Karate Joe

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

Physical Appearance
Karate Joe is characterized by his pale white skin, big nose, and balding head. He wears a karate suit that matches the color of his skin. He is barefoot. He is often described as very expressive and fearless. He is also 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 as an adult, Karate Joe still lives in the basement. His Father also stole the ball that Joe had bought and used it as a punching bag. Father is a master at karate, but not cooking. Occasionally he makes dinner anyway, such as 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, Karateka. 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 Karateka 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. Karate Joe reappears in the arcade version of the game, with the same appearances, in addition to Karateka, 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. 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 Rhythm Heaven, in the last Rhythm Game before the Credits, Karate Man. 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, Karate Man. In Remix 7, he wears black shades while punching stuff in space. At one point he lies down and watches TV, which coincidentally shows Karateka from Rhythm Tengoku itself. In Remix 9 he is accompanied 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 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. Additionally, Karate Man Returns!, Karate Man Kicks! and Karate Man Combos! all reappear, along with a short version of Karate Man.

He appears in the Rhythm Tengoku Gold Comic, where he is seen training even on Christmas Eve. Humorously, despite the lack of snow in the general area, there's a snowstorm blowing solely on Karate Joe. He also appears in Rhythm Tengoku The Best Plus Comic, where he is the first at the reunion.

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 Karateka  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 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)

In Super Smash Bros.
Karate Joe appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS as a trophy in the "Other" category, and as a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

His spirit battle takes place on the Suzaku Castle Ω stage playing the Rhythm Boxing track, where he is represented by Ryu. The battle has the "Item Tidal Wave" rule applied and the following conditions:
 * The enemy's punches and elbow strikes have increased power
 * The enemy's kicks and knee strikes have increased power
 * The enemy favors smash attacks

Trivia

 * Karate Joe has appeared as a playable character in every game in the Rhythm Heaven 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 and lore in the Rhythm Items are added/changed in some regions, like the detail about Karate Joe still living in his basement is present in most versions beyond the original Japanese version (as well as the Korean version). The French version has the detail that Karate Joe is 55 years old (whether or not this applies to other regions is currently unknown). Other alternative details include Karate Joe mentioning his mother, who was out one day and so his father tried cooking, and that Karate Joe once tried to steal the alcohol stored in the barrels, but was caught by his Father and told he can drink it only when he becomes stronger than him (from the Japanese version).
 * Although he has no official age, Karate Joe is referred to as 55 years old in the French version. It is currently unknown if this detail applies to non-French versions as it has not yet been confirmed,
 * 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 (Karateka, Karateka 2)
 * A boxing ring (Karateka TempoUpExtra1.png)
 * A cliff with a snowy mountain range visible in the distance (Karate Man Returns!)
 * A field (Karate Man 2)
 * Karate Joe makes a cameo during a Young Cricket and Master Mantis preview for WarioWare Gold.