Apple II Game: Karateka (1984 Brøderbund)

A classic fighting game designed by Jordan Mechner who is best known for Prince of Persia. This is probably the first fighting game that allows you to run. It has realistic art and animations for that time. This side scrolling beat 'em up platform game has 1-on-1 elements in it. There are no jump kicks or special moves here. All you have is basic punches and kicks, walk, and run and that's it.
The object of the game is to rescue the princess Mariko kidnapped from evill villian name Akuma who destroyed your homeland. You the warrior trained in Karate, known as karateka must fight your way to rescue her and fight each opponents who get in your way. You only have one life. There are health recovery points by relaxing and not letting your opponent attacking you. Once all health points are gone, you or the opponent are defeated. Can be played with a PC joystick or on keyboards. You must fight the trained eagle or falcon by evil akuma before facing him in battle. Once you defeat Akuma, you must run to the princess to attribute to your sucess or walk in a stance where she will kick you in one blow and the game is over.
This game is originally designed for Apple II before being ported to other systems such as the NES and Atari ST. Atari ST is graphically the best version since it's the only 16-bit port of the game.

Tried recording this with fraps and didn't work so I used Camtasia.

Emulator: Applewin 1.19.3
Recorder: Camtasia 7.0
Editor: Virtual Dub 1.9.10
Encoder: Avisyth+Megui

INFO: Reuploaded for shorter gameplay

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Apple II
• fighting game
• beat 'em up
• side scrolling
• platform
• akuma
• karate
• karateka
• Broderland
• 1984

[WanOhbee]

Hahaha,, just booted up my emulator to beat this game,, i destroyed the boss,, then got booted in the cock by the chic and wondered why, guess i shoulda ran,, thanx for the fun memories. now ima play a little Wings of Fury for more nostalgia .. Cheerz

[gibbytffl]

Thank you, THANK YOU, oldclassicgame, for posting this video!! Ive been looking for a complete demo of this game for quite some time on YT because it's one the first games I got really good at and is considered one of my favorites! AWESOME!

[HAWXLEADER]

i heard a new karateka is being developed....

[yusexp]

Imagine this in 1984 ... people people should think it was made by UFO tech. What a great machine was Apple II.

[tanaka8877]

1986-87....I bought Apple2 compatible and Karateka...5inch Disk Game....Japanese game no inside good sound and graphic like this...Americans game was top...Very difficult to tell ,,,Now PC specification growing up...good picture good sound good movie...Old computers specification was low...but many game inside good feeling.

[toastietube]

Oh know you didn't! Waa, you did. Karateka! Holy crap! Thank you.

[tim23tom23]

Holy shit I missed this one!

[GameGirl36]

I used to play this game a lot every Saturday at a library or at school. Karateka became the start of the fighting game arcades.

[kylekrb1]

Crossing your feet, Is the worst mistake ever, in any kind of fighting

[vortex06]

Loved that game so much!!! :D Awesome!!!

That princess killed me the first time I tried to save her! What a bitch! :D