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Comment by curtisblaine | Hacker News Reader

I have a soft spot for Prince of Persia, but I have an even softer spot for Karateka, its (rotoscoped) predecessor on an ancient green phosphor Apple //e, a computer (and an age) where everything seemed possible.

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Seeing and hearing Karateka for the first time on an Apple II+ was a life-changing experience for me. Along with Ultima III, it made me want to be a game developer (I was in 4th grade, so around 12, at the time). Everything about the game is just so smooth and well-done- it has a plot, a progression, good animation and realistic sounds. I was pretty unhappy for years around the fact that I didn't understand the technology (machine language instead of BASIC, Apple's very funny graphics implementation, doing sound and animation simultaneously) to make games like that.

If anybody wants to see how that entire creative process went, there's a "game" called "The Making of Karateka" on Steam that is a nice interactive experience telling the story of Jordan Mechner's start in the games industry and how Karateka came to be.

It's a fun media experience with a lot of playable prototypes.

My favourite Easter egg about karateka:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFe28MNCG7o&t=17

Yeah, Karateka deserves more than a simple aside here. It's amazing that he made that on his own as a college student. I loved that game.

The first two games to fall in love with - Karatéka and then Alley Cat.

In 7th grade social studies, I did a report for a class project, and printed the Karateka opening screen on my apple image writer as the cover page. I got an A+ because of that cover!

Desperately trying to jump on that bin to avoid the dog only to be pushed back by another cat peering over...

simple but good times

Oh, Karateka. I had the flawed Atari 7800 version as a kid.

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