Filed under: Gaming, Software, Cult of Mac
Pursuing the Black Knight again: Return to Dark Castle
You may remember 1986 as the year of Greg LeMond's first Tour de France victory. Or maybe you were more consumed with following the early stages of the Iran-Contra Affair. Perhaps you were preoccupied with being born. In that case, you might not care about this post as much as those who spent the year lost in the monochrome world of Prince Duncan.
The original Dark Castle came out on the Macintosh that year, and immediately became a side-scrolling, rock-throwing, rope-swinging hit. In 1987 it was followed by Beyond Dark Castle, and a helicopter backpack and an excess of explosives kept things interesting, if not addictive. Various versions and ports came out in years following, extending the longevity of the classic game even further. 1994 even saw a Color Dark Castle, still playable in Classic under 10.0 and 10.1, and 2006 brought a mobile version.
Now, for all of us who get nostalgic at the mention of the Black Knight, Return To Dark Castle is almost ready for prime time after being announced 7 years ago. New levels, new secret rooms, and 5 times the orb collecting fun might just make me waste a little more time than I can afford.
Reported finished by Z Sculpt, the previously released beta has expired, but info on the upcoming release and some QuickTime trailers are available at publisher Super Happy Fun Fun's website. There were hopes for a release today, but it didn't happen. If you're anxious, you can join the waiting throngs at the Dark Castle Blog or express your fervent desire at the forum. It could, it seems, turn out to be a wait as cruel as the Black Knight himself.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jonathan gala said 7:18PM on 2-01-2008
Dude. My stepbrother and I just got vMac running on our laptops, and played the original Dark Castle and BDC for hours last weekend. This is very cool news. Although I will miss the gorgeous 1-bit artwork in this newfangled version.
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Aloysius Snuffleupagus said 8:27PM on 2-01-2008
@jonathan gala. Can you tell me where to find vMac and the necessary ROMS, etc. I would kill to play Dark Castle again (I'm on strike, so I have a little time on my hands!) Thanks.
brendon said 12:37AM on 2-02-2008
Now if only they would only re-release Robosport!
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Jeffbbs said 6:32AM on 2-03-2008
Oh My God! This is the best post ever. I totally love Dark Castle and was just a kid when it came out and couldn't remember the name, only haunting pictures and memories of the best game ever! and now I know the name, i feel like i could die! And now someone mentions robosport! Probably the two best games ever! YEESSSSS! I am in heaven!
Ben Lawson said 7:50PM on 2-01-2008
O.M.G.
Dark Castle was the first "application" I bought for my first Mac, an SE with dual superdrives (and later a third-party internal 40 MB hard drive). My room-mate and I loved that game, we'd spend entire weekends playing, pausing the game so we could sleep. For the first week we didn't even realise that the other doors opened, so we just kept running down to the dungeon to free the slave...
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Aloysius Snuffleupagus said 8:22PM on 2-01-2008
This will date me, but my roommate and I played this everyday in college on his SE. One of the best games ever. So addicting. I think the only time we took breaks was to play with MacPlaymate or NetTrek. God, I'm old!
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Henrik Sætra said 8:34PM on 2-01-2008
Ooh! I love(d) Dark Castle! nice post!
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krye said 9:32PM on 2-01-2008
You're not alone. I was 11 when it came out, and I played it for as long as I had my Macintosh Plus. I fired it up again last year using the Mini vMac emulator:
http://web.mac.com/ryemac3/RyeMAC3/Welcome/Entries/2007/1/16_Mini_vMac.html
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Aloysius Snuffleupagus said 10:01PM on 2-01-2008
Very cool. I downloaded mini vMac but don't have a clue where to find a suitable ROM and a copy of Dark Castle. Any hints?
Speddy said 11:19PM on 2-01-2008
Eeeeet! That freakin bat! Get awayyyyy!
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peekytoe said 9:49AM on 2-02-2008
this is the best post on TUAW i have EVER SEEN. thank you!
i spent the better half of my pre-teenage life playing these games. all my friends had ataris, and not once did i feel remorse having a mac. i used to play this in tandem with a buddy of mine -- he worked the mouse, and i worked the keyboard.
too cool.
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krye said 12:33PM on 2-02-2008
ROM:
http://dkj.id.au/emulation/
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krye said 12:38PM on 2-02-2008
Dark Castle ROM:
http://www.euronet.nl/users/mvdk/System6_Downloads/Dark%20Castle.sea.hqx
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Tony C said 10:19AM on 2-04-2008
Absolutely my most favorite game on the Macintosh! Ever! Also only of the only games I ever bought for the Mac and I didn't even own one at the time! Between Dark Castle, Beyond Dark Castle and Chipwits, I think I might have bought Tetris, but I have trouble remembering that far back.
The coolest thing about the Mac at that time was that the OS and the game could fit on one 3.5" floppy so I could bypass the computer lab's kludgy setup.
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Josh Wardell said 12:13PM on 2-04-2008
Awesome!
Does anyone know of a ported/updated Crystal Quest (from the same era)?
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Peter said 10:16AM on 2-05-2008
Crystal Quest has been reborn on the XBox Arcade console. I think you can play it if you have a 360 (I don't; just know of it).
antiaverage said 2:58PM on 2-05-2008
If anyone wants to be able to play the original Dark Castle or Beyond Dark Castle, just send a private message to "antiaverage" on the forums mentioned at the bottom of the above blog post.
Dark Castle Forums:
http://s6.invisionfree.com/Dark_Castle_Forum
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InSaNeBoY said 3:08PM on 2-06-2008
Oh I can't wait! I still have my BDC floppies on a book shelf here at work. I tried playing it a year or two ago, but the floppy drive in my plus is dead...
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Bezman said 9:14AM on 3-03-2008
wowo, this just took me back, waaaaay back to the 80's and my old Apple SE
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