The Making of Karateka

"A loving video game remaster, a documentary, and a comprehensive, interactive historical archive that details the creation of a seminal work in video game history. Unique in composition, meticulous and compelling in execution, there hasn't really been anything quite like The Making of Karateka before. But there certainly needs to be far more like it in future... It's everything something like this should be: A painstaking historical record of inspired creation that is engrossing in its sheer detail, and arranged in such a way that it tells a fascinating, approachable story that inspires you to know more, and do more." 5/5

— Edmond Tran, GamesHub

"One of the smartest, best presented, arguably most important game preservation products I've ever seen... The Making of Karateka is a fantastic ride from start to finish, full of heartwarming moments, incredible gaming history, and never before seen looks at one of the industry's most important games. Complete with a solid reimagining of the game for a 2023 audience, along with a surprise redo of an early Mechner prototype, this is a great start to the Digital Eclipse Gold Master Collection. We cannot wait to see what they do next."

— Laurie Jones, ExpansiveDLC

"The Making of Karateka is so much more than the making of Karateka. Something that is absolutely a book and also more than a book, something that tells a story but also opens that story out in surprising ways, taking different forms, trying different things... There are plenty of other reasons to love this brilliant piece of software, but the book-non-book was my way in... I love Atari 50, but I think The Making of Karateka is even better."

— Christian Donlan, Eurogamer.net

"One of the most engrossing things I've played in this entire bonkers year of fantastic, top-shelf games... The Making of Karateka is a deep dive on a single game done in a way I've never seen the likes of before, presented like only our medium can offer. It takes you on a captivating journey not just of a legendary game but of a legendary game creator as he finds his strengths and blossoms. I want a shelf full of these Gold Masters from Digital Eclipse... An essential work for all fans of gaming history." 5/5

— Shaun Musgrave, TouchArcade

"A huge step in documenting the history of video games... Digital Eclipse has put together a masterful formula that speaks to retro explorers such as myself, and this is the perfect test of it. It's absolute gold, and I can't wait to see what they dive into next."

— Zoey Handley, Destructoid

"Karateka was the first computer game that gave me the sense that I was seeing a new form of interactive storytelling. The characters were uncannily real compared to anything I had seen before and the flow of the game was at a new level of cinematic polish for its time."

— Will Wright, Lead Designer of The Sims

"Karateka is a landmark game, easily in my top 10. Mechner invented the video game cutscene with this game. Way ahead of its time."

— Todd Howard, Producer of Skyrim, Oblivion and Fallout 3

"Karateka was one of the first games that truly felt like a movie: from the opening text crawl to the climactic battle. It set the bar for years to come."

— Raph Koster, Creative Lead of Ultima Online

"Karateka was the first game to make it clear that games could be more than simple reflex, twitch tests. Back in the mid-80's, Karateka showed that story telling DURING gameplay was not only possible, but powerful. Even today, the story telling of Karateka still works. In some cases, it works better than today's mega-budget action games. One of my favorite games of all time."

— David Jaffe, Director of God of War, Twisted Metal

"With a stunning makeover and simplistic but compelling action, this terrific update brings Karateka into the 21st century in style."

— CNET

"Delightful... The game has the unique ability to tell a story and sell characters without words... Simple, pure fun and the price is right." 8/10

— Machinima Inside Gaming

"...fun for those of us who played the original on an Apple II, Commodore 64, or even an NES, but younger gamers will still appreciate the unique style and easy-to-learn gameplay."

— Ars Technica

"Exceptional production values... Karateka may be just the game you need to remind you what made those early arcade games so fun." 8/10

— Game Informer

"Karateka taught me to approach a woman kindly... and not in a Kung Fu stance."

— Cliff Bleszinski, Lead Designer of Gears of War

"I can neither confirm nor deny that many years ago a game designer gave me a shitload of health before I had to fight a bird which would knock you down three pips at a time and killed me the first time anyway. Formative game for me."

— Jason Jones, Founder of Bungie (makers of Halo)

"To me, Karateka was the first game that felt 'cinematic'... because of the short cut scenes that came after each major defeat, with Akuma dispatching another of his minions to take you down. No other game had done this before... The music by Jordan's father, especially on the C64, was so great that I used to finish the game just to let the music play over and over for an hour."

— John Romero, Co-Author of Doom and Quake

"We had a computer class in my high school, which meant one of the math teachers let us hang out in a room with a bunch of Apple ][s for an hour each day and work on projects. Our favorite project was playing Karateka. Man, I loved that game. One of those rare endings that both pissed me off and delighted me at the same time."

— Tim Schafer, Lead Designer of Psychonauts