The Karate Kid is an essential piece of eighties culture, shaping the childhoods of millions of Gen Xers. While the original film is rightly heralded as a classic of its time, its sequels have had less of a cultural impact, only being rediscovered by new fans after the release of the Cobra Kai TV show, as it draws heavily from their lore.
Odaclick Game Studio’sThe Karate Kid: Street Rumbleseeks to celebrate (almost) every film in the series, shining a light on the overlooked portions of Daniel LaRusso’s epic saga. The game features characters from each cinematic outing, featuring recognizable characters and deeper cuts alike.
Johnny Lawrence
Originally Played By William Zabka
It wouldn’t be a Karate Kid game without an appearance by Daniel’s childhood bully, Johnny Lawrence, who acts as a boss at the All Valley Tournament. Johnny was the top student at the Cobra Kai dojo, where he trained under sensei John Kreese. Here, he was manipulated by Kreese due to his poor family situation, and he took in the flawed values he had carried with him for most of his life, such as not showing opponents mercy.
Johnny is bested by Daniel (and the player) at the end of the first Karate Kid, a loss that throws him into a tailspin. The first season of Cobra Kai shows Lawrence’s continued clashes with the LaRusso family, but the two former rivals are eventually able to settle their differences and team up against even greater threats.
Bobby And Dutch
Bobby and Dutch are minor characters in the Karate Kid films and appear as minibosses in the campaign (Bobby appears during Part 1 and Dutch in Part 3). Both were friends with Johnny and trained with him at Cobra Kai. Bobby was the second-most talented student in the dojo and fought Daniel during the first Karate Kid, where he was ordered by Kreese to injure his leg. Later in life, Bobby became a pastor and reevaluated a lot of the decisions he made in his youth.
Dutch, sadly, had a much different life trajectory. He never grew out of being a bully, and his problematic behavior continued into adulthood. In the second season of Cobra Kai, it is revealed that he is serving a sizable sentence at Lompoc Federal Prison. However, his exact crimes are never mentioned.
John Kreese
Originally Played By Martin Kove
There is no bigger villain in the Karate Kid series than John Kreese, and he makes his presence known in Street Rumble multiple times. He is the sensei of the original Cobra Kai dojo and is incredibly angry at Johnny after he loses to Daniel in the 1984 All Valley. In the movie, he harasses and attempts to strangle Lawrence before Mr. Miyagi intervenes. However, in Street Rumble, this is replaced by a level where the player must go to the Cobra Kai dojo and fight him.
Kreese returns in Part 3, where he enlists the help of his wealthy friend Terry Silver to help him embarrass LaRusso and Miyagi. They are ultimately thwarted, and Daniel wins the All Valley once again, but the conflict is handled a bit differently in the game. The player has a boss battle where they need to fight both Kreese and Silver at the same time in order to progress to the tournament.
The disgraced karate master would return once again in the Cobra Kai series, feigning that he was a changed man willing to atone for his past sins. This was later revealed to be a lie, and Kreese stole back control of his former dojo from Johnny, forcing him to team up with Daniel in order to stop his former sensei.
Sato Toguchi
Originally Played By Danny Kamekona
Sato is a pivotal character in the second Karate Kid entry. He and Miyagi were both in love with a woman named Yukie, but she was to become Sato’s wife thanks to an arranged marriage. Miyagi made a speech about how he disagreed with the arranged marriage, and Sato challenged him to fight, but Miyagi fled their home to the United States.
The player fights Sato in Street Rumble, but he has not forgiven Miyagi yet. Only after rescuing him from a typhoon does he come to his senses, realizing Miyagi had always been his friend. At the end of Part 2, he even helps Daniel defeat Chozen, who had abandoned him during the storm.
Chozen Toguchi
Originally Played By Yuji Okumoto
Chozen is Sato’s nephew and the antagonist in The Karate Kid Part 2. He bullies Daniel throughout the plot due to his association with Miyagi, who he views as dishonorable due to Sato’s influence. Their conflict ultimately boils over into a proposed fight to the death during the film’s climax. This scene is playable in Street Rumble, and the player vanquishes Chozen at the Obon festival.
Despite their rough beginnings, Chozen later returns as an ally of Daniel’s in Cobra Kai. He teaches Daniel additional Miyagi-do techniques that Mr. Miyagi wasn’t able to impart before he passed away. Chozen later relocates to America and becomes an instructor for Daniel and Johnny’s students as they train to fight Cobra Kai.
Terry Silver
Originally Played By Thomas Ian Griffith
Terry Silver is a businessman and friend of John Kreese. He’s introduced in Part 3, where he helps Kreese weaken Daniel so he’ll lose the upcoming tournament. He poses as Daniel’s friend, teaching him Cobra Kai karate and causing him to stray further away from Miyagi’s teachings. These mind games are shown in Street Rumble, with a level where the player must take on phantom versions of Terry Silver. Thankfully, Daniel is able to break from Silver’s influence and returns to Miyagi, later winning the All Valley.
Silver reemerges in Cobra Kai, where he once again teams up with Kreese in an attempt to ruin Daniel LaRusso. They work together for some time, but he is eventually betrayed by Kreese and exposed for cheating in karate tournaments. This loses him the respect of his students, and after his various crimes come to light, he is arrested.
Mike Barnes
Originally Played By Sean Kanan
Mike Barnes is a talented karate competitor who is hired by Terry Silver to defeat Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid Part 3. He bullies and goads Daniel into participating in the All Valley, even trashing Mr. Miyagi’s new bonsai shop. Daniel eventually relents and defeats him in the tournament. Players get to participate in this fight, beating Mike in the final level of Street Rumble.
Barnes has a small role in the later seasons of Cobra Kai, assisting Daniel and Johnny as they prepare to face Kreese one last time. He is brought in to select which fighters will advance to the Sekai Taikai. This causes friction with Johnny, but they eventually agree on who will represent their dojo at the tournament.
