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

[@quietdemon8138]

The fact that this was made by one kid working on his degree is incredible also for people who don't know the kid who made this went on to make Prince of Persia

[@veronicabelmonte2708]

Jordan Mechner

[@matrix91234]

One of the best games ever made

[@CartoonPhreak]

@@veronicabelmonte2708 Yep He licenses the intellectual property to Walt Disney Pictures (as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) He also released The Last Express (which is owned by Interplay Entertainment Corp)

[@HistorysMysterys]

For it’s time it looks great but I still think Pac-Man, space invaders and donkey Kong were amazing.

[@sharinglungs3226]

@@veronicabelmonte2708what is he doing lately? Seemed to have a few hits and then just dropped out never to be heard from again.

[@TonyTube407]

I haven't given a single thought to this game since I played it when I was 13 years old, 28 years ago! Then today, I see it again and realize how many memories I have.. Seriously, 28 years without a single thought and I still know every sound effect and the music. Insane!!!!!

[@Carlotta_Cranica]

38 years ago today! Gosh

[@Alpha-Trion7]

memories...ren, oh my beloved ice cream bar

[@cmrees2]

Things I learned from this game as a child: 1. Birds are unstoppable flying death machines 2. If you get hit while running, you will immediately die 3. Never walk under an open gate

[@Radii_DC]

4. Never approach your girlfriend with a fight stance.

[@deasq]

cmrees2 1. birds were stoppable. you just should choose rigth moment to kik them to kill

[@deasq]

sometimesI was lucky to kill it at the beginning

[@joechase2689]

The circle is now complete. You are ready.

[@NameCallingIsWeak]

@@Radii_DC If you RUN to the woman, she hugs and kisses you. LIFE LESSON!!

[@Warkive]

I remember the first time I finally got through this game only to have that woman I worked so hard to save one-shot me. Taught me everything I needed to know about women.

[@ilham78]

Lol

[@Zodi77]

Yep.

[@SamuelAna4Ever]

Quite possibly the best comment I've ever seen posted on KZbin.

[@gregfalco4528]

This shit was MGTOW 30 years before the movement started.

[@quasar4601]

It took me many weeks to figure out the name of this game. I finally google Apple 2 and bird boss battle and I got the name. I was a big fan of this game as I was only like 9. The Gate was annoying as you would die if you failed to do it right as well.

[@151mcx]

I never could get over this game. If she could kill him with one kick, then why couldn't she just fight her own way out?

[@Tony.L9793]

She could have killed the final boss instead😂

[@NemeanLion-]

The final boss wisely wore an iron jock as all men should.

[@tommymurica3773]

SPOILER!

[@doncarlin9081]

lol I still remember my first encounter with her, and that’s exactly what happened to me. And I thought the same thing too.

[@CrazyCowboyBuilds]

I used to play this on my dads Atari computer. Watching this video felt like the first time I saw this game all over again. Wow that’s powerful how vivid those memories are almost 40 years ago

[@s0c1al1z3dm3d1c1ne]

I think I watch this vid once a year or so and feel really strong nostalgia for the early days. Thanks for posting this.,

[@mandeskelton9548]

Ditto😊 One other for me is Castle Wolfenstein. Totally brings me back to being 9yrs old!!

[@kanshu28]

Bwahaha. I so remember making the mistake of walking up to Mariko in finghting stance and getting that one-hitter quitter after I don't know how long it took me to get there. Very nearly 'Karateka'd" my commodore 64 after that!

[@jayalldayism]

Wow I'm so glad I found this video. Just brought back so many memories lol I remember playing this game everyday in one of classes. I would sneak to play it because I wanted to beat it so bad. I remember being so confused the first 20 or so times the princess killed me until one day just deciding to run to her lmao!

[@Video-Games-Are-Fun]

this game actually plays decent with very good hit detection. must have been amazing when it came out because this was very new. really reminds me of street fighter 2. would have loved to have had this as a kid.

[@sdutango]

Hot detection is everything, also animation is good too. It's not like 1 frame punch

[@bobowai]

My sweet child memory with Apple II!

[@daviddietrich9449]

One of my favorite Apple iie games! Many hours playing it until I beat it.

[@PianoMelodicaDark]

"You're the BEST.... AROOOUUUUUUUUND!!! Nothing's gonna ever KEEP you DOWN!"

[@philb9015]

Lol nice. Wonder how many ppl would know from what movie that is . 80s where the best.

[@zaphnathpaaneah3108]

Yeaaahhh! Get him a bodybag

[@Guntank]

...except walking backwards off the cliff you spent hours climbing and splattering yourself on the cliffside, that is.

[@VladK73]

Oh! That's how it looks in color!

[@D0nK3yDon]

Hello, fellow green-screen-er.

[@ThaGeNeCySt]

these animations are really good

[@quasar4601]

i loved this game as a kid !! I loved it

[@mikepetri3536]

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic about the graphics

[@artvandelay3840]

@@mikepetri3536 For it's time, they are really good. The animation is quite smooth and realistic.

[@dtrellis]

For 1984 they were incredible, compare them to the 2 or 3 frame animations you got for most video game characters at that stage.

[@jirikurto3859]

It's funny seeing the scrolling text at the beginning. I remember playing this game before I could read.

[@djmixnmagic]

That fuckin' bird, man...

[@D.Norton]

THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST UNDERRATED VIDEOGAME IN HISTORY

[@paule4566]

The little flip of her hair when she turns around at 1:24 is a nice detail.

[@felixc.arroyo3246]

Played this on a Commodore 64. First time I played she kicked me at the end but the second time I ran to her and she hugged and kissed. This game was great. I stayed home sick from school once just so I could play this game to the end.

[@berighteous]

I changed all the enemy heads to smurfs and released the hack as "Smurf Butcher Bob in the Far East." Also gave the princess a boob job. I miss the Apple ][ days.

[@Msf1011]

Could you possibly give me a link to it?

[@lemonslice2233]

And that was 25 years before Avatar.

[@mandeskelton9548]

COOL!

[@scottphillips5901]

You could knock the bad guys back by stepping forward while center kicking. It was best to step forward just after they kicked. You could get in a few kick hits and knock them back without taking damage most of the time. Worked on the main bad guy too, but had to be more careful. The biggest thing with the bird at the end was not to let it knock you back into the previous room. That allowed it to get in some easy hits on you.

[@djwheels66]

This was mine and my brothers childhood in the ‘80’s!!!!! ❤❤❤❤

[@DoubleAAmazin]

Fav computer game of my childhood....the clicky sounds of the punches and kicks is so satisfying

[@Valitzu777]

thank you, one game in my entire life I've never been able to finish.. well done! I'm happy to see the ending!

[@NameCallingIsWeak]

If you RUN to the woman, she hugs and kisses you. LIFE LESSON!!

[@handsomebrick]

I can't believe this came out the same year as Karate Champ.

[@johneygd]

The graphics & sounds are amezing for a system never intended for this,like hardly paralax scrolling & digital voices, sure it looks boring concidering the slow gameplay but what could i expect from such old system. This game can be clearly seen as the absolute for runner of street fighter (2) because it contains many element to it.

[@TheHonestFoodTeller]

I remember that you were supposed to bow (pressing B) before you run to the princess. Otherwise she kills you. Such a last minute resistance, amazing.

[@markspinozzi2882]

I remember playing this as a kid. A couple of my friends had this Apple computer!!

[@macklroy2005]

Loved this game. This and captain goodnight WAS my childhood gaming. :)

[@greatguy200]

26:45 HAHAHA!! Boy that made my day!!

[@pentiummmx2294]

that girl owned him

[@JordanCS13]

I loved this game as a kid. I’m rewatching this playthrough I was trying to remember if I’d ever actually beaten it, and then when the boss was beaten, I remembered: you have to run into her arms or she will kill you! And I definitely remember the ending scroll.

[@krillin876]

I remember not bein about to continue, and if you got hit while running you were done

[@nxsmotorsports]

I could never get past that gate as a kid. Couldnt remember the name of the game after all these years. Randomly thought about it and came to find a playthrough. It's so obvious now! Thanks for uploading this gem!

[@andyp3834]

WOW, i so remember playing this way, thank you for kicking ass! she never hugged me, ;-(

[@jameshalleluyah8133]

This original version is so much better than the NES remake. The looks of the men and the boss are superior as is the MIDI music and the famous HYAH Karate scream.

[@jsrodman]

FYI: While the MIDI specification was created in 1981, it didn't get to computers until much later, and certainly wasn't available on the Apple II built-in hardware in 1984. This is code pushing in and out the Apple II speaker, which more or less required that you write tight timing loops just to get a tone (unless you were a very creative programmer), so usually the game can't do much else while playing sound. Thus the silences when things are animating.

[@nubia.jackson]

Minha infância num só vídeo! Consigo escutar a trilha sonora desse jogo na minha cabeça, antes de começar kkkkk Que saudade

[@luissilva5804]

Explica pra mim este final não entendi! 26:44 Ele foi morto pela princesa!!! O objetivo não era resgatá-la?

[@QuartzOfficial]

i used to play this game on an emulator oh my god

[@X-OR_]

Happy 40th Birthday Apple II. Introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire on April 16, 1977

[@davidsantacarla]

Still remember a friend whose family got the Apple 2E and they had this game. It was awesomeness!

[@UrbanTiger74]

I played this religiously on my C64. I remember you can get some sick combos too. LOL!!!

[@squirlmy]

I was a teenager and got a pirated version of the game! Hacking copy protections on the 5 1/4 inch floppies was a big deal, and different games had entirely different types of protections (I remember one where the formatting itself was changed for copy-protection). My friends were able to copy games on school computers and play them before the school figured it out. Only a few of us had Apple IIes, so there wasn't that much piracy going on. The memories of that are more fun than actually playing the games.

[@hoppyandhisholidayhelpers1714]

I never realized this as a kid 35 years ago, but dang, Mariko is a thic brick house. badunk

[@billmcdonnell79]

One of the endings where the princess kicks her savior looks like a twist that she never was kidnapped in the first place, it was all a ruse that she's the real mastermind and Akuma was a decoy.

[@gamefails743]

looks to me that she was just being pissy because you were trying to show off

[@kelvinsoo9456]

Who is watching in 2024. I always thought they would make a sequel that sadly didn’t materialize.

[@botake11]

Thanks for helping me relive some old childhood memories...yes..never go to mariko in fighting stance

[@erikknouse1195]

1:04 "Get back in that Kitchen"

[@duirace]

WOW! Memory lane. As a kid, I use to stay after school to play this game.

[@hankjohnson2204]

Played this in high school. Now look at me. I'm a karate master.

[@quasar4601]

I played this in Middle School and it took me weeks to find the name

[@gonzisonsbc]

I used to play this on the older apple computer that only had green and black on the screen.

[@sunggeunpark6030]

me too

[@myunself9976]

me three

[@BrendanBellina]

That was a limitation of the monitor, not the computer. The Apple II always had color.

[@danpal6737]

Me five in green looks better

[@chuongha9530]

hehe! I love that ending; I tried many times to beat up Mariko; it was great when you killed the vulture in burst of feathers, LOL!!!

[@Mastermind8908]

I think I laughed my ass off when I made him step off the edge of the cliff in the beginning and heard that thud. 🤣

[@niceguy169]

Wow, I haven't had that many fights outside the temple since the early 80s! I always hurry, so I tend to get 3: Right after climbing the cliff, one after running several screens, and one at the temple door (then HURRY inside before someone else comes out). You can ALWAYS hit the bird, BTW. Just that punches have shorter reach, making it harder. I pretty much never punch in this game at all, while I'm closing in to land punches I'm in range of the enemy kicking me. Nice job including both endings. :)

[@daviebaggins]

Never beat this. the princess always sucker punched me! What a beautiful game though.

[@NameCallingIsWeak]

If you RUN to the princess, she hugs and kisses you. LIFE LESSON!!

[@EugeneAxe]

Much better graphics than the Atari 2600. I remember enjoying this as a kid. Also Moon Patrol, Shifty Sam, and Wavy Navy.

[@gcristoforo]

I always played this with keyboard controls. Played it again the other day for the first time in 30+ years and I was still kickin' ass at this game! :)

[@dancampeau1963]

I remember playing this on the Apple2c. Good times.

[@geometricart7851]

used to play this game every day around 1986-87 in our computer lab at school during lunch break. I was in middle school haha

[@clinkclonkclunk1874]

From the technical point of view this game is a wonder of programming.

[@trevorgoodman4895]

10 year old me didn't know what to do after defeating the big boss. 2 options, approach her in karate stance, or run in to her. I thought running in to her would cause a collision, so I approached her slowly in karate stance. When she killed me with a single kick I was shocked into silence for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. I went outside to play, then finished the game the next day.

[@macombcougars1112]

First game I ever finished in 85 or 86 sheesh...

[@Malesalsero]

First time I played this was on my friends Commodore 64. So many memories

[@CusterApollo]

Loved this game back in the day. Hated that darn bird. Annoying as hell. Lol.

[@ou812scott]

Oh man used to play this all the time back in the 80's. My dad bought one when they firest came out.

[@TheBonely1]

Nice I never got to see the end of this game

[@yusexp]

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

[@Astrih_Konnash]

Loved this game back then, the eagle was @#$%¨ tough to fight (imo, worse than Akuma himself) And the "bad ending" was a laugh.

[@mcrendog]

I was looking for this comment. That bird was nasty. I remember finally beating it and Akuma was sooo easy!

[@luisquinones5159]

I remember playing this game on the Apple 2 PC as a kid growing up

[@jsrodman]

Does the warlord really just teleport into the room after the bird dies in the Apple II version, or is there a gap in the recording?

[@starvinmarvin351]

Gap. He is in the room with the girl when the fight starts

[@godfunk]

At the end, you have to get out of fighting posture and run into your woman’s arms. It’s one of the first games I ever finished

[@HelpTheWretched]

Yep. As a kid, my dad gave me what would come to be known as an "Epic Trolling": the first time I got to the end, he told me to be careful...

[@lurkerrekrul]

I played this on the C64. It was a little slower and didn't have digitized speech, but was otherwise the same game.

[@IAMTheNiteOwl]

Played this on an IBM PCjr. Yeah, I know... It's funny as I watch this how all the sudden I remember everything in this game from years ago in my childhood.

[@yarrdayarrdayarrda]

I think a direct blow to the berries should be 2 points lost.

[@jlazore]

I played the heck out of this on my apple IIc. I found that if you rock that guy back and forth where his feet cross you could draw them in back out and kick.

[@Rowebot15]

I played a lot of Karateka Choplifter Artillery Oregon Trail Star Blazer

[@southsea8252]

Used to play this at Primary school 😊

[@swes9598]

Oh, SNAP! Would have loved to play! Double Dragon before Double Dragon, yo! lol

[@PSTA]

So many memories !

[@therealzdeal5630]

ah I loved this game when it came out I bunked school to play this game I miss the 80s

[@scottm4969]

I was such a moron I could never figure out how to get past the gate that falls.

[@Jenzel_Ria]

That bird is by far the best fighter of the bad guys minions, even with low health. If only he had an army of those birds...be far cheaper to maintain then a human army

[@AndyHoward]

Yes. He was in the fight stance and she one-shot him! (wikipedia) Eventually, the hero will reach and face Akuma in a final conflict. Once Akuma is defeated, the hero is able to rescue Mariko, though the player must assure that the hero is out of a fighting stance, or else the princess will assume he is an enemy and defeat the hero in one blow.

[@aviezek3072]

owww thank you...childhood game..i could never finish the game...it was like so hard and dteicky to fight the master

[@NameCallingIsWeak]

If you RUN to the princess, she hugs and kisses you. LIFE LESSON!!

[@wrapdump]

Man, everything really was better in the 80s. Except the games.

[@RayTech70]

If you flipped the floppy disk and inserted it upside down the game literally played upside down... thought that was kinda neat.

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

I played this when I was in elementary school in the computer room! Played it until my fingers bled!

[@NickWeissMusic]

I seem to remember a similar game, with simpler graphics and an annoying but catchy music loop. I could have sworn it was karateka but is been a few decades, maybe there were earlier versions of this?

[@jjlee34]

my first game...in youth age... but i didn't see an ennding. Finnally i can see This! Thanks.

[@quasar4601]

This was one of my first games I played but I played earlier games off the Intellivision

[@thechefsoffice]

Holy memories!!!

[@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!

[@Zodi77]

26:31 - Ahh the dreaded slow walk to her which gets you knocked out. I remember when I finally got to the end back in the 80's, just to get knocked out. You gotta run to her! I'm still screaming at the screen, RUN DAMMIT......RUN!!!!

[@Raven32403]

I loved this game growing up. One thing I remember most of all was how much I HATED THAT DAMNED BIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL For along time that bird was the biggest frustration for me in the game.

[@JohannesRichter87]

Watch this video at 2x, it's masterpiece.

[@TarekFaham]

Oh no... You reminded me of the old days... Is this game available on windows?

[@oldclassicgame]

Maybe, if you consider this version as the original the best.

[@jamesli2441]

Good graphics for 1984

[@princetopher]

🎵 You're the best!🎵 🎵Around!!🎵

[@DementedCaver]

I loved this on the Commodore 64 back in the day.

[@toastietube]

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

[@johndoe-te2xw]

You're generally supposed to kick unless you're close in, since kicks have longer range. It's too bad there wasn't a sequel. They could have had more variety of backgrounds/settings.