Making of Karateka Xbox game walkthrough and First Play impressions
0First Play impressions (below) and no commentary gameplay from Xbox Series S version of The Making of Karateka.
๐ก About the Game โโโโโโโโโ
Released: August 29, 2023
Price: $19.99
Played on: Xbox Series S
Other Platforms: Xbox One & Series X, PlayStation 4 & 5, Nintendo Switch, PC/Steam
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Digital Eclipse
Discover how Karateka was made through an exhaustive archive of design documents, playable prototypes, and all-new video features. Like walking through a museum, you can explore the interactive timelines at your own pace.
๐ STORY
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Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner was a college student when he created one of the biggest-selling games of 1984: Karateka. Now, in a new interactive documentary from Digital Eclipse, the story of how a teenager with an Apple II created one of the most groundbreaking, influential games of all time.
Enjoy pixel-perfect versions of the original Karateka games and a variety of never-before-seen early prototypes, with rich quality-of-life features like save anywhere, rewind, chapter select, and director's commentary.
Plus play complete remakes of Karateka and Deathbounce (Jordan's previous unreleased game prior to Karateka).
๐น๏ธ First Play Impression
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Pros:
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extensive history including photos, videos and playable prototypes
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great emulation of past titles
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amazing remakes of Karateka and Deathbounce
Cons:
โ it might be possible to go too deep into the history of a single game, but the good news is you can skip over any content you aren't interesting in learning more about
โmissing a few ports that are mentioned but not playable - would have been nice to have a complete playable catalog of all ports
Verdict:
๐ Wow. The extent to which Digital Eclipse provides background and historical artifacts on Karateka is impressive, and even borders on going a bit too deep in sections, but you aren't forced to look at anything you don't want to.
The various ports of Karateka are incredible to play, and it's great to see the small changes and enhancements between them. The remakes are also very impressive. The remake of Karateka is probably the best version of the game to date. But it's the remake of Deathbounce that is truly incredible.
Digital Eclipse took Jordan's Deathbounce prototypes, plus the notes he developed over time, and made it into an actual complete fun game to play. The visuals are retro-styled enough and the twin stick shooter controls make it feel like a perfect version of the game. Truly impressive.
For any fans of Karateka, or any retro enthusiasts, you have to check this out.
[This is a new format I'm trying out, and I'd love to know if you found the above information interesting and informative. Let me know in the comments.]
๐ฌ About the Author โโโโโโโโโ
All gameplay played, captured and edited by Gamatroid.
Gamatroid is an 80s kid and lifelong gamer who likes to create awesome stuff about the games we love, with an old school twist. See more at https://gamatroid.com