The Making of Karateka

One part of the final achievement is bugged and cannot be completed. It has been this way for over a year. No reason to think it will ever be fixed. That a game all about the hard work, vision, and persistence of a great early designer was made by a company that can't change a 5 to a 4 in an achievement is just sad.

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I played Karateka back in 1985, both in an Apple II and a C64. I spent hours in this game, finished it many times. I love that this interactive documentary exists. It is indeed a triumph of game preservation and we need more like it!

Grew up playing this masterful work on my C64. I give this documentary / game collection a 10 out of 10.

Digital Eclipse has really found a niche thing and mastered it. Their playable documentaries are amazing. You get to see every bit of what it took to make the game. Then you get to play a bunch of different versions. I wish all the older games I loved got this treatment. Even if you've never heard of Karateka, you should buy this. If you love gaming and gaming history this is a must play. Then when you finish it immediately check out The Jeff Minter Story.

I couldn’t be more satisfied with this. The documentary-style presentation is spot-on and absolutely essential for preserving the history of gaming. As a game developer, I can’t stress enough how valuable productions like this are for showing where we’ve been and how far we’ve come. Back in the 90s, when gaming was shifting towards fast-paced 3D experiences, games like Karateka and Prince of Persia didn’t immediately resonate with me as a kid. They felt slower and much more contemplative compared to what was taking the industry by storm at the time. But now, with the benefit of hindsight and experience, these games are still there to be enjoyed and I have a much deeper appreciation for Jordan Mechner’s work and just how groundbreaking it was. The combination of developer interviews, publisher-developer correspondence, and the overall behind-the-scenes look into how it all came together is just fantastic. It gives a real sense of the struggles and ingenuity involved in creating something truly innovative. I stumbled across this because of Mechner’s book and picked it up during a discount, but honestly? I’d gladly have paid full price. If anything, I just wish there were more productions like this. They’re not just fascinating—they’re necessary for keeping gaming history alive and accessible.

The Making of Karateka interweaves three versions of Karateka, a fantasy-console remaster, and multiple prototype games with documentary footage and original development materials. It's a documentary, a museum, and a bundle of remasters, all tied up into something greater than the sum of its parts. This is such an incredible way to document and appreciate a videogame. The fact this has so few steam reviews makes me feel hopeless and a little disappointed. Why have a games culture at all, if not to appreciate this sort of work? Before yesterday, I had only heard of Karateka in passing as "that game from the Prince of Persia guy". By the end of the... documentary? Interactive museum? Whatever this is, it made me care deeply for the game, its legacy, and the people behind it. This is an extreme version of having a friend explain why a movie is important for twenty minutes before you actually watch the feature. The documentary made sitting down with the actual videogame feel meaningful and important. The Making of Karateka made me long for a time when the games industry was dominated by hobbyist teen programmers chasing their dreams. It made me grateful for the modern indie games scene. It reminded me why I love my favorite medium as much as I do.

A Triumph of game preservation and remastering

This and Zaxxon are two of the very earliest games I ever played, and they definitely stuck with me. This compilation is in keeping with Digital Eclipse's digital preservation approach and is fantastic, but missing a few versions, maybe for licensing reasons? The NES, MS-DOS, and Atari 7800 versions at least are missing. How about a nice free DLC with the missing versions and maybe some more content? Recommended regardless.

首先，如果不是80、70的回忆，您最好就不要买这个游戏了，纯纯的怀旧。这个游戏的苹果2原版，在80年代只有拥有天坛学习机(北京仿制组装的苹果电脑)的人才能玩到，而且当时这款游戏的拷贝据大人讲述非常火爆。而大部分70、80玩家都是在后期红白机上才玩到的，移植上是与原版不同的，购买本产品的玩家可以回顾一下。我玩到这款游戏的年龄是4岁半，所以。。。。在当时的国内，很少有人可以有我的条件，我也是第一批国内能接触到电脑，后期能第一批上网的人。这一点我很幸运也很怀念。