Multiplayer? In '80? Only on the same machine and the same screen. No other way, Sir. I assume you were born after 2000, am I right? Multiplayer... It was a dream of the future.
I remember reading this game has some roguelike qualities. Only one life and you have to be cautious and time your strikes cause you can die easily (but fairly) Is that true? Also any kind of replay value and about how long?
It's definitely about timing and knowing how to approach an enemy. After you clear the first two gates, you can use a continue. The game calls it a rewind. There's also helpful tips that pop up when you die. The original game was only 1 life, so this is much less punishing. I would say medium replay value. There's no Game Center leader boards or achievements. It took me a little over 29 minutes (with 7 rewinds) on my first play through. I really enjoyed it. It was the only new release tonight that caught my eye. I would recommend the game, but; only if you like the game play videos. Also, the control scheme works really well . . . Overall, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. *Edit* 29 minutes didn't include the time I spent playing before using a rewind. There were times I would fight for 3 or 4 minutes before getting killed and rewinding. . . . . So total time spent on the first play through was actually somewhere around 45 minutes or so.
This is so awesome. LOVED this game on my apple IIe back in the day, and it's just as good on my iPad now. Ha, the disk access sound and being able to switch between monochrome and color screens is great. Behind Baldur's Gate, this is the best retro re-release ever!
Just finished playing the game. Takes me back to the old Apple days. Very nostalgic trip back... Controls were very good to my surprise. Was a bit skeptical but got the hang of the virtual controls quickly. The rewind feature was nice. My reflexes aren't what it used to be. Just hoping for a port of "dark castle" or "castle wolfenstein" now!
My god, as soon as the Broderbund logo came on the screen I felt a pang of emotion that no other iPad game has ever evoked, it brought me right back to when I was young and swapped disks with friends at school, and would rush home with excitement and load them up and play for hours on end on a monochrome screen. Broderbund was a big deal back then, I used to love ancient art of war, and played where in the world is Carmen sandiago on c64 at school. All that's missing is clicky micro switch joysticks and long loading times. Thank you so much for the memories of great times!
I think it's a time to fix one of my game sins. I'm in video games since 1989, but I've never ever played this Mechner's classic. And it's only for 1$...
I think it's unfair to rate this game on anything other then how well it is ported. The controls are awkward at times but never bad. Solid port, great classical game.
Being new to this game I have some inquiries. Is it very long or difficult to clear? Is the punch basically for show? Seems like using it doesn't help very much. Any tips would be nice, I made it past the first door that shuts to kill you, but it seems like the game is getting harder
I'd never played it before. Really like it. Can see where the classic 8 bit game way of the exploding fist got its inspiration from
Just finished playing through this and, wow, add my name to the nostalgia trip list! It's so much easier with the rewind than it was on my parents' Apple ][+... Definitely a must-get for anyone who remembers the original game. I was surprised by how well it stands up, and the virtual controls work surprisingly well. Those who are too young to have played the original may be less excited, but I'd recommend it to anyone interested in video game history as it was one of the first truly "cinematic" games (I think it's the first time I ever remember seeing a cut-scene). And one (sort of) easter egg that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere lately: Spoiler There's an amusing way to die at the end. I had heard rumors back in the day but was afraid to try after finally making it all the way to the end, but with the rewind I finally got to see this...
It's not very long (the time it listed for me was a bit over 30 minutes, but I don't think that counts rewinds, which I needed a few of, and I died a few times before getting to the point where you can rewind), but I did know a few tricks since I played the original. That was long, because you had to start over every time you died... I mainly use low or middle kicks. Wait for an opponent to move in and then kick. And watch their patterns; you can learn when you can move to the right and attack (it is good to attack as frequently as possible if your health is not about to run out, since enemies regain health as well as you). As for punching, it's really not needed for most enemies (although if you're close in you can punch faster than kick), but there is one key piece of advice: "Always punch the hawk!"
I'm glad to hear it's not too long, the fighting can get bit repetitive and tough. But it's a great retro ride, it's nice that they made it easier with the rewind, these oldies can be brutal. Thanks for the tips
You can punch while moving your character forward. I found a really good walk through for the original game: http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Karateka I think the Apple ][ ran at 8 frames per second. Does anybody know if the iOS version of Karateka runs at the same frame rate??? . . . It really doesn't matter, I'm just curious.
If you are talking about the Spoiler princess killing Karateka in one blow, that had always made me wonder if she so powerful, why she captive of Akuma? Maybe she big boss of Akuma, to be revealed in Karateka II ...
Looking at the app with iExplorer it appears to be using the old Apple ][c Emulator. Anyone worked out whether there is away to play any other ][c games on it. I tried just adding one to the apps documents folder ala Gridlee but that did nothing
Omg! I was just doing the same thing! It's activegs emulator but its customized to checksum the rom, I've been modifying karateka.activegsxml to try to fool it into running a renamed rom file. I hex edited the active_gskarateka emulator binary but can't find any reference to a checksum. When you load the game it creates a config file in /karatekalocaldata but it renews it every time it loads. So until somebody can find and circumvent the checking routine in the emulator..... Btw the apple ii boot rom is in /nucleus.....
