Karateka (video game)

Karateka is a 1984 martial arts action game written for the Apple II by Jordan Mechner. It is his first published game and was created while he was attending Yale University. The game was published in North America by Broderbund and in Europe by Ariolasoft. Along with Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung-Fu (both also released in 1984), Karateka is one of the earliest martial arts fighting games. It was inspired by Japanese culture (Ukiyo-e art, Akira Kurosawa films, and manga comics) and by early Disney animated films and silent pictures. An influential game of its era, it was one of the first to use cinematic storytelling and sound design, and rotoscoped animation.

The player controls an unnamed protagonist attempting to rescue his love interest, Princess Mariko, from Akuma's castle fortress. The character walks and runs from left to right through a linear, side-scrolling level, dealing with attackers and obstacles, while moving deeper into the fortress. Each encounter with an enemy is one-on-one, as in a fighting game. Cinematic cuts show Mariko's situation and Akuma's actions before the player reaches them.

Karateka was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 7800, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, ZX Spectrum, PC-98, MSX, and Game Boy. Mechner led a remake, released in 2012, for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and iOS.

Karateka uses gameplay elements found in both side-scrolling 2D platformers and fighting games.

The unnamed hero ascends a mountain into Akuma's fortress to rescue Princess Mariko. As the player directs the hero into the fortress, various foes appear and attempt to stop him, one per screen. The hero enters a fighting stance to punch, kick, and dodge each enemy. Health bars for both the player and the current enemy are displayed at the bottom of the screen, decreasing by one notch for every hit sustained. Both fighters' health bars will slowly regenerate if they avoid being hit during combat for a long enough time. The game ends when all health is lost, requiring the player to start again.

In addition to human enemies, Akuma occasionally sends his trained hawk to attack the player, which can be deflected with well-timed punches or kicks. There are fatal environmental hazards, such as an open cliffside or a falling portcullis. Cutscenes include Akuma ordering his men to attack the player, and Mariko nervously awaiting her fate.

Eventually, the player will fight Akuma directly, then enter Mariko's cell to rescue her. If the hero approaches Mariko while in a fighting stance, she will deliver a kick that results in instant death. Only a non-fighting stance approach will result in the hero rescuing Mariko and the two departing the fortress together.

An Easter egg was present on the Apple II floppy disk release with Broderbund's blessing. Though it was described as single-sided, the disk could be inserted upside down to play a full version of the game with the display reflected vertically, appearing upside-down and backwards. According to Mechner, this was done as a joke, causing users to call tech support and be told to flip the disk over so the game played right-side-up.