Prince of Persia creator Mechner remaking Karateka

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 15 February, 2012

Apple II martial arts game reborn on PSN and XBLA.

Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner is remaking his 1984 martial arts game Karateka.

Its development marks Mechner's first deep involvement in day-to-day development for years.

Karateka, which Mechner created while at Yale University, launched first on Apple II. It proved a big hit, and drew praise for its realistic animations.

The side-scrolling brawler was set inside a Japanese fortress, ruled by the evil Akuma (no relation to the evil Street Fighter). You had to fight guards and eagles to rescue Princess Mariko.

It was later ported to a raft of platforms, including the Amstrad, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Game Boy.

The new version is a downloadable game due out on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade later this year.

"Today's downloadable game space is a perfect match for the combination of simple fun gameplay with a strong, human story that gamers embraced in the original Karateka," Mechner told Variety.

"In remaking Karateka, I want to honour the original game with a compact, pick-up-and-play game that is fluid, atmospheric and beautiful. It's a reinvention that brings the original story to life with all the incredible graphics and sound capability of today's consoles."

Mechner compared the game to a "silent movie". "I wanted to keep that simplicity," he said.

"Making the original Karateka was a labour of love. To have so many people embrace it and share their stories of playing it has been really rewarding. I am always surprised to hear how much impact that game had."

Mechner's last made a game eight years ago, with 2003's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

Since then he's focused on writing graphic novels and movies, including the big budget 2010 Hollywood Prince of Persia film, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley.

There's plenty more on Mechner's blog.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 months ago

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  • JoeGBallad #1 3 months ago

    I've never played this, and always regretted that fact. Mechner is up there with Mikami, Kojima and Miyamoto in my books, so I'm looking forward to this.

  • sonicyoda #2 3 months ago

    Intriguing; I wonder if he'll keep the rotoscoped animation of the characters. That's what really made Karateka and Prince of Persia 'pop' in my eyes.

  • Eldritch #3 3 months ago

    Karateka was amazing in its day, so let's see what he can come up with today.

    The Prince of Persia-Film was pants though.

  • IronCladChicken #4 3 months ago

    I remember this on tape for the C64 - Had to reload the entire game every time you lost.


    I seem to remember it was pretty sweet though?

  • spekkeh #5 3 months ago

    The game looked awesome for its time, but played like pants (I was very forgiving though, because it featured karate and was a sidescrolling International Karate and did I say it looked awesome). However a remake now would be so far removed from the actual game that this seems more about monetizing our nostalgia than anything else.

  • Eldritch #6 3 months ago

    I think you lost when you kicked the girl in the face.

    So, it's not just the animations that were realistic.
    Edited by Eldritch at 15/02/12 @ 15:05

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #7 3 months ago

    I remember this being rock-hard when I had this on my Atari 800XL. Will definitely be keeping an eye on this.

    Would like to see an XBLA/PSN version of IK+

  • Porcupine_I #8 3 months ago

    I loved that game! Never good enough to complete it though :-D

  • Colin8703 #9 3 months ago

    Nice.

    Can we please have The Last Express afterwards?

  • higganos #10 3 months ago

    Man this game was awesome back in the day.

    Wonder if it'll have the 20 minute load-time, impatient 200 yard sprint to get into the action, then instant one-kick-death from the first enemy?

    Cue 20 minute load-time....

    ah the good old days.

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #11 3 months ago

    @higganos They don't make 'em like they used to!

  • RawNinjaKid #12 3 months ago

    I'd say Mechner thinks like a Japanese guy!

    I remember the original Prince of Persia being right up there with Japanese quality of games at the time of its mass format releases.

  • penhalion #13 3 months ago

    @spekka

    You seem like someone who actually played the game. I remember it as being utter pants too. The story and intro were great but the actual gameplay was a struggle to get anything working. You often lost because the controls were simply un-responsive.

    If they are re-making this then it definitely is a cynical attempt to cash in on those of us who have forgotten all the bad bits and the reloading nightmare.

    They should do a straight port so I can at least have a laugh when the hype journo's try to spin it into something positive.