Color Dark Castle[[Image:]] | |
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Developer(s) | Delta Tao |
Release date(s) | 1994 |
Genre(s) | Platform game |
Mode(s) | Single player |
Platform(s) | Apple Macintosh |
Color Dark Castle is the first Computer Game in the Dark Castle series developed after the rights were sold from Silicon Beach Software to Delta Tao. Color Dark Castle, is a remake of the original Dark Castle, in color. Though Identical at first glance besides the color at first, Delta Tao reported that they had to redo the code from scratch, also they added a new difficulty, and a Secret Level.[1]. Since this is a remake of the original, the sequel to it would be Beyond Dark Castle, another color Dark Caste was announced titled Return To Dark Castle, which is now released.
Features[]
Including almost identical gameplay as Dark Castle, Delta Tao also added a few of their own things, such as a new difficulty "Novice" for beginner players, eliminating some of the harder levels in the game and having fewer monsters. Also, the great hall's door setup was static, as opposed to the random setup of the original. There was a new Secret Level added, it was accessed by hitting 4 spots hidden through out the game, without dying. They added a save system that allows one save, that can be saved, or loaded from the great hall.
Story[]
The evil Black Knight terrorizes the townspeople, our hero Prince Duncan sets out to topple his throne, in order to do that, he must travel to the three sections of the castle: Fireball, Shield, and Black Knight. With Trouble, being optional, if fell into.
After collecting the Fireball, and Shield, Prince Duncan makes his way to The Black Knight's Throne Room, where he topples the Black Knight's Throne. On Novice, Beginner, and Intermediate the Black Knight stands up shaking his fist, as a Gargoyle takes Duncan to Trouble 3. On Advanced The Black Knight's throne falls off the bottom of the screen, while Duncan dances, and it fades out.
Levels[]
Main article: List of Levels in Dark Castle
This game had 16 levels, one more then the original game, all of which came out of the 4 doors in the Great Hall. Unlike the first game the setup of the doors is static, rather than random.
- Left bottom door - Trouble Level Path: Trouble 1, Trouble 2, Trouble 3.
- Farther top door - Fireball Level Path: Fireball 1, Fireball 2, Fireball 3, Fireball 4.
- Middle Door Black Knight Level Path: Black Knight 1, Black Knight 2, Black Knight 3.
- Right Door Shield Level Path: Shield 1, Shield 2, Shield 3, Shield 4.
- ????: Secret Level
Secret Level[]
Main article: Secret Level
The Secret level was announced in the Color Dark Castle F.A.Q. [2]. The F.A.Q. said you had to pull 4 secret chains, this is untrue, but one must find 4 secret spots. The first 3 spot's order don't matter, but the fourth must be done last. It's easiest to do when the shield and the fireball have already been obtained. To activate a spot, one must find the spot, and jump at the wall. To find the secret room, one must hit all 4 spots without dying.
Difficulties[]
Main article: Difficulties
Criticisms[]
Although, this is a remake of the original Dark Castle, many fans consider this to be the inferior version, due to a few reasons:
- A glitch that allowed the Trouble course to be skipped.
- Lava instead of water in Fireball 2 & 3 .
- Easier levels, (Example: In Fireball 1, the guard was removed in intermediate)
- The game cannot be continued after being beaten on Advanced.
- The game looks much brighter and cartoony (like the CD-i, but better) compared to the dark atmosphere of the original.
- The levels look a lot more bland compared to their original counterparts.
- The intro screens are completely different from the original.
- The saving made the game too easy.
- The Secret Level was very empty, and pointless.
- Novice Difficulty was too easy and pointless.
Still, this is considered by far the best remake of the original game so far.
Remakes[]
Return To Dark Castle a sequel to Beyond Dark Castle in full color, with all the levels from Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle. It was developed by Z Sculpt, and released in 2008.
A remake of the original version for mobile was released in 2006. It is developed by Super Happy Fun Fun and published by Bandai, It contains slightly remade level designs as well as updated color graphics.
Trivia[]
- The Christmas tree Easter Egg is still in this version, it is seen by changing the computer date to December 25 and playing the game.
- At the end of the credits, it says: "Watch out next year for Beyond Dark Castle" which never arrived.
- Delta Tao had plans to convert Beyond Dark Castle to color, but they were dropped, because Return To Dark Castle is going to include all the levels from it.
- Delta Tao offered discounts to owners of the original version of Dark Castle.
- You can no longer buy this game due to SHFF requesting for it to be pulled. It doesn't work on any modern Macs without emulation, as the newest system that supports it is Mac OS X 10.1 in classic mode.
Gallery[]
See Also[]
- Dark Castle
- Beyond Dark Castle
- Return to Dark Castle
- Z Sculpt
- Deta Tao
- Silicon Beach Software
- SuperHappyFunFun
- Enemies
- Obstacles
- List of Levels in Dark Castle
- Items
External links[]
- Delta Tao Homepage Creators of Color Dark Castle.
- Color Dark Castle review From MacGamer.
- Dark Castle Forum
- Color Dark Castle Review
- Dark Castle F.A.Q.
- Guide to get Color Dark Castle working Through an emulator.
- Color Dark Castle gameplay