This Retro Tea Break is also available on most podcast apps, just search for Retro Tea Breaks to enjoy 👍

What a fantastic guest and also let’s take a minute to applaud Neil’s interview technique. He makes it look so easy and natural but it’s not an easy thing to do.

There went my plans for this evening. Wonderful, great interview. Thank you to Jordan Mechner for his time and stories and to Neil for bringing them to us an keepin mostly quiet - a thing many interviewers do not seem to handle.

I am SO happy to see a new Retro Tea Break - I have always loved your long form interviews Neil and I hope we can get at least a few more of them this year!

Great interview, such a humble guy. 🙏 I'm a similar age and can relate to a lot of this. At the time he was working on Apple 2 in the US in Britain we were learning how to code on the TI99 and Zx81 from magazines.

This is one of the best retro game creator interviews I've ever seen! First computer I ever used and the first I learned to program on was an Apple II. But there was no way I or my family could afford one. That would wait until the Speccy came out. I didn't see Karateka at the time but I've long known it as one of the early classics. I did know Choplifter, one of the games that really impressed me before I got my Speccy. I always think of Swashbuckler, which I did see at the time but didn't play, when I think of karateka and these earliest fighting games. That one really blew my mind. Lode Runner was another one I had fond memories of and missed when I got my Speccy. It got ported to the Speccy a couple of years later. Speccy game programmers also used the the lookup table for Y values. At first glance the screen memory layout of the Apple II and Speccy look similar, but the Apple II is much quirkier.

@RMCRetro

4 ай бұрын

Thanks Andrew I'm glad you enjoyed it!

What a wonderful chat. I hopped on to playing some Prince of Persia on the Amiga as I listened along to help with the mood.

Brilliant interview, Neil, and what a terrific guest. As a person with a rather short attention span who can hardly sit still for a few minutes, I enjoyed every moment of this. Well done

Great & very interesting interview. Loved to hear Jordan Mechner talk about his work. Definitely will read his graphic novel. Have already played Prince Of Persia a lot, will play The Last Express. Thanks RMC!

I have such admiration for this man and his work. Loved prince of Persia when I was a kid and then years later The Last Express blew me completely away. Also, "MYST but with people", must be the greatest elevator pitch of all time.

Wow, what a fantastic guest! Well done, Neil! Not just because the man is a legend and a pioneer of game design, but also because he's apparently cracked either time travel or eternal youth. As I started watching this, I thought huh - he looks about my age, but I played Prince of Persia when I was 6, so that couldn't be right. So I looked him up on Wikipedia. Jordan is 59 (!!) years old.

@raggersragnarsson6255

4 ай бұрын

Without doubt he looks so young to this day. Amazing genes are apparent here. I'm a few years younger and I look 20 years older and now I'm scared. Playing of Persia aged me. I certainly never finished it and not have I think. The game aged the players and not the dev!

@einokeskitalo3217

4 ай бұрын

@@raggersragnarsson6255 Mr. Mechner is obviously some sort of a (benign and polite) vampire, learned to steal his victims' youth through video games ... 😸

I remember reading Jordan Mechner's journals when they were on his site, before they were compiled into a book. I don't remember a lot about them, specifically, but I know I was in a bad place at the time, and reading the ups and downs in the moment of someone who was about the same age as me at the time was... weirdly uplifting? I don't remember anything particularly sad or exciting or joyous, but it touched me all the same. I really should read it again in book form.

This was definitely the best interview and one of the best videos on this channel. What a treat! Thank you for bringing this gem of an interview with one great person!

@RMCRetro

3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Absolutely love hearing Jordan talk about his game dev journey. His is certainly a unique one in the industry. I ordered his book some time ago and am very excited to take a look at it. I can also agree that The Making of Karateka is a fantastic package. Highly recommended.

As a kid of the 80s/90s, I'm grateful to this guy, and I'm happy that he now lives in my country. I'm a proud owner of the french version of Replay.

Jordan is such a lovely person! Side observation is - he does not like he is living like a millionaire. He deserved all these respect and warm feelings for what he has done for all of us. I hope he was also rewarded financially. Of course, I may be talking b*llox here 🙂

What a living legend!

My hero when I was a "young adult"! The 2nd PoP game, _The Shadow And The Flame_ , is my favourite game of all time.

I always enjoy these interviews when they come Neil. Thank you! And thank you for sharing Jordan, your work is inspiring!

Wow, I always imagined authors of classic games I played as a kid much older. And Jordan is more like a older brother by age for me.

That was a great interview. I didnt know Jordan was now living in France: that explains why his French is so good. He is a legend. Merci à tous les deux.

This is an excellent interview and was a pleasure to watch.

Thank you for this. I dont think this can be topped. Such a great insight and story to behold. I wish I had aged so well to begin with! Such an interesting recap of those days. I think you are capturing a certain point of time and content, entertainment, and also for historical reasons. The history to me is so important for the current generations to come. This is vital and excellent.

What a fantastically interesting interview. All your prep and background reading really paid off! Hats off to you and Jordan!

@RMCRetro

4 ай бұрын

Thank you Dave

I've played the first Prince of Persia a lot as a kid on a DOS PC (I still do from time to time in DOSBox). It was nice to meet its creator. Great interview.

Great interview, I played Karateka on my Apple II (well, Laser 128 to be precise) in the late '80s and was so impressed by it. I added his book to my wishlist as it's a fascinating family story.

@RMCRetro

3 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Fantastic interview, thoroughly enjoyed listening to Jordan - clearly a true artist that’s forged his own paths and been creative in a such wide variety of media

I didn't really play Jordan Mechner games back in the day, but the interview enticed me into pre-ordering his graphic novel. So, mission accomplished.

Great interview, thanks. Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Technos's Karate Champ (both 1984) were the first one-on-one fighting games that came to mind as similar to Karateka, but they are not really. Graphically and functionally speaking they are all quite different.

So enjoyed listening to Jordan explain how it all happened. I bought prince of Persia snes version in around 92, wonderful music and of course simple but looked and played slick on nintendos powerful console. Thanks for sharing

Jordan's published journals covering Prince of Persia and Karateka are highly recommended. Looking forward to reading the new book.

Excellent interview.

I enjoyed a lot his previous books. I will buy the new one for sure!

Ohhhh what an excellent interview! A person who's done and achieved so much but sounds so grounded, feet on the ground. I love that he is sharing his story, as an artist. Have to keep an eye out for Replay, get Making of Karateka and finally play through The Last Express. So much homework now!!

I also got his book and will buy the new one. Jordan is a true genius and artist.

Thanks Neil, and Jordan. I got The Last Express when released. Nice game. I got to the end a couple of times and would fire it up many other times trying different conversations. Shame the PSX version was cancelled.

Great interview. Really enjoyed

What a legend!

Great interview! It is always fascinating to get a peek into the mind of an artistic soul like Jordan. Very humble, ethic-focused, and has a mind that is working on a European and American mixture code, bringing the best of both worlds to his work, IMO. Thanks for making this, to the both of you✌

@RMCRetro

2 ай бұрын

Thank you I'm glad you enjoyed it

Just ordered a copy of the book to have sent to my 13 year old nephew. Awesome.

Had no idea Jordan has Austrian heritage! Great interview

What a lovely man! I loved karateka on my 800xl and loved sands of time too!

Great interview and nice to see the Apple II covered as something other than a 'visicalc' machine. As someone who was lucky enough to get an Apple IIe in 1983 as a 16 year old I had pirated copies of his games (sorry Jordan!). Karateka in its presentation, style and approach really was a cut above the other titles around at the time. As Choplifter had pushed Jordan to a higher level his games did that to others resulting in quality generally increasing. I've ordered the French language Replay graphic novel and I look forward to reading it.

That was a nice tea break, interesting interview. I like the idea of talented people in multiple domains, and that a great programmer is also a film director and novel writer. Character accomplishment at its best.

Love these interviews, just such an interesting view into an era that we will struggle to replicate, I grew up about 10 years too late to fully embrace the early systems at an age I would gave been able to properly develop on them.

Nice one Neil, what a great interview and a fascinating story!

I'm really looking forward finishing my work to begin to watch it!!

Me: "Who the hell has onions hanging from their ceiling?" JM: "I live in France..." Me: "Ooooooh."

Very interesting, great guest

"Never mind 25 years" 1:24:51 It's actually 35 years!

Interesting interview, thanks for sharing! Sands of Time might be my favorite game of all time, Mechner's influence was sadly missed in the sequels.

Great vlog. Is there a way to buy ebooks of Mr. Jordan?

@RMCRetro

4 ай бұрын

Yes if you follow the links at jordanmechner.com some outlets offer ebooks, Amazon has a kindle option for example

@KODAKTIFVIDEOEGITIM

4 ай бұрын

@@RMCRetro Thank you! I just purchased Making of Prince of Persia :)

Jesus, does he also have the secret of age as well! He's 59 but looks like his in his late 30s, early 40s!

Heavy Metal magazine printed some amazing European stories and art back then too. They can't simply be called comics but graphic stories, or unmade movies/ story boards.

Jordan, tell us which game you’re working on! Pleeeeeease 😊

В русских игровых журналах начала 90х читал многочисленные статьи об этом человеке легенде

Loved Karateka on the C64. Today I just learned that I have been saying Karateka wrong for nearly 40 years. 🤣

@RivaldoDeniz

2 ай бұрын

Same, I pronounce it like the word karate with ka tacked on the end. And I'm going to stick with it!

@JenniferinIllinois

2 ай бұрын

@@RivaldoDeniz I'm with ya. I'm too old to change (well, remember - hehehe).

@timlocke3159

Ай бұрын

How it is pronounced in Japanese: kzread.info/dash/bejne/i5aCsLqed8u4iZM.html

@timlocke3159

Ай бұрын

I also played it on the C64 but I always found it felt sluggish.

Probably should've shown the clip of Apple Invaders in monochrome since it wasn't designed for colour and how the Apple II uses artefact colour.

@RMCRetro

4 ай бұрын

Good idea. I captured it from the Making of Karateka app available on Steam for ease!

Oh wow, "detritus". That's one of them ten dollar words there.

Some "TEA BREAK" LOL

@RMCRetro

4 ай бұрын

Several pots

@timlocke3159

Ай бұрын

I'd need more than one pee break.

He looks young! How old is he?

"caretaker"? I always pronounced it Karate-car!

@timlocke3159

Ай бұрын

How it is pronounced in Japanese: kzread.info/dash/bejne/i5aCsLqed8u4iZM.html

Not sure I'm sold on this presentation form with the guest at the centre, appears a little strange to me, would've liked more the classic setup with two of you aside in split screen

Prince megahit

Kara taker? I`ve always pronounced Kar rah teca

@RMCRetro

4 ай бұрын

Here’s a fun video about just that kzread.info/dash/bejne/dZ6jxc-hn6uboZc.htmlsi=hPgPsrqI_wxMHLC8

@timlocke3159

Ай бұрын

How it is pronounced in Japanese: kzread.info/dash/bejne/i5aCsLqed8u4iZM.html

🍎Ⅱ

Karateka always brings back the fondest memories of discovering and playing such a novel looking game with all the ingredients that were required to make it a really immersive story. Add to that excellent game control and such a stylish looking design... no comments really, i think we were all blown away when this game hit our screens for the first time ! Thanks so much to Jordan for putting this out there at such a crucial time in game development and culture. PS: what an amazingly cool father Jordan had to be so involved in the creation of the game. Really touching story. // And this line sums up much of what game design was about back in the day and how it drove the rest of the industry forward: kzread.info/dash/bejne/eIWKpJmtgJSweco.htmlsi=bwAFYUMwvjjSgZY9&t=3535 // Great interview Neil - loved this one as Apple II was my gaming machine in the 80s -

Wow, I always imagined authors of classic games I played as a kid much older. And Jordan is more like a older brother by age for me.