You are a karate master. Lonely and unarmed, you must defeat the evil Akuma and his army of brutal warriors in order to save the most beautiful Princess Mariko imprisoned in Akuma's castle.
And now, you are already on the cliff leading to the castle of Akuma, the evil warrior who burned your village and kidnapped your bride. In front of you is a massive gate. The first of the most powerful palace guards blocks the way. In the distance, the outlines of the palace where Princess Mariko languishes languishing. It is necessary to rescue her from the tough paws of Akuma. Your only weapon is karate. Be calm and focus on the goal. This is the way of "Karateka".
"Karateka" is a computer game created by Jordan Mechner on the Apple II platform in 1984, even before he created the legendary Prince of Persia. "Karateka" became Mechner's first hit while he was still a student at Yale University. The game immediately stood out with realistic animation. Not much time passed, and "Karateka" migrated to platforms such as Atari 800XL, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, DOS, Famicom (one of the early American games released in Japan), ZX Spectrum, Atari 7800 (worst port), Atari ST (best graphics) and Game Boy (as "Master Karateka").
Atari 7800: Before us is a vivid example of how a classic game is lowered below the plinth. "Karateka" for the Atari 7800 is a perfect example of how Atari voluntarily pulled itself out of the video game market. The graphics in "Karateka" are not bad, unlike the animation, and the control after a minute of playing made me furious, and the keyboard almost shattered into pieces! I do not want to say anything bad about karatekas, but this one is extremely slow, sometimes you have to wait 2-3 seconds for action!