This is my favorite fighting game after Hellish Quart. I can't say it's realistic to the point of being a simulation, but it's probably one of the most realistic fighting games, and masterfully executed as an indie title. Like any good story that blends fantasy and reality, things start low-key and relatively realistic, and become more and more fantastical and superpowered slowly and over time, as you become more invested. The hand-drawn art style is timeless, because hand drawings will never look dated in the way that old sprites or 3d models will. It's subtle, but the hand-drawn art style looks like sketches or cartoons from a high school student's notebook, which alludes to the adolescent fantasy aspects of the game as it gradually grows towards the fantastic and the overpowered. As a further kind of homage to adolescence, the game makes references to martial arts popular movies and heroes from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as historical karate-related figures like Mas Oyama, allowing middle aged players today to revisit and explore their own martial arts related adolescent fantasies and perhaps reflect upon them in hindsight.

Besides for this, the karate fighting, especially at the beginning of the game before things become very fantastical, is well represented. I've always enjoyed combative sports in real life and find the martial arts sparring gameplay to be satisfying and more or less reflecting the dynamics in martial arts sparring back in the 90s and 2000s. If you want to kick your opponent in the leg, the best time is when he steps forward or when he puts his leg down after throwing a kick. If you kick at the leg when the opponent is in a neutral position he may counter by kicking your head with the leg you were aiming at. And a good push kick can interrupt an out-of-range punch or roundhouse kick that takes a longer path to its target if aimed and timed correctly. Pretty good for a low budget indie game! What I like about this game is that someone might learn something real about karate sparring from this game, moreso than they would from some of the big name titles that are out there thes days.

So I say, you can't go wrong with this game...and you might even learn something!