Karate Joe

Karate Joe (カラテ家) is the first character to appear in the Rhythm Heaven Series in a Rhythm Game, and one of the only characters to appear in every game since Rhythm Tengoku. He is successing his father in karate.

Characteristics
Karate Joe is characterized by his pale white skin, big nose, and balding head. He wears a black belt karate suit that matches the color of his skin. He wears no shoes. He is described as very expressive and fearless. He is often shown eating a lot of food between training sessions, a trait he seems to share with his father.

Backstory
Karate Joe is a lonely martial artist who struggles with his training. He seems to be developing his own unique karate style which incorporates rhythm. He has a very emotional personality, which can be seen in his many facial expressions. At the martial arts competitions, the opponent reads all his tricks, and he can’t get results. Sometimes he goes to his master for advice, whose usual response is "You needed to focus on the basics."

Karate Joe has dreamed of being a soccer player even since he was a child, but his Father wanted him to master karate instead, and told him that he can't leave his house until he masters it. Even at 55, Karate Joe still lives in the basement. His Father also stole the ball that Joe had bought and used it as a sandbag. Father is a master at karate, but not cooking. Occasionally he makes dinner anyway (like one day when Karate Joe's Mother was out of the house), and asks his son if he likes it. Joe has to lie and say that he likes it to make him feel good. Father got his son bombs to make him face his fears. At first, Joe thought they were fake, but then one exploded! He still vividly remembers his Father's face as he said "Are you surprised?" Karate Joe has no idea where his father got them from. Father keeps a bunch of barrels around, but Joe has no idea why. He asked multiple times, but was told that he can only know when he is stronger than his father. Karate Joe envies his Father's incredible vision that allows him to quickly tell the color of a light bulb and counter it. Joe also sees this as an explanation for how his Father can easily counter his attacks.

Other Appearances
In Rhythm Tengoku, he appears in the first Rhythm Game. It involves the Flow Gauge, which determines if he can punch hard objects such as rocks and bombs, which depends on how well the player is doing in the game. In Karate Man 2, he also has to contend with the ever changing tempo. In Remix 8, the Flow Gauge disappears, and Karate Joe is enveloped in shadow. He can now punch rocks no matter what. At the end, he returns to normal, making a weird face. In Rhythm Heaven Megamix, the Flow Gauge mechanic was completely removed, the "Hit 2!", the light bulbs and bomb were replaced with other objects to conform to how the future games work. Karate Joe reappears in the arcade version of the game, with the same appearences, in addition to Karate Man, which is a sped up version of the original. Here, he is wearing boxing gloves and black boxing shorts, and is training for a boxing match.

Karate Joe reappears in Rhythm Heaven, in the last Rhythm Game before the Credits. In Remix 6, he can be seen with hair and kicking soccer balls in place of bombs. He later makes a cameo in Blue Birds 2, where he is seen in one of the memories, training while the birds spy on him from a bush. In Karate Man 2, he takes on another day of hard training. This time he's very pleased with himself, though he tries to hide it. He makes the weird face again when kicking away bombs. In the Epilogues, one of The Dazzles is shown to admire him, calling him "hot stuff" and offering him a towel. In Battle of the Bands, he can be seen in the audience, watching the Rockers perform on stage.

In Rhythm Heaven Fever, he is once again in the last Rhythm Game before the Credits. In Remix 7, he wears black shades while punching stuff in space. At one point he lies down and watches TV, which coincidentally shows Karate Man from Rhythm Tengoku itself. In Remix 9 he is acompanied by a cat. In Karate Man 2, he reaches "the height of mastery" in karate, after which he is seemingly able to control fire as seen in the Superb Epilogue. In the Two-Player Game version, he wears a headband, and is accompanied by another Karate Joe in purple clothes.

In Rhythm Heaven Megamix, he appears in Honeybee Remix, where he wears a bee hat and a stinger. In the middle of the remix, several bees fly past him. At the end, the hat and stinger fly away, and he starts thinking about pancakes. He also watches in awe at his Father's mastery in Karate Man Senior. He gives commentary on his Father's performance, the same way the Master does on Joe's training.

It is unknown when these events occur in relation to the general story.

Appearances

 * Karate Man Story icon.png Karate Man
 * Karate Man 3DS icon.png Karate Man Returns!
 * 1st_Remix_icon.png Remix 1
 * 6th Remix icon.png Remix 6
 * Karate Man 2 icon.png Karateka 2
 * 7th Remix icon.png Remix 7
 * 8th Remix icon.png Remix 8
 * Karate Man Tempo icon.png Karate Man TempoUpExtra1.png
 * 1st Remix Tempo icon.png Extra Remix TempoUpExtra6.png
 * Karate Man Kick icon.png Karate Man Kicks!
 * Remix 6 DS icon.png Remix 6
 * Blue Birds 2 icon.png Blue Birds 2 (cameo)
 * Remix 8 DS icon.png Remix 8
 * Karate Man 2 DS icon.png Karate Man 2
 * Remix 9 DS icon.png Remix 9
 * Remix 10 DS icon.png Remix 10
 * Rockers icon.png Battle of the Bands (cameo)
 * Karate Man Combo icon.png Karate Man Combos!
 * Remix 7 Wii icon.png Remix 7
 * Remix 9 Wii icon.png Remix 9
 * Karate Man 2 Wii icon.png Karate Man 2
 * Remix 10 wii icon.png Remix 10
 * Bee Remix icon.png Honeybee Remix
 * Right Remix icon.png Right-Hand Remix
 * Karate Man's Father icon.png Karate Man Senior (cameo)

Trivia

 * Karate Joe has appeared as a playable character in every game in the series.
 * Karate Joe has always "bookended" the games he appears in:
 * His game was the first in Rhythm Tengoku, as well as the last one to appear in Remix 8.
 * His game is where Remix 10 starts and finishes in Rhythm Heaven.
 * He appeared in the last game before the credits in Rhythm Heaven and Rhythm Heaven Fever, as well as the last game before Remix 10 in the latter.
 * His game appears as the first of Earth World in Rhythm Heaven Megamix, the first after the Lush Tower credits and his Father's game is the last one before Final Remix. Incidentally, his games are also the last of the DS and Wii selections in the Shop.
 * Some details in the Rhythm Items are ommited in some regions, like the detail about Karate Joe still living in his basement is ommited in the original Japanese and Korean versions, while the French version adds the detail that he is 55 years old and still living in the basement. Other details include Karate Joe mentioning his mother, who was out one day and so his father tried cooking, and that Karate Joe tried to steal the alchahol stored in the barrels, but was caught by his Father and told he can drink it only when he becomes stronger than him.
 * The location of Karate Joe's training in not clear. Usually it is depicted as a featureless monochrome void during gameplay, while certain epilogues show specific locations, such as:
 * A cliff overlooking the sea and a dojo (Karate Man, Karate Man 2)
 * A boxing ring (Karate Man TempoUpExtra1.png)
 * A cliff with a snowy mountain range visible in the distance (Karate Man Returns!)
 * A field (Karate Man 2)
 * In the Rhythm Heaven Comics, he appears to be training even on Christmas Eve. Humorously, despite the lack of snow in the general area, there's a snowstorm blowing solely on Karate Joe.
 * Karate Joe makes a minor appearance as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His spirit battle takes place on the Suzaku Castle stage in Omega form while he is represented by a white Ryu, favoring powered-up smash attacks.
 * He also made a cameo during a Young Cricket and Master Mantis preview for WarioWare Gold.