Karateka

The game was later ported to the Amstrad CPC, Atari 800, Commodore 64, DOS, and ZX Spectrum in 1986. Karateka was also ported to the Atart 7800 in 1987 but featured broken controls and poor animation, making it one of the worst games on the console. The game was also ported to the Famicom and Game Boy in Japan. The Game Boy version was released under the name Masters of Karateka.

There are several strange parts of the game that have become increasingly famous thanks to the internet:

• The most remembered and ridiculous fight of the game is against Akuma's trained eagle, who is fought before Akuma himself. Its attack may catch the player off guard, killing him in one hit.
• If the player remains in the fighting stance while approaching Princess Mariko, the princess will kick the player in the head, killing him instantly. This causes the player to start the game over from the beginning of the game.
• If floppy disk is inserted into the computer on the wrong side, the game will play upside down. Mechner has stated that he put this in as a joke.

Karateka is probably most famous because of its following as a internet meme. The ending sequence was rotoscoped and changed to the player dancing to MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This". "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by Daft Punk was then added to create "Ninja Works It".

Story

The player must save Princess Mariko, defeating all the castle guards before reaching the evil Akuma.

Gameplay

The combat consists of side views the player and the enemy, like a platformer. The player can issue a series of punches and kicks, as can the enemy. Both can also adjust the height of the punches and kicks using the joystick. The types of punches and kicks can also be specified. The player only has one life but unlike many other games of its time, the player has health points. Once the health points are deleted, the player dies. However, these health points can be recovered by resting, in other words by not attacking or being hit. Although some games had started to feature it, Karateka had no save function. However, the game was so short that it really didn't make a difference.

The Future of Karateka

During a talk at Comic-Con 2008, Jordan Mechner announced his involvement in the production of a new Karateka video game. No details were given on the new title except that Mechner would be directly involved (unlike the more recent Prince of Persia titles). Mechner teased that the new game is "not going to be in the way you expect" (source).