Karateka /

Karateka is a 1984 computer game by Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia. Karateka was Mechner's first hit game, and was designed while he was attending Yale University. The game was renowned at the time for its realistic animations. In the United States, Karateka was published by Brøderbund. Various versions were licensed to Ariolasoft for publication in Europe. The title is derived from the Japanese word 空手家 (pronounced [kaɽateka]), meaning 'practitioner of karate'. The title was mispronounced /ˌkærəˈtiːkə/ in a television commercial for the Atari 7800. The game begins with an impressive graphic of the fortress of the evil Akuma. Akuma is holding the lovely Princess Mariko. The player must defeat the guards of the castle as well as Akuma's eagle and must eventually face Akuma himself in order to rescue the princess. Mechner adeptly used character gestures and musical cues to evoke the game's immersive atmosphere. The animations nearly match the quality of the ones seen in Mechner's Prince of Persia five years later. Combat consists of side views of the two combatants, very much as with a platform game. The hero and the foe fight it out, trading various punches and