commodore & Amiga Review, Best of the Best closely follows its predecessor’s formula. He characterized it as essentially a sequel dubbed Panza Gold Edition, retaining similar gameplay mechanics, audience presence, referee behavior, and move sets, with the primary distinction being an additional advanced arena.