Shadowgate

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Shadowgate

Developer(s)	ICOM Simulations, Inc.
Publisher(s)	MindScape (Computer) Kemco (NES)
Engine	MacVenture
Release date(s)	1987 (Mac & Amiga) 1988 (PC) 1989 (NES) 1999 (GBC) 2002 (PocketPC)
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	Apple IIGS Commodore Amiga CD-i Nintendo Game Boy Color Apple Macintosh NES Palm OS DOS PocketPC (ARM/MIPS) Mobile Phone
Media	Two 3,5" floppy disks (Mac) 2-megabit cartridge (NES)
Input	Mouse/Keyboard (Computer) Control pad (Consoles)

Shadowgate is a 1987 video game originally for the Mac and the most popular in the MacVenture series. It was also released in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, where it garnered mild success. The game is named for its setting, Castle Shadowgate, residence of the evil Warlock Lord. The player, as the "last of a great line of hero-kings" (and identified in later games as Lord Jair) is charged with the task of saving the world by defeating the Warlock Lord, who is attempting to summon up the demon Behemoth out of Hell.

[edit] Gameplay

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The player must solve a series of puzzles throughout the castle in order to proceed to the Warlock Lord's chamber. Due to the castle's perilous nature, at least one lit torch must be in the player's possession at all times; if the torch is extinguished, the player soon stumbles, breaking his neck and must continue from a saved game (the area in which they died on game consoles). Since there are only a finite number of torches to be found throughout the game, this effectively acts as a time limit to proceedings.

The game is notorious for its many opportunities of death, including being burned by a dragon's breath, attacked by a cyclops, sucked into outer space through a broken mirror, dissolved by acidous slime and mauled by a wolf-woman, eaten by sharks, not to mention suicide. In fact, virtually any action taken by the player which is not the correct solution to a puzzle will result in a fatality. These deaths were often graphically described in the game's text, even in the NES version (regardless of Nintendo's policy of censorship at the time). Many of the game's puzzles rely on a system of trial and error, the problem of which is overcome by the ability to save the game state (as in most adventure games). Subtle hints can be found in books and the descriptive game texts. In the NES version, these are replaced by an outright hint feature which gives vague clues about what is noteworthy in any given room in the castle. The further the player progresses, the more useless this feature becomes, however, deteriorating into nothing but encouraging messages by the game's end.

At the end of the game, the Warlock Lord succeeds in opening the gates of Hell and summoning up the Behemoth, but with a holy artifact called the Staff of Ages, the player is able to mortally wound the demon; as it dies, Behemoth drags the Warlock Lord with him into Hell. The player returns victorious to his kingdom, where he is betrothed to the king's daughter and entitled High Lord of the Westland.

[edit] Sequels

There have been several sequels to the original Shadowgate on other platforms, such as Beyond Shadowgate on TurboGrafx 16 and Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers on the Nintendo 64. Another N64 sequel, Shadowgate Rising, was planned and well into development, but the project was scrapped when Nintendo announced the creation of the game console which would go on to become the GameCube, and now only exists in the form of a handful of development screenshots and a comic on Infinite Ventures' website entitled Shadowgate Saga: Raven. A remake of the original ("Shadowgate Classic") was released for Windows and the handheld Pocket PC and Game Boy Color systems by Infinite Ventures.

The success of Shadowgate prompted ICOM Simulations to have Kemco/Seika port the other MacVenture titles to the Nintendo Entertainment System.

In the NES version of The Uninvited, a phonograph in the Game room (Rec room in original versions) plays a broken-record version of the main theme from Shadowgate.