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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Source: http://www.superhappyfunfun.com/games/gam_returntodc.html

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Gaming Software Cult of Mac

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...

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bezman

wowo, this just took me back, waaaaay back to the 80's and my old Apple SE

March 03 2008 at 9:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

InSaNeBoY

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...

February 06 2008 at 3:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

antiaverage

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

February 05 2008 at 2:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Josh Wardell

Awesome!
Does anyone know of a ported/updated Crystal Quest (from the same era)?

February 04 2008 at 12:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Josh Wardell's comment

Peter

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).

February 05 2008 at 10:16 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tony C

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.

February 04 2008 at 10:19 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

krye

Dark Castle ROM:

http://www.euronet.nl/users/mvdk/System6_Downloads/Dark%20Castle.sea.hqx

February 02 2008 at 12:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

krye

ROM:

http://dkj.id.au/emulation/

February 02 2008 at 12:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

peekytoe

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.

February 02 2008 at 9:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

HineyWipe

Eeeeet! That freakin bat! Get awayyyyy!

February 01 2008 at 11:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

krye

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

February 01 2008 at 9:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to krye's comment

Aloysius Snuffleupagus

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?

February 01 2008 at 10:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply