Beyond Dark Castle
August 25, 2015 4:19 PM Subscribe
"During one of the worst years of my life, I drew solace, as much as from any book, from regularly visiting the swamp level of Beyond Dark Castle, a video game for the Mac. You had a little helicopter-backpack, and you just motored over this desolate bayou throwing rocks at bats in the darkness and silence. There was a sense of stillness and peace there that I still refer back to in my head."
Beyond Dark Castle was an early WASD platform game for the 9" screen of the Macintosh SE, where you, as Prince Duncan, prowl around the Black Knight's keep, leaping from platforms, dodging rats, snakes, ravens, bats, guards, and mutants, and collecting all five orbs in order to defeat the Black Knight.
"It should be mentioned that gameplay can be particularly difficult at three in the morning with substantial amounts of alcohol in your bloodstream as the game can be very frustrating at times. It is nevertheless a brilliant game that has a addictive quality about it, regardless of its age, the sounds and the music are not bad, animations are good and can be amusing as is the game design of each level."
Runthroughs are, of course, available and entertaining.
Black Knight's Brewery
Dungeon, including Prince Duncan's great dizziness effect.
The Brewery, again
Catacombs
Clock Tower and Black Forest
Clock Tower and Swamp
West Tower
The Final Battle, featuring the Black Knight and his not-so-formidable arsenal of beer steins.
Spoiler alert!
Beyond Dark Castle was an early WASD platform game for the 9" screen of the Macintosh SE, where you, as Prince Duncan, prowl around the Black Knight's keep, leaping from platforms, dodging rats, snakes, ravens, bats, guards, and mutants, and collecting all five orbs in order to defeat the Black Knight.
"It should be mentioned that gameplay can be particularly difficult at three in the morning with substantial amounts of alcohol in your bloodstream as the game can be very frustrating at times. It is nevertheless a brilliant game that has a addictive quality about it, regardless of its age, the sounds and the music are not bad, animations are good and can be amusing as is the game design of each level."
Runthroughs are, of course, available and entertaining.
Black Knight's Brewery
Dungeon, including Prince Duncan's great dizziness effect.
The Brewery, again
Catacombs
Clock Tower and Black Forest
Clock Tower and Swamp
West Tower
The Final Battle, featuring the Black Knight and his not-so-formidable arsenal of beer steins.
Spoiler alert!
Maaa! MaMaMaaa! Yeah! Ugh! Maa! Yeah!
posted by pravit at 4:38 PM on August 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by pravit at 4:38 PM on August 25, 2015 [6 favorites]
I absolutely LOVED this game as a kid. I still think about it often. I like to think Dark Souls has some of its DNA.
posted by naju at 4:40 PM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by naju at 4:40 PM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Does anyone know of a similar game - same Mac platform, black and white, platform mechanics, but had something of a futuristic dystopia setting? It's always stumped me.
posted by naju at 4:44 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by naju at 4:44 PM on August 25, 2015
Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle were designed by Mark Pierce, who later went to Atari Games (coin-op side) and created RoadBlasters, Pit Fighter, and Klax.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:10 PM on August 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:10 PM on August 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
Amazing game. In high school I became friends with a kid who had this at home...probably the main reason I befriended him, actually :P
posted by ktoad at 5:14 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ktoad at 5:14 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good stuff. My friends and I would imitate all the iconic hero, crow, and goblin sounds from these games. It was one of those exclusive titles that really helped being a Mac gamer more appealing at the time. I should really pick up Return to Dark Castle one of these days.
posted by Durhey at 5:23 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Durhey at 5:23 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm getting a strong Uno Moralez vibe from all the monochrome pixel graphics. Maybe it was an early influence?
posted by Rhaomi at 5:26 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Rhaomi at 5:26 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's all coming back to me now. You have no idea.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:46 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:46 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
WAAAHHH - this game! I loved it - I played it a lot and had gotten stuck at a particular screen (I think it was the dungeon) and they my copy corrupted and I could never play it again.
It still pops up in my memory from time to time. Looking at the screens on the darkcastle website linked above, it's interesting how poorly I remember it.
posted by awfurby at 6:13 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
It still pops up in my memory from time to time. Looking at the screens on the darkcastle website linked above, it's interesting how poorly I remember it.
posted by awfurby at 6:13 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I played the crap out of DC and BDC. I still remember Mom knocking on "Sphinx's Computer Room/storage closet" asking "What's with all the grunting?"
posted by Sphinx at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Sphinx at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was completely terrible at this but I remember it distinctly.
Also, seeing the video brought back Crystal Quest for me (which I was much better at). I'm not sure that the two games actually share any sound files, but they're definitely of a piece.
posted by figurant at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also, seeing the video brought back Crystal Quest for me (which I was much better at). I'm not sure that the two games actually share any sound files, but they're definitely of a piece.
posted by figurant at 6:17 PM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
Loved this game. I can't count the thousands of hours I spent not writing essays that were due when I came home from University for a few days.
posted by chococat at 6:18 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chococat at 6:18 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I loved everything about this game except how terrible I was at it. The controls were rough then, and they definitely haven't gotten any better with age. I got the other guys on the Video Games Hot Dog podcast to play the original DC as our assignment one week, and they came back practically angry.
Like figurant, I was much better at Crystal Quest. I could play that until I had so many lives I could go make a sandwich without pausing it.
posted by rifflesby at 6:40 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Like figurant, I was much better at Crystal Quest. I could play that until I had so many lives I could go make a sandwich without pausing it.
posted by rifflesby at 6:40 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Return to Dark Castle [Mac App Store]
posted by ArmandoAkimbo at 7:06 PM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by ArmandoAkimbo at 7:06 PM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I was terrible at this game but loved playing it nonetheless; my then-boyfriend was better at it than me (we played it on his Mac). Chips and salsa and Dark Castle - great days!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:47 PM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:47 PM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
My sister and I used to play this together; I'd do the keyboard, and she'd man the mouse. It was so much fun, but we were terribad at it. I'm relieved to hear it wasn't just me.
posted by culfinglin at 11:07 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by culfinglin at 11:07 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
> Does anyone know of a similar game - same Mac platform, black and white, platform mechanics, but had something of a futuristic dystopia setting? It's always stumped me.
Was it Ultra Business Tycoon III?
posted by Phssthpok at 11:51 PM on August 25, 2015
Was it Ultra Business Tycoon III?
posted by Phssthpok at 11:51 PM on August 25, 2015
I remember it well from college, the crisp mono Mac screen suited the theme of the game very well.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 6:07 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by GallonOfAlan at 6:07 AM on August 26, 2015
I played the ever loving bejesus out of Dark Castle as a kid. It had a Christmas Easter egg and I still remember the happy shock when I fired up the game. Beyond Dark Castle was a great sequel.
posted by Kattullus at 9:08 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Kattullus at 9:08 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I worked with Eric Zocher at Adobe, but he had worked at Silicon Beach and worked on Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle (video of him on Computer Chronicles here demoing BDC).
IIRC, Eric did the nya-na-na-na-na voices.
posted by plinth at 1:58 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
IIRC, Eric did the nya-na-na-na-na voices.
posted by plinth at 1:58 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I loved these old Mac games. Is there a website anywhere chronicling them? I use to have those discs and floppies that were like "1001 Games for Mac" and there were so many crazy fun games on them. Abuse is one I remember the most.
posted by gucci mane at 12:25 PM on August 29, 2015
posted by gucci mane at 12:25 PM on August 29, 2015
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