By Kurt Kalata

The text adventure was one of video gaming's earliest genres, starting with Collosal Caves, eventually moving onto the birth of Zork and Infocom, on to Sierra and Mystery House, and even further. While many computer users were enamored with the sense of freedom they provided, by nature, they can only target a fairly small audience. The average person, however interested they may be in the subject matter, is going to get hung up in one way or another, whether it be the frustration that came in struggling with a poor parser, or the lack of typing skills, much less dealing with the stark-to-nonexistant visuals they provided. Early computers in general were very intimidating, especially IBM's PC, relying on a dark unfriendly screen with the arcane DOS interface. Usability was a huge factor with the introduction of the Apple Macintosh in 1984, which not only implemented a unique visual operating system, but also popularized the means to navigate it - the mouse. Not only did this make boring tasks like word processing or spreadsheet creation much easier, but it also opened up a whole new avenue for gaming, especially when it came to evolving the text adventure. And thus were born the MacVentures. Developed by ICOM Simulations, who had previously developed other applications for the Macintosh, the MacVentures games were completely integrated into the operating system, and were navigating entirely using the mouse. Fundamentally, they're written and structured the exact same as a typical text adventure, but the new interface made playing them much breezier. When their first game, Deja Vu, was released in 1985, graphics were not new to adventure games, but these games let the player directly interact with the visuals, clicking to open doors or travel between locations, or pick up and drop items by dragging them with the icon. Although most actions were context sensitive, a series of commands at the top of the screen could be used for other commands, including hitting objects or consuming items. The graphics inhabit a small window in the middle of the screen, with another window for inventory, the text description window at the bottom, and an extra icon on the right side to allow the player to use items on their character. Although inventory space is limited, and can indeed get a bit cluttered, certain items can also be opened and used to store other items, opening up a new window for each. You can, for example, keep tracks of a plethora of coins simply by sticking them all in your wallet. Apart from the great innovations in developing a fully point and click based interface, the MacVentures are devastatingly well written, on par with even Infocom's better games. Although each of the four games have serious plotlines, the second person voice always has a vaguely snide sense of humor, whether they come from the dry observation of the various locales or the snarky tone it took whenever you get killed. The MacVentures grew a reputation for all of the elaborate, usually quite sudden ways in which your character could be disposed, often described in in a grisly, darkly humorous tone. Some elements have not aged particularly well - many death scenes are quite sudden and force a reloading of an earlier saved game, and all of them have some kind of built-in time limit, usually to counteract the fact that all they're pretty short. There are four games total in the MacVenture line: Deja Vu, Uninvited, Shadowgate, and Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas. Like many computer games at the time, they were ported to competing platforms with various degrees of succeess, although obviously under different labels, like AmigaVentures, PCVentures, and WinVentures. Most of their lasting popularity came with their ports to the Nintendo Entertainment System, which, despite some alterations made due to the limitations of the console, managed to maintain the spirit of its computer forebearers remarkably well. Shadowgate was the most popular of all of these, having been the first released, and has earned a place in the hall of classic NES titles. In response, ICOM continued the line with two more sequels for the Turbografx-16 and Nintendo 64, although neither bore much resemblance to the original game.

Game Title

Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True! - Macintosh / Commodore 64 / Amiga / Atari ST / IBM PC / Apple IIgs / NES / Windows / Gameboy Color (1986)

American NES Cover

PC Cover

Gameboy Cover

You are waking from a stupor that feels like a chronic hangover after a week in Vegas. There is a throbbing bump on the back of your head, big enough to make your hat size look like an Olmypic record. You notice your right palm is covered with dried blood, but you neither see nor feel any open wounds on your body. You see yourself reflected in the mirror. The face stares back at you as though it belonged to a stranger. You realize with horror that you can't remember who you are! ICOM's inaugural game pulls the oldest trick in the book - amnesia, of course - as a way of driving forward the story. Although terribly overdone in literature, as a narrative mechanic in 1985, they pulled it off remarkably well. Here, you wake up in a dilapidated bathroom stall, with a handful of your personal effects and one helluva headache. Upon exploring, you find yourself in a bar, one that happens to be deserted. Except for the bullet-riddled body on the second floor, anyway. And the BMW parked outside, with a bomb under its hood and a fat, unconscious woman in the trunk. Things certainly look fishy. Of course, you can't go to the police with any of this, because all of the evidence implicates you as the prime suspect. You only hope of redemption is finding the real criminals, gathering evidence, and clearing your name. The overall goal is to find all of the items that point to the real conspirators, while ditching all of the evidence that can possibly incriminate you. As you stumble around, you'll eventually trigger memories of your identity and your surroundings - this is Chicago in 1939, and you are Ace Harding, formerly a boxer, As such, exploring and piecing together facts plays a huge role in the game. There is very little actual puzzle solving, at least in the traditional sense. Most of your quest requires being carefully meticulous, reading all of the notes you can find, and uncovering keys to new locations Although a good chunk of your investigation takes place at Joe's Bar and the surrounding area, you'll also discover several addresses of other locations around the Chicago area, which can be accessed by taking a taxi cab. Money is important, mostly because you need it to pay the cab drivers, and the only source of cash is from the slot machine hidden in the basement of the bar. There are at least enough failsafes to keep you from getting stuck - there's always some loose change to find if you run out, and one of the taxis will even give you a free ride if you find yourself stranded. It's pretty strange that, given your current state as a wanted criminal, the police aren't actively chasing after you, although they will apprehend you if you happen to walk through their front door. The biggest threat are the drugs flowing your system, which will slowly kill you, unless you discover the antidote. This hard time limit is plenty annoying, but since the game isn't terribly long, it's not a huge deal to play it through again more efficiently. As you explore the street, you'll also be ambushed by bums, hookers, and a particularly persistent mugger. These folks can be dealt with by either slugging them in the face or giving them some cash. Of course, any good private eye carries a firearm, although it's more used to break down doors than kill people. If you try to shoot someone, they'll either beat you to the draw, or the police will immediately show up to put a damper on your day. In keeping with the pulp 40s detective vibe, everytime you hit someone, the words "SOCKO" fill the screen. In its brevity, there's no doubt that Deja Vu feels a tiny bit insubtantial, but the plot is well told for what it is, and the writing is surprisingly funny. "One could admire the quality of this chair for hours on end", the narrator replies dryly when checking out a random piece of furniture. "This table has four legs.", he astutely observes in another. Try examinging yourself and be told that "You surely need an examination the way you play this game." It's pretty clever how manages to balance the humor all of the murder going on all around you. The computers ports are very similar to each other. The original Macintosh version runs in a relatively high resolution 512x320 window and is completely integrated with the system interface, using the same dialogue dialogue boxes and fonts. However, the visuals are entirely in black and white. The Atari ST, Apple IIgs and Amiga versions have color graphics, which are different from the original Mac visuals, and while they technically look better, the rest of the interface isn't as crisp, since it runs at a lower resolution. However, in these versions, there are some sluggish load times between every action. The DOS version is by far the worst, taking the graphics of these versions but relentlessly downgrading them to eye-piercing four color CGA graphics. This version also does not allow you to resize or move the windows. The Commodore 64 version has unique graphics as well, and while they're plenty pixellated, they're still a bit better than the DOS version. However, this version lacks mouse support and is troublesome to navigate. The Windows version, published over ten years after its initial release in 1996, is fully integrated into the Windows interface, like the original Mac version. The visuals have been completely redrawn once again, with crisper and more colorful graphics than any other version. Despite the technical improvement, the art style is pretty gaudy, and most of the characters, Ace in particular, look remarkably ugly. There's no real music in any of the versions, as the game is played almost entirely in silence. Most have some digitized sound effects, at least, the quality of which also changes with each version. Naturaly, they sound horrible coming through the PC speaker. The NES conversion, however, differs substantially in many ways. The basic storyline, locations, text and puzzles are the same, but all have had slight tweaks. The 16-color graphic windows are completely unique, although similar in style to the Amiga version. All of the text is displayed as if it were typed by a typewriter. The interface has been altered to remove the drag and drop inventory system, instead adding "Take" and "Leave" verbs, and getting rid of the "Consume" action. (You instead just "Use" items on yourself.) Your inventory now shows up as text on the right side of the screen rather than visual icons. The "Leave" action is almost entirely useless since you can only drop items in a specific place instead of leaving them randomly strewn around, but since you have unlimited inventory space in this version, this is never an issue. While you can still save your game at any time, get killed will simply rewind time and send you back to the prior screen, so there's no need to constantly save your game. It's much friendlier than the PC versions, which constantly forced you to save and reload. On the downside, navigation is something of a pain. Moving the cursor with the controller is sluggish compared to the mouse. Furthermore, the computer versions let you open doors, look at items, or move simply by double clicking on the screen. The NES interface is not context sensitive at all, so you need to move to the verb window for every single action, making the whole game feel much slower. The computer versions had several instances where you needed to discover and remember addresses to give to taxi drivers, which needed to be typed in. Since the NES does not have a keyboard, these have been simplified into an "Address" page in your inventory, which are automatically recorded when you learn them. While much of the text maintains the same flavor as the PC version, much of the writing had to be simplified and edited to save ROM space. It also falls victim to Nintendo's censorship policies. Instead of a shotglass of gin and a pack of cigarettes, you'll find a glass of seltzer and a pack of chewing gum. Instead of a syringe to administer drugs, you need to use medicine capsules. Of course, this causes an inconsistency with the intro text, which still says that you have puncture marks from a needle. Oops. Some scenes have been taken out too. When you beat up the hooker (who, to be fair, was going to shoot you if you don't act first), if you try to hit her again when she's down, you get a flashback of your priest warning you not to do terrible things. In the NES version, it just displays a general "you can't do that" message. The NES version also never explicitly refers to her as a hooker - she's just some random lady. When you die in the computer versions, it's a either shot a morgue, with a close-up on your toe tag, or pictures of creepy ghosts. This was perhaps a bit too morbid, so it was changed to a tombstone with an "RIP Ace Harding" message on it. Which doesn't QUITE make sense at certain, since you can technically get killed before you ever learn your name. The death text is also unique - "From the beginning the odds were against you. It was only a matter of time until you reached the end. You're history!!" Certain actions are required to proceed in order to force the plot - you can't even leave the bathroom in the beginning until you've looked in the mirror first. All of the computer versions also greeted you based on its internal clock (i.e. "Good afternoon, welcome to a nightmare come true"), which was removed from the NES version of Deja Vu, as well as all the others. Deja Vu was also re-released several years down in the line for the Gameboy Color, where it was bundled with its sequel. It's similar to the Gameboy port of Shadowgate, although the interface has been slightly altered to use icons for the commands rather than text, saving valuable screen real estate. While the Gameboy version of Shadowgate used the NES graphics as a basis, the visuals here appear to be completely new, and actually look quite a bit better. However, it is not backwards compatible with the original Gameboy. The music is mostly the same as the NES version, although the drums aren't quite as crisp, and the text is almost entirely identical. The inconsistency about the puncture wounds in the opening has been fixed, and the bar is now referred to as "Joe's Place" rather than "Joe's Bar".

Deja Vu (NES) Deja Vu (NES) Deja Vu (NES) Deja Vu (NES) Deja Vu (NES) Deja Vu (NES) Deja Vu (GBC) Deja Vu (GBC) Deja Vu (GBC)

Comparison Screenshots

Macintosh	Commodore 64	Amiga
IBM PC	NES	Atari ST
Windows	Gameboy Color

Computer Version Screenshots

Macintosh	Macintosh	Macintosh
Macintosh	Macintosh	Macintosh
Windows	Windows	Windows
Windows	Windows	Windows

Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas - Macintosh / Amiga / Atari ST / IBM PC / Apple IIgs / Windows / Gameboy Color (1989)

PC Cover

Deja Vu II (Mac)

Deja Vu II (Mac)

You wake up for a stupor that feels like a chronic hangover after a wild week in Vegas. There is a throbbing bump on the back of your head...As you coem out of the fog, you breathe a sign of relief as you realize that you still know your own moniker, Ace harding. With that, the events of the previous 48 hours start to float back... Ace Harding cleared his name at the end of the first Deja Vu, but as this sequel explains, he's hardly out of trouble. Turns out Siegel, the dead guy in the bar in the first game, had been running some cash for the mob, and a sizable sum has gone missing. The mafia, figuring that Ace was the last person in contact with Siegal, figures he must've done something with it. Being that the mafia aren't exactly the understanding type, they send some a very specific message to Ace - find our money, or you'll be wearing cement shoes. Ace starts the adventure in Las Vegas, where he must get together some cash to take a train back to Chicago. There he revists Joe's Bar to hunt for clues before returning to Las Vegas to deal with the mafia. Unlike the first game, the cops are of no hope for saving you ass. Instead, Ace needs to frame another mobster by planting all of the evidence on him, causing the two factions to kill each other and leave Ace in the free and clear. That might seem rough, but Ace needs to do what he needs to do to survive. If you take too long, the mob will make good to disposing of you, making this yet another ICOM game with a set time limit. It's a short game though, roughly around the same size as its predecessor. The events lead to a pretty clever twist on the events of the first game, but still, Deja Vu 2 just doesn't feel quite as compelling. Ace has full recollection of his faculties this time around, which means that unfolding the mystery of the stolen money just doesn't draw you in on a personal level without the amnesia gimmick. Still, it is pretty cool to muck around Joe's Bar again, and it heralds the return of the hooker from the first game, giving her a real name this time - Sugar Shack. There's still a bit of gambling to be done in Las Vegas, although you do something to tilt the odds in your favor. Once you get to Chicago, you're still ferried around by a taxi, although it's completely free this time. You get to visit Ace's own apartment this time too. Like the first game, most of the puzzles are barely puzzles, so long as you explore, pick up, and open everything you find, and most obstacles can be passed by using your trusty pen knife. There really aren't too many ways to get yourself killed besides running out of time, or doing something stupid like getting lost in the desert (which you only ever need to venture to if you run out of money) but you can get accosted or even arrested by taking off your pants in public. At the alleyway of Joe's Bar you'll also randomly run into a crazy lady who spouts all sorts of crazy nonsense ("SAVE THE FURNITURE!"), including some references to famous movies like Soylent Green and Dr. Strangelove. The game takes place in 1939, substantially before any of these were released, but it's all in good silliness. Plus, the text descriptions are still as funny as before. Trying eating random objects and be met with lines like "The chair would probably give you gas pains." Like all of the other MacVenture games, Deja Vu 2 was released on the usual home computer platforms. Deja Vu 1 and 2 were bundled together for the Windows re-release. An NES version was planned, and copies were previewed in magazines around 1992 or so. However, it was never released, perhaps due to the waning popularity of the NES. Prototypes are said to exist, but none are currently available on the internet. However, Deja Vu II did up on the Gameboy Color, on the same cartridge as the first game. This version is most likely based, to some degree, on the unreleased NES version. It's hard to tell exactly - the graphics in the Gameboy Color game don't match up to the prerelease NES shots - but then again, the first game's visuals were almost entirely redone for the GBC release too. The revamped blackjack minigame seems to match the screenshots of the NES game though - in the computer version, they were very simplistic and never showed up a close-up view of the cards. The interface works the same way as the other GBC ICOM releases, and includes an "ADDRESS" section, much like the first game, to give to the taxi driver. This was probably unnecessary, but it does make things consistent with the NES version of the first game. In the computer versions, the taxi driver was supposed to be deaf, so you didn't need to type in the destinations anyway. Instead, you would just show the item that had the address, and he'd take you there. (The train schedule to go to the train station, for example, or your driver's license to get to your apartment.) In the GBC version, you could just look at the item, and the address would be automatically remembered. Other than these small changes, the GBC game is very faithful to the computer releases. The cigarettes are changed to gum, and "Joe's Bar" is once again "Joe's Place", but otherwise remains mostly uncensored. It shares much of its soundtrack with the first game, although the new music, mostly played in the Las Vegas areas, is mostly forgettable.

Deja Vu (Macintosh) Deja Vu II (Windows) Deja Vu II (Windows) Deja Vu II (Windows)

Comparison Screenshots

Macintosh	IBM PC	Amiga
Windows	Gameboy Color

NES Screenshots - from Unseen 64 and NES World

Uninvited / Akuma no Shoutaijou - Macintosh / Commodore 64 / Amiga / Atari ST / IBM PC / Apple IIgs / NES / Windows (1986)

American NES Cover

Japanese FC Cover

PC Cover

LOOK OUT! The last thing that you remember before the darkness rushed up to claim is your brother's startled cry. You managed to swerve around the shadowy figure that appeared in the roadway, but lost control as the car jumped the shoulder and plunged headling into this tree. And so begins Uninvited, as you wake up in the drivers seat, in front of a spooky mansion. The car explodes, and, assuming you make it out in time, leaves you quite stranded. Your sibling, however, has completely disappeared, presumably having wandered inside of the house. With nowhere else to go, you open to front door and step inside, only to have the door suddenly slam shut behind you. The only option is to find your sibling and get out alive. The only way to leave is by delving into the underground caves beneath the mansion and destroying the sealed body of the wizard Dracan, who, despite being kept in a near-permanent sleep, can apparently still cause quite abit of trouble. The mansion in Uninvited consists of about a dozen rooms, along with a backyard, which holds a chapel, a greenhouse and a magistratum. Like the other MacVentures, it's not a terribly long game, nor is it particularly difficult. It's the only ICOM game to have a maze sequence, but it's pretty easy, as far as mazes go. As can be expected, the house is quite haunted, filled with spectres and other various monsters, all remnants of some kind of horrible circusmtances from years prior. Most of the plot is related through the letters strewn about the mansion, as well as told by the ghosts themselves, who will occasionally show up to taunt you, and if you screw things up, enlist you to dwell amongst their ranks. So, when that ghost appears from behind the jail cell? Don't open it and follow him in unless you want to get trapped forever. Despite all of the insta-kill situations found herein (and other ICOM games) there's a single location where you can attempt to enter a pit, but the game will warn you several times of a giant spider. If you keep insisting, you'll eventually climb down and...well, what do you know. It's a giant spider. The most infamous ghoul is the lady dressed like Scarlett O'Hara, encountered in the opening moments of the game. She seems innocuous enough when viewed from behind, until she turns around and reveals a face totally devoid of flesh, who then summarily begins ripping you apart with her bare hands. It's here where the text-based nature of the game is really effective, sending unnerving images down your spine without actually showing any of it to you. That being said, while you won't see yourself being mutilated, you will see close-ups of whatever horrible being is doing the killing. The later creatures are quite creepy too - you'll run into zombies, several kinds of ghosts, and a particularly strange creature which appears to be a giant grinning tomato. On a less dangerous note, you'll also find a grinning, dancing red goblin occasionally run around, a being so silly looking that your player character begins to question their sanity. There's a sense of general spookiness from exploring the mansion. It seems plain enough, filled with fairly mundane rooms, albeit with an old fashioned decor. Yet there's always the sense that there's something worse lying beneath it all, and indeed, there is. And it's quite a lonely experience too. Although there is a "Speak" action, it's really only to chant magic spells, as there's no one to actually converse with. It's an isolating experience, and it's these moments which earn Uninvited its ranks next to Infocom's The Lurking Horror as one of adventure gamings earliest horror games, paving the way for Alone in the Dark and Silent Hill years later. The quality of the home computer ports is the same as Deja Vu, since they all use the same interface on their respective platforms. The Mac, Atari ST, Amiga and Windows versions use sound effects here and there, including an amusing "I've Got You!!" voice sample whenever you're killed. The NES version was Uninvited was the third to be released, after Shadowgate and Deja Vu. Again, it uses the same interface, and has a very similar style to the others. This time the text is spelled out by a crawling spider. In the computer versions you would occasionally find magic words to call upon spells, which, like the address book in Deja Vu. You needed to combine several words together to make a full sentence, and thus a full change. This has been completely simplified into a "Spell" page in your inventory, which is automatically populated when you read a scroll. Most of the magic words have been given new, rather silly names, and some of the puzzles are slightly altered to accomodate this. For instance, in the computer versions, you only need to "Speak" to the doll to converse with it. In the NES version, you need to read a scroll to learn the "DOLLDOLL" spell. There's also an additional spell which can be used to teleport outside the maze, saving the rather annoying backtracking. The conputer versions of Uninvited had a hard time limit, so you needed to beat the game in a certain number of moves or else you'd become possessed by the evilness of the house. In the NES version, this only happens if you grabbed the Ruby, which must be discarded after a certain number of turns and serves no functional purpose besides than killing you. If you do manage to grab it, it will also never specifically tells you what's killed you, which is quite frustrating if you're not in the know. In the computer versions, you'll occasionally see the crazy red monster regardless of what you're room you're in, where he only appears in the parlor in the NES version. The NES version is the only version to have a full soundtrack too. It's pretty good, although not as catchy as the music in Shadowgate or Deja Vu. For a neat easter egg, play the victrola in the parlor and you'll hear the first few notes of the Shadowgate theme. The sibling you need to rescue was changed from an older brother to a younger sister. A cross was changed into a goblet, due to Nintendo's censorship policies. The mail is addressed to one "Master Crowley, 666 Blackwell Road, Loch Ness, Scotland". The address and location was removed, although it still keeps the reference to Master Crowley, keeping the reference of occultist Aleister Crowley (and Ozzie Osbourne's associated song.) In the tower, you'll also find a ghost, who holds his decapitatated head in his arms. The head was reattached for the NES version. The pentagram on the floor in the living room was also altered to a star. You also cannot enter the mansion until you open the mailbox and get the pendant, which is required to beat the game. You aren't required to do this in the computer versions, and thus enter into an unwinnable situation mere seconds into the game.

Uninvited (NES) Uninvited (NES) Uninvited (NES) Uninvited (NES) Uninvited (NES) Uninvited (Amiga)

Comparison Screenshots

Macintosh	Commodore 64	Amiga
IBM PC	NES	Windows

Computer Version Screenshots

Macintosh	Macintosh	Macintosh
Macintosh	Macintosh	Macintosh
Windows	Windows	Windows
Windows	Windows	Windows

Death Scenes

Shadowgate / Shadowgate Classic / Shadowgate Returns - Macintosh / Commodore 64 / Amiga / Atari ST / IBM PC / Apple IIgs / NES / Windows (1987)

American NES Cover

Japanese FC Cover

PC Cover

The last thing you remember is standing before the wizard Lakmir as he gestured wildly and chated in an archaic tongue. How you find yourself staring in an entryway which lies at the edge of a forest. The Druid's words still ring in your ears: "Within the walls of the Castle Shadowgate lies your quest. If the prophecies hold true, the dreaded Warlock Lord will use his dark magic to raise the Behemoth, the deadliest of the Titans, from the depths of the earth. You are the seed of prophecy, the last of the line of kings, and only you can stop the Warlock Lord from darkening our world FOREVER. Fare thee well." That's about all of the story you get in Shadowgate, but that's all you need - explore castle, find an ultimate weapon, kill bad guy, and save world. Structurally, Shadowgate is most similar to Uninvited, except it takes place in a medival setting, replacing the haunted mansion with a haunted castle. Despite the similarities, Shadowgate more closely emulates the feeling of crawling further into the dungeon, as the structure is more linear, whereas Uninvited gave you almost free run of the house from the outset. However, there is one spot in Shadowgate where you need to backtrack in order to enter a previously unaccessible area. There are dozens of obstacles and monsters to overcome, and just as many ways to die. Deja Vu and Uninvited had plenty of these, but Shadowgate outdoes both of them. Right at the beginning, you will find a book. If you go by your adventure gaming instinct and try to take it, a trap door will open up and send you plumetting to your death. Oops. Instead, you're supposed open it and find a key inside. There are tons of tricks, and just strange bits of weirdness littered throughout. There is a cave with a lake, and a skeleton in the middle, holding a key. There is also a shark there. Why a shark? That doesn't even make sense, them being saltwater dwellers and all. Later on you'll find a corridor lined with coffins. Open the wrong one and green ooze will spill over the floor, melting you if you step forward. (Thankfully there's a way around it.) In one room, you come across three mirrors, one of which hides the door to the next room. Hit the wrong one and you'll be sucked into a portal in outer space (??) and suffocate to death. And those aren't even counting the methods to kill yourself. Try using the torch on yourself, using the axe on yourself, or stumbling out any window. The game'll let you do most of these, with fairly morbid consequences. The Grim Reaper and his greetings upon your death - "It's a sad thing that your adventures have ended here!!" - have obtained near legendary status amongst NES fans, who grew frustrated as much as they laughed as the goofiness of it all. And despite the appearance of fantasy cliches like ghosts, goblins, dragons and cyclopses, there's enough random weirdness that the Castle Shadowgate presents itself as an eclectic funhouse of horrors, filled with bizarre occurrences at nearly every turn. It's the strength of the setting that makes Shadowgate as strong of a game as it is. At one spot, you can try to climb up a ledge to an opening, only to have the ledge crumble. There is no way to reach that door, ever. There are at least a few other locations where exits appear on the map, but there's no way to actually access them. And when you do discover the first dragon, it only appears as a set of blinking eyes at the end of dark hallway, letting out bursts of flame that will roast you, if you're improperly protected. There are many items to be found, and not all of them are relevant to beating the quest. There's a sense of mystery surrounding all of this, the kind that used to provoke awed whispers around the schoolyard. How do you reach that dragon? What does it look like? How do you kill it? How do you actually climb up that broken ledge? The actual answer is, none of it is relevent to your quest, but it makes the castle feel that much more real. Although these aspects make Shadowgate the best of the MacVentures, it still has one particularly annoying issue - torch management. You start the game with a single lit torch, and more are found as you progress. After a certain number of turns, your torch will begin to flicker, and you quickly need to light another one before it goes out completely. If you're too late, or you're out of torches, you'll be lost in the dark and almost immediately killed. (You're not eaten by a grue, though that would've been a fun homage - you just end up stumbling around and breaking your neck, according to the text.) Beyond this, and the extraordinarily numerous insta-deaths, Shadowgate isn't terribly difficult. Most of it involves finding and usign weapons, or figuring out what to do with stones or talismans, and others are quite logical. For instance, there's an item suspended inside of an acid fountain. To reach in, simply put on the Gauntlet and take the item. To get the boatsman to looks suspicously like Charon to take you across the river, simply give him a coin. Wanna know how to beat the Hellhound? Throw holy water at it. There's even one part of the game where you must solve a Sphinx's riddle by bringing him certain items. Some solutions are a bit arbitrary - why do you need to use the spear to kill the troll, when the sword should have worked just as well? - but they rarely get too hard. The general weirdness of the castle, along with the overwhelmingly silly ways to meet the reaper, have elevated Shadowgate to the level of a classic, Like the previous MacVenture games, Shadowgate was also ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC, and Windows, although there was no Commodore 64 version. The conversions are the same as the others - the Mac version is entirely black and white, the Amiga and Atari ST have full color, the DOS version has awful CGA, and the Windows version is the most modern. Certain versions also let you print out a certificate to prove that you mastered the game. What a cool touch. Shadowgate is most widely known due to the NES port, which was the first of the MacVentures to show up on the console. As a huge departure from the usual library of action games known to the audience, the game was an immediate hit. Again, it features 16-color graphics and uses the same interface as Deja Vu and Uninvited. The text is displayed as it written by a feather quill, a quant little touch. The writing is a bit simplified again, although still relatively violent, and it's amazing what they were able to sneak past the censors. It even uses the word "hell" a few times - they got away with murder compared to the cuts Maniac Mansion went through a couple years later. The whole game has an excellent soundtrack, which changes based on your location, and most of it is remarkably catchy - the main theme is undoubtedly one of the most recognizable themes in the NES library. The music even changes when your torch is about to run out, which induces a sense of panic and also helps keep you alive. It's way too easy to the overlook the cautionary messages in the computer versions. Like Uninvited, Shadowgate utilizes a "Spell" book to keep track of magic words, which are entered via a text parser in the computer versions. It will also start you back at the prior screen when you die. This is important, because it will also re-light your torch automatically, allowing you to explore for several more turns in hopes that you can find a new one. Although it may result in times where you're constantly stumbling around and dying, at least you can't get permanently stuck like the PC versions. While most of the puzzles and locations are the same, there are some minor differences. One stems from the lack of a visual inventory - in the PC version, the "special" torch you need to defeat the wraith is a different color, glows a green color, and can be lit at anytime. In the NES version, it is simply definied as a "Torch", which for some reason, is separated out from all of the normal Torches, which are all lumped together in the same slot with a number indicating how many you have. It cannot be lit until you meet the Wraith, so you don't need to worry about having it burn out. The NES version also introduces one of the funniest death scenes. In the room with the three mirrors, if you use the hammer on the mirror on the left, it will shatter and the glass shards will kill you. (Why this happens on this mirror and not the others, who knows.) In the PC version, it will crack and leave you unharmed, but destroy the hammer in the process, sticking you in an unwinnable situation. There was also a location removed from the NES version - an armory, found about halfway through the game, after the Cyclops and across the hallway from the library. This room is filled with goblins and serves no real purpose other than getting you killed, if you dawdle around. It was most likely cut for catridge space. When you first enter the castle, the eyes of the Warlork Lord would appear and taunt for a bit. This only happens once in the NES version, but happens several times during the course of the adventure in the computer versions. In 1999, Shadowgate was publised to the Gameboy Color, under the name Shadowgate Classic in North America and Europe, and Shadowgate Returns in Japan. It offers support for both the standard Gameboy and the Gameboy Color, and both versions have slightly different graphics It's based on the NES version, using the same text, music and puzzles, although the visuals in the Gameboy Color mode are more detailed and colorful. The text window will block the graphic window due to the small size of the screen, and you need to scroll down to select commands or access your inventory. A version was also released for mobile phones in 2005 by Vatical Entertainment. Although it uses the title of Shadowgate Classic, it uses entirely new graphics once again. The script is adapted too, more detailed than the NES and Gameboy versions but still missing some stuff from the PC releases.

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Comparison Screenshots

Macintosh	IBM PC	Amiga
NES	Gameboy Color	Gameboy
Windows	Mobile

Computer Version Screenshots

Macintosh	Macintosh	Amiga
Windows	Windows	Windows
Windows	Windows	Windows
Windows	Windows	Windows

Death Scenes

Beyond Shadowgate - Turbografx-16 CD (1993)

American TG-16 Cover

Beyond Shadowgate

Beyond Shadowgate

Despite originating on computers, Shadowgate found most of its success from its NES incarnation, so it made sense that it would stay in the console gamespace for its sequel. What didn't quite make sense is how ICOM ended up developing the game for the Turbografx-16 CD-ROM, a system with not only low market penetration, but very few non-Japanese developed titles. (ICOM developed a few other games for the system, mostly notably the side-scroller Shape Shifter and the embarassingly 90s skater action game Yo, Bro.) The intro recounts the ending of the first Shadowgate, wherein the Warlock King is defeated and cast into the depths. It then fast forwards to his descendents, the King Adam and his son Prince Erik. The Prince leaves for a journey, and expects a warm welcome home...only to discover that his father has been murdered, and he is the prime suspect. Erik must escape from his prison, explore the land, and make his way back to Castle Shadowgate, to confront the King's true killer, and save the land from darkness. Since Beyond Shadowgate was developed specifically for the console audience, the first person perspective has been ditched in favorite of a more traditional third person perspective. You control Prince Erik directly with the controller, and hit the Select button to bring up icons to examine, use, or talk to various people. While stilll an adventure game at heart, it also introduces some action elements, once again probably to suit the audience. This means that most enemies are killed by attacking them directly rather than using any items. Prince Erik moves very slowly, and can only punch and duck. It's remarkably clumsy, although most enemies can be beaten by simple exploits - i.e. approaching them from a different direction - putting on the autofire, and smacking them until they die. There is no health bar on screen, but you can only take a few hits before keeling over dead. Thankfully, your health is replenished whenever you leave the screen, and you can save at any point. After escaping from the dungeon and working your way out of the caverns beneath it, you're free to roam the land, doing good by saving fairy princesses or freeing a burning town from an onslaught of invading demons. Once you reach this point, the structure is relatively non-\linear, as you can explore the lands to find gems or find other deeds which can earn you cash to buy essential items. Some of these quests or items aren't essential to beat the game, but there are three different minor variations on the ending, depending on which items you've obtained. Although the expansive land and freeform exploration lend a welcome sense of adventure, the world is perhaps a little bit too bad and empty...or maybe it's just that Erik walks so damned slow. There's a lot of backtracking to be done, and it's annoying to have him slog so slowly through scene after scene of empty to forest. It is also technically possible to screw yourself over by missing certain items, or killing an essential NPC. At least it's an excellent looking game. The animation is extremely fluid, and the 256-color scanned backgrounds, while dithered, rival the Sierra games of the time, which were only available on computers. It's one of the few titles that makes use of the Turbografx-16's expanded resolution, running in 336x224 rather than 256x224. The CD format is put to use with redbook music, which lacks the dramatic flair of the NES game but is appropriately moody. All of the dialogue is voiced as well, and while it's not particularly noteworthy, it's also not completely embarassing. The intro and ending are all done with painted stills in a standard Western fantasy style, which is a welcome change from the usual anime cinemas found on the system. While it has its ups and downs, the biggest fault remains - it just doesn't feel much like a successor to Shadowgate. Part of its essense revolved around its inspiration from text games, and without the descriptions or sense of humor, it feels fairly generic. What little writing there is comes off as static and dull, although there are random scattered bits of humor. The invading demons attack with weapons that look like bagpipes, for some reason or another. And in addition to defeating the final boss with either an enchanted sword or the Staff of Ages - the same item used in the first game - you can also use a simple old paddle ball. There was never much of a backstory to Shadowgate to begin with, and what this game does supply is largely uninventive. Sure, there are a few references, to show that the developers were aware of its source material. In the original Shadowgate, one of the rooms made mention of the bricks being carved by stone in the dwarven mines, which you get to visit. You also meet the wizard Lakmir, the one that's mentioned in the intro text as giving you your mission. There's also a twist on an old scenario - early on, you find a woman chained to a wall in the dungeon. In the original game, this would turn into a demon and kill you if you set it free. In Beyond Shadowgate, it will also turn into a demon...except it will run away and save your ass later on down the line. If there's anyt major aspect that's actually carried over, it's the obsession with death scenes. In addition to getting killed in combat, there are numerous other insta-death scenarios, including getting devoured by a man-eating plant, skewered by a wyvern, chomped by a poisonous mushrooms, demolished by falling boulders, Many of these are quite gruesome - when a rock falls on your head, you can visibly see your eyeballs flying out - but without the descriptive text, they lose a bit of flavor. So, as a successor to Shadowgate, its sequel comes up a bit short. It's too meandering, and its action elements are mostly unwelcome. Still, visually and aurally, it stands well next to PC titles of the time, and is certainly a much better technical achievement than the adventure game ports on the Sega CD, which were plagued with crappy visuals and long load times. It's an incredibly rare title, although it's an interesting curiosity for fans of the old MacVentures.

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Cutscene Screenshots

Shadowgate 64: Shadows of the Four Towers - Nintendo 64 (1999)

American N64 Cover

Shadowgate 64

Shadowgate 64

Released for the Nintendo 64 by Infinite Ventures, the successor to ICOM Simulations, the third and final Shadowgate is in some ways a return to form after the widely ignored Beyond Shadowgate. In brings back the first person perspective, this time rendered fully in 3D, and refocuses on exploring a castle instead of wandering through countrysides. However, that's about where the similarities end, as it completely ditches the point-and-click mechanics in favor of real time movement. Despite initial appearances, it is mostly definitely not a first person shooter. There's no fighting, and barely anything in the way of action. In that manner, it keeps with the adventure feel of Shadowgate. The story picks up ages after the original games, as the Castle Shadowgate has been largely abandoned by all of the monsters, leaving only a series of unseemly thieves. The hero, Del Cottenwood, is a halfling who's unfortunately been captured and tossed in their dungeon. During his escape, he stumbles upon a terrible secret. Belzar, whom you may remember as the guy who framed Prince Erik back in Beyond Shadowgate - is working to resurrect the evil Talimar, also known as the Warlock King from the first game. Only by channeling the spirit of the original hero, here named Lord Jair, can our hero prevent darkness from once again ruling the land. There are four towers to conquer - hence the subtitle - as well as a village full of thieves. Like Before Shadowgate, the ties to the original game are minimal, outside of some of the names. The ghost of Lakmir the wizard pops up several times to advise you, and you'll once again use the Staff of Ages to defeat the Warlock King, but that's about the extent of the connections. Indeed, the years have not been kind to Castle Shadowgate. Where it used to hold a mysterious labrynth filled with monsters and traps and all manner of bizarre happenings, its new incarnation is distressing dull. Its room and corridors have devolved into a generic medieval castle, filled with caves, dungeons, libraries, and dozens of dreary, empty rooms. The color palette is almost remarkably drab, and it's hard to even look at the game without getting vaguely depressed. The general mood of the adventure feels almost like a survival horror game like Silent Hill or Fatal Frame, except there's never anything to actually be scared of. There are no real monsters, and the only real danger comes from falling off cliffs or running into the occasional trap. (Some of the death messages are amusing, channeling the spirit of the original games, but they're actually quite scarce. It also completely lacks the silliness of Beyond Shadowgate.) The lack of an interface outside your inventory and map screens does a good job of involving you in the environment, but when said enviroment is as boring as this one, it's hardly a good thing. Most of your exploration is spent with your head slightly cocked downward, so you don't miss a valuable item. Most of the stuff you find include books and scrolls, which relate the background story. This isn't just flavor text though, as they provide clues or solutions to many puzzles, and in a couple of cases, you're outright quizzed on your readings. The solutions themselves are rarely difficult, it's more of a matter of getting stuck because you overlooked an item stuck in some dull, dreary corner, and are left trudging around slowly to find it. Expect a few other fairly typical puzzles involving a bit of trial and error, including a musical puzzle and a maze filled with teleportation points. There is little worthwhile in Shadowgate 64. The pacing is incredibly slow, the castle is far too large and empty, the writing, while occasionally a bit clever, is far too sparse to be interesting. The whole experience is obviously trying to be atmospheric, but it really just comes off as soulless instead.

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Novelization - Before Shadowgate

The Worlds of Power books were junior novelizations of popular Nintendo games, including Mega Man 2, Castlevania II, Ninja Gaiden, and a number of others. Unlike most of them, which tried their best to translate an 8-bit video game into an actual book, Before Shadowgate, as the title implies, actually acts a prequel to the NES game. This may not have been the best idea. The original game had very little back story, which in turn makes this story feel extremely disconnected. It focuses on a yougn boy named Jairen, as he teams up with a "fenling" named Fezlyn Quickfoot and a brutal fighter named Hawk to travel across the land to Castle Shadowgate, encountering trolls and other baddies along the way. It really just feels like any old young adult fantasy novel which happens to feature some of the names in the game, like the good wizard Lakmir and the evil Warlock King. It's all rather childish, which makes sense given the audience, but without the kitsch that made all of the other titles amusing, this one just comes across as really dull. What is somewhat interesting is that Before Shadowgate, along with the novelization of Blaster Master, are the only two Worlds of Power books whose storylines were eventually canonized to some extent. The hero's name, Jairen, later slightly changed to Lord Jair for Shadowgate 64. The name of the land where the games take place, Kal Torlin, was first introduced here, and later also reused in Shadowgate 64. Infinite Ventures even put the whole story up on their website, which has been preserved here. While the Worlds of Power books all featured the same covers as the games they were based off of, they had the nasty tendency of airbrushing out anything remotely offensive, like getting rid of the guns in the artwork of Mega Man 2, Bionic Commando and Metal Gear. With Before Shadowgate, they fixed the gargoyle's tail to look more rounded, and got rid of the horns, perhaps to make the image look less like a devil.

Book Cover

Cancelled Games - Shadowgate Rising - Nintendo 64

N64 Cover Mockup

Comic Cover

Beyond Shadowgate

Infinite Ventures clearly had great plans for the Shadowgate license. After publishing Shadowgate 64 and Shadowgate Classic, they began work on two other games: Shadowgate Rising Lands of Shadowgate. Shadowgate Rising was to be a sequel to Shadowgate 64, starring a red-haired heroine named Raven. From the web page: Infinite Ventures is proud to present stories from the world of Shadowgate. Our first offering follows the adventures of Raven - a young woman with remarkable powers in a world that has forgotten the ancient magics of yesterday. Set in the far future, the story of Raven begins in a time when the Dreamers have risen to prominence. These Dreamers oppose anything having to do with magic and will stop at nothing to eradicate the last vestige of the druids and the legacy of Castle Shadowgate. Their official website went so far as to produce a twenty page comic based on Raven, which can be found here, but other than a handful of screenshots, little is known about the actual game. By the looks of it, it was most likely going to play just like Shadowgate 64, which is strange given the generally negative to reaction to that game. Shadowgate Rising was said to be cancelled due to the impending release of the Gamecube. Infinite Ventures had plans to release the game on the PC, but that also fell through.

Shadowgate Rising Shadowgate Rising

Cancelled Games - Lands of Shadowgate - Mobile

During this same time period, Infinite Ventures was actively promoting the ports of its games to mobile platforms, including PCs and phones. One of their titles was a completely new game called Lands of Shadowgate, which appeared to be some kind of strategy game. From the web page: The Lands of Shadowgate are in turmoil. Kingdom rises against kingdom. Princes fight with pretenders to the throne. Alliances are forged and quickly broken as leaders of men vie for dominance over one another. Lands of Shadowgate is a turn-based strategy game that utilizes Infinite Venture's unique proprietary Play-by-Sync technology allowing PDA and Smartphone owners, including Pocket PC and PalmOS 5, to compete against each other. Visit the Lands of Shadowgate website for information.

Lands of Shadowgate

Comic Wallpapers

Shadowgate Classic	Shadowgate 64	Shadowgate Rising

Links

Shadowgate