omph ! Whack ! Tsaaa ! Ik+ plays like a dream. Maybe the best beat'em up on the C64.

Then again, I'm really fed up with those characters. Games like International Karate and The Way of the Exploding Fist copied on each other for a long time and at some point the player characters just stopped evolving. I really don't like those round faces that seem to wear sun glasses. The knocked-out player also looks a bit flat, doesn't he ?

As for the backdrop, the original one is varied and colorful. It is really attractive. Check out the Amiga version of IK+. I don't know which one was designed first, but the C64 version cannot be described as a pale copy ! Well, I thought I could add a bit more atmosphere to the whole picture. The hills needed cleaning up, the tree didn't look too asian, and the sunset could have been more glorious.

Of course, most animations that the original game featured (like for example the small worm crawling on the left) can be used in my picture with only a few tweaks.

n the left the original C64 screen, and on the right my own version.

he top half of the picture certainly uses multicolor mode. My picture also follows the rules implied by this mode.

The characters probably use color sprites and the phylactery is made of several monochrome sprites. I don't think I have screwed up anything there either.