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pixelgrotto · 7 months

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Karate History & Box Art Redemption

About a year and a half ago, I mentioned Jordan Mechner's seminal 1984 game Karateka in a post about Sifu, a newly-released beat ‘em up with a similar martial arts theme and tough-as-nails difficulty level. Sifu's a good game that garnered a certain amount of scrutiny from people who pointed out that it was an interactive experience steeped in Chinese culture but developed by a predominantly white team. This is not inherently a bad thing (Sifu’s devs did a respectful job), but considering Western media’s track record of misrepresenting Asia as an exotic place full of Fu Manchu-mustachioed bad guys and subservient women, it’s always worthwhile to be cautious. At any rate, Sifu reminded me a lot of Karateka, another game by a non-Asian creator that owed its lifeblood to Asian culture...and even featured the main protagonist and his love interest as white on the box art, despite the fact that the game clearly takes place in medieval Japan.

The Making of Karateka, a just-released interactive documentary by Digital Eclipse, explains the logic behind this decision via extensive notes that detail every step of the game's creation. From what I can discern, the box art design doesn’t appear to have been Jordan Mechner’s call. (Though the playable Karateka beta included in this package reveals that Mechner had some wacky non-Japanese names in mind for the game’s villain and damsel in distress... Akuma and Mariko were once dubbed “Kratang” and “Tiger Lily.” Yikes!) Rather, publisher Brøderbund’s marketing team seems to have been the division that assigned artist Thomas Blackshear II to paint the cover, instructing him that the titular Karateka was supposed to look like "a young Chuck Norris" or "Luke Skywalker" while Mariko should resemble an "American blonde." Meanwhile, only Akuma was specified as "Japanese."

Brøderbund’s promotional strategy followed the typical American metality of the era: it's okay to portray a bad guy as a foreign race, but leading men and ladies should be white and ideally blonde. It didn't have to be this way, since Bruce Lee had dominated cinemas with Enter the Dragon only a decade earlier and proved that audiences could accept an Asian hero. But Brøderbund decided to go the safe route, despite the fact that Thomas Blackshear is a person of color renowned for his Black and American Indian paintings. (He also portrayed a decidedly unblonde and possibly Asian main character in his early cover sketches.)

My intention here is not to hate on Karateka or any of the individuals involved. The original Karateka game for the Apple II did, after all, feature white hair for its leading man's sprite that could easily be interpreted as blonde (though that was likely due to hardware color limitations more than anything else), and Brøderbund justified their decision by claiming they were inspired by the multicolored hair of Japanese manga characters. (Eh, sure.) Also, if we're being honest about it, Blackshear's final art is a beautiful composition even with the questionable racial depictions.

Rather, I'm fascinated with Karateka's box as an example of mildly problematic '80s promotion, and I love how we gain insight into its development thanks to Digital Eclipse' painstaking efforts with what they call the first in their "Gold Master Series" of playable documentaries. Aside from these marketing details, The Making of Karateka delves into Jordan Mechner's early life in precise timeline fashion, letting us explore planning documents, early rotoscoping footage and prototypes of not only Karateka, but the games that preceded it, including Mechner's take on Asteroids and a shooter he was trying to develop called Deathbounce. There's even glimpses at the bones of a platforming puzzle game that started out as Karateka II and would later evolve into Prince of Persia.

Just about every review of The Making of Karateka stresses how this package sets a new standard for preservation in the video game industry, a business that is terrible at chronicling its own past. I won't repeat these arguments too much other than to say that I fullheartedly agree. Behind the scenes featurettes used to be a thing when it came to games — as a kid, I remember being utterly absorbed with the "Making of King's Quest VI" footage that came included on the CD-ROM — but these days you're unlikely to see too many of them, especially for titles that were released decades ago. In a world where Nintendo has yet to localize Mother 3 and customers need to rely on emulation and all types of hacks to revisit old games, Digital Eclipse's commitment to curating digital museums dedicated to works like Karateka is an incredible worthy goal — possibly one of the most important goals that a video game company has ever embarked upon. I can't wait to see more volumes in the Gold Master Series, and can think of many potential entries off the top of my head. Pitfall! Ultima! Doom! Maybe even one day...Sifu? (Likely a stretch, but stranger things have happened.)

But going back to the discusson of art for a moment, one of the most monumental things that The Making of Karateka does is offer a "remastered" version of its title game, complete with impressive graphical flairs, a more managable difficulty level, and even...revised box art. While Thomas Blackshear's original Karateka painting is still displayed prominently throughout the package, when you go to select Karateka Remastered under the list of playable games, you'll see a new mockup box. No longer is Akuma a dehumanized Japanese baddie, no longer is Mariko an all-American girl, no longer is the titular Karateka Luke Skywalker. All three characters are Asian...and get this, the central Karateka is not only Asian, but blonde too.

In one swift stroke, The Making of Karateka not only captures history and chronicles its mistakes, but also revises them for a bright future. Take that, 1984 marketing.

Update: An earlier version of this article stated that the new mockup cover art was illustrated by Digital Eclipse in-house artist Mae Livingston. Mike Mika, the president of Digital Eclipse, reached out to me on Twitter to explain that while Mae was responsible for Karateka Remastered's in-game artwork, the actual box image was made via Midjourney, and the characters were tweaked multiple times to look more culturally appropriate. He added that this methodology was an experiment that Digital Eclipse does not intend to rely on in the future.

I have very mixed opinions on AI art, and I do wish this box had been created by a human. I don't know if I would've written this piece if I'd known that the artwork was made by Midjourney, frankly. Nevertheless, I appreciate Mike actually reaching out to me, and the ultimate message of this article still stands. I hope Digital Eclipse considers the power that an image like this holds — especially for multiracial people like myself — and chooses human artists in the future.

#pixel grotto #musings #karateka #the making of karateka

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smbhax · 8 months

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From the Apple II version of Karateka in The Making of Karateka (PC / Steam)

Gameplay session: https://youtu.be/Vvre28OL5Mw

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jeffgerstmann · 8 months

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Hey, if you haven't seen The Making of Karateka yet, you should! It's really neat!

#karateka #video games #the making of karateka #Youtube

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thelatenightsession · 4 months

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The Making of Karateka (Review)

Over the years a number of people have attempted to provide a history of gaming that goes into detail about games of note and the stories behind them but often they lack the one thing that makes games unique in entertainment – the ability to play them. The team over at Digital Eclipse look like they have found the secret sauce to make this work, and after hitting a home run with the Atari 50…

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#Digital Eclipse #Gold Master Series #Jordan Mechner #Karateka #The Making of Karateka

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everygame · 6 months

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The Making of Karateka (Nintendo Switch)

Developed/Published by: Digital Eclipse Released: 29/08/2023 Completed: 04/10/2023 Completion: 100% of the museum, beat Karateka (Apple II) beat Karateka remake. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

If you’ve been following my writing for a while, you’ll know I’ve been playing a ton of old games, and yet I never ever thought to make a point to play Karateka until this release (you can read my thoughts on it here.) Although it has pedigree–its creator Jordan Mechner would go on to make, I think most famously, Prince of Persia–it’s also an Apple II game from 1984, and I think a strange choice to launch a deluxe re-release line, Digital Eclipse’s new “Gold Series'' (outside of there just being a lot of historical material available to pull from.)

Using that material, The Making of Karateka is described by the company as an “interactive documentary” and while it is that, it’s also sort of a digital museum exhibit… and sort of like a Criterion edition of a classic movie if the blu-ray was designed in such a way that it directed you to watch Charlotte et son Jules and read Jean Luc Godard’s treatment before you actually got to watch Breathless.

So it’s kind of an odd sell, really, and the contradictory thing I have to say about it is that I think The Making of Karateka is absolutely brilliant, but I also don’t think it makes a ton of sense as a product (although I do think you should run about and buy it immediately so they make more.) The question that lingers, you see, is what actually makes someone who isn’t retro game-pilled like me pick this up? It’s “The Making Of” to express that there’s something more here than just a re-release of Karateka, but hang on, if you don’t care about Karateka, why do you care about the making of it?

I don’t think it’s something that Digital Eclipse manages to answer, exactly, although what they have produced is beautiful anyway. Clearly using the same front-end as Atari 50 (which could have done with being made a bit more fitting for Karateka? I mean the music sounds exactly the same? ["Though it's not the exact same piece of music"--Pedant Ed.] they’ve created a tour through Jordan Mechner’s life as he started developing video games, from the aborted project Deathbounce, through the release of Karateka and its sequels, and then with some postscript concerning a possible sequel that hints towards what eventually became Prince of Persia.

It is heavily curated (I sort of wanted to read more of Jordan Mechner's diaries than I got to...) and definitely some irrelevancies (sorry, I hate famous talking heads telling me why they like something. It’s not as insightful as you imagine!) and some bits feel a bit… ad-hoc. It also (and I noticed this about Atari 50, too) keeps quite a narrow focus and doesn’t widen context to deepen your understanding. Everything about Spartan X and the path from Prince of Persia to Tomb Raider and beyond that I wrote of in my Karateka write-up is my own, er, research [“*cough* Wikipedia *cough*”--Ed.] and I think that’s a line that’s missing and (honestly) needed to make players understand Karateka’s place in history.

That said, what’s there is still fascinating. It’s simply a matter of curatorial choice. It’s obviously challenging to try and make an Apple II game chime with audiences in 2023, and the choice here was made to not just release Karateka with a “museum” glued on and I’d agree it’s more likely than not in that situation new players don’t go into the game with the right mindset. But I’m not sure that going for the “museum” first angle is correct either. While, yes, you can absolutely click through to a menu and just play Karateka straight away, the experience is absolutely not framed like that, and if you play through the “interactive documentary” in order, you spend a long time playing prototypes of Deathbounce, a game that Jordan Mechner never actually manages to make any good!

It’s a strange priority, and I think it comes from locking the interactive documentary into a strictly chronological format. No one is asking for my advice, but I think there’s a middle-ground here, and I think it’s the Turner Classic Movies system. You know how you used to turn on TCM and then like, Robert Osborne would be there, and he’d explain how this random Humphrey Bogart movie was actually very interesting, and then suddenly you’re watching Sahara and really enjoying it?

I think that’s what I’m imagining. You load this up, you get a nice intro, an explainer, and then you’re playing Karateka. Then once you stop playing it (you don’t have to finish it or anything) it goes straight into the documentary, armed with knowledge of Karateka. Deathbounce makes more sense once you’ve played Karateka. You can actually see the evolution because you know how far he was able to go!

So, yes, my main complaint with The Making of Karateka is simply one of pacing and structure and awkward priorities, the last of which is most exemplified by another example: the inclusion of modern remakes of both Deathbounce and Karateka. Structured as it is, I have to question whether they were worth the time and expense?

(An immediate aside as I discuss this. Retro re-releases are getting wildly disparate in pricing now. Arcade Archives are putting out excellent stand-alone titles for $8, but you also have ININ putting out a bare-bones version of Cannon Dancer for an absurd $30, so it’s actually a bit hard to declare the correct value of a re-release, and how much extra value remakes or improvements offer in terms of how much you can charge versus how much it costs to produce…)

The Deathbounce remake doesn’t feel simply unnecessary, it feels counter-intuitive to the thrust of the documentary. It doesn’t succeed in making Deathbounds good, and the lesson I read from this section is that Mechner spends far too long trying to make a simple arcade game into something more rather than just releasing his first version quickly (which is probably the most fun version!) and just ends up with something that’s kind of a bloated mess, and seemingly far from his goals. The “what if” here is “what if a mess, but it’s 2023.”

The Karateka remake, however, is fantastic… it’s just that it is basically at the end of the entire museum and it wasn’t until I got there that I even knew it existed! Developer Mike Mika has done exactly what he set out to do, which is to make a hyper-smooth version of Karateka that feels like it was developed for an ideal VGA PC in the early 90s, and it includes a brilliant director’s commentary system (there’s an entire director’s commentary for the Apple II Karateka too, but it’s not particularly highlighted, which is a bit of a shame–although you just watch a playthrough for that one).

It makes the game really accessible (perhaps too easy to play, even) but by the time I got to it it felt completely redundant! Sure it’s slow, but Apple II Karateka is perfectly playable, and the director’s commentary in the remake even just recounts a bunch of stuff you’ve already learned. So the whole thing feels like it’s working at cross purposes to the rest of the release–like they could have simply released a remake, but something changed their minds about doing that, and it ended up here as essentially bonus content.

If it really comes down to it, though, this is all just my classic “well, this isn’t exactly how I want it” complaints, and I sincerely hope the “Gold Series” can be sustainable enough to continue–perhaps this is as much a proof of concept as anything. I’m just not sure they actually need to put in this much effort, as counter-intuitive as that sounds.

Will I ever play it again? From an educational standpoint, I sort of wish there was just a folder with all the materials in it to refer to rather than having to walk the halls of the digital museum each time, but there’s stuff here that I’ll return to, absolutely.

Final Thought: Actually, a (much needed!) re-release of MULE, for example, could benefit from an expansive museum and including a remake (which should be front and center if they do, the original is a much harder sell than even Karateka) but for many games–and I think in the end Karateka felt like this for me–a Turner Classic Movies-style release would be enough. Either way, I’m still going to show up every time.

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up a digital copy of exp. 2600, a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

#gaming #video games #games #txt #text #review #nintendo #nintendo switch #digital eclipse #jordan mechner #karateka #the making of karateka #1985 #2023

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imperotenebre · 8 months

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The Making of Karateka PS5 gameplay 4K - prime impressioni

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Una remastered piena d'amore

#imperodelletenebreblog #recensione #opinioni #youtube #videogiochi #videogames #ps4 #review #playstation #ps5 #playstation 5 #gameplay #karateka #the making of karateka #karateka remastered #jordan mechner #digital eclipse

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xboxissues · 8 months

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New Xbox Games for August 28 to September 1 2023

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thesplintering · 9 months

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Interactive Documentary “The Making of Karateka” Coming to PC, Consoles on 29 August

Interactive Documentary “The Making of Karateka” Coming to PC, Consoles on 29 August | #retrogaming #Playstation #Xbox #NintendoSwitch #80sAugust

Digital Eclipse has announced that The Making of Karateka is scheduled to release on 29 August for PS4, PS5, SeXbox, Xbone and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic. The Nintendo Switch will be released later in September. Described as an “interactive documentary”, The Making of Karateka is the first entry in Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series. Players will be able to explore the origins of this Jordan…

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#80s August #Featured #Jordan Mechner #Nintendo #Playstation #PS4 #PS5 #Steam #Switch #The Making of Karateka #Xbox One #Xbox Series X

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mizuseyebrows · 2 months

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she's so cute and so excited for me —mizu x f!reader

image credits to bad thinking diary by park do-han ^^

warning: nsfw. mdni. not proofread. modern!au. she/her pronouns for mizu. oral (mizu receiving), slight fingering, licking over panties. nibbles, praises. covered-ish sex. petnames (baby). aftercare.

includes: top!f!reader. afab!reader. whiped!reader (so real). bttm!mizu. whinning!mizu. slightly insecure mizu. light plot just sex. word count: 3.3k

summary: you eat out mizu after a karate competition.

a/n: mizu uses boyshorts because I use them they're comfortable. and she's insecure with her boobs, I wanna give her a hug.

You were karatekas, the best in your respective academies. Each of you represented your states at championship season. On more than one occasion you have fought against the other, she was mostly the victor which made her have a certain arrogant and sarcastic attitude towards you.

Did that make you guys get along badly? Not at all. In fact, you exchanged phone numbers, you constantly message each other and when you meet in a city for a competition, you go out there to kill time. And maybe you've shared some breath-taking kisses, maybe.

Although you two are serious about the discipline that you were passionate about, something changed in the final. Something about this day's combat made you look each other playfully and mockingly; there was something different in your behaviors. The tension was much more palpable than before. Maybe because you wanted to defeat the other, maybe because you wanted to take home the gold medal, or maybe because last night at the hotel you escaped from the competitors’ dinner to corner the other and make out.

When Mizu beat you in combat and you both bowed before each other, the way your eyes connected was quite… explicit.

You two looked at each other with defiance, both of you feeling pleased by the way the spare excited both of you. Mizu had that hunting, predatory look of wanting to undress you and show everyone that she could have you, and they couldn't. And you admired her like a figure sculpted in the most exquisite marble in the world; the only thing you wanted was to trace every line of her body with your fingers, feeling out where those imperfections that made her unique were.

Because yes, the little you've seen of Mizu's clothed figure has made you long to see some more. It was her appearance, her height, her hair, her eyes... Also, imagining what her toned extreme body would look like gave you chills.

The next thing that happened after you approached her to congratulate her on her victory was so fast and irrelevant that the only thing you both remembered after leaving the competition was kissing each other hungrily on your room’s bed. As soon as you got there, Mizu had practically attacked you with kisses and was now sitting on your lap, with her hands caressing your breasts under your keikogi. You caressed her covered toned thighs and her hips, while responding to her passionate kisses.

She wasn't holding herself back anymore, as she was totally consumed by the eager between you two. She couldn't stop herself from kissing you and touching you everywhere, as she was getting more and more aroused with every moment.

She almost wanted to rip your clothes off, as her hands were already on your chest. Your touches felt so amazing on her body, and it took all of her composure to not just give into the sensations.

"Mizu, what would others say if they saw the intimidating gold medalist sitting on her opponent's lap?" You asked her with and heavy breath.

"Oh shush..." She murmured with an aroused grin, as she continued to kiss you and move her hands all over you. "I can sit on the lap of whoever I want.”

She kissed you again, and her movements started to get more intense. It felt like she was going to explode any moment and she managed to open your uwagi. You giggled and made her lie down on the mattress, crawling on top of her.

She moved her hands underneath the opened uwagi and started kneading your breasts in your sports bra, as she started to gasp softly. The excitation kept building between you two, as you started kissing her neck and her collarbone.

You gave her several gentle bites, but you tried not to left marks that would raise suspicions. "You don't know how good it’s for my ego to have you like this for me.” You bit under her chin, beginning to rub her skin under her uniform.

She giggled softly because of the way that you were teasing her, but the laugh turned into a moan as you kissed her throat and touched her torso. The feeling of being so intimate with you on top of her was enough to drive her crazy.

Her breath was already so heavy, and she couldn’t resist the temptation to moan a little bit louder and more vigorously.

"So sensitive for me..." You continued to tease her, untying the obi and leaning down to kiss her stomach flirtatiously. "What happened to your dominant attitude, miss Mizu?"

“It all went out the window when we started kissing..." She murmured, feeling completely aroused by your words and how your kisses. She put her hand on your back, and tried to guide you to where she wanted you to go.

"Oh yeah? Do I have that much power over you?" You circled the shape of her navel with the tip of your tongue, holding her tightly by her waist.

She gasped when she felt your tongue whirling, and she shivered. She couldn’t help but arch her body slightly and moan lightly. Her hands started to get tighter on your back, as she tried to get you to be even more intimate with her.

“I can’t resist you…” She breathed heavily.

"No? I'm flattered." You laughed seductively against her stomach and started to kiss her belly button, scratching her back with your nails, wanting to feel her trembling because of it.

Her breath came out in short gasps. She started to arch her back more with your touches and the way you were causing her so much pleasure. Her hands were now gripping your shoulders more tightly, as she felt like she was about to melt. Her moans got louder and more desperate, and she couldn’t keep herself from clinging onto you.

"Does this feel good?" You began to kiss her belly, pinching it gently with your teeth.

"Too good..." She groaned softly; the feeling of your teeth sent tingling sensations all throughout her body.

The way you were teasing her felt amazing.

"And what happens if I go lower?" You kissed her hip over her pants, rubbing her legs gently with your hands.

"I’ll melt..." She moaned softly, as she felt her whole body trembling. The way you looked down her body was incredibly sexy and she was almost turning feral. She couldn’t resist you anymore.

"Yes? Would you melt for me?" You looked up as she continued caressing her thighs over the fabric. "You are so daring, miss Mizu..."

"Y-Yes..." She nodded, as she sighed.

You laughed mockingly and went further down her body, to start to nuzzle her crotch. "So, so sensitive for me." You gasped against her zubon, pressing your hands to her hips.

She groaned softly when you started to caress between her thighs, as she felt your breath against her covered pussy. Her hips started to sway unconsciously. She couldn’t help but enjoy this moment with you, as you were teasing and pushing her to her limit.

"What will I find when I pull down your pants, hm?" I hummed, enjoying the heat she radiated. "Do you have a surprise for me?"

"Perhaps..." She gripped her hands tighter and gasped in response to how you were caressing her over the pants. You could tell that she was getting more and more excited, but you kept teasing her. "Do you want me to be naughty for you?" She said with a playful grin, her voice was breathless as she struggled to keep control.

"Oh, I know you're a naughty girl." You slurred your words, sensually, and began to slide down the zubon. "You're so hot for me..." You whispered, undressing her legs with torturous slowness.

The way you were taking your time was absolutely killing her. She was already so aroused that her body couldn't help but move in response to your touch, as she was being completely swept away by that heat.

You smiled as soon as she was left with only her boyshorts covering her, her pitch black, soaked boyshorts. You approached her hip again, biting down on the bone. "Look at you, I turned you into a mess just with my kisses..." You whispered against her skin, feeling your insides burning.

"Please, stop it..." She said softly, her body trembling as you bit down on her hip bone. Her breaths became ragged and her body started to sway from the sensation of your teeth on her skin. She groaned softly, breathing heavily now. She never expected to be so turned on, but you really knew how to get her.

"Do you want me to stop? Is this too much?" You looked at her with real concern, stopping your nibbles.

"N-No..." She exclaimed softly, her breath becoming steadier with each moment. "Don’t stop... I just—I can’t handle it..." she said softly, closing her eyes and biting her lip.

She shivered as she looked away from you, trying to keep her self-control with all of these different sensations. She couldn’t handle how intense this moment was becoming.

"Hey, hey, if you can't handle it, I can stop. The idea is that we both enjoy it, not just me." You sat back on your heels, looking at her with worry.

“No... It’s okay." She gasped, before correcting herself; “I mean... it feels amazing. But I don’t think I have the ability to keep my composure right now..." She said softly with a groan, as she tried to catch her breath again.

"Is that it? You don't want to lose your composure?" You giggled, feeling tenderness for her.

"Y-Yeah..." She mumbled softly, as she took deep breaths and tried to settle her beating heart.

"Are you sure you want to continue?" You looked at her with doubt.

She looked at you with an eager look in her eyes, and she was clearly having a hard time keeping herself collected. She was definitely feeling overwhelmed by all that desire, but she hadn't wanted to stop you.

“It’s fine...please continue." She closed her eyes and laid back on the mattress, letting you do what you want to do.

"If it's too much, please tell me." You smiled at her and began to caress her through her undergarment, enjoying how your fingers became moist from her arousal.

She jerked as your digits slid between her covered folds, the fabric managing to gently rub her clit and the sensation sent chills down her spine and she couldn't help but arch a little.

"Are you this soak just for me, baby?" You rubbed frantically against her, loving how wet she was for you. "Do you want me to make you feel even better?"

She whined softly, her body shaking from the excitement of that feeling. She looked at you with darkened eyes, and nodded her head; she couldn’t say anything as it felt like she was going to explode soon.

You leaned back between her thighs and kissed her there softly, sighing and closing your eyes. "You taste so good..." You moaned a little and started licking her pussy over her panties, feeling like your eyes wanted to roll in their sockets.

She choked back a sob when your tongue touched her there, her limbs completely losing their strength. She let out little gasps and sighs. You were making her feel so good, as she let her hands grip your hair tightly.

You felt pleased and grabbed the edges of her boyshorts, stretching them up between her folds. You ran your fingers over her lips and then caressed her entrance over the fabric.

“Can I take them off?” You asked softly, playing with the elastic of the underwear to gently pinch his skin.

“Y-Yes, god, yes…” She answered with broken breaths, looking at you with a few small tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

You laughed affectionately and began to slide her panties down her long, toned legs, leaving her completely exposed to you. And you were able to confirm that reality was better than your imagination. Seeing her so soaked just for you was enough to make you grunt and want to make the mess in her pussy worse. You leaned against her again and began licking her clit, practically vibrating your tongue.

She howled loudly as she felt you making out with her pussy and her toes curled, while her hand pressed against your head. Maybe she wanted to push you away because it was too much, maybe she wanted to get you closer to her, or maybe she was just releasing tension. Who cared?

"She's so cute and so excited for me." You spoke against her, passing your tongue slowly again, like her clit was a popsicle. This while your thumb began to surround her entrance, going in and out gently.

“N-Yes…just stop talking, and keep going.” She murmured softly, as her eyes started to roll back. Your tongue felt wonderful, as it made her squirm even more. She couldn’t think straight anymore, all she could focus on grinding her hips against your mouth.

"You don't like me encouraging you, hm?" You thrusted your thumb slowly. The watery sounds this produced sent tickles throughout your body. Your ears tickled from the sound. "You hurting me, precious."

You moved your thumb away to dart her entrance with your tongue, using your fingers to spread her folds for better access. You nuzzled her clit and deepened the movements inside her.

She cried out and cover her mouth to silence her loud sounds. She tried to keep herself contained but every move you made with your tongue was causing her to tremble with excitement. Her eyes began to water as she squeezed them tightly, you were driving her nuts!

"I know, I know..." You trapped her clit between your lips, making some snappy sounds. "I think I can get addicted to you...”

“Y-Please do…” She pleaded, as her hips swayed even more. Her muscles were tightening while her legs began to spasm a few times.

"Move, baby, move." You pressed your hands to her buttocks to start moving her against your tongue, as you continued to taste her. Her stimulated, erect clit felt so good, you couldn't help but roll your eyes yourself and groan at her taste.

She growled hoarsely as she felt your hands guiding her body and started to move her hips. She was getting more sensitive and her gasps became erratic and desperate. Her muscles tensed and her hand tried to push your head away from her clit as she felt spasming while guttural moans came out of her mouth.

When Mizu had her orgasm, her thighs trapping your head and her sobs coming out as almost desperate screams, made your own pussy throb. You whimpered against her clit sharply and then began to lick her cum, making her squirm beneath you.

Then you separated yourself from her crotch, licking your lips and appreciating the mess you had transformed her into. Wet and gone in pleasure, her legs shivering subtly.

She was completely exhausted, as she was sweating profusely and her breath was shaky. She panted heavily, trying to catch her breath back. She looked up at you with a tired yet thankful grin, for the way you just made her feel.

"How do you feel?" You lovingly stroked her thighs, looking at her with a serene smile.

"Wonderful..." She murmured softly, as she couldn't stop herself from looking at you with dreamy eyes. You made her feel like she was on a cloud nine, as she tried to hold on something.

You laughed softly and leaned over her and began kissing her abs again. God, how I loved a woman with marked muscles.

She giggled when she felt your lips on her stomach. It felt so wonderful to be with someone who loved that much about her. She felt powerful with the way that you kissed her, as she could already feel the sparks flying again between the two of you.

"You have a beautiful body, Mizu." You sighed against her skin, tracing her abs with the tip of your tongue, including her v-line.

She smirked lazily, as she felt pleased with how well-built she was. You were definitely making her feel comfortable. “I know I have a beautiful body.”

"Uh-huh? We have a confident girl, don't we?" You joked and looked at her breasts covered by her sports bra and reached your hand to touch them.

She was definitely quite confident in her body’s physique, but there were things she couldn't help but feel a little insecure about. She stopped your caresses.

"Just don’t take off my bra. I don’t want you to see my boobs." she said softly, feeling a little shy.

"Uh? Why not? I want to see them..." You looked into her eyes; a little bit worried.

You rubbed her sides, wanting to make her feel comfortable again. That felt good enough to soothe her nerves. She looked at you with a shy grin, as you kept caressing her.

“I'm insecure about my breast size...they’re too small.” She groaned softly, feeling a little embarrassed about herself.

"Baby, there's no such thing. Boobs are boobs, no matter the size." You smiled lovingly at her. "But if you want, I don't see them, okay?"

“You just say that because yours are perfect.” She muttered, closing her eyes and letting her body relax with the touch of your hands.

"Of course not, silly." You leaned closer to her and gently kissed her neck. "I'm sure your boobs are cute and soft. Someday I will be able to see them and I will not stop giving them the love they deserve." You bit under her ear, clinging to her body.

She groaned softly as she felt your hot breath against her and your bite on her ear. Her cheeks turned pink, she was enjoying the intimacy of this moment, and she was definitely feeling very pleasant around you.

"And if I find out that it was someone who made you feel insecure about your breasts, I assure you that I will take care of erasing that memory from your mind." You kissed her on the forehead and started caressing her cheeks with your knuckles.

She scoffed softly, as she smiled, looking at how caring you were. She wasn't used to such treatment, she felt loved and cared for by you. She felt so relaxed with you, she enjoyed being held by your strong yet gentle touch.

You rested your hands on either side of her head and lowered your face a little to plant a caramel kiss on her lips, with every intention of smooching her now. You took her thighs to place them around your hips, clinging to her body. Then your hands held her back and pulled her closer to your chest, without there being a single inch between you two.

She returned the kiss languidly, feeling a little drowsy from fatigue, yet the affectionate session you were having produced a warm sensation in her chest that made her hug you by the neck.

When you began to outline her abs with your fingertips, you broke away from the kiss to whisper in her ear: "You're beautiful, Mizu.” You cooed and nuzzled her cheek, smiling tenderly.

She smiled softly, as she felt your reassuring words. Her body was calmed and her eyes were starting to feel a little bit heavy. "Can we just stay like this for a while? Just enjoy each other’s company?" She mumbled softly, closing her eyes and letting herself relax.

"Nothing would like me more" You giggled, stroking her long, silky hair lovingly.

She chuckled softy, it was so soothing to feel your warmth against her scalp. She even let her body melt under your touch. She was adoring this moment, as she felt your appreciation and kindness. There was no judgement here, just two people who love and care about each other, enjoying the presence of each other...

#mizu x fem!reader #mizu x reader #mizu x you #bes mizu #mizu #blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #mizu bes #blue eye samurai mizu #bes

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yandere-writer-momo · 10 months

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Rent-a-girlfriend

Part 3: Katsumi Orochi

Yandere Baki various x Afab reader

Part 1

Part 2

Part 4

…………………………………………………..

Katsumi ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed. What on earth was he going to do? He told his parents he had a girlfriend so they’d get off his back about getting married…

Was it desperate of him to pay for a rental girlfriend? What if his parents caught on to his lie?

Katsumi waited at the small cafe to meet up with his date. His heart beating erratically in his chest as he started overthinking. What if she didn’t show up? What if she bailed on him and now he was out of all that money… jeez.

Katsumi looked up and his breath hitched when he saw (your name). Her hair was down in soft waves and she wore a white midi dress. She was lovely…

(Your name) approached Katsumi with a soft smile. She gave him a wave and giggled when his whole face turned red. What a cutie.

“Hello. I’m (your name).” (Your name) introduced herself to Katsumi who took her hand in his. Katsumi was amazed by how soft and small her hand was compared to his large, callused one.

“I-I’m Katsumi.” Katsumi introduced himself with a stutter. He cursed under his breath for being so nervous. He’s been so busy training that he neglected dating and talking to girls. Now she probably thought he was a loser…

“So what are all the things I need to know before I meet your parents?” (Your name) softly l asked as she took a seat beside him. Katsumi flushing a bit in the face at the question.

“I’m 25 and we’ve been dating for a few months.” Katsumi muttered. “My parents really want me to get married and have children so I lied and said I had a girlfriend…”

“I can play my part.” (Your name) smiled warmly at him. Katsumi’s heart fluttered as butterflies exploded in his chest. She was so beautiful… it was a shame she was just a fake girlfriend…

“Thank you, I appreciate this…” Katsumi held her hand in his, his cheeks pink. “My parents can be a little bit embarrassing so I hope you don’t mind them.”

“Not at all. I’m sure I can handle it.” (Your name) replied smoothly.

Just how embarrassing could they possibly be?

(Your name) was surprised to be pulled into a tight hug by an older Japanese woman the moment she walked through the door. The woman was thrilled out of her mind to see her.

“My goodness! You must be (your full name)!” Katsumi’s mother, Natsue, beamed at her. “We’ve heard so much about you from Katsumi and we’re so happy to finally meet you! It took us ages to get your name out of his mouth! I’m Orochi Natsue and that’s my husband Doppo, but you can call us Mom and Dad!”

(Your name) smiled at Natsue. Goodness. It seems Katsumim was not lying… his parents were a bit much. Poor guy.

She was then pulled into a hug by a muscular bald man named Doppo. The older man smiling warmly at her.

“Where did he meet someone as pretty as you?” Doppo jokes. “Or did he snatch you up with his boyish god looks? He learned that technique from his old man.”

Katsumi choked on his spit. The karateka wrapping an arm around (your name)’s waist to pull her away from his dad. “Hey. That’s enough.”

“We’ve been worried sick about our son since he takes his karate training so seriously… he hasn’t had time for girls.” Natsue shares. “We were worried his still a vir-“

“Mother!” (Your name) put her hand over his lips to prevent herself from laughing at how cute Katsumi’s blush was. This poor guy… she felt so bad for him.

(Your name) gave Katsumi’s hand a reassuring squeeze. She gave his parents a smile. “Katsumi is a wonderful boyfriend. You raised him well.”

Katsumi blushed, his dark eyes focused on her bright smile. She was gorgeous… it was a shame she wasn’t really his girlfriend.

Dinner went by without a hitch. His parents cracking jokes here and there to make (your name) laugh. It was when Katsumi’s mother brought out the photo album that Katsumi swatted her away.

“Stop! She doesn’t need to see those!” Katsumi whined while (your name) laughed at his expense. His mother showing him baby pictures.

“I asked his biological mother for these and aren’t they precious?! Look at his chubby little cheeks!” Natsue cooed as she pointed at the pictures of a chubby baby Katsumi. Even then, he still had such majestic eyebrows.

“Katsumi, you never told me you were such a cute baby!” (Your name) joked, her eyes twinkling in mischief. Katsumi’s whole face flushed red in embarrassment. This guy had to be the cutest one she’s ever been on a date with… he was so precious.

“Don’t tease me too! Whose side are you on?” Katsumi felt his heart race at how joyful (your name)’s expression was as she interacted with his mom. His mom pointing out all of her favorite pictures to (your name). Katsumi didn’t realize how well she fit in… like it was natural for her. It was like she was truly his girlfriend…

“I’m sorry, babe. But you were so cute!” (Your name) smiled brightly at him. She pointed to a picture of him with his tiny foot in his mouth. “I can’t get over how you still have those majestic eyebrows. They must have been a strong gene.”

Katsumi downcast his gaze from her soft expression. He was going to melt into a puddle at this point. Katsumi has never felt this way before… a shame his parents noticed too. The older Orochi’s having Cheshire grins on their faces at the young couple.

“So when is the marriage?” Natsue joked, Doppo putting his hand on her shoulder with a nod.

“We’re not getting any younger so when is marriage and when are the grand kids-“

“We are leaving!” Katsumi jumped to his feet and scooped (your name) up in his arms. “Stop embarrassing me.”

The older couple laughed at the young couple’s expense. Natsue held Doppo’s hand as they watched Katsumi and (your name) walk out the door.

“Remember when we were like that?” Natsue asked Doppo softly, Doppo smiled.

“Of course I do. We still are.” Doppo pressed a kiss to Natsue’s head. The couple then cleaning up the table.

Katsumi carried (your name) out onto the street a ways until they were a few blocks from his parent’s house.

“I’m so terribly sorry about them. I didn’t think they’d jump right on that ship.” Katsumi apologized with a bow. (Your name) held his hand in hers to give him reassurance.

“You’re perfectly okay. Sometimes parents can be a bit much.” (Your name) gave his hand an affectionate squeeze. “They seem to love you a lot. Almost as much as they love babies.”

Katsumi and her share a laugh. The karateka blushing a bit more in the face. She was so beautiful and genuine… he felt as if he didn’t deserve her affection. Even if it was fake, it all felt so real…

“Say, how about I take you somewhere since we still have some time together?” Katsumi asked. He admired how small her hand was in his. Her daintiness was attractive to him.

“I’d love that. What are you thinking?” (Your name) smiled warmly at Katsumi. Katsumi gave her a wink in response.

“It’s a surprise.” The two walked off hand in hand. The karateka taking her to a little ice cream stand. “It’s not nearly as sweet as you but I thought it’d be a nice treat.”

(Your name) smiled at his flirtation. Out of all the men she has been on these rental dates with, Katsumi was pure boyfriend material. So far he was the whole package. She was amazed a man of his caliber didn’t have women lining up for him.

“I think you’re the sweet one.” (Your name) flirts back. She might have the tiniest crush on him. How could she not? He had a good family life, a stable job, he was active, he was handsome, easy to talk to, funny, and so sweet… maybe she’d for real date this guy… who knows.

She was still debating going back to the states to see her old beau. She wondered if that cocky guy missed her.

Katsumi and her walked side by side while they enjoyed their ice cream.

“It’s hard to believe you’re on the market.” (Your name) tells him. “You’re the whole package. You’re perfect.”

Katsumi blushed with a smile. “You really think so?”

“You’ve been nothing short of a gentleman and I really enjoyed my time with you. Even though your parents are a little crazy.” Katsumi laughs with a bright smile.

“Grand baby fever is a hell of a thing.” Katsumi finds himself staring at her lips in thought. He wanted to kiss her…

(Your name) smiled up at Katsumi. “Our time is about to come to an end. Would you be a doll and walk me to the subway station?”

“I’d love to.” Katsumi tells her softly. The karateka holding out his arm for her to take. “Shall I escort you, my lady?”

(Your name) snorted at the nickname. “What are you? A dweeb?”

“Maybe I’m a weirdo.” Katsumi wiggles his brows at her which caused her to laugh so hard, her chest hurt.

“Maybe you are.” (Your name) instead took his hand in hers. “But I like it.”

Katsumi trembled and bit his lip. The karateka pulling her body close to his with a sigh. This felt like a real date. This all felt real… perhaps he’d book her again?

“I never do this and I’m not supposed to but…” (your name) nervously smiled up at Katsumi. “Can I give you my number?”

The two both turned red in the face before they looked away. Katsumi muttered a yes.

Katsumi pulled his hand from hers to hand her his phone with a shaky hand. (Your name) typed her number in with a smile. She handed it back to him with a smirk.

Katsumi rose a brow at her. “Why did you put a star beside your name?”

“Because I’m a star.” (Your name) nodded her head at him which caused him to laugh.

“Okay. I can see that.”

The two of them joked the entire way back to the subway. Occasionally bumping into each other in a playful manner.

This was the best date she’s ever had… a shame she had no idea what she’s just gotten herself into… there was a reason Katsumi was still single…

(Your name) dreamily sighed when she walked into her apartment. Her phone screen lit up a light, pastel pink with an oh so familiar notification.

ᴋᴀᴛꜱᴜᴍɪ ʜᴀꜱ ɢɪᴠᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ 5 ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ 30% ᴛɪᴘ! ʜᴏᴏʀᴀʏ!

(Your name) smiled warmly at the notification. She adored Katsumi so far. The karateka already sent her a good night text too… what a gentleman. She was happy to bank out so much money tonight and find a potential boyfriend. A win is a win.

(Your name) stretched her arms with a content sigh, she placed her phone on her bedside table to charge. (Your name) then slipped out of her clothes and headed towards the shower. It was time to call it a night.

Another notification lit up her screen while she was in the bathroom.

ʙᴀᴋɪ ʜᴀɴᴍᴀ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴏɴᴅᴀʏ ᴇᴠᴇɴɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ! ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀᴄᴄᴇᴘᴛ?

ʏᴇꜱ ᴏʀ ɴᴏ?

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wormdramafever · 4 months

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Goodbye Volcano High among INVERSE's Top 10 Best Indie Games of 2023!!!

When you’re a teenager, leaving high school, losing friends, and fighting with your parents can feel like the end of the world. Goodbye Volcano High makes the connection literal, putting you in the shoes of an anthropomorphic dinosaur facing down senior year and a looming asteroid. As if that weren’t enough, protagonist Fang is also facing down the most important show of their life for their band, leading to bravura musical sequences that blend the emotional story with tricky rhythm gameplay. Goodbye Volcano High captures the all-too-familiar feeling of living through the apocalypse better than any other game this year. — Robin Bea

#goodbye volcano high #inverse magazine #video game magazine #2023 #indie games #video games #chants of sennaar #venba #a space for the unbound #saltsea chronicles #misericorde #jusant #the making of karateka #life after magic #slay the princess #gvh

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molsno · 20 days

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file 10: sannuki-san and karateka-san serves as one of the most important bridges in sorawo's character development in all of otherside picnic. it opens with toriko remarking how sorawo's hair has gotten longer, and suggesting that she should grow it out, and then ends with akari pointing out that if she did, she'd look quite a bit like satsuki. while this comment sparked numerous theories that satsuki was sorawo in the future, it actually serves as a warning to sorawo about what she could become.

there are actually several mentions of satsuki throughout file 10. in one of them, sorawo recounts that in subsequent visits to the otherside following the yamanoke incident, she was unnerved by satsuki's absence, even when she was looking for her. this apparition, which was haunting her while venturing through the otherside with toriko, was suddenly nowhere to be found. later, natsumi shares her impression of satsuki with sorawo, telling her she felt she was creepy, and thought she would take akari away from her. this further reinforced in sorawo's mind that satsuki was an apparent menace to others, not just her.

in being compared to satsuki in appearance, sorawo was forced to contend with the fact that she was capable of becoming someone like satsuki. she had seen satsuki's office, she knew multiple of satsuki's victims and wrongdoings, and she had been harmed by the woman multiple times. she knew for a fact that satsuki was the kind of person who only cared about her own goals, and was more than happy to use people for her own gain.

in file 10, sorawo calls akari by a generic nickname, karateka, which then gets used by sannuki kano. she recalls that she had been purposefully avoiding akari because she didn't want to be bothered, hence why she became worse at responding to her messages. she intentionally uses her eye to control akari to defeat sannuki kano without regard to the effect it has on her. in this chapter, sorawo demonstrates that she is very much capable of being a selfish person who disregards the feelings of others and using them for her own personal gain. when she's compared to satsuki due to the length of her hair, it's a wakeup call. she realizes that she seriously needs to consider her actions and think about the kind of person she wants to be.

ultimately, she makes her decision. in file 11, when satsuki grabs her by the hair and tries to pull her into the otherside, she uses her own knife to chop off her hair, signaling that she rejects satsuki, and that she's chosen to become a better person than her. that's why when we see the kind of person she's become by volume 7, someone who's chosen to take care of the girls satsuki took advantage of and left behind, it's such a satisfying resolution to her character arc. she couldn't have gotten there if she hadn't realized satsuki was the kind of person she was capable of becoming in the first place.

#txt #otherside picnic

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smbhax · 7 months

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The Making of Karateka (PC/Steam)

Play session: https://youtu.be/S7xRKmf4rVY

(I played this a bit on a friend's Apple IIe so long ago, now I've finally got to play all the way through Karateka. : D)

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kisaamisa · 3 months

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𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐒 ™

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 ; Bully! Katsumi x F! Reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 ; When a woman meets her middle school bully in a party, things seem to go down a path she didn't expect it to.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 ; smut, virginity loss, non-con/dub-con, yandere tendencies, delusion, obsession, masturbation, breeding kink, cream pie, bully x victim trope, blood and gore, mentions and scenes of beating up and attacking someone, spitting, threats, smut with a plot, p in v sex, fingering, size kink, undressing w/o consent, public sex, public masturbation, pet names; darling, sweetie, love, and basically a mess! 😝

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ; no i don't condone bullying, if you have been bullied, please contact someone to talk about it. there's no comfort in this because im lazy but if you would like comfort please request.

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 ; 𝟔,𝟓𝟔𝟔

Katguria Academy for Young Excellences.

A prestigious school in Japan, where only the best of the best could attend. Tuition was always expensive but it was no problem for the kids who went here. The kids that attended were from well respected families such as Samsong, Abbias, Mine, and many more.

In this school resided the adopted son of the man known as Doppo Orochi, God of War, and the daughter of a prestigious company called SVP.

“Guys, look at my new gold medal! I swear, those stupid karate competitions my dad puts me in are wayy too easy!”

November 4th, 2012

The day everything went bad.

It was gloomy day, the clouds covering the sun as rain poured. Most people if not everyone brought an umbrella except you so you were soaked and wet. You sat was near the window in the classroom and you were lost in thought. You had so many tests today and you were hoping one of them got rescheduled to another day. The rain knocked on your window and you finally came back to reality to see your crush, Katsumi Orochi.

You were honestly disappointed to be in love with him, I mean, every girl in the school liked him. It was all girls, loners, popular girls, and even gothic kids. He was the embodiment of perfect. He was good looking, had good grades, was favored by all students and teachers, and even knew how to fight. You were kinda jealous, he had everything. Money, girls, and talent.

You were talented too but not to his extent. You always got what you wanted because of the funds you had from family, you had the best grades in your class, and people liked being in your company. You weren't popular but well known but you had a few close friends to get you through the sixth grade. You were just about to go back to zoning out untill something Katsumi and his friend group said caught your attention.

“Yeah, it's kinda dumb to think that some people couldn't fight at all, its just so easy!”

Well, that was controversial.

You looked his way, your hand on your face with a dead panned expression. You rolled your eyes and muttered a slight ‘stupid’ under your breath before you were interrupted once again by your friend storming towards you.

“Hey [Nameee]! Di- ack, Did you study for the test todayyy?”

Your best friend, Los was in front of you, out of breath. Why the hell would they run here, we aren't even starting class until 8:15. You looked up the clock with your eyes. It read 8:12. Three minutes left, no need to run.

“Well? Did you?”

“Obviously, did you?”

“Of course! I just wanted to make sure my best friend won't fail the next test! We both need to make it in good high schools, y'know?”

All of the boys who were previously talking to each other decided to whisper amongst each other after Los's comment on succeeding in life. After the whispering came snickers.

You ignored their stupid laughs and decided to prepare yourself for the first test of the day, Language Arts.

“Uh, [Name]? Um, you might wanna stop preparing yourself. Karateka is approaching us, like right now. At a fast speed, well not really but he's coming.”

Your best friend kept urging you to look forward and your were so tired of them bugging you so once they stopped talking and only huffs of breathe came out of them, you looked forward to see Katsumi's face right in front of yours.

A loud scream erupted from you so suddenly every single person in the rom or outside of it jumped at the sound of it. You fell over in your chair trying to get away from the guy you considered your crush.

“OH MY GOSH.”

You were scared out of your mind while your crush and his friend group just laughed loudly.

“Hahaha, Dear God, you should've seen your face! You looked like a pufferfish when startled, damn, you could be a comedian with this stuff!”

You slowly got up with a glare on your face. You made sure to shake off any dust on your skirt or cardigan. You picked up your stuff that fell off because of your stupid fall and sat down.

“That wasn't funny Katsumi. That actually hurt.”

“Whatever, boo hoo, you'd never make it in the fighting world.”

“So? I don't even want to fight anyone without a reason so you can respectfully get out of my face.”

“Yeah yeah, suck it up already and hop off me for a sec.”

He rolled his eyes as he walked away from your desk. You started feeling really mad and angered by him but Locs told you it wasn't worth it. You sat back down once the teacher entered the classroom.

“Alright, since everyone is present, we will be commencing our exam now.”

“UGHHHHH! Those test study guides were total scams! I didn't seem half of the question I was expecting to see on the exam. I'm so deadddd…”

Los was trailing behind you as the two of you walked to the lunch room. You both complained about the two unfair exams you just went through because of an inaccurate study guide.

“I know right! I probably got lower than an 80% on the stupid thing!”

As you two entered the luxurious lunch room, you got into line for the lunch lady to serve you both.

“Ooh! Chicken sandwiches, not to bad for a day like this, right?”

“Yeah I guess,”

You couldn't even finish your sentence before you felt a push on your back.

“What the-”

You were about to fall face first unto the floor untill Los caught you just in time.

“Oh Gosh! You okay?”

You somehow managed to shake your head a bit to hard which cracked your neck harshly. You hissed in pain while rubbing your neck in an effort to make it feel better.

“Yeah..Just cracked my neck wayy to hard for my own liking.”

You both laughed it off while you said ‘Thank Goodness for Los’ internally as you looked behind you to see the perpetrator of this heinous act.

“Well hey there, Miss-I-Can’t-Keep-Myself-Off-The-Floor, how are you?”

Katsumi-Fucking-Orochi.

“Dude, what's your problem? I didn't even do anything to you, why are you just randomly picking on me for? What’d I do?”

“Well, you pissed me off this morning so I'm just teaching you a lesson! Simple, really.”

“Not my fault your such a prick, I can't believe there is actual girls who like someone like you.”

What a nice way to out yourself [Name].

“The hell you say? You wanna repeat that for everyone to hear?”

Katsumi walked up to you, practically towering over you. He leaned down to get on your level to try intimidate you. All you did was smirk, if he thought that he would scare you while being a 10 year old, he thought wrong.

You were strong at your age so you didn't mind if you had to fight even though you and Katsumi had a diffrence in height, despite being the same age.

“Sure,”

You took a deep breath and screamed with all your might,

“KATSUMI OROCHI IS A PRICK!”

Every student, teacher, staff member, and anyone who was in the school probably heard the scream. Katsumi stood there with a shocked expression on his face, absolutely baffled that you actually went through with it.

“You b-”

Shortly after your scream, teachers and lunch ladies separated the two of you and sent you both to the Principals office.

You didn't regret it, not one bit.

‘Keep looking at me and I'll beat the shit out of you, stupid Karate Major.’

You and Katsumi had been sitting in Principal's office for about a good 30 minutes and counting while shooting dirty looks at each other to pass the time untill he finally entered. The room was clean and organized but the feeling of dread surrounded the place as he walked in. Not one of you even dared to say a word to each other or to the Principal himself. The scent of paper and rain started to be suffocating.

“So, what happened exactly?”

The Principal tried to break the ice but it wouldn't budge. It seemed if the tension could be cut with a knife, it was just such an uncomfortable room to be in.

After a few minutes of the Principal waiting for a response, Katsumi decided to speak up.

“She called me a prick.”

“Well you pushed me.”

“So? It was by accident.”

“Really? Even though you called me Miss-I-Can’t-Keep-Myself-Off-The-Floor?”

“It was a harmless joke, I don't know why you got so hurt by it.”

You and Katsumi kept going back and forth, spewing insults and starting to raise your volume. That's is until the Principal put your whining to an end.

“That's enough!”

You both went silent as the Principal continued.

“Do you two want me to contact your parents because I will if you two keep provoking me.”

The both of you agreed on something. You couldn't have your parents come here or all hell would let loose. The two of your heads shaked in sync, both signalling the fact of the discomfort at the sound of their parents coming there.

“That's what I perceived. Okay, you two obviously don't get along so I won't waste any more of my time dealing with this. Both of you will a detention on Saturday and you will write apology letters to each other. Understood?”

The sound of his voice and the things he listed made you sick. Apologize, to him? Hell no. You rather die first than apologize to a dick like him. Seemed like Katsumi agreed with you on this one thing and gave you a nasty glare.

But did you have a choice?

“Fine, we'll do it.”

Katsumi’s face seemed like someone just killed his mom. He was furious. You gave him a sign to tell him to shut up so you won't get into more trouble and of course, he obliglied. You decided to speak for the both of you to avoid him protesting.

The following days were absolutely amazing. You kept feeling Katsumi's glare on you and you were dreading the sound of Saturday. You had to tell your mom and dad and of course they were disappointed, they ended up taking away your iPod and Computer so here you were.

Saturday, November 9th

Here you were. In front of the school you went to daily. You were absolutely terrified, you just had a very bad feeling about today, you had a feeling. You tried to tell your mom and dad but they told you that it was punishment and you couldn't escape the ‘consequences of your actions.’

“Love you sweetie! Don't forget, okay?”

You simply waved to your dad who tried to keep everything positive, no matter how negative it might be.

“Love, she's in trouble! We have to be mean and angry!”

Your mom is goofy too but she is wayy more serious than your dad.

“But dear! I just love our little girl, she's such an angel!”

“Ugh, just drive you idiot!”

Your mom and dad were just so lovey dovey, you were kinda glad that they were kissing and making out.

Anyways, on the more important subject at hand, how will you survive the dreading feeling in your stomach?

It didn't matter, you were going to be late, it was already 12:38 and you needed to be there by 12:40.

You quickly rushed inside and got to the library where detention was held.

‘‘What the?’’ you muttered so quietly, you're sure no one heard.

As soon as you walked into the room, you saw Katsumi's whole friend group. They looked at you with the same shit-eating grin that Katsumi had. One of them got up and purposely bumped your shoulder. You looked at him baffled.

Why was Katsumi's whole friend group here? What business did they do?

Whatever, not your problem. You kept walking to an empty seat in the back of the library where a window was. Then came the King.

Katsumi walked in with a duffle bag, he probably just came out of karate practice and came straight here. He looked behind to make sure you were there, which was weird, and once he locked eyes with you, he grinned.

Oh gosh, what are they planning?

The two hours of detention finally went by and you and Katsumi exchanged your apology letters. His glare was deadly and you could tell that everything he wrote wasn't sincere but who cared? You wanted out of here. Like now. Your gut feeling got even worse, it was like you were getting kicked in the stomach.

You were looking really beat up so you asked the teachers who were supervising you to go to the restroom. They told you yes but after going, go downstairs because your parents were already here to pick you up.

You silently agreed and went to the bathroom quickly.

You were inside of the girls bathroom fixing your hair and doing basic toilet things. Of course, as expected, you were the only one there.

That is until you heard Katsumi's voice.

“Knock, knock! Anyone home?”

He intruded anyway, peeking in and telling his friends to follow him.

This wasn't good in any possible way.

“What the hell Katsumi? You guys can't be in here! It's the damn girl's restroom!”

“So? You think I really care about the fact that I can't be in here right now? What I care about,

Katsumi approached you slowly, almost like a snake waiting to bite it's prey.

Is to fucking make your life miserable.”

And with that you were jumped.

“Pleas- ACH!”

You tried to scream out for help but one of the boys holding you down covered your mouth.

“Oh shut up bitch. No one will hear you anyway.”

Tears fell from your eyes, you couldn't see at all. All you could feel was every one of Katsumi's friends beating you up. Kicks, punches, slaps everywhere. One of them kicked you so hard in the stomach to point blood came out of your mouth. They all in unison laughed.

“Guess you won't try and mess with us again right bitch?”

“Hah! If she even tries, she'll be dead!”

They all kicked you and continued to mock you.

“Wah Wah Wah! I want mommy!”

“Hey guys, move out the way. I have something for her.”

Katsumi came from the background, just watching all of this. He stepped up to you while you were now on the floor coughing up blood. You were clutching your stomach and you felt like you were about to die.

“Hey whore! You're done for!”

“Hey Katsumi, try to not kill her, I don't wanna go to juvie!”

“Whatever, whatever. Hey bitch. Look up will you?”

You refused to, keeping your head pointed downward. You couldn't, the pain was excruciating.

“I said to fucking look up.”

His tone got even harsher, you terrified. What could you do? What the hell would happen if you kept disobeying his orders? Well, you were about to find out.

“Fine, I'll force you then. Grab the scissors.”

You froze. Scissors? Was going to stab you? Kill you? Cut you? What the hell was about to happen to you? Oh Gosh. You wished you hadn't talk badly about him that Wednesday. As if one of Katsumi's friends shared a brain with you, he asked the same question you had in your mind.

“Uh Katsumi, I hope you're not planning to hurt her with them?”

“Of course not! I'm just going to cut her clothes.”

Clothes? My clothes? What the hell. Oh God help me, what did I get myself into.

Katsumi bent down to your shriveled figure, shying away from him and his crew.

“Well, you're about to be naked! We might even take pictures!”

He came closer to your face, practically breathing on it.

“So you better make up your fucking mind before I decide to stab you instead.”

‘How the hell was this a 10 year old?’ was the only thought going through your mind.

“Well whore? Speak up!”

All of the boys kept yelling at you to respond to Katsumi's question and you were stuck there. Motionless.

It felt like someone just pushed down a cliff of abyss. You felt like you were falling and the tears came gushing out. You were terrified. Scared. This boy was going to kill you, you didn't know what the hell to do. So many thoughts were running through your mind. Help me. You didn't know what to do, your body shaking rapidly. It was over. And you knew.

“Well, Miss Whore won't respond so I'll just make the decision my self!”

Snip.

part 1 because this thing is longggg 😝👍

rip [name], she be going thru it..

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retronator · 8 months

Text

I never played Karateka in the 80s, but as a big fan of Prince of Persia and Jordan Mechner's journals, I was stoked to hear that an interactive documentary about Jordan's prototypical cinematic platformer was in the works by Digital Eclipse.

Released this week, The Making of Karateka on the surface looks like any other game you buy through Steam ($20, Windows-only), GOG, or whichever favorite store or console you prefer (available also for Xbox, PS4/5, Switch). Once the thing loads though, you really get 3 things: a documentary, the original Karateka, and a new remaster.

The documentary part is an audio-visual slideshow retelling Jordan's development story starting with his teenage years pitching his earlier title Deathbounce to the publishing house Brøderbund. It's an interesting look into the iterative process, seen through correspondence letters, journal entries, and many playable builds at various stages of completion. After we reach the eventual rejection of that title, Jordan comes back with a prototype of a visual-narrative experience unseen on home computers. We get to follow Karateka's full life cycle from pre- to post-production, ending with the conception of its sequel (which eventually turned into Prince of Persia). It's a real treasure trove! Fellow pixel artists will appreciate the many graph-paper sketches and interactive overlays of final game sprites compared to rotoscoped outlines and filmed footage. There are also video segments, from a comprehensive breakdown of the music to interviews with other developers reflecting on the impact Jordan's games had on their careers. You'll even encounter a fan letter signed by the one and only "John Romero, Disciple of the Great Jordan and worshipper of the Magnificent Mechner!" (I kid you not, you can't make this stuff up).

Perhaps just as crucial for an interactive documentary like this, you can launch any of the floppy disks in the emulator, trying out various iterations and ports of Karateka.

The emulation is fantastic and lets you fiddle with display settings (monochrome or color display, scanlines, pixel perfect or zoomed) as well as enhance the frame rate. You can even rewind the many deaths you will face if you've never played the game before (like me). If you spend some more time obsessing over the weird artifacts of the Apple II hi-res graphics, you might even go down the rabbit hole of realizing that on the Apple II you didn't really paint colors as much as you used different monochrome dithering patterns that the graphics display would then turn into 4 different hues. A fascinating learning experience if you include some of your own research online!

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Add to this the Commodore 64 and the Atari 8-bit versions to compare how the graphics got adapted across the earlier ports and you have a nice way to relieve the mid-80s with a bit of help from modern emulation (I did beat the C64 version without rewinding though!). I'd love to see more art from the other remakes, especially the 16-bit Atari ST port, but I understand their decision to omit playable versions of those due to the lower quality on the gameplay side of the translations.

This brings us to the final part of the package, the modern remaster. Unlike the 2012 complete reimagining of the game (with 3D graphics and all), Digital Eclipse approached the remake as the ultimate port of the original to an imaginary system along the lines of a 90s VGA PC.

It's well done. Some of the fully-redrawn scenes are a bit overpainted for my taste (I'd prefer a pixel art rendition of the castle than a blurry photographic collage, although there were many games in the 90s that did take this approach), but the in-game graphics are really in style, including the smooth animations that are like one would imagine granted a beefier CPU. It's also a sort of director's cut with previously unseen scenes added, in particular, the battle with the leopard as a clever action-puzzle in the middle. The AI is unfortunately even less challenging than Jordan's implementation. As great as the 6-move fighting system could have been, you yet again resort to simply kicking away opponents as they tirelessly crawl into your range. There isn't even the nuance from the original where you were the one who had to approach some enemies with skilled timing. On the other hand, you now have optional goals and achievements that make the repetitive/easy combat work in your favor (stringing various combos, beating opponents or the level under a time limit …). As the Digital Eclipse president Mike Mika admits at the end of the welcome commentary mode, they didn't manage to achieve their perfect port, but they did come close.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed playing both the original as well as the remake and while the combat system lacks any sort of depth beneath its stunning animations, Karateka is instead a monumental experience for its presentation. Big characters with personality and realistic motion are displayed through cinematic camera cuts and story vignettes (3 years before Ron Gilbert came up with the word "cutscene"). There are details like animating the unfortunate falling off the cliff at the start of the game, or respectfully bowing to the first guard as they bow in return. Jordan's creative work is precious and worth the attention this release gifts it.

I highly recommend The Making of Karateka to all retro gamers and/or game developers for its immersive documentation which provides an experience that goes beyond the usual video documentaries. It's interactive—just like the subject it's talking about—something I want to see more in the future. And if the $20 by any chance seems high to you, consider that the original retailed at $35 (and that was in 1984 dollars).

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#Feature #Gaming #Pixel Art #Digital Eclipse #Jordan Mechner #Platformer #Documentary #cover2 #title3

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