The Making of Karateka

About This Game

Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner was a college student when he created one of the biggest-selling games of 1984: Karateka. Now, in a new interactive documentary from Digital Eclipse, the story of how a teenager with an Apple II created one of the most groundbreaking, influential games of all time.

THE ORIGIN STORY OF A LEGENDARY GAME CREATOR

Discover how Karateka was made through an exhaustive archive of design documents, playable prototypes, and all-new video features. Like walking through a museum, you can explore the interactive timelines at your own pace.

PLAY THE ACCLAIMED ORIGINALS

Enjoy pixel-perfect versions of the original Karateka games and a variety of never-before-seen early prototypes, with rich quality-of-life features like save anywhere, rewind, chapter select, and director’s commentary.

TWO REMASTERED GAMES

Karateka Remastered is an all-new version of the original game featuring cutting-room-floor content, commentary, achievements, and more. Deathbounce: Rebounded is a fast and frantic twin-stick shooter based on Jordan’s unpublished prototype.

A GROUNDBREAKING MASTERPIECE

Discover how Karateka became one of the first games to include cinematic scenes, a moving original soundtrack, rotoscoped animation, and a Hollywood-style love story, influencing the decades of games that followed.

THE GOLD MASTER SERIES

New from Digital Eclipse (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration), the Gold Master Series presents iconic games in an innovative “interactive documentary” format, putting the shared history of games and their creators into one comprehensive package.

Reviews

“All in all, The Making of Karateka, as a unanimous chorus of critical and editorial voices will tell you, is a masterpiece of game preservation. It doesn’t just immortalize a college freshman’s dream—a dream that had a direct impact on game design—but paints an intimate portrait of a remarkable father-son relationship.”
PC Gamer

“Karateka is significant, but the story behind it is remarkable, and The Making of Karateka tells that story in the coolest way possible […] Before playing The Making of Karateka, I had no interest in Karateka beyond it being a historical stepping stone to Prince of Persia. But I get it now.”
9/10 – IGN

“The Making of Karateka isn’t just a meaningful step forward for game preservation and history. This is proof-positive of what makes video games such a fascinating and thrilling medium.”
9.5/10 – ComingSoon