Introduction
Hello, and welcome to a blind guide to playing Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid Saga Continues. Here, I will recap the saga for those who want it, then give all the necessary info for playing this game without any sighted assistance. First, please allow me to tell you about the game and its mechanics.
Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga continues, not to be confused with its sequel, Cobra Kai 2: dojos Rising, is a side-scrolling beat em up available on pc via Steem, Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch, where you choose 1 of 2 dojos and play through the adventure with 4 of each dojo's members, tagging them in and out of battle at will. Although combat sounds are generally not in stereo, you can still adjust the volumes of each track individually, and it is very possible to fully complete the game. I will give gameplay tips in a later section. Your primary goal is to kick ass, move to the next area, (usually right), and kick ass again. Rince and repeat until the stage is cleared. To help break up the monotony, there are various skills you can unlock and upgrade along the way in order to give you the upper hand in battle. There are also environmental props that you can interact with, as well as weapons and items you can pick up to give you a helping hand. As you play through the areas, you will uncover fully voiced story sequences and cutscenes unique to the game, based on the first 2 seasons of the show, and featuring many of the actors and actresses from the show. So, what about the show, and the movies that came before it?
Although it is helpful to know the characters and legacy of the Karate Kid saga to fully enjoy the game's story, it's not necessary. Still, for completion's sake, I will try to summarize everything important from some of the movies in the next section, so that those unfamiliar with it who want to dive into the game with the minimum amount of necessary knowledge will be able to do so and not feel lost. This means that the next section is going to contain ***a lot of spoilers*** pertaining to some of the old movies, so read on at your own risk, or skip as you like if you've already seen them or want to watch them yourself. I won't spoil anything about the game's story or events in any of the next sections, except to set up the plot in the section after next for those who have yet to see the show, so there is no need to worry about that or of missing anything important. The Saga Continues section contains slight spoilers from the show that isn't explained in game, so you can skip that if you already know what's up or want to watch the audio described show on your own. Having said thus, let us begin with the presentation.
The Karate Kid Saga
In 1984, a single mother and her teenage son, Daniel Laruso, moved from New Jursy to the San Fernando valley to start a new chapter in their lives. There he met a girl of similar age named Allie, but in his interactions with her sparked a seed of jealousy with another teen, Jonny Lorance. Several back and fourth insidents happened between the two that caused Jonny and his gang to relentlessly bully and beat up Daniel horribly over several days, causing him injury and wrecking his bike in the process. Unable to defend himself against an entire gang of skilled karate students, he was sent running back home time and time again.
There lived near Daniel an old war veteran from Okinawa, Mr. Miyagi, who participated in World War II, but now worked as a repair man. After seeing the bullying Daniel faced first-hand and defending him, and after seeing that Daniel was aspiring to learn Karate on his own, he reluctantly accompanied Daniel to the dojo where Jonny and the rest of his friends studied to put an end to the bullying, but upon seeing the merciless way their sensei, John Crease, was training his students, Mr. Miyagi struck a deal with Crease to have his students leave him alone, in order that Miyagi could train Daniel himself to compete in the upcoming All Valley Karate championship tournament. The condition for Daniel to be able to studdy under Miyagi Sensei was that Daniel must do everything that Miyagi asked unquestioningly. For several weeks, Mr. Miyagi had Daniel do labor intensive tasks, emphesizing the up and down strokes of painting the fence, the side to side strokes of painting the house, the circular motions of waxing the car and sanding the board, until Daniel's patience finally wore thin and he began to express discontent and question Miyagi's methods.
Unbenownst to Daniel, everything that he had been doing up to this point was establishing a foundation for his Karate skills. What he thought were pointless labor ended up being useful techniques for defending himself against Miyagi's sudden on-coming punches and kicks. During all this, the two of them, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, grew closer together and student and master, and Mr. Miyagi began teaching Daniel many important life lessons, such as finding balance, in both Karate, and in life. Also during this time, on the anniversary of Mr. Miyagi's wife's passing, he invited Daniel to drink sake with him, and it was here that Daniel learned of how during Miyagi's service to America, his wife had died while held in a Japanese internment camp. Later on, Mr. Miyagi presented Daniel with a Karate Gi that his wife had sewn for him, and gave him a vintage convertible which Daniel was permitted to choose from Miyagi's collection of cars as birthday gifts. It was not until near the time of the tournament that Miyagi finally taught Daniel how to properly punch and kick.
Finally, the tournament had come around, and still Daniel maintained contact with Allie, having faught and made up with her, and becoming a couple around this time. Together, the two of them, along with Mr. Miyagi and his Dmother, proceeded to the venue where the tournament was to take place. The fights were intense, and many participants were eliminated, until two remained, Daniel Laruso, fighting under the instruction of Mr. Miyagi, , and Jonny Lorance, fighting under the banner of Cobra Kai, headed by John Crease himself. In the previous match, Jonny's teammate had severely injured Daniel's leg, nearly eliminating him from the tournament. However, Daniel pleaded with Mr. Miyagi to use an ancient healing technique he had used on Daniel before on his sore shoulder during training, to which he reluctantly agreed to do so, in order that Daniel might finally be able to face and overcome this challenge.
Back in the ring, Daniel, having just one good leg, resumed the match, challenging Jonny for the top prize. Time after time, under Crease's urging, Jonny continued to attack Daniel's injured leg, but he didn't give up, and eventually relied on a technique he had learned during his training, known as the crane kick. It would allow him, while balancing on his good leg and flapping his arms like wings, to swiftly switch to standing on his injured leg, to deliver a devistating blow to the opponent, using his good leg to do so before switching back to standing on his good leg again. And so it was, that Daniel ended up winning the gold trophy at the All Valley Karate championship tournament by giving Jonny a kick to the face, sending him out of the ring, and scoring the decisive point of victory. Although Jonny had won the silver trophy, Crease, unwilling to accept second place, snapped it in two, and proceeded to verbally berate Jonny, after which Mr. Miyagi stepped in and seperated them. The legality of the kick which scored Daniel the victory over Jonny is still hotly debated to this day. Still, Daniel holds true to Miyagi's teaching. Lesson number 1: Karate is only for self defense. Lesson number 2: learn Lesson number 1.
Daniel would continue to train under Miyagi for years to come, even going with him to Okinawa soon after his graduation, and buying up a store that Miyagi could use to open up a Bonzai shop. In Okinawa, Daniel would encounter a student of Miyagi's fierce rival, and learn a new technique which he would use to win against said student. Back in America, after helping Miyagi set up the new Bonzai shop, Daniel would be intimidated by students disbatched by the head of Cobra Kai, Tery Silver, where he was forced to agree to participate in the next All Valley Karate Tournament, or face consequences. Miyagi was unwilling to train Daniel any further, fearing that he would use his skills for retribution, but after Daniel undertook training at Cobra Kai Dojo which was meant to seriously injur him, Miyagi felt that he was finally ready, and thus proceeded to train him properly once more. As a result, Daniel was able to overcome his fear of the Cobra Kai students, and emerged victorious in the tournament in the end.
The Saga Continues
And so, Cobra Kai Dojo was shut down forever, or was it? Thirty four years later, Mr. Miyagi had since passed away, and Daniel, having lost touch with Allie, married his current wife, Amanda, with whom he had 2 children, the eldest, a teenage daughter, Samantha, and the youngest, a son, Anthony. Daniel, having passed down some of Miyagi's teachings to Samantha, now runs an auto shop, and still raises bonzai trees. Jonny had a failed marriage, resulting in an estranged delinquent son, Robby Keen. Since then, Jonny has been getting by doing odd jobs, After defended the immigrant son of a single mother, Miguel Diaz, from bullies, decided to start training him by having him do meaningless labor just for the sake of it.
Eventually, not wishing other students to endure the same bullying that Miguel had, Jonny reopenes Cobra Kai and begins training new students in the way he was taught by John Crease years ago. Strike hard, strike first, no mercy. Among the new recruits are Torie and Eli. Tough girl Torie is from a struggling family that barely makes enough to eat as she works alone to support her ailing mother. Eli, who has a prominent scar on his lip. He gets a hawk tatoo on his back, and so renames himself Hawk, in order to flip the script and make himself cooler. Fearing the consequences of the re-emergence of Cobra Kai, Daniel opens up a new dojo, which he calls Miyagido, and gains recruits of his own. Among them are his daughter Samantha, Jonny's son Robby, and hawk's former friend, a socially awkward nerd, Demetree. Thus, a new rivalry is born, and so begins Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid Saga Continues.
Getting Started With The Game
When you boot up the game, you will be taken to the title screen immediately after it boots up, and one of the sensei will say the title of the game. Here you should have 4 menu choices in a non-wrapping vertical menu. In order they are, Continue, New game, How to play, and Options. The first of these options is self-explanatory. Choosing New Game will let you choose from 3 save slots to start your game. I will expand on this further in the next section.
How to play will list everything that you will learn during the game in spoken and text tutorials, but only as text in a horizontal wrapping list. Here, I will briefly list the buttons for console controllers and their actions. I don't know the pc key controls, so if anayone has them and sends them to me, I will update this section with those as well. By default, the thumb stick is to move and navigate between menu items, while the arrows are to swap characters, but you can change this in options, explained later on. Hence fourth, I will list the button order from Nintendo Switch, then xbox, then Playstation. Choosing a menu item is done with a/b/cross, while canceling a menu choice is done via b/a/circle. There will be times when you need to press and hold one of these buttons to confirm your choice, dismiss a popup tutorial message, or skip a cutscene. To know when a button must be pressed and held, you will hear either a beep when you press and release the confirm button, or a creaking sound that starts when you press the button, and stops when you release it. When this happens, just hold for 1 second, and you will hear some spoken dialog and/or a click to confirm that your choice has been made.
During gameplay, you can move around in all 4 directions, and double tap the thumbstick left or right to dash in that direction. Y/x/square is to punch, x/y/triangle is to kick, b/a/cross is to jump, a/b/circle is to parry, l/l1 is to pick up weapons, and r/r1 is to grab/throw. While holding a weapon, y/x/square delivers a quick swing, while x/y/triangle is to deliver a strong swing. You can perform a Dojo skill by holding zl/l2, then pressing 1 of the 4 face buttons. You can perform a personal skill by holding zr/r2, then pressing 1 of the 4 face buttons. When you have collected a gi and a belt, you can perform an ultimate technique by pressing both zl/l2 and zr/r2 together at the same time. Note that you lose access to this once you clear a stage, and therefore must collect the powerup once more to use it. Plus/start/options is to open the pause menu, which I will explain in a later section. Further instructions will be given in the game's written tutorials, but this is basically everything you need to get by with the buttons during gameplay in a stage.
In the options menu, you have 5 settings to change in a vertical non-wrapping menu. In order they are, music volume, sound volume, voice volume, movement type, and display tutorials. The first 4 options can be adjusted by moving left/right. Note that the sliders also do not wrap, so adjust them as you like. You can change Movement type to arrows, but navigation will still be done via the thumb stick, so I found it easier to leave everything as is. The final setting toggles off and on the tutorial messages. By default it is on, but you can press the confirm button on this option to toggle it off, and again to toggle it back on. Press the Cancel button when you are satisfied with your settings to back out to the main menu, and the settings should be saved automatically. Autosave works during gameplay when you clear a stage as well, so there is no need to save manually. Backing out to the main menu from anywhere will leave you on the last item you selected. This concludes all the necessary info on the main menu.
Starting a new game
As stated in the last section, when you choose new game, you will have 3 save slots to choose from. Press and hold the confirm button to choose a slot from the 3 in a non-wrapping vertical menu to start the game. Watch the opening cutscene, then choose between Cobra Kai or Miyagido in that order on a non-wrapping left/right menu. Cobra Kai sounds like fire, while Miyagido sounds like ice. They also specialize in these elements and have unique attacks associated with each dojo. After you choose one of these, you will be welcomed by the sensei of your dojo of choice, and the game will begin.
There are 2 types of story sequences, cutscenes, and slides. Cutscenes happen either at the beginning or end of a stage and advance automatically, while slides occur during a stage and progress as you press the confirm button to move onto the next message. In either case, all dialog will be fully voiced in english, and you can skip either of these by pressing and holding the cancel button. There is a clicking sound for progressing slides, and another double click sound for when a slide sequence ends and gameplay resumes. Get past your first cutscene and slide sequence, and you will begin the game in the introductory stage, where you will play as the Dojo's first student. There is a unique sound for incoming tutorial popups and slides. Progress through the stage, beating up baddies, and eventually you will encounter your sensei, then a mid-boss, and a final boss. Clear that stage, and you will be ranked. Press and hold confirm to dismiss the screen and recieve your final ranking, then press confirm again to proceed to the map screen, which I will explain later on.
The Pause Menu
You can enter the pause menu from within a stage by pressing Plus/Start/Options. Here, you will have 8 menu choices in a vertical non-wrapping menu. In order they are, Resume, How to play, Restart, Map, Dojo, Options, Controls, and Main menu. choosing resume, or pressing Plus/Start/Options from anywhere will exit the pause menu. How to play is the same as it was described in the main menu, (See the Getting STarted section for more details),allowing you to review the gameplay tutorials. Restart lets you restart your current stage. Just press and hold confirm to choose it. Map takes you out to the map screen where you can choose a new area to play. Press and hold confirm to select it. Dojo takes you to the dojo screen where you can view trophies, complete challenges, unlock/upgrade character moves, and unlock/upgrade Dojo moves. Press and hold to select it. Options is the same as it was described in the main menu, (see the Getting Started section for more details), allowing you to tweak Music, Sound, and Voice volume, as well as adjust movement type and disable/enable tutorials. Main Menu takes you back out to the title screen. Press and hold confirm to choose it. That concludes the pause menu.
The Map and Dojo Screen
When you clear the introductory stage, or when you continue your game, you will start in the map screen. The map doesn't wrap, but spreads out in all directions, with the cardinal directions often moving your curser in diagonals. The map consists of 28 key locations from the Cobra Kai show, many of which are locked at the start. To unlock a new area, you must clear the area that leads to the location which you wish to unlock. You can tell if an area is locked by trying to press confirm on it, at which point you should hear a *tock* sound. You will also hear a quick "swish" sound when a new area has been unlocked. Any unlocked area, you can enter by pressing and holding confirm on it, at which pint you'll hear the creaking hold sound. From this screen, you can also instantly travel to your dojo by pressing and holding x/y/triangle.
When you clear any stage after the intro stage, you will be taken to the Dojo screen. Here you will be given 4 options from generally left to right in a non-wrapping menu. I say generally because depending on your dojo of choice, pressing up or down on some of the choices will take you either to the first, last, or middle options. From left to right, these options allow you to view your trophies, complete challenges, unlock/upgrade character skills, and unlock/upgrade dojo skills. The trophies can be found throughout the stages as you play, and are presented in the dojo as a vertical menu once you enter that area. Pressing Y/X/Square while on this screen will take you back to the top-most trophy.
The challenges section is another vertical non-wrapping menu, divided into 8 sections. In order to open up a section, you need to press confirm on it, and once more to close it. The newly opened section will continue down from where you pressed confirm, to where the next section begins. At the start of the game, only 1 section will be unlocked, but you will unlock more as you progress through the game. Challenges are completed during regular gameplay, but the challenges section in the dojo screen is where you claim your reward. To do so, simply press confirm on a completed challenge, and you will hear someone say, "Nice!". Pressing confirm on an unfinished challenge, or one that you've already finished, will result in no sound.
Choosing the character upgrade screen takes you to the skill tree for your first character, at which point you can swap between characters with the l and r bumpers. The skill tree spreads out in all directions, and sometimes wraps, so it might be hard to find things to unlock once you've already gotten most of the unlocks around the starting position in the center. However, if you explore the tree and press confirm on each skill, you will hear the creaking hold sound on a skill that you have enough money to, or have fulfilled the conditions to unlock. Pressing y/x/square on this screen will prompt you to confirm that you want to refund the money you have spent on the skill. Pressing it again will do just that. The Dojo Skills screen is exactly the same as the Character Skills screen, minus the ability to change characters with the shoulder bumpers. Press the cancel button from within the dojo screen to bring up the prompt to leave, then press confirm to do so, and you will be taken back to the map screen. Next, I will explain how the skills operate, and how to use them to make combos.
Using Skills, making combos, and changing characters
Character skills are unique to each character, performed by holding zr/r2, and pressing one of the face buttons. Dojo skills are shared between all characters, and are performed by holding zl/l2, and pressing one of the face buttons. Each skill has its own cooldown timer, and can be chained with one another, or basic attacks to create a huge variety of different combos. Remember also that you can switch out characters at any time via the 4 arrows, and unused characters skills will have their own cooldowns, so you can deplete one character's skills, swap to the next, then immediately use their skills without having to wait. However, since dojo skills are shared between all characters, so too will their cooldown timer be shared between all characters. Changing characters has a cooldown also, so you can't just switch out immediately after switching. There are unique sounds for when a skill bar is full and ready to be used, so you can take advantage of that as you play.
Combos are the bread and butter of the game, allowing you to earn Karate Tokens, heal your character, and even revive fallen allies. The longer the combo, the greater the benefit it gives. If you have fallen allies on your team, a b-rank combo revives 1 of them, while an a-rank combo revives 2. There are short combo jingles that play as you continually attack your enemies. Think of it like how the announcer of Killer Instinct names off different combos as you increase them in length against your opponent. In order to keep a combo string going, you need to hit your enemies in succession without taking damage yourself, with permission for a few second's break between attacks. Personally, I first try to hit an enemy with a basic punch or kick, and once I"ve made contact, I perform a few more punches and kicks, then let loose with the special skills to wrack up the combo and points. Make good use of successive skill execution and character changes to make your combos go as long as possible.
The 4 characters for each dojo, plus their arrow assignments, are as follows, and you will encounter each as you progress through the game. Cobra Kai: Miguel, (up), Jonny, (right), Torie, (down), Hawk, (left). Miyagido: Samantha, (Up), Daniel, (right), Robby, (down), Demetree, (left). Besides saying things when you switch them out, each character will also call out their special moves when you use them. This is also tru when you face characters of the opposite dojo in battle and they use a special technique, so you can try to use this as a way to predict and parry incoming attacks. Finally, if you try to execute a skill or change a character while a cooldown timer is still active, you will hear an error sound, and nothing will happen. If you haven't unlocked a move for that trigger and face button combination yet, you will perform the action associated with the face button you pressed instead. With that said, it is now a good time to start talking about general tips for playing the game.
General Gameplay Tips
The key to staying alive in Cobra Kai is performing as big a combo as you can manage, and frequently swapping out characters. You can also buy upgrades that allow your characters to regenerate an increasing amount of health after taking damage, and while remaining inactive. There are also upgrades allowing you to regenerate your skill bars faster, as well as through attacking your enemies. Although the sound isn't in stereo, the play area for each fight isn't very big, so if you move around sideways, or up and down, dishing out random attacks and dash attacks, you will eventually find the enemies you need to defeat in order to clear the way forward. Many enemies will also say and do things agressively hear you, so you can use that as an indicator that a hostile is nearby, especially if you are attacked. Your characters also say things and attack as they are being tagged in and out, so use that to know when you've switched characters. Once a way is clear, your character will say something cheaky, and you will hear the go indicator play once.
Generally, you move to the right to progress, but on occasion, you will need to move up or down through stairs and doors to reach the next area. I had the game softlock on me once, so if that happens to you and you find yourself without any enemies and unable to progress, just restart the stage. I was able to used the Be My AI app to see the scenery and to determine if any hostiles were still hanging around. There is one death pit on an optional beach area where a party is being held. You can fall off a pier and into the water after the second or third fight, , resulting in a lost ally. If you can find and avoid that edge in a future playthrough of the stage, it is still possible to clear that area on your own. Laruso Auto seemed to be another problematic, but optional area for me, felt big, but one might be able to clear it with patience.
If you find that a stage is too hard because you are being beaten up by the enemies, keep replaying that and previous stages, buying more character and dojo skills to grow progressively stronger. Do big combos and swap out frequently to keep your health up. You can also find food to replenish your health. Although weapons have to be manually taken, walking into food and other items will automatically pick them up, with an accompanying sound. Stages with story sequences will have checkpoints you can utilize when you lose all your characters so that you don't have to start over from the beginning. When you lose all characters, you will be presented with a non-wrapping menu containing 3 items, 4 if there is a checkpoint. The first restarts the stage, the second takes you to the map, and the third exits to the main menu. If there is a checkpoint, the first option starts the stage from the checkpoint, but a checkpoint can only be used once. Still, this should be sufficient to get you through any stage with effort, providing a challenging, but fair experience.
I suggest making good use of third-party reading apps, such as eye-d pro, OCR, or Be My eyes, to read the many skills in the upgrade menus, and to determine what kind of area you are currently in. It's not necessary to complete the game without sighted help, but it will greatly enhance your experience overall, so that you know how your skills are being improved. Generally, there is a summary on the right side of the screen for every menu option and skill upgrade that is currently highlighted. Tutorial popups show the text on the left side, while your character occupies the right side of the screen. In this way, I was able to know how most of my skills were progressing, as well as recognize iconic areas and props from the show that this game is based on, so I really got a lot out of the game through the use of a couple of these apps. Ultimately, I was able to complete the game fully on my own once within a week including breaks, requesting sighted help just to confirm a couple things, so I expect that any experienced mainstream gamer who has spent time playing classic arcade brawlers lacking in stereo audio should be able to do the same, and still have a fulfilling experience.
Be aware that you must beat the game with both dojos on the same save slot in order to reveal the final boss and see the true ending. Each dojo has similar stages to progress through, but with their own stories. Beating the game once, and either watching or skipping the credits, will immediately send you to New Game Plus, with the unbeaten dojo as the only option available and highlighted to be chosen. I believe that New Game Plus will prove to be a greater challenge, based on what I could read of that menu, so good luck. Any money you have should carry over to the new game, as well as the sections of challenges you've unlock. However, now you must complete these challenges with the newly sellected dojo, and work on making them stronger in place of the old one as you complete their story.
Conclusion
Thus ends another article on what I think is a wonderful brawler. I truly hope that people find the game as enjoyable as I did, especially if you are a fan of, or are new to the Karate Kid universe. The actors did such an excellent job lending their voices to the game, and the music feels like it came right out of the show, making for a surprisingly authentic experience comparable to the source material. You should now have enough information about all the different menus to only have to fall back on OCR to understand what upgrades you are buying. If you have any suggestions, corrections, comments, or questions about the article, please leave a comment here in this thread, and I will respond when I can. As always, thank you for reading to the end. This is Kenshira The Trinity, signing off!