This is a puzzle geocache. You will need to solve the puzzle in order to find the digits needed for the location of the container and sign the log. If you do not sign the log, you cannot claim the smiley.
There is nothing geocaching-related at the listed coordinates.
The container IS within 3km of where the ? is on the map.
Ninja Works It (aka "Karateka Dance" or just "work it"), is a meme based solely around an animated .gif of a ninja dancing, most commonly to the song “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by the electronica group, Daft Punk.
The animated .gif is based on a video game, called “Karateka”. Karateka is a 1984 martial arts action game by Jordan Mechner, and was his first published game, created while attending Yale University. It was originally programmed for the Apple II, then widely ported to other platforms. Originally for the Apple II, it was later ported to six home computers including the Commodore 64 and DOS, as well as the Atari 7800, Nintendo Famicom (Japan-only on NES) and the Game Boy (Japan-Only). The game was famous for it’s smooth animation, straight forward plot and the few silly ways to die (like falling off a cliff and the very start of the game).
The princess, held captive
The player is introduced to the unnamed hero as he ascends a mountain into Akuma's fortress to rescue Princess Mariko. As the player directs the hero into the fortress, various foes appear and attempt to stop him. Once in a fighting stance, the player delivers blows, punches, and kicks at the enemy while dodging the enemy's attacks.
Screenshot from the Commodore 64 version of Karateka.
The player's health, shown by a bar on the bottom of the screen, diminishes with every hit he takes, though health is recovered slowly by not engaging in combat. Should the player lose all his health, the game is over, requiring the player to start again. The enemy's health bar is shown on the screen as well; once this is drained, the player has defeated him and can progress forward.
In addition to human enemies, Akuma occasionally sends his trained hawk to attack the player, which can be deflected with well-timed punches. There are some environmental hazards that the player can come upon, such as a falling portcullis or an open cliffside, which end the game immediately if not avoided. Throughout the game, cut scenes are shown, displaying such scenes as Akuma ordering his men to attack the player and Mariko nervously awaiting her fate.
Eventually, the player will reach and face Akuma in a final conflict. Once Akuma is defeated, the player is able to rescue Mariko, though the player must assure that he is out of a fighting stance, or else the princess will assume he is an enemy and kill him in one blow. Once Mariko is freed, she and the player leave the fortress together.
Original Box Artwork
The game was published in North America by Brøderbund, and in Europe by Ariolasoft. Along with Karate Champ (1984) and Yie-Ar Kung Fu (1985), Karateka established the basis of the modern fighting game.
The game was considered a best seller in its original release in 1984, with more than 500,000 copies sold. It was Broderbund's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987. Compute! called Karateka "a nominee for the Most Underrated Program of the Year. It's a program that must be seen to be fully appreciated". Although the reviewer criticized the player's necessity to restart from the beginning when defeated, It stated that the Apple II version "has by far the best animation I've seen in an Apple arcade game. The smoothness of the animation ... makes the game almost as enjoyable to watch as it is to play". According to Dragon, "this game has a great plot, animation that'll dazzle your eyes, and player-controlled martial arts action."
A unique "Easter Egg" is present on the Apple II floppy disk release where even though the claim was that the game was only on a single-sided disk, the reverse side of the disk included a full version of the game that would be rendered upside-down on the player's monitor. According to Mechner, this was done as a joke, causing naive users to call tech support and ask why the game was upside-down. Invariably, those users would receive the reply, "take the disk out, insert it right-side up, and reboot".
Game Screenshot from the modern version of Karateka
A modern remake, spearheaded by Mechner, was released in 2013 as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, iOS and Wii U for modern-day players to enjoy a game thats more than a quarter-century old.
As far as the animated GIF meme, the file’s origin is currently unknown, but there is a high quality version available online, if someone wants it.
This game is one of the favourites of mine from many years ago, back when my main source of tech-entertainment was my Commodore 64. I had a black 5.25" floppy disk with this game saved on it, with the word "Karateka" and LOAD"*",8,1 written in black sharpie on the label, so i would know how to load and start the game with my C=1571 disk drive. The strange thing with this game loading was that the green access light on the drive would not always light up when the game was being loaded. This was normal for this particular game, and i'm not sure why, but for those of us who were, and are, familiar with this system, this was not unusual for some games of the day.
This is one of those games that when i first started to play it, i wasn't sure what to expect. But i learned quickly and after the build of excitement once the first battle screens is shown, with the blue sky above our hero, I was hooked.
It began where our hero is walking and running along to meet with his first opponent. At the time, the action seemed so realistic that it was almost like you could hear the brown dirt crunch under your feet.
Through black of night and bright of day, i wanted to play this game to try to learn its' secrets in an attempt to finally get the chance to face Akuma and save the princess.
As you progress in the game, the brown of the dirt ground outside would lead to scenes of the warrior's compound interior, where my imagination would construct the details of what these mystical palaces would look like. My imagination built scenes made of emerald green and beauty...that in reality, were just not there. The images that were shown were of the sky and mountain, previously seen outside, now only seen through small windows near the top of the wall. The rest of the interior is a wooden floor, shown as horizontal lines to define the "wooden" look and some razor-sharp metal spired gates that could come down and kill you in an instant.
Atari 7800 version
These advanced levels were not ones for players who were "green" in this game, but usually that wasn't something that you'd be for long. No, these were advanced levels, and players learned quickly how to maneuver and defeat the ever-advancing enemies that would attack, including the doggone bird who would fly over you at a moments notice and attack from the sky.
The game... itself.... was, and is, addictive in its nature. It calls to you as you play.... beckoning you to play more and keep trying, no matter how many times it tries to defeat you.
If you were successful at defeating all of Akira's henchmen, you would finally meet-up with Akira himself. With his decorated warrior outfit and it's fine-detail (as fine as it could be for a game) that would set off his strangely yellow-colored hair. I dont know if that was on-purpose by the designers, or it just appeared that way on my computer-screen or CRT-television.
Finally, after much practice and time spent, you would arrived in the cell where the Princess Mariko was held, the adventure ending and the "the village basks in the sunlight of peace."
I'm not sure how many times i would eventually finish the game, once i completed it the first time. But that very first time i know i breathed a sigh of relief after conquering Akira and his defenses.
I do know that i probably even did a Karateka Dance in celebration of the momentus occasion.
I can also say....it didn't end there...
Decypher the puzzle... then you will find the final
container at the following location:
N 43° xx.xxx W 081° xx.xxx
