The player takes part in a series of one-on-one karate matches, all overseen by a wise old expert who appears in the background. Once the player defeats an opponent they move up to the next stage and a more difficult adversary. Fights are not won using the energy-bar style found in modern fighting games; instead, the player needed to get two complete yin-yangs. Any move that connected with the opponent would end the round; a loosely timed or borderline kick or punch would obtain half a yin-yang icon, while a well-executed move would obtain a full icon. Two complete icons ended the bout and progressed to the next level. This system of scoring, known as shobu nihon kumite, is used in real life in many traditional styles of karate. A half yin-yang represents a waza-ari and a full yin-yang represents an ippon score. The game control is via joystick or direction keys and a "fire" key. 18 different movements can be made, including jumping kick, roundhouse kick and a variety of punches and kicks, high and low. The game features a variety of backgrounds against which the fighting takes place. After completing a number of progressively harder stages, the player is charged at by a bull in a bonus round. The player must knock the bull out with a single hit. The bonus round mirrors the feats of Mas Oyama, a karate expert who purportedly killed bulls with a single strike. This bonus round was not present in the ZX Spectrum version and some of the early Commodore 64 versions.
Production
Before creating The Way of the Exploding Fist, designer Gregg Barnett converted The Hobbit and Sherlock, two adventures from Beam Software, to the Commodore 64. It was one of the first games to borrowing heavily from the Data Eastarcade gameKarate Champ which was released the previous year. The Commodore 64 version uses over 600 sprite images to animate the player's movements. The game's soundtrack is based on the 1952 orchestral piece, Dance of the Yao People. Karate champion Jeoffrey Thompson was signed to promote the game but was not sufficiently well known to have the game named after him. An NES version was developed by Beam Software but it was never released.
Reception
The Commodore 64 version was a "Sizzler" in Zzap!64 magazine, scoring 93% overall. The games sound and graphics were acclaimed. The game was voted game of the year at the Golden Joystick Awards, with Melbourne House picking up Best Software House. The ZX Spectrum version was placed at number 67 in the "Your Sinclair official top 100", with reviewers praising the visceral sound effects. The game went on to become the best selling ZX Spectrum game, the best selling Amstrad CPC game, and the best selling game of the month overall in the Gallup charts. It sold 500,000 copies in Europe.
Sequels
There were two sequels: and Exploding Fist +. Of these two, Fist 2 is not a fighting game, but a scrolling action game with one-on-one fighting elements. Exploding Fist +, on the other hand, returns to the style of the first game. It features combat with three characters, an idea followed from International Karate +, though in this case it is possible for players to control the three characters simultaneously.
