International Karate is a fighting game developed and published by System 3 for the ZX Spectrum in 1985 and ported to various home computers over the following years.

[2] It was the first European-developed game to become a major hit in the United States, where it sold over 1.5 million copies, but it drew controversy for its similarities to Karate Champ (1984), which led to Data East filing a lawsuit against Epyx.

Between fights, bonus mini-games focusing on rhythm and timing appear, including one in which the player must break a number of stacked boards using the fighter's head.

As in newer games in the genre, starting specifically with Street Fighter, the fights take place against a variety of backdrops (eight in total) representing different locations in the world: the Mount Fuji (Tokyo, Japan), the Sydney Harbour (Sydney, Australia), the Statue of Liberty (New York, USA), the Forbidden City (Beijing, China), the Christ the Redeemer (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the Palace of Westminster (London, England), the Parthenon (Athens, Greece), and the Great Pyramid of Giza (Cairo, Egypt).

After the release of World Karate Championship in the US in late April 1986, Epyx was sued by video game publisher Data East for infringement of copyright, trademark, and trade dress.

[5][6][7] World Karate Championship was a commercial success in the United States, where it became the first European-developed game to top the Billboard software charts.

[9] Charles Ardai called the game "an original Karate Champ clone, but it's the best one available ... Great scenery adds to the ambience".