Re:Retro

Karateka: The epitome of a good video game

by Joel on June 20th, 2008

Sigh. Where do I begin? Karateka is more than just a 1984 computer game Jordan Mechner, the brains behind hit adventure game Prince of Persia. It’s also more than just one of the best fighting/adventure games ever produced. Gawd, it’s better than that! It’s one of the few video games that, in my humble opinion, epitomizes what video games should be—entertaining, fun, visually appealing, and challenging.

Little did Mechner know, back when he designed the game while attending Yale University, that Karateka would capture the hearts, minds, and imagination of an entire generation of video game players. I should know, I am one of them.

For those who have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, here’s a brief backgrounder:

The game begins with an impressive animation of the fortress of the evil Akuma, the antagonist in Karateka. Akuma is holding the lovely Princess Mariko. The player must defeat the guards of the castle and eventually face Akuma himself in order to rescue the princess.

Combat consists of side views of two combatants at a time, just like a platform game. The hero and his foe fight it out, trading punches and kicks. Both the hero and his enemy can throw three different punches and kicks, each at a different height—high, which hits the head, mid, which delivers blows to the body, and low, which targets the legs. In the original Apple II version, the height of the blows are controlled with either the joystick, where the type of blow, punch or kick is specified with one of the two joystick buttons, or the keyboard, where each height of punch or kick has its own key.

The player only has one life, but in lieu of lives, the player has health points. Receiving blows from the enemy lowers these points, but they can be recovered by resting (not attacking or being struck). The enemy’s health points are also visible to the player. When all health points are exhausted, the hero or foe is defeated (it is never made clear whether the vanquished adversary is killed or merely knocked unconscious).

Typical of games from this era, and because the game was so short, Karateka did not have a save game feature.

Karateka also contains an element of humor. At the successful conclusion of the game, when the hero finally vanquishes Akuma, he is reunited with Mariko as he frees her from her prison cell. Before approaching Mariko, the hero must drop his fighting stance and run into her arms. If you fail to do this and continue approaching Mariko in fighting stance (which I did the first time I finished the game), she’ll beat the crap out of the hero with one kick. This little feature, however, doesn’t manifest in the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game.

What makes Karateka really immersive is the use of character gestures and musical cues to evoke tension. Watch this video from the NES version of the game to find out what I mean:

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POSTED IN: Apple, Broderbund, Discussion, NES, Re:Retro, Re:spect, Videos