Digital Eclipse has seemingly graduated from just doing (excellent) remaster collections. Last year’s Atari 50 felt like a new chapter in the company’s history, being more than just a bunch of updated ROMs in a cheap package. It was a virtual tour, a documentary, a museum which both entertaining and taught you something. The fact they have decided to start a brand new series called The Gold Master Series is proof of that: a series of smaller interactive documentaries containing the whole history of a particularly noteworthy classic franchise. The first series in that list? Karateka.

Now, despite being monstrously old, I do have a soft spot for the Karateka series, the precursor to Jordan Mechner’s more famous Prince of Persia games. I grew up with a copy of Master Karateka for the Game Boy as a kid, so, at the very least, I knew something about this series. Being one of the first games in history with a fully-fledged plot, soundtrack, and somewhat realistic graphics, Karateka was a watershed moment back in 1984. The fact it was developed by a teenager just added more spice to its mysticism, to its legendary status. Making a docuseries about Karateka feels like a no-brainer, even though the games themselves… well… they haven’t aged that magnificently.

First of all, the documentary part of the collection. It is as excellent as Atari 50, but in a much smaller scope. We don’t have the entire history of a company. Instead, we basically have a post-mortem, a series of videos detailing how Jordan Mechner came up with the concept behind Karateka, his history with Broderbund (the publisher), his family’s involvement (his father composed Karateka’s theme song, for instance), the idea behind using rotorscoping techniques in order to draw graphics, and so on. We also have some extra commentary from some big names in the industry who consider Karateka to be one of their favorite games of all time, such as Gary Whitta and Mortal Kombat‘s John Tobias.

The most interesting bit about the documentary part of The Making of Karateka is the focus on another game called Deathbounce. It was a failed attempt at releasing an Asteroids clone. It was also the first game ever developed by Jordan Mechner, at an even younger age. We’re talking about mid-teens, when he was already at Yale, given his genius level of intellect. Granted, we are here for the main act, but getting to know a bit more about Jordan’s first experiences as a game developer was equally fulfilling.

Now, for the interactive bit. This is what Digital Eclipse does best. They are still one of the two best remastering studios in the world, alongside M2. As a result, this collection features the best versions of classic Karateka available anywhere in the market. With that being said, Karateka is a really slow, intentionally irresponsive, and punishing game. Once you get a hold of the controls and movement, things get a lot better, but the game isn’t easy to swallow, especially if you decide to play it the way it was released back in the 80s. The games used to run at seconds per frame, not frames per second. Digital Eclipse did some extra work, though, allowing you to enjoy the Apple II and Commodore 64 ROMs with improved framerates. No option is found on the Atari 8-bit ROM, but that one already runs at a playable framerate anyway.

Just like in Atari 50, there is a brand new version of Karateka available in this collection, with modernized graphics and controls. In short, it is the best version of Karateka ever made. Furthermore, Digital Eclipse has partnered up with Jordan Mechner in order to basically remake a game that had never been released before. Yes, Deathbounce is also available in this collection, complete with new music, visuals and controls. It is a really basic game, but it’s fun for a few minutes.

I have some issues with the amount of games available in this collection, though. Sure, there are multiple versions of Karateka available right from the get-go, but not all of them. Master Karateka for the Game Boy, for instance, had some slight RPG elements, which allowed for multiple playthroughs. Not available here. Not even a mention anywhere in the collection. The Atari ST version, the only 16-bit port of Karateka, is mentioned in the collection, but isn’t playable. I feel like this was a missed opportunity. Finally, the 2012 remake of Karateka is just very briefly mentioned, but not playable at all. I understand there’s a lot of issues related to licensing and dealing with multiple publishers, but I feel like the collection should have tried to, at the very least, mention all of these other ports, in order to properly educate us about the franchise as a whole.

The Making of Karateka is a fantastic trip down memory lane, teaching you everything you never though you’d want to learn from such an iconic game and its creator. Even though the game itself isn’t exactly THAT entertaining for today’s standards, I still had a good time learning more about it, as well as its predecessor, Deathbounce. That being said, I think the collection is missing some essential versions of Karateka, such as the 16-bit, Game Boy, NES, ZX Spectrum and 2012 versions. As the first episode in Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series, this was still way worth the admission ticket. There are some elements the developers can improve upon in future installments, so I can’t wait to see which game or franchise they’ll tackle next.

 

Graphics: 7.5 A well-shot documentary, lots of high-resolution assets to investigate, and well-remastered ROMs. The brand new remake of Karateka looks great in motion.	Gameplay: 6.5 Karateka is a really slow, intentionally unresponsive, and punishing game. Once you get a hold of the controls and movement, things get a lot better, but the game isn’t easy to swallow. New remastering efforts allow you to enjoy the Apple II and Commodore 64 ROMs with improved framerates.
Sound: 8.0 The original games didn’t exactly sound bad for the time, with a somewhat iconic soundtrack from the early 80s. As expected, the sound in the documentary bits itself is also pretty good.	Fun Factor: 7.0 A fantastic trip down memory lane, teaching you everything you never though you’d want to learn from such an iconic game. That being said, I think the collection is missing some essential versions of Karateka, such as the 16-bit, Game Boy, and 2012 versions.
Final Verdict: 7.0

The Making of Karateka is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of The Making of Karateka was provided by the publisher.