Nearly a decade since his last videogame, Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner is returning to his roots with a remake of the celebrated hit that launched his career: Karateka.
Mechner told Wired.com that he would release the Karateka reboot as a downloadable game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year. He designed and programmed the original Apple II computer game in his dorm room at Yale University. It was eventually ported to many other platforms but never had a sequel or remake.
“It’s still amazing to me when people talk to me about Karateka, that they remember and care about it after all these years,” Mechner said in an e-mail. “Lately, so many things have been reminding me of the early ’80s. It just feels somehow like the wheel has come full circle and the time is right for Karateka again.”
The last videogame in which Mechner participated was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the 2001 reboot of his other classic hit. Following that game’s warm critical reception, Mechner was able to pitch a summer-blockbuster movie version of that game, which was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2010. Mechner co-wrote the screenplay.
“That whole experience was unreal – first making, then promoting this giant movie that involved literally thousands of people,” he said. “Coming off of that, I was definitely compelled to switch it up by making my next project something more ‘guerrilla.'”
“I thought: Here’s a project that’s perfect to do with a small team,” he said. “We can make a game that’s artistic and a little bit unusual, without the marketing pressures of a giant triple-A retail title.”
Karateka, released in 1984, was a simple game but a remarkably forward-thinking one. Mechner made heavy use of cinematic scenes and rudimentary animation to tell the game’s story, about a karate master sent to rescue the captive Princess Mariko from the evil lord Akuma.