Quick Look: Karateka

That's the whole game? I'm surprised Ryan wasn't more harsh.

@Porkellain: You were right to link to the game page as fourth Prince of Persia doesn't mean a lot.

The original Prince of Persia was kind of like that.

This looks boring as hell.

@TennSeven: I hate to break it to you, but it's 2012 and games are better now.

Game Informer gave this an 8, largely on the idea that if you're such a busy person that you can't play games longer than 30 minutes, it's great for you. I....can't fathom how that's a good thing.

That was painful to watch. The animations were so stupid looking.

Thundercats is looking pretty good right about now...

I wrote a piece of kerotica about the True Love ending of Karateka.

@geirr said:

@freakin9 said:

There's something that just feels wrong about taking away any challenge and instead replacing it with a mechanic where you're supposed to care who actually gets to the end. My guess is, most people won't.

I think it's a little interesting since it basically removes the need for a difficulty setting. While I haven't played this new version of the game I'm assuming completing it with the first guy is obviously hard mode, and if you're not up to the task, medium guy will switch in and then the easy mode last. All seamlessly integrated and nicely backed up by story. I'd like to see similar mechanics in other games; dynamic difficulty system™ go!

1UP's Retronauts did an interview with Jordan Mechner about Karateka last week. Really poor audio quality, but still worth a listen, and he pretty much described the difficulty setting that way - playing with the first character is very much like the Apple II original in terms of challenge. Not sure of how well he managed to integrate that idea into the game, but it's certainly an interesting idea. The Interview is available at: http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3156908

the eagle is the best part of this game

remember the kung fu kinect concept?

...Karateka. ...Romance, ( I like to put you in a trance...)

Monk bonus!

@TiE23 said:

Kah-rah-tey-kah and even stressing. Not Ka-ra-teh-kuh. Not Ka-ra-TEE-ka.

Remember "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo" from MGS2? Now you know how to pronounce Japanese words!

Great lesson! Except, uh, there are no Japanese characters for La, Li, Lu, Le or Lo...

A little bit of research goes a long way.

Yeah, apparently a familiar name goes a looooong way.

@TiE23: I thought ei made that "ay" sound in Japanese. So it would be Karateika with the way you're pronouncing the te in Karateka. I'm pretty sure they're pronouncing it right.

Oh well, at least this QL made me stumble upon one of the more interesting animal names I've seen in a while. Changeable Hawk-Eagle, anyone?

Ugh, I loathe the way Ryan is pronouncing Karateka. Isn't it, "Ka-ra Tech-Ah"? I'm 100% sure it is. At least he pronounces Mechner right, but "Keh rotica" sounds like "erotica"; that's wrong and nasty.

Neat game though, with great style. Reminds me of Mini Ninjas. A little too simple for XBLA maybe, but it looks like a perfect iOS game. I love the idea of a fighting system that alternates between offensive combat and defensive moves.

the camera angle changes are very disorienting. this looks bad.

hey, ya know those things that 2D fighting games do that are fun and make for good gameplay? let's not have any of those in our game. :)

the dude at 13:12 looks like he came out of ronin warriors

Total waste of a license. This was a such good game on the C64.

Wow, that Princess is a fucking ungrateful bitch. "Thanks for saving me big guy, but you really aren't my type!" FUCK YOU LADY!

"Ahhhh my movember money!"

Fucking hilarious Vinny! ROFL

Hm, so this is where Liquid went. I do enjoy the style and the concept of lifes being represented by individual characters is pretty cool. I guess the only game of theirs I really played was Battle Realms but I really liked that one. Such a cool and unique RTS. Sadly they never seemed to be able to capture larger scale attention. At least they still exist and may get the chance to put out more games.

This costs $10? Really?

$10 for 20 mins, I guess? Hmm.

@kibafang666 said:

@TiE23: I thought ei made that "ay" sound in Japanese. So it would be Karateika with the way you're pronouncing the te in Karateka. I'm pretty sure they're pronouncing it right.

They are more or less pronouncing it right. This little pronunciation debate is silly because it boils down to arguing about the best way to mispronounce a non-English word. The 'correct' pronunciation should include the tongue flick to produce the hard "ra" sound, as well as the 'pitch accent' used in Japanese, but practically nobody is going to do that while saying the word in conversational English for fear of looking like a pretentious bell-end. As such, most people advocating a 'correct' pronunciation are just promoting a fantasy idealised way of saying Japanese things which isn't quite Japanese yet has no governing rules in English.

BTW in Japanese, Romaji 'ei' doesn't create an 'ay' sound. That's a common pronunciation mistake. It just stretches the 'eh' sound of '-e' type syllables out, so that they become a longer 'eeh' sound: eg. 'sensei' is correctly pronounced 'sen-seeh' rather than 'sen-sey' or 'sen-say'. However you'll rarely see an English speaker pulled up on mispronouncing 'sensei' because, again, there is a kind of accepted fantasy version of how it's okay to pronounce it as part of English speech, even though that pronunciation has no basis in Japanese and the word isn't English.

Yawn. I grew up with Karateka and this isn't what I would expect it to evolve into.

@MEATBALL said:

This actually seems pretty damn cool. I might pick it up at some point.

Feeling the same way. It makes sense that the game wants you to finish it repeatedly and that each time you die, you get a character with more health. Sure it's not flashy, but it seems to have a challenge. I'll try the demo out and see how it plays.

Looks pretty cool, but not much depth, as Ryan said. Although I've never played (or even heard of) the original.

I may try it.

Although this does seem relatively simple gameplay-wise, I do like its style.

I'm sure someone has said this already but Ryan's pronunciation of Karateka sounded dangerously close to "Carrotica" (carrot erotica?). Troubling.

this looks like a 99 cent iOS game. pretty sad that the reboot is so shitty.

I wish it had just a tad more depth to it...

Care a TECK a.

I know Vinny can be funny, but I was truly laughing at (with) him and the game near the end there.

Big guy was happy!!!!!!

@Young_Scott said:

@Porkellain: Inspired by? Karateka was made by the creator the of the original Prince of Persia, Jordan Mechner. It's quite the tale, if you have the time for it.

Thank you very much. That link totally sidetracked my plans for last night. Great read.

Best hawk punching simulator that money can buy

Kurrotica... Ugh.

@Sarumarine said:

The most interesting part about this game I find, is the concept that defeat or game over means a whole other character you might never have seen otherwise steps in to pick up the trail. I really love that idea.

I think the SAW games they've Quick Looked did that, but it isn't clear whether you're picking up with another character and there's any connection, or if each person is just a completely separate act that you either get to see all of, or you fuck up and die and have to start a new game file to see how their act concludes.

But those games are terrible. It would be cool to see a good game do it.

Eh, not particularly interested in this game but it is quite weird.

I find watching this video very relaxing. Good art style and music. Get a cup of coffee and just watch Ryan and Vinny beat a cool game.