Playable Documentary The Making of Karateka PS5, PS4 Airing 29th August

Digital preservation society

by Khayl Adam Thu 17th Aug 2023

The Making of Karateka PS5 PS4 PlayStation

The Making of Karateka is billed as an "interactive documentary' chronicling the creation of Karateka, a seminal game created by veteran designer Jordan Mechner. We have a release date, and you can get an essential education in video game history on PS5 and PS4 from 29th August.

Created when he was in college and first released in 1984, Karateka was revolutionary at the time and worth playing in its own right. Real geeks for the video game industry and its burgeoning history might enjoy tracing a direct line from Mechner's first success to his ultimately more impactful (and famous) sophomore effort, 1989's Prince of Persia.

This "Gold Master Series" from Digital Eclipse (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration) is clearly being positioned to dominate the video game preservation space, and it's a cool idea (multiple different playable iterations of the classic game, including an all-new one) that we hope finds success. We all have to do our bit to preserve video game history, after all.

Does the The Making of Karateka interest you? If not, is it a lack of interest in the subject matter, or is an interactive documentary just not something you'd want on a traditional gaming console (genuinely curious)? Let us know in the comments section below.

[source gematsu.com]

Khayl Adam is the second best video game journalist Australia has ever produced, and his ambitions of world domination have (thus far) been curbed by the twin siren songs of strategy games and CRPGs. He has always felt an affinity for the noble dachshund, the best kind of dog.

1
Dman10
Thu 17th Aug 2023

I remember playing it on Commodore 64 and finding it really hard at the time.

2
somnambulance
Thu 17th Aug 2023

I cannot wait to play this one again. I had a Taiwanese copy of the game (with a converter to get it to fit into my console) for the NES and I remember playing this one quite a bit in my childhood. It’s a really solid hour or so of ancient video gaming. The documentary aspect is icing on a delicious cake. I’ve been wanting to replay this for years, so I feel like games are ported specifically for me from time to time and this is one of those cases.

3
nessisonett
Thu 17th Aug 2023

Atari 50 is one of my favourite gaming experiences in recent memory and I don’t even have the nostalgia element, I just really enjoyed the playable documentary aspect. Same with the dev commentaries in Day of the Tentacle and Valve games, they’re fascinating. Looking forward to this, not sure what to expect from the game but I know it’ll be interesting.

4
roylaza
Thu 17th Aug 2023

I have fond memories of playing the game on my CGA monitor DOS PC back in the day, would love to revisit it and the documentary aspect is intriguing

5
roylaza
Thu 17th Aug 2023

I also remember getting kicked by the lady I was supposed to save and dying in one hit after surviving hoards of tough karate masters and one annoying eagle

6
Bentleyma
Thu 17th Aug 2023

The game doesn’t interest me, but the concept does. If they did it for a game I’d heard of and enjoyed growing up then I’d definitely buy it.

7
sanderson72
Thu 17th Aug 2023

Can't say I remember that one but do remember playing Way Of The Exploding Fist on the C64.
Reissued versions featured "Invade-a-load" where you could play Space Invaders while the game loaded from tape in the background with the catchphrase, "Just when you thought it was safe to make a cup of tea".
And people moan about load times these days!

8
SystemAddict
Thu 17th Aug 2023

I must’ve been late to the karate game we all played IK+.

9
Gbarsotini
Thu 17th Aug 2023

Really nice, I´m probably going to buy this, a physical edition is expected at LRG (Argh), hope they do another one with the original Prince of Persia and all it´s versions, including the more obscure and better Prince of Persia 2. I really like these collections.