Dark Castle
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)
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.