Karateka remake launches on XBLA tomorrow

Jordan Mechner has re-created Karateka, his retro martial arts beat-em-up game, for modern audiences. The Xbox Live Arcade version releases tomorrow.

Karateka costs 800 Microsoft Points. In addition, PlayStation Network, PC, and iOS versions will follow at a later date.

Mechner programmed Karateka as a Yale undergraduate, and it became his first hit game. Players fight the karate-trained minions of an evil, feudal Japanese warlord who's captured your girlfriend and taken her to his fortress. Karateka became the No. 1 best-selling game in the U.S. in 1985 according to Billboard magazine, and sales passed 500,000 copies — a considerable number back then, when the video game market was much smaller.

He also made and helped revamp Prince of Persia with Ubisoft.

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[Joystiq]