Dark Castle

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A trilogy of platform games for the Apple Macintosh. The original in particular has been ported to everything from Commodores to Cell Phones.

• Dark Castle (1986)
• Beyond Dark Castle (1987)
• Return to Dark Castle (2008)

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These games contain examples of:

• Anachronism Stew - Wizards, dragons and self-pushing brooms share the castle with lasers, conveyor belts, and iMacs.
  • In the original version, there's graffiti in one of the rooms that say "Alaric was Here" and "Huns Rule". In the Genesis version, it's "Saddam was Here" and "Gamers Rule". Huh?
• And Then John Was a Zombie - At the end of the second game, after returning to the Scores of Merit screen, Duncan is turned into the new Black Knight.
• Anvil On Head - One keyring will free you, the other is booby-trapped with a 16-ton weight.
• Black Knight - The Big Bad.
• Bookcase Passage - A fireplace, activated by tugging on a wall-mounted torch.
• Computer Equals Tapedrive - The mainframe in the Computer Room... although there's a 9" Mac just a few feet away.
• Critical Annoyance - Your heartbeat becomes audible and accelerates as you near death.
• Deflector Shields - Subverted; the Shield power actually makes you briefly immaterial.
• Difficulty Levels
• Embedded Precursor - Return to Dark Castle consists of three areas which you can visit in any order; two are remastered versions of the original games (and the third is larger than both put together).
• Faceless Eye - Huge floating eyeballs that hurl fire or weep acid...
• Funny Background Event: "SADDAM WAS HERE"
• Gainax Ending - Beyond Dark Castle. Cleared up in the next sequel - which came out 19 years later.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress - Step off a ledge, and you'll pause to look down before plummeting.
• Holiday Mode - Stockings adorn the fireplace, and a Christmas tree supplants a decorative suit of armor.
• Hyperactive Metabolism
• Incredibly Lame Pun - Your quest is, literally, to topple the Black Knight's throne.
• Jet Pack - More like a helicopter pack.
• Kill It With Fire - Your only weapons are the rocks you throw, but with a powerup, they become fireballs.
• Life Meter - Takes the place of the level timer starting in Beyond Dark Castle.
• Lightning Can Do Anything - Hold the Shield up to a thundercloud to be imbued with its magic.
• Mouse Hole - Ubiquitous, and complete with cute little brick arches. Disgorge plague-bearing rats.
• Non Lethal Bottomless Pits - Falling into one from anywhere in the castle will send you to the dungeon to fight your way out.
• Not the Fall That Kills You - Oh so averted. Falls in the third game are deadlier than in real life.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder - Duncan, but only in the first game.
• Poison Mushroom - White potions with black labels teleport you. Black potions with white labels kill you. Got that?
• Save Game Limits - In Beyond Dark Castle, you can only save from the Computer Room (with its five sets of matched SAVE and RESTORE levers).
• Scoring Points
• Secret Level
• Sequelphobic - MacUser's product index infamously dismissed the first sequel as "more of the same."
• Spikes of Doom - Extend and retract in an automatic cycle.
• Super Drowning Skills - Falling into the water in the "Fireball" levels of the first games will kill you . . .
  • Convection, Schmonvection - . . . but in Color Dark Castle, the water was replaced with lava.
• Temporary Platform - Ditto.
• The Maze
• Throw a Barrel At It - The Brewery Henchman.
• Vaporware - Return to Dark Castle was released after 12 years of development.
• Video Game Remake - Color Dark Castle: A remake of the original with enhanced graphics made to celebrate Delta Tao's acquisition of the series.
• Weaksauce Weakness - Your character can die from falling down the stairs.