The Making of Karateka

It’s a bold strategy to focus on the documentary aspect of a game or series, specifically the features normally used as bonus materials in many game compilations. However, due to the nature of the subject matter, this is an excellent blend of movie and game, much like the topic of the documentary. The collection is packed with hours of video footage, images, documentation, a gushing fan letter from John Romero of DOOM fame, correspondence, early art, and even early prototypes of Mechner’s original versions of Karateka, as well as fully playable versions of other games Mechner developed, but never was able to publish. This is easily one of the best and most complete historical documentaries of a videogame, ever, and should be held up as an example for future collections.

The Making of Karateka is pure preservation of video game history made with enviable affection. A true wonder for enthusiasts of the video game industry at an unbeatable price.

The Making of Karateka is a phenomenal, detailed walkthrough of the classic game's development. I did wonder whether there would be enough material to make it worthwhile but I was completely absorbed. The chats between father and son are genuinely heart-warming. Karateka Remastered is a fascinating update that looks to enhance the original rather than overhaul. The result is something faithful and fluid. I thoroughly enjoyed checking out the prototypes, correspondence and everything in between. A new gold standard for game preservation and celebration has been set.

Watching a video describing Jordan's first attempt at making a video game and then actually being able to play that build — framerate dips and all — is a remarkable experience. On their own most of the games here would be little more than curios, but presented here as they are they're a fascinating time capsule, and an enthralling window into the creative process. For anyone interested in the history of video games we can't recommend this enough.

Everything you wanted to know about Karateka, but was afraid to ask, is here. Digital Eclipse has done it again. The bonus reimagined games are cool too. Go save the girl, and shoot down some alien bats. If this is the first in the series, I'm ready to get kicked in the face, multiple times.

The Making of Karateka is a history lesson. A complete package for those who want to get to know Jordan Mechnerâ's first works. The "making of" part is great and bringing the different versions is essential for preservation. However, for those looking for gameplay and don't care about this historical side, you may be disappointed that we basically only have two very short games. In addition, there are no support for Brazilian Portuguese, which makes accessibility to the "making of" material difficult in our country.

The Making of Karateka is a powerful statement of intent for what promises to be a superb series of interactive documentaries. Not everyone will click with the idea of focusing on a single game rather than your typical retro compilation, but those interested in the creative process will be fascinated by the content provided here.

WOW! Probably the best game documentation available to date. Class research, preparation in the form of texts, interviews, videos, pictures and documents in very high quality, 3D still images, animations and former first versions (Deathbounce) by Jordan Mechner can be played. There are both published versions (Mac, Atari, C64), NEW versions (2023) and unofficial versions of Karateka to play which are part of the documentation but can also be selected separately. In principle, you can choose different settings such as filters, monitor settings (color, SW, monochrome), etc. in almost all versions of the game, as well as save your game save or change the key assignment! All this is a lot of fun and is hellishly interesting. The only pity is that the subtitles in the interviews are not also available in other languages. This would definitely be an added value and should not be an effort purely from the implementation. It would also have been desirable to be able to play emulations of the Atari ST and IBM versions than to be able to consider them only as screenshots. So the whole thing would have been more rounded. Conclusion: Please give us more of it!! More Making of .... :D