Karai functions as the final boss in both the 1993 Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) releases of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, where she is fighting without the use of any weapon. In both versions, she orchestrated the events of the games, working with Krang (Genesis version) or the Rat King (SNES version). Her costume and move sets are quite different between the two versions; in the Genesis version, her main attacks include a ki javelin and a nasty wheel kick. In the SNES version, she has many throws and air punch attacks. In this version, she also has a super move (known as "Oni Henka" in the Japanese version) where she transforms into a demonic version of herself and spits lightning.
Karai was notorious as an extremely difficult boss to defeat (especially on Genesis) and is a secret player character in the SNES version where she can be unlocked by the use of a cheat code (in the Genesis version she is only unlockable with the use of a cheat device). Because of the relative obscurity of the TMNT Mirage comics (as compared to the 1987 cartoon, the Archie Comics and the films), many players at the time didn't recognize Karai in Tournament Fighters, and assumed her to be an original character created by Konami for the game.
- In the story mode of the SNES version, "Master Karai" (who is not known to the Turtles) arrives in New York with "the forces of the Shredder Elite" in order to avenge the Shredder, and kidnaps Splinter and April O'Neil to lure the Turtles into fighting her minions (oddly with the Shredder himself as the game's sub-boss); before her boss fight, Splinter says Karai "possesses super human powers." In the Tournament mode, "a very strong fighter by the name of 'Karai'" is announced by April to be "still alive" and challenges the winner of the titular fighting tournament to fight her, making her the final boss to beat. Her appearance in the SNES version is roughly based on the one from the Mirage comics but her in-game design is androgynous and confusingly masculine, leading some players at that time (and even Nintendo Power's strategy review) to assume it was a male character.
- In the Genesis version Karai, looks much more feminine than in the SNES game (quite similar to the SNES version's original character Aska) appearing with brown hair and wearing samurai-style armor without a helmet or blades with bare thighs and a thong. She also has a different backstory in the Genesis game, in which she sent the Turtles' clones to kidnap Splinter into Dimension X. She suddenly reveals herself to be the true mastermind behind this at the end of the game, following the player's defeat of Krang. In addition, the regular ending has Karai saying that it was only her clone that had been destroyed. As she can be truly killed only in the alternative ending after finishing the game at the hardest difficulty setting.
In her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge story, she finds Shredder's ways dishonorable and distasteful and seeks to defeat him. In her ending, she successfully disposes him and takes over the Foot Clan as a whole.
In Shredder's Revenge's Survival mode, she is invited for pizza with the Turtles, Splinter, April, Casey, and Usagi. The Neutrinos suddenly arrive via a portal and ask for help securing the crystals that are being pilfered by Shredder. She joins the heroes in stopping Shredder's plot.
Karai's moveset in Shredder's Revenge features many references to her appearances in both versions of Tournament Fighters; her idle pose matches her pose from the SNES version, many of her attacks involve the "Dark Thunder" ability she uses in her "Oni Henka" super move, her Super Dive Attack is her "Bakuretsu Jigokuken" special move from the SNES version, and her Rising Attack is based on her spin kick special move from the Genesis version. Her other attacks of note are her Heavy Swing, in which she spins a kunai on a chain and sends it outwards to strike the opponent, and her Fling Slam, which has her performing an izuna drop on the opponent.
Several of Karai's alternate palettes in Shredder's Revenge change her sprite's color palette to resemble her counterparts from other media; including the 2003 cartoon, the 2012 cartoon, the Genesis version of Tournament Fighters, the Mirage comics (also used for her appearance in the SNES version of Tournament Fighters), and the IDW comics.
Trivia[]
- The kanji on the lower level of her stage in the Genesis version, reads "忍", meaning endure or persevere, and is the first character in the word "ninja".