Karnov

Karnov is a 1987 platform video game developed and published by Data East for arcades. A Nintendo Entertainment System port followed, which was released in Japan by Namco the same year and in North America by Data East in 1988. Players take control of the title character Jinborov Karnovski, or "Karnov" for short. Karnov is a strongman popularly illustrated as being from an unspecified part of the Soviet Union's Central Asian republics, as shown on the arcade flyer. As a character created by Data East, Karnov was reintroduced in several other games from the company, including Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja in which he is a boss in the first level. Karnov later appeared in the 1993 fighting game Fighter's History, in which he is the final boss, and as a playable character in its sequels, Karnov's Revenge, also known as Fighter's History Dynamite and Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!. Hamster Corporation released the game as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, as well as their Arcade Archives 2 series for the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on September 10, 2026.