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Karateka tips


swordquest plus

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I'm currently playing Karateka for the 7800 on a game-oldies.com emulator. The first three opponents are pretty straightforward, the fourth one isn't too bad, and I can usually defeat the fifth opponent despite how difficult it is, but I always fail at the last opponent. You only start with 5 hit points on that fight and having to always move forward just to avoid getting hit by the bird makes the fight even more aggravating. Any tips on how to defeat the final opponent?

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I could never beat this game on the 7800. The 1 second delay between tapping the controller and your fighter doing anything kinda made me bonkers. I made it to Akuma once I think. But my frustration won out and I put Karateka away

 

I have only ever played Karateka on the C64, so possible 7800 is much more difficult or even impossible.

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I have only ever played Karateka on the C64, so possible 7800 is much more difficult or even impossible.

 

I have Karateka as an Atari 8bit cartridge as well. The controls in that are much more responsive, plus it keeps a lot of the other details like kicking down the doors etc that the 7800 one drops.

 

Ibid Inc did a pretty shit conversion, IMO.

 

Hopefully some day, a homebrewer does Karateka right on the 7800. There's no reason it needed to be so shitty.

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Best tip I can come up with for 7800 Karateka, is to pull the cartridge out of the slot and go play something else. :lol:

Grew up playing and loving it for the Apple ][ and C64 computers. When I first popped it into my 7800 in the mid 90's, was shocked how bad it was. Thought something was wrong with my system. lol

Pro-Tip: send the cartridge in to Al for your dollar credit, and let it be reborn as a vastly superior homebrew today. :rolling:

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I have only ever played Karateka on the C64, so possible 7800 is much more difficult or even impossible.

It actually is possible to beat the game. I saw a YouTube video of someone who actually beat the game (although they only showed the final boss).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODktLc-rM04

 

But yeah, its definitely extremely difficult. The delayed controls and the invincible bird really ruins the whole experience.

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I did manage to get to Akuma but the combo of the unkillable bird and Akuma's stamina vs. the player's stamina. I just said nope and stopped there.

After seeing people talking about beating 7800 Karateka, and having completed it on most platforms, I decided to pick up a copy on Ebay about six months ago and give it a try. My experience was the same as yours. I believe it's possible, but while I was able to get used to the poor controls, and forgive the omissions to some degree, that ending is just not at all fun. It doesn't seem fair on this version, and after considering having to do the drudge again for another attempt, it's not going to happen.

 

I say this as someone who could be considered a fan of Karateka. My favorite version is the Apple II. The one that I've played the most is the IBM version.

 

Which is better, kissing the princess or getting killed by her? I more or less alternate.

Edited by fluxit
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Below is a playthrough of the entire game. If someone wishes to jump to a particular part, there are bookmarks/hyperlinks in the description from the source page...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6QJM1DJZdE

Title 0:00:03
Introduction 0:00:18
First Palace Guard 0:01:06
Cutscene 0:01:40
Second Palace Guard 0:01:59
Third Palace Guard 0:02:41
Fourth Palace Guard 0:03:29
Fifth Palace Guard 0:04:24
Cutscene 0:05:32
Warlord Akuma 0:05:51
Rescued Princess Mariko Ending 0:07:08

 

 

With only ~5-6 minutes of actual in-game action, including the cutscene (shown twice), it would almost lead one to believe that the very challenging control and mechanics were done intentionally.

For giggles, there is also a dual death video posted a few years ago that comes in at a little over 3 minutes.

 

Per the manual, the Left/P1 Difficulty Switch factors into the game experience:

 

P1 Difficulty Switch Left = Decreased difficulty
P1 Difficulty Switch Right = Increased difficulty
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That's how the game ends? I guess I don't feel too bad about giving up. I know the game is beatable but I'm not sure it's worth getting pissed off and on by game just to beat it.

 

Tower Toppler was a hard to beat without cheating but at least it was fun. This game just feels I'm playing with a karate using sloth.

Edited by Bakasama
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Thinking about the control in light of Trebor's comments, it seems as though you are not taking the role of the 'karateka,' but are instead controlling an android by remote link. This android receives its commands via satellite, and as a result has a consistent response lag time. Luckily, all of your opponents have the same limitation.

Edited by fluxit
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Karateka was my first "super game". I initially thought that all Super Games had extra memory and that this was going to cause lag and control problems like Karateka in every Super Game.

 

Later, I learned it was really just a marketing term and Karateka had shit controls because of bad programming.

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Sadly, the game and its ending is shoestringed perhaps even more than realized. Under closer examination of the last scene, the princess sprite is simply the last position of the princess from the cutscene moved over slightly, overlaid partially with the standing player sprite. They are not embracing, forget about kissing...

 

 

post-18-0-56432500-1516558054.png

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Below is a playthrough of the entire game. If someone wishes to jump to a particular part, there are bookmarks/hyperlinks in the description from the source page...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6QJM1DJZdE

 

 

Title 0:00:03

Introduction 0:00:18

First Palace Guard 0:01:06

Cutscene 0:01:40

Second Palace Guard 0:01:59

Third Palace Guard 0:02:41

Fourth Palace Guard 0:03:29

Fifth Palace Guard 0:04:24

Cutscene 0:05:32

Warlord Akuma 0:05:51

Rescued Princess Mariko Ending 0:07:08

 

 

With only ~5-6 minutes of actual in-game action, including the cutscene (shown twice), it would almost lead one to believe that the very challenging control and mechanics were done intentionally.

 

For giggles, there is also a dual death video posted a few years ago that comes in at a little over 3 minutes.

 

Per the manual, the Left/P1 Difficulty Switch factors into the game experience:

 

P1 Difficulty Switch Left = Decreased difficulty
P1 Difficulty Switch Right = Increased difficulty

 

 

Thank you for posting that video! I was looking for a full walkthrough of the game earlier before I posted the video I found and you provided yours. Awesome work! You're a better player than I am, I'll tell you that! Also, the double death video is really funny! What's even more funny is that that actually happened to me a few times while playing the game! It's like on the arcade game Donkey Kong 3, where after you get Donkey Kong out of the greenhouse, you die from one of the bee's stingers. You move on to the next level but lose a life (and possibly get a game over if that was your last one). It's funny how video game software works, isn't it?

Edited by swordquest plus
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Thank you for posting that video! I was looking for a full walkthrough of the game earlier before I posted the video I found and you provided yours. Awesome work! You're a better player than I am, I'll tell you that! Also, the double death video is really funny! What's even more funny is that that actually happened to me a few times while playing the game! It's like on the arcade game Donkey Kong 3, where after you get Donkey Kong out of the greenhouse, you die from one of the bee's stingers. You move on to the next level but lose a life (and possibly get a game over if that was your last one). It's funny how video game software works, isn't it?

I died on yars revenge by the - guy and I killed the swirl at the same time.

The round ended but a did not lose a life.

It did the death animation for me except my yar never exploded.

Game code is strange..

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