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KARATEKA | Commodore 64 (1985)
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- Опубликовано: 2 авг 2024
- Karateka, for the Commodore 64, and the evil Akuma has destroyed the protagonist's homeland - killed many of his friends and kidnapped the princess Mariko.
Fortunately, the hero is skilled in martial arts, so his inevitable quest to reach Akuma's palace and rescue Mariko has a chance of success.
Karateka is viewed from the side and features a succession of increasingly difficult opponents. Three types of punches and kicks are available to both the player character and his foes, differentiated by their height (low, medium, and high). The protagonist has a health bar, which refills itself gradually when he stands still.
Other definitive fighting games with a similar style:
• THE WAY OF THE EXPLODI...
• FIST II: THE LEGEND CO...
• YIE AR KUNG-FU | Commo...
• IK+ (CHOP N' DROP) | C...
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00:00 Introduction
00:11 Karateka
00:43 Starting A Game
01:10 Cinematic Style Animation
02:04 Different 'Stances'
02:49 Stamina (Chevrons)
03:33 Bird Of Prey
03:56 Original - Apple II Version
04:28 The Making of Karateka - Remake
04:49 My Thoughts
06:01 Thanks & Game Suggestions
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#karateka #commodore64 #cheekycommodoregamer
I've never seen this game before, but the animation has already Prince of Persia style. I would have definitely fallen in love with this 'realistic' animation as a child."
Few years later from this Jordan Mechner went to make Prince of Persia using same technique of rotoscoping to great effect. Creating animation for game with such an old method was very complex as he himself has said.
Was pretty mindblowing at the time, just a shame it was so jerky/cumbersome - would have been the best fighting game ever made for the C64 otherwise 😇🕹️👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer I guess Mechner placed more emphasis on presentation and storytelling than gameplay and it was not designed for C64 so porting may have something to do with this version being clunky. Karateka is great game, but not because what it did. It is great by inspiring others to do better. That includes Jordan Mechner himself.
I remember if you listen closely after falling backwards off the cliff, you'll hear a quiet *thud*. And the mistake of approaching Mariko in fighting stance.
And the portcullis. I died more to that damn gate than I did to Akuma.
I will definitely check out that remake!
Those 3 ways to die that you mention are the most frustrating in all of gaming, considering the amount of waiting around we had to do just for the game to load! Arghhh, I remember it well 😇🕹️👌
My favorite part of the game is taking an hour to get to the end due to loading screens and accidentally be in the fighting stance against the damsel in distress and she 1 Hit Un-Alives You!!
Than you gotta start over....
Yup. That or charging into her to meet a fist to the melon and a 'game over' from the lady of your dreams. (sigh) A mistake I think many people made, but only once.
I remember the loading times absolutely sucked... but we were so much more patient back in the 80s than the kids of today. I doubt anyone would have put up with that today! 😇🕹️👌
Fist 2 was my go-to over this mainly because of the animation speed and the overall mood. Music in Fist2 was awesome as well
The forboding and extremely memorable music in Fist 2 made that an instant classic for me also. Its up there on the channel too... such a great game 😇🕹️👌
Had this game back then...abgefahrene slow motion! 🙈 But a very atmospheric classic all the same. 👍😉
Terribly slow but absolutely technically brilliant at the same time 😇🕹️👌abgefahrene
I played this so much back in the day.
A very addictive game, despite it's flaws... still a very iconic game 😇🕹️👌
A true classic and technical masterpiece.
Technically brilliant, 100% agree... the animation was first class for 1985 😇🕹️👌
I guess this was Akuma before he moved to Japan and got employed by Capcom to be their hidden superboss of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. He is truly frightening character.
A hack of the Apple II version of the game existed, titled "Karateka II: Revenge of the Dude". The non-interactive version was created using the Take-1 animation software package, the user simply watched the game unfold as a movie, with added, often profane, text 😇🕹️👌
These sort of games were made by pure talent.
The original Apple II was definitely the definitive version at the time, still... we got to play it on the C64, albeit just verrrry slowwwly 😇🕹️👌
was soo impressed with this as a kid
Graphically it was really cool! The animation is excellent... a shame it just ran so slowly 😇🕹️👌
This was one those games I would load up from time to time for the experience. Always found it a bit of a slog but full of atmosophere. Think it was one of the first rotoscoped games and you can see the makings of Prince of Persia in it with the animation style
Yeah I mention in the video that it was this game that formed the humble beginnings for Prince Of Persia and had a lot of similarities in style... including the chevron styled stamina bar 😇🕹️👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer I didnt even connect the 2 back in the day but looking back its fairly obvious. Both great games. I never managed to get too far on Karateka though. Always found it too hard as a kid
When I first heard the epilogue music on my Apple II, I cried in awe. Great talent runs in Mechner blood.
The Apple II version is the definitive version after testing it out on there for the video footage... it runs smooth and I loved the sound effects 😇🕹️👌
I remember this game being absolutely brutal. Never did get too far in it. Might checkout that remake though.
Remake is super fluid in movement and plays brilliantly - I'd recommend it for sure 😇🕹️👌
0:47 that's the shortest game I've ever seen 🤣🤣. I remember being scared to die cause my brother would be upset lol cause you have to reload the game
Haha yeah, I actually did that as a kid.... walked backwards off the cliff, only to have to reload the game again. I was immediately annoyed, yet intrigued to continue. In fact, I probably wasted hours of my life in total watching this darn game load haha 😇🕹️👌
One of my all time favorites, but I have only played it on my C64. Now I need to get a copy for my Apple IIGS
Definitely play this on the Apple... I only tried it the one time, but I thought it was excellent 😇🕹️👌
I thought Karateka came earlier than the others. Loved the clean graphics at the time
Karateka did come earlier, all the way back in 84' originally for the Apple II 😇🕹️👌
I didn't know you could back down and immediately fall off the cliff to your doom! I also played the remake/remaster for PC from 2012 which was OK but maybe a bit esoteric, yet simple. The Making of Karateka looks more interesting however! Probably should check that one out. Yeah, too bad it was just a little bit too slow-motioney on the C64 to be truly enjoyable.
The 'falling off the cliff' part at the beginning was just pure cruel, considering that you'd need to reload the game pretty much haha. If this game ran smootly, like say... Fist II... I'd have loved this one and probably would have been my favourite C64 fighting game. Alas... it fell very short due to the sluggishness 😇🕹️👌
Massive nostalgia for this. One of my really early gaming experiences. Seeing this on my friend's father's Apple II did something to my DNA. I'm sure of it. It gave a glimpse of the future and what was to come with it's cinematic feel and presentation. Absolutely loved it. Sadly as you say, the c64 version was tooooo slow. A shame really because there isn't that much happening on screen that would bring the c64 on its knees, is it? It almost makes me wonder if it just was programmed for that framerate and not the hardware setting the limit.. Anyway, great video! I really need to watch the Karateka documentary that came out a while back.
Thanks again my friend - yeah I want to get my hands on that documentary too... looks awesome - I can literally sit and watch anything that contains good quality nostalgia for these awesome games 😇🕹️👌
I saw KARATEKA for the Commodore 64 at a finnish 🇫🇮 website in 2023.
I even made a bid for that auction...
and lost it to another bidder 😹.
In fact, there were 3-4 bidders for that
same Commodore 64 game tape 😹👍🕹️.
Oh, well, better luck next time 😸😺👍.
It is as legendary as PRINCE OF PERSIA.
Luckily, i still have PRINCE OF PERSIA
as one of The Hit Squad games for my
Amiga 500 😺👍🕹️.
I see this one popping up quite a lot of Ebay but it is usually a little pricey. Someday I'll get it though with a bit of luck 😇🕹️👌
The name Karateka was familiar, but it seems I did not remember playing this game as kid, even though it looks awesome. Nevermind, I will definiately give it a try. Better later then never.
Absolutely, never too late to play these great Commodore 64 games. A lot of them still retain their charm 😇🕹️👌
I used to play this game on the Apple II at my high school. Loved the graphics, though I had already played Prince of Persia on the Amiga by that time. I did manage to clear the game. I heard that there is also a bad ending if you approach Mariko while in a fighting stance :)
Haha yeah the 'bad ending' I never discovered personally, but with everyone mentioning it I did eventually replicate it only last night using a cheat. She literally just 1 shot whacks you in the face and then its game over!! I can imagine that being a cruel twist of fate for many gamers back in the mid-80s playing Karateka haha 😇🕹️👌
I highly recommend looking into Digital Eclipse's "The Making of Kareteka" they make sort of an interactive documentary with classic gameplay. I read Jordan Mechner's book of journal entries at the time he was making this game and it's really interesting. Big fan.
I really watch to watch that and also Heart Of Neon following Jeff Minters work - I'll have to get them soon
😇🕹️👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer Oh, I hadn't heard Heart of Neon, gotta look into this. I will consume, watch, or read anything about game dev in the old days.
Having first been introduced to this game on the Apple II at my local computer store Minitronics, I just couldn't bring myself to love the C64 version, much like you. The slow speed of a lazy port just crippled it. They were both 1MHz 6502-based systems, there was no excuse for the C64 version to be so inferior. That said it was a great first effort, and I still won this version before relegating the floppy to the back of the shoebox of discs.
I can't get my head around what went wrong with the C64 port... Broderbund had a history of fantastic games too, but the guys who worked on this may have just been pressured to release it quickly? I don't know... but it'd be interesting if anyone knows if anyone was ever interviewed regarding this 😇🕹️👌
a fine experience this and one that if made to meet modern expectations would likely fail being that Karateka was a one life game. This created an unbelievable amount of tension and by the end you we're a wreck. At least I was. I saw this at one of the London computer shows and I think everyone came away impressed by it. I think the argument could possibly be made that it's close to not being game at all on the C64 but it's all so beautifully cinematic both visually and through very professionally created incidental music that it engages the player more than the majority of games did. Collectively it's a work of art really but to ensure people are having the right experience, don't use save states as it's an absolute mockery of the intended design
ah I didn't realise it was his dad that wrote the wonderful music. It certainly showed a maturity as if written by someone with musical understanding
Especially as the enemies seem to constantly respawn until you progress to the next screen... making for a very tense game indeed. I remember Fist 2 feeling the exact same, as when you'd progressed really far and only had a small amount of energy... you'd always be reluctant to fight against the next enemy who had a full scroll of life! It always seemed so unfair... good memories 😇🕹️👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer yup always good memories
I have no memory of games like these but I also have no memory of breakfast today.
1985 genuinely and actually feels like a lifetime ago! Sometimes I remember more what I did then, than I do now. Nostalgia has a way of encapsulating those memories somehow... but yeah, I dont remember what I had for breakfast back then. Probably Ready Brek 😇🕹️👌
Such a great game... my school only had the green monitors on our Apple ][s so I didn't see the color version until I played it on my C64... many great memories!
It's cool to hear they had this game at school!! Awesome. We had the BBC Micro here in the UK and all we could play on it was Granny's fricken Garden 🤣 (Which I covered on the channel too!) 😇🕹👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer Well, we would sneak in the computer lab before class and bring out own games in, hehe, so what they didn't know, didn't hurt them! heh. they weren't happy with the Pac Man game that you had to turn the monitor on its side to play, heh, so we just had to make sure to flip stuff back when we were done. Good times!
My guy, your editing has been getting better and better; nice work, dude!
Thanks for the vids, and the giggles. :3
Much appreciated my friend 😇🕹️👌
My friends at school loved this game, i didnt get all the hype...and barely played it. Thx for the review!
By the time I actually got this game am 99% sure we already had Way Of The Exploding Fist, which is why I always thought that was the superior game of the two. Only now, many years later, do I truly appreciate the technical expertise of Karateka 😇🕹️👌
Awesome man what a game. Never bow before a fight
Absolutely, as Bruce Lee once said 'Don't think. FEEL. It's like a finger pointing at the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of the heavenly glory' Haha 😇🕹️👌
this game was too difficult for me and i didn't have a trainer. But I sure liked the smooth animations in the game. Thx 4 your video.
It was frustrating in places, due to the speed. But it was definitely a game that could be mastered over time 😇🕹️👌
Fantastic game, and I totally forgot about it :) Thanks CCG :)
Glad you remember this classic now after watching the video - the beginnings of greatness from Jordan Mechner 😇🕹️👌
Never had the chance to play it sadly but I'm quite sure I would have loved it.
Never too late if you have the C64 Mini/Maxi... or equivalent emulator. I'm enjoying the ease of use of the CCS64 Emulator as when you download a game it's a simple case of double clicking it and it loads straight in 😇🕹👌
It was a couple of years before I got a floppy drive. When my parents eventually got me one, it was the Enhancer2000. FINALLY, I could play Karateka on my C64! I borrowed my friend's copy.
... karateka wouldn't load on the Enhancer2000.
Eventually, I found a 'cracked' version of the Karateka disk which worked on the Enhancer2000. But by that time, the game already looked dated. :(
Many of us from the UK didn't have the luxury of disk drives, so we all felt the pain of having to reload this game everytime we died. Which sucked 😇🕹️👌
I've always liked this game. I don't mind the slow speed as it gives me more time to react and plan my attacks. Karateka is one of the few games I prefer to play with the keyboard, and usually use side kicks exclusively. My favorite tactic is to start backing away to lure in the enemy, then as soon as he starts moving toward me, I reverse back toward him and go into a kick attack. It usually catches them off guard.
Two small things I noticed: Your character can only kick three times in a row before he returns to his fighting stance, but the enemies can kick a fourth time. Sometimes you'll both be kicking at the same time, you return to a fighting stance, and then the enemy does one additional kick. Secondly, if the enemy does a high kick and you connect with a side kick, which looks like you've kicked him in the groin, he will immediately drop his leg back to a fighting stance.
Some good tactics right there - I did find myself 'spamming' mid-body kicks a lot in sheer panic. Many of them were unresponsive to my joystick, and usually my character would do a couple of punches to the face on the way out haha. Even for such a slow game, the animation and feel of the game is still of a very high technical level 😇🕹️👌
Thank for the great review. It is still a gorgeous game, the graphics are awesome. But it won't get you on the tip of your chair. Yea, maybe it was better that Jordan Mechner hired a C64 wizard to help out with the programming but I think that this is not his style. He worked years on Prince of Persia
Stunning game, but as it lacked the pure speed of IK+ it always played second fiddle to the more fluid fighting games in my games library. It's a shame they didn't ask Archer Maclean to become a consultant - because that man was a wizard of programming and knew how to get the most of out the C64 speed 😇🕹️👌
I wonder how it would feel with a bit of speeding up on emulator.
I remember this game as a kid, played couple times somewhere, don't recall was it my friend house or my uncle.
Interesting idea, I've actually never tried ramping up the speed using an emulator but logically I bet it would work. But would the controls be responsive 🤔 could be a good shout though 😇🕹👌
I wonder if this was mostly compiled into machine code from a high level language rather than written directly hence why it struggled with speed and responsiveness, it's a shame because we know the C64 is perfectly capable of running a game like this much smoother and faster if it was fully optimized which would have made it absolutely stunning, at it stood it was still ahead of it's time for story, animation and gameplay.
It definitely was a shame as I'd seen games with much more complexity running so much faster. Someone definitely made a few questionable development decisions but still, I'm glad it was released for the C64... even if it is dreadfully slow and sluggish by today's standards 😇🕹👌
Kudos on coining the phrase 'Shite Hawk'
Shite hawks everywhere 😇🕹️👌
I played the famicom version that always appeared on those 30 in 1 bootleg carts. I never knew how to get past the gate that closes down on you. I never knew how to bait it without instantly dying to it.
Recently checked out a video for the Famicom version and am instantly jealous of how fast it runs 😇🕹️👌
I remember playing the this on my best friends Apple ][ and had to get it for my C64. What a let down. We used to one up each other relentlessly and when he saw I had a “back-up” 👮♂️ copy from a friend in the disc caddy, he wanted to see it run. I said let’s play something different, it looks just like your version and I don’t want to wait 10 minutes to load. Besides, Transformers is coming on. 😉 Erased that disc that very week and got a “backup “ of a better game.
Transformers. Ahhhh to be back in the 80s again... such an epic era and sorely missed times for sure 😇🕹👌
This port is such a shame. I played this on the Apple IIe, where it was smooth and action-packed. This looked like trudging through molasses.
The Apple II is definitely the version where you can experience the game in all of its glory. Back in the day I suppose us C64 owners knew nothing different - but I'd recommend people try it on that system to experience the definitive version😇🕹️👌
I used to play this on my mates Apple
Ran really smoothly on the Apple... I was very jealous 😇🕹️👌
Strange joystick how it didn't recentre
Loved the game as a kid, but could never figure out how to get past the gate....
Was a cruel mechanic that got me a couple of times too... they developed that idea further with the 'metal jaws' in Prince Of Persia 😇🕹️👌
I used to blame the PAL version for the slowness but it looks like the NTSC version isn't much faster. I don't really understand how the Apple II performs much better, given its specs. Broderbund even gave up on an official Commodore 64 port of Prince of Persia, so it looks like their understanding of the C64 hardware wasn't the best.
Poorly done port. There were many other fighting games that looked much better and did run faster.
Was disappointing for certain 😇🕹️👌
For such an excellent team of game programmers, they must admit that Karateka was so slow in places it was almost unplayable - a lot of the times I was waiting to perform a kick... only for the CPU opponent to have moved away even before the kick was executed. Frustrating in places. Yet still brilliant at the same time haha 😇🕹️👌
I used to play this game on the C64, and agree with your assessment. It's not a bad game, but it's really just too slow. I prefer IK+ and WotEF to this game. I was wondering if you would show the "surprise" bad ending you can get in this game... but I understand why you didn't. The surprise bad ending is really hilarious and worth the surprise after playing the game. It's the one thing about this game I remember the most. LOL
And two very easy ways to hit it, also. I would bet that a high percentage of first time "winners" of this game either charged into the maiden's fist or else approached her in fight stance to be terminally BTFOed by her, lols.
Ahh of course, I remember watching the surprise ending on another video somewhere. The developers were cruel to add that into the game, especially as it was tough enough to get through to the end in the first place. Made me laugh though when I saw it 😇🕹️👌
@@exidy-yt Yup. That's exactly how my first time "win" went with this game... which made it VERY memorable. I thought I was approaching cautiously... then POW! One hit! If she could do that, why did she need rescuing? LOL
Haha yeah exactly, she was one tough Princess underneath! 😇🕹️👌
This reminds me of nexus
That game you mention is coming to the channel very soon - keep an eye out 😇🕹️👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer ha ha ha I look forward to giving it some abuse!
Great game, but an embarrassment against the Apple II version considering that sprites and smooth scrolling are the C64's forte and the Apple hardware has neither one of those. I wonder what happened? The only thing I can think of is that the author used CPU-drawn multicolor mode objects instead of using sprites for some reason (can't think of what that reason would be, however). Someone should remake this game for the C64 and show old Robert Cook (the guy that did the C64 version) how it's done. Maybe he tried to port the Apple code directly since they both use the same processor? I have no idea.
very true. a lazy direct port is the only excuse for this game's terrible speed.
I'd love to see a C64 remake too, I bet the modern developers could make this run just as fast as IK+ 😇🕹️👌
I agree, slowwwwwwww game - still technically brilliant though 😇🕹️👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer Maybe we could coax Robert Cook out of retirement to give it another go... :)
Spoilers
I still wonder why the Princess needs rescuing given her ability to one hit kill the protagonist if she thinks he's hostile.
Precisely! haha - really you should start out as Princess Mariko... having to rescue the male protagonist from falling off the cliff at the beginning of the game 😇🕹️👌
Never got far becasue it moves sooooo slooooow.
It does move very slow and clanky on the C64, but back in 85' it didn't really as much of an issue as it does when playing it back now. Still... a technical masterpiece for animation 😇🕹👌
What a weakling. He dies if you fall into the water.. he dies if you run up to the bad guy. 🤣
Running into the bad guy and getting 1 shot slapped to death was always a bit of an unfair mechanic haha 😇🕹️👌
@@CheekyCommodoreGamer I guess if you think about it.. if you are running fast straight into a fist 👊. It would definitely hurt 🤕 lol
To tell the truth, game was too janky on C64 . It was poorly done port, not particularly good looking to justify slow speed. Gamers on C64 were not too picky about FPS in those days, but this simply lacked fluidity.
Everything you said I 100% agree with. Too slow to be a classic... but still, graphically it was awesome 😇🕹️👌
Not a fan. Slow motion Apple 2 rubbish. Give me Big Trouble In Little China any day. 🤣
Gah!! That game was shocking wasn't it. I'm 100% adding that to the list soon 🤣🕹👌