Karateka

December 31, 1984 Jordan Mechner Brøderbund Software, Dro Soft, Soft Pro International, Atari Corporation, DotEmu

Fighting Hack and slash/Beat 'em up

Atari7800 Atari8bit PC-9800 Series C64 ZXS Android Atari-ST iOS DOS Apple][ famicom ACPC MSX

About

Karateka is a 1984 beat'em up video game by Jordan Mechner, and was his first game created while attending Yale University. It was originally programmed for the Apple II, and was later ported to several other home computers and early gaming consoles. The game was published in North America by Brøderbund, and in Europe by Ariolasoft.

The player controls an unnamed protagonist who is attempting to rescue his love interest, the Princess Mariko, from Akuma's castle fortress. The game exhibits a combination of a side-scrolling platform and fighting game elements. The player uses punches and kicks to defeat Akuma and his guards and make his way deeper into the fortress. The game, as with most at the time of development, lacked checkpoints or the ability to save the game, making it a challenge to complete in a single sitting.

Karateka has been well-received, particularly for its realistic animations used for the game's characters. The game was considered a breakthrough success for Mechner, and would eventually result in his development of the Prince of Persia franchise. A high-definition remake, spearheaded by Mechner, was released as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, with planned ports for the iOS and Wii U systems.

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84.1

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Game Info

Release Date December 31, 1984
Developer Jordan Mechner
Publisher Brøderbund Software, Dro Soft, Soft Pro International, Atari Corporation, DotEmu
Game Modes Single player
Perspective Side view
Themes Action

Karateka

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