Abandon your Sunday plans: Return to Dark Castle ships
As Brett noted in February, the long-in-development next installment of the classic Mac game Dark Castle has been expected "any day now" for years. Rent fans sing along with me: No Day But Today -- the release of Return To Dark Castle has finally happened, and you can buy the game at this moment from the SuperHappyFunFun site. Unfortunately, the planned level editor will not be included with this version of the game.On the one hand, I'm very excited to revisit this diversion from my childhood; on the other, I wonder what my jaded offspring will make of the throwback fun of pitching rocks at bats and jumping off of ropes. $30 says they'll enjoy it as much as I did back in the day.
Full feature list after the break.
Thanks Mark!
Return to Dark Castle features --
- Over 50 brand-new levels, including:
* All 30 classic, re-mastered levels
from Dark Castle and Beyond Dark
Castle integrated into a new, extensive
quest!
* New Secret Rooms and Mini-games.
- 25 orbs to collect (5 times that of BDC).
- All of the classic foes plus new monsters and bosses.
- New weapons, power ups, and secret items.
- Random labyrinths and mazes provide unique puzzles every time.
- Game recording and playback so users can share replays of their accomplishments.
- Customizable costumes to give each player a unique look.
- Support for most gamepads and joysticks.
- Please note that the game does not include a level editor as previously announced.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ben said 9:46PM on 3-15-2008
Best game news since 1987 (when Beyond Dark Castle was released).
Seriously, I have been waiting for this since it was announced - around 2000.
This is a momentous gaming occasion. There has never been another action game as good as the Dark Castle series - and having now played Return to Dark Castle for about 12 hours in total now since it was released, this new edition is every single bit as good as the originals.
Amazing. Just utterly amazing.
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ETJ said 10:21PM on 3-15-2008
Wow. I never thought I'd see Rent mentioned on this site. This is especially funny because I just saw the show last Sunday.
"'Hi, Mark Cohen for Buzzline...Back to you Alexi. Coming up, vampire welfare queens who are compulsive bowlers.' Oh God, what am I doing?"
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Dave said 2:31PM on 3-16-2008
I bought my license with some concern that it just wouldn't be as compelling 20 years later...and after playing the last couple hours I can happily report I'm re-hooked. Ah, the memories...the sound design...
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Thayne Miller said 11:50PM on 3-16-2008
I purchased this game two days ago and I am LOVING it! I've been a Dark Castle fan since I was a wee lad, and this thing not only lived up to my expectations, but the new content has completely surpassed the appeal of the original. This game will give you hours and hours and hours of enjoyment (and sometimes frustration) and there's a BOAT-LOAD of hidden items and abilities to find! Truly a masterpiece!
FIVE STARS!!!
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bob said 9:49AM on 3-16-2008
I'm glad everone is happy, but these are the reasons macs get laughed at for its gaming lol
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Ben said 6:16PM on 3-16-2008
Interesting Bob - that you laugh at this. Personally I laugh at all the silly modern games on both on PCs and on consoles (PS3 etc). They bore me to tears. The Dark Castle series is easily in the top five of best games ever made. Timeless. The only other games I've ever come across that comes close is Prince of Persia 2 (and only 2, not 1 or 3+).
You're welcome to your opinion and you're welcome to laugh at us who love Dark Castle. Naturally in turn I'm welcome to my opinion also, and just remember we're laughing at you in turn, for preferring whatever other games you prefer. I also feel a little sad for you, for what you're missing out on.
And as far as I'm personally concerned, wintel and consoles can keep all their games; I've got absolutely zero interest in them.
Schmedely said 11:58AM on 3-16-2008
Bought a copy and got the registration info from SHFF via email. Cannot register the game for some reason. Had to send an email to support@SHFF. Not a great way to start off.
I played (and still play on my SE-30) the original Dark Castle. I can't believe they screwed up this release. I can't be the only one to not be able to register. Ow ell, waiting till they reply....sigh.....
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Jake said 4:11PM on 3-16-2008
I downloaded it a couple of hours ago and had the same problem. Did you get error -25011 as well?
Jake said 6:37PM on 3-17-2008
Got it working. SHFF had me download an updater from esellerate's website to fix the problem. Also, their customer support gets points for getting back to me quickly and solving the issue within one business day.
Falcury said 12:41PM on 3-16-2008
For discussion on the game, visit the Dark Castle forums:
http://s6.invisionfree.com/Dark_Castle_Forum/
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JPT said 4:51PM on 3-16-2008
Is it just me or is that game freaking HARD?
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Patent Boy said 8:21PM on 3-16-2008
Boy . . . I have to say that I'm with Bob. Why is it that every time I play a game on my mac I feel like I'm back on Atari? Atari was great, don't get me wrong -- but 25 years ago! Hasn't anyone discovered basic graphic capabilities? I hear Ben when he says that console games bore him to tears -- but a bit more graphical development to this game wouldn't have been THAT hard. I hope we all agree that a game can be great quality AND have 21st Century graphics.
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cory Gerard said 12:04AM on 3-17-2008
This is my honest opinion about the game. I bought it because my friend loves this game to death and helped out with the betas and has been waiting for this forever. I played it and I truly hate it.
Here are my reasons why ( please respond I am not flaming just giving my reasons):
One hit and you are dead + horrible controls = me not getting far enough to get to a point where I have a shield or more protection and thus dying alot and turning the game off in utter annoyance. Dont tell me these equal a hard fun enjoyable game, they dont. If I die because of the controls then there is an issue with the game. All I have to say is contra. That was one hit kills, with amazing tight controlls. if you messed up it was your fault
If the controls were just arrow pad plus action button and jump, and maybe one more button for crouch I would be fine. But as it is I have a hard time controlling the game with all those buttons and the mouse ( yes I hate and am bad at controlling FPS too) and thus getting into all of the potential. I love mario, I love megaman, and I love contra, all three games are jumping, platforming and all are more fun than this game.
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Cory G said 12:03AM on 3-17-2008
oh and let me add that he jumping and moving from rope to rope was done better ( ie control wise) in Donkey Kong jr.
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Cory G said 12:03AM on 3-17-2008
oh and let me add that he jumping and moving from rope to rope was done better ( ie control wise) in Donkey Kong jr.
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Elliot said 7:46AM on 5-31-2008
Despite my agreement with Ben that Dark Castle is more interesting to me in general than most platform games, i have to agree that the graphics don't live up to today's standards. However, I don't think it's intellectually honest to compare it to modern games. The most crucial thing for the developers of this game was to make it true to the original (with which they succeeded brilliantly imho), and the original was made 20 years ago! Compare it to the games that were out at the time and i think you'll find it stands up incredibly well. This was one of the first games i played, and I'm really pleased it got this overhaul to save me from finding and running a mac plus emulator. In fact, I'm so old skool that i was originally sceptical that it was even in colour! I got over that though hehe. Brilliant game!
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