Game:

Karnov (1987)

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Karnov (カルノフ, Karunofu) is a platform game released in arcades in 1987. A Nintendo Entertainment System port followed. Players take control of the title character Jinborov Karnovski, or "Karnov" for short. Karnov is a strongman popularly illustrated as being from an unspecified part of the Soviet Union's Central Asian republics as shown on the arcade flyer and again in Karnov's Revenge.

As a character created by Data East, Karnov was reintroduced in several other games from the company, including Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja in which he is a boss in the first level. Karnov later appeared in the 1994 Neo-Geo game Karnov's Revenge. This game, also known as Fighter's History Dynamite, is not a sequel to the original Karnov, but to Fighter's History, a one-on-one fighter in which Karnov is the final boss.

The game puts the bulging-muscled, fire-breathing, east-Russian, ex-circus strongman hero on a quest through nine different levels to search for the ultimate treasure. However, between him and the treasure are several horrendous monsters, including sword-wielding monks, dinosaurs, djinn, hopping fish men, gargoyles, tree monsters, will-o-wisps, rock creatures, centipede women, and ostrich-riding skeleton warriors.

Karnov can walk, jump, and shoot to make his way through these levels and find special items that help him. Acquiring red orbs can upgrade Karnov until he shoots three fireballs at a time. The end of each level has one or more bosses which he must defeat to receive a new piece of a treasure map. The end of the game features a powerful boss called "The Wizard" who defends the last map piece that leads to the treasure.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Karnov on their March 1, 1987 issue as being the fourth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. Karnov's sales had surpassed 250,000 copies by November 1989.

Bill Kunkel reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, calling it an off-beat variation on a familiar videogame play mechanic.

The IBM PC version of the game was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon #142 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4½ out of 5 stars.

Although no direct sequel to Karnov was released, Data East has used the title character as an enemy. In some games, such as Garyo Retsuden, Tumblepop and Trio The Punch - Never Forget Me... (featuring enormous stone statues and even mini versions of the character), Karnov is featured as a regular enemy.

In other Data East games, he is featured as a boss character. In Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja, Karnov is the first level's boss. A pale grey version of Karnov appears later in the game. According to the credits sequence of the Japanese version of the game, this version of Karnov is called Kusamochi Karnov, after the green sweet kusamochi.

Karnov is also the last opponent in the original Fighter's History, and becomes a playable character in its sequels: Karnov's Revenge and Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!. Although not an official cameo, the guard boss from the Gaelco game, Big Karnak, is almost identical to Karnov's and Kusamoci Karnov's sprites from Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja.

Karnov has also made various cameo appearances. He appears in the alley background of the Neo-Geo game Street Slam. He is shown wearing a shirt with a "K" on it. Karnov also appears in the credits of the independently-developed freeware game I Wanna Be the Guy. In Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, a ghostly silhouette who helps the titular character is highly similar to Karnov, and is even implied to be her dead father.

『カルノフ』(KARNOV)は、1987年にデータイーストが発売したアーケードゲーム。ジャンルは横スクロールアクションゲームである。また、同作品の主人公および同社作品に登場するキャラクター。

プレイヤーは主人公カルノフを操り、各面をクリアして宝の地図の破片を集める。口からの火炎攻撃のほか、マジックアイテムを入手して様々な特殊効果が使える。

カルノフはゲーマデリック『ラップ de カルノフ』において「マンボズボンを履いた太ったおじさん」と説明されている。

カルノフのフルネームは、ジンボロフ・カルノフスキー (Jinborov Karnovski)で、当時のデータイーストの常務だった神保という人物がモデルだったとされ、ナムコから販売されたファミコン版の説明書でカルノフのフルネームが公開されるや否や、その常務は烈火の如く怒り狂ったと当時の社員だった斉藤幸一は述べている。

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