Video games where you must rescue a princess were extremely popular on the NES, one of the first Nintendo consoles. There are many examples, we have Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Kage and of course ‘ Karateka ‘, a 1984 installment developed by Jordan Mechner.
The story is quite simple, the player plays as a karate fighter who intends to rescue a princess named Mariko, kidnapped by a villain whose name is ‘Akuma’. Achieving it is not an easy task, since you will have to defeat several warriors who are easy at the beginning but progressively get more difficult.
As we pass the level we notice that the adversaries are more challenging, therefore, only a few players managed to get to the main villain and rescue Princess Mariko. Although in the traditional ending both give each other a warm hug, there is an alternative one.
To the surprise of thousands of old-school gamers, the protagonist of this video game (which also had versions on Atari, Apple II, among other consoles) dies at the hands of the princess herself who he was trying to rescue. What the freak?
The protagonist of Karateka had two stances, the first was offensive which allowed us to move faster. For his part, the second was a defensive position that was necessary when we had to face an opponent.
If you approached a villain off guard, you automatically lost. In the end the opposite happens; If Princess Mariko noticed that we were in a fighting position, she would kick us and beat us with a single blow. What the hell is her problem?
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