Virtually Overlooked: Shadowgate

by Alisha Karabinus { Jan 3rd 2008 at 8:00PM }

Welcome to our weekly feature, Virtually Overlooked, wherein we talk about games that aren't on the Virtual Console yet, but should be. Call it a retro-speculative.

While replaying a little Resident ~~Wiivil~~ Evil 4 over the holidays with the man of the house, a great realization came unto me, and I demanded the right to take JC's place on the Virtually Overlooked soapbox this week. The inability to do silly things like jump into the river, shoot the drivers, and stab random people at the beginning of the game really bugged me, even moreso than on my first outing with the title. I need free reign for suicide and a little friendly fire! I need to be able to do all the things you're not supposed to be able to do, and if I have to start over, hey -- that's okay. It's about freedom, baby, yeah. And I was reminded of a game that allowed just that: Shadowgate.

Gallery: Virtually Overlooked: Shadowgate

Like all great things, Shadowgate originated on the Mac as a point-and-click adventure, and that interface carried over to the NES, despite the frustration of trying to point and click with the NES controller. By the third or fourth screen, however, problems with the interface seem to melt away as the player not only gets used to cruising around from menu to screen and back with the D-pad, but also, gets sucked into the weird and wacky world of Castle Shadowgate.

Shadowgate is your typical adventure game: you do a lot of reading, examining, and puzzle-solving, but what makes it really great is the game's sense of humor. Just as with franchises like Sam and Max and Ace Attorney that have captivated gamers in recent years, Shadowgate offered a tongue-in-cheek approach to adventuring that was completely irresistible.

But what gets me, every single time I re-play the classic NES title, is the ability to suicide. As a gamer who epitomizes the idea of curiosity killing the cat, I'm always the one who falls to her death or ends up in the jaws of the big ol' monster, because I just have to try everything -- and a lot of that was born from playing Shadowgate as a kid. When the puzzles are mystifying? Just "use" your "sword" on "self" and see what happens. Not only does the game not prevent you from doing something so monumentally stupid, it laughs at you.

Luckily, you can save any time (though you don't always restart exactly where you saved; be prepared to re-open bags and re-examine objects), so you're free to stab yourself with any number of objects and open all the slime-filled coffins you'd like. Good times.

In an era that has seen the rebirth of the text adventure, it's a real mystery that Shadowgate has not been released for the Virtual Console. The game has appeared on a number of systems, including the Game Boy Color, and a few sequels appeared (though they failed to live up to the original). The game is packed with puzzles that send you trekking all over the castle, moving forward and back as you collect objects -- many of which are red herrings or part of traps. If you know your way around, Shadowgate can be completed in the space of a few hours, but there are a few moments that guarantee hair-tearing frustration for even hardened adventurers.

An additional bonus comes with the fact that, as an NES game, Shadowgate would roll in at only 500 Wii points, which is a small price to pay for a classic adventure -- especially this one. Trust.

And there's always the humor factor when it comes to replayability. Shadowgate may not have a lot of fun, quirky characters, but there's always a joke waiting around the next corner ... and that's kept this adventurer coming back, again and again, for years. Plus, you can stab yourself with abandon (or with a spear, or an arrow ... ), all without that messy clean up. It's a win for gamers of all ages!

Tags: adventure, kemco, nes, shadowgate

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Hejji @ Feb 1st 2008 4:44PM

Oh my GOSH! Some relative got the GBA version for me in some bargain bin, and I recall all the fondness of letting my fire go out, and burning myself, and pissing off stuff that could very well kill me.. Oh, the death. Oh, the pitfalls.

Oh, the memories~

Peter S @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:24PM

I'll agree with you to a point. It's a pretty cool game, but one thing that annoyed me is that it's never really been updated. Shadowgate is Shadowgate is Shadowgate - no changes no matter what platform you're on. Also, I beat it once and was kind of disappointed at the replay value level. The puzzles are the same each time through. (A common problem for adventure games, I know.) At least with some of the more modern games, there's a small randomizing element so the puzzles are slightly different each time.

On the whole, it's a good game to play through. I probably remember paying pretty near full price for this cart on the NES and could definitely see it going for $5 rather than whatever I paid. While the story was pretty cool, the game itself didn't really take advantage of anything that a console could do and Point & Click adventures don't translate well to a joypad/stick only console. (Now Broken Sword, Grim Fandango, or Gabriel Knight - that's a whole 'nother story.)

Evil Bastard @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:37PM

I bought this when it first came out, and loved it. Only got to play Shadowgate 64 on an emulator. Still hoping the original will make it's way to the VC.

Alisha Karabinus @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:42PM

They work well on the DS!

Anyway, this isn't about being updated -- it's about the original coming to the VC. Updates here never captured it anyway; Shadowgate 64 was, in my opinion, a bare shadow next to this one. This is one of those games I want on the VC just to gift it to people (and to play it myself for about the 40th time). If I want an updated adventure game? There's tons of options on tons of platforms. But I do agree with you on that point -- P&C games on consoles usually just don't do it for me; they work well on the computer, and of course, on the DS with the stylus. This one, though, has a warm and fuzzy place in my heart, and I live with the sub-optimal controls.

But it makes me think that a compilation of old text adventures on the DS would be just awesome. Stylus controls on all the original games... yes. Yes, please.

(Oh, and there's at least one puzzle with multiple solutions, as in they change every time you play, in Shadowgate! But I think only the one.)

DeadPlasmaCell @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:42PM

I loved these games.. Shadowgate, Deja Vu, Uninvited, etc.

Evil Bastard @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:40PM

Another one I wouldn't mind seeing is Dungeon Master. I have played it on the NES originally, and the sequel on my PC. I was able to relive the original through a linux version, but would still pay for a VC version.

Michael Jennings-Offen @ Jan 4th 2008 4:21PM

Man, I was just playing Uninvited yesterday-- loved that game. I had it on my old Mac SE30 and that thing scared the living crap out of me... when I was 7... kind of still does. I'm so looking forward to Sadness if it ever comes out, I feel like it may finally deliver on the promise of Uninvited 2 circa 1986.

Too bad they made Uninvited for NES color... the B&W part of it really made it extra spooky.

Ian @ Jan 4th 2008 8:18AM

I wouldn't mind if it was slightly updated for the VC, to at least give the option of use the Wiimote as a pointing device to click things.

Rocketman @ Jan 4th 2008 11:14AM

No replay value.

Do Solar Jet Man already.

James @ Jan 4th 2008 11:32AM

I remember borrowing Shadowgate from a friend back in my NES days. It's been a really long time, but I seem to recall I got so frustrated at non-intuitive solutions (stick inappropriate object A in invisible slot B) that I just gave it back only an hour or two (and very little progress) in.

I loved 7th Guest and 11th Hour, though, oddly enough. Sam and Max rocked, though I have yet to try the new episodes. Gabriel Knight I could take or leave. Kyrandia was probably my favorite adventure series -- back in the day, I was a poor middle school student, so I "borrowed" a lot of my PC software from friends (or their BBSes ;-) but I remember I *bought* Kyrandia 3 (Malcolm's Revenge!) because I liked the series so much. Maybe I just didn't like Shadowgate way back when because at age 10 or so, I couldn't get my mind to think far enough outside the box.

As a student of "evolved" latter-day adventure games, is it likely to be fun going back to the roots of the genre like this?

Alisha Karabinus @ Jan 4th 2008 12:10PM

I replayed it just recently and loved it all over again, but I am, admittedly, a superfan.

Russ Carroll @ Jan 4th 2008 12:16PM

Brings to mind 'Beyond Shadowgate' which is more of a pure point-and-click adventure game, and also fits right under Mario 64 on my top 10 favorite games of all-time list.

With Turbo CD games now on the VC I'd love to see Beyond Shadowgate on the console and would gladly buy another copy so that I could part with my old SCD of the game. Wonderful music and graphics with great play and puzzles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5esAkdq6uM

Rocketman @ Jan 4th 2008 12:34PM

I just found out. Solar Jetman was Rare.

Rare is owned by Microsoft.

Therefore, no Rare games on the VC. :(

steve @ Jan 4th 2008 2:30PM

shadowgate had some great music...

drunkugly @ Jan 4th 2008 5:06PM

the music is eric satie, gymnopedies, i forget which number. great music

Trey @ Jan 6th 2008 12:13AM

Awesome game. I had this on the NES and it took me YEARS to get through it. That was before the internet. I can't remember how I finally beat it, but I am sure it had something to do with finally getting a walk through from some internet site. Oh, the memories.

Jay Hash @ Jan 7th 2008 7:43PM

This is my most favorite game of all time. The only real replay value it has (I find) is speed gaming: How well have you memorized all the puzzles to be able to get it finished as quickly as possible. ON the NES it really is relegated to how exact you are with the D-Pad pointer, but on the wii I'd be able to break my record in no time!

As for the game itself, it was some of the closest D&D gamin you'll ever have on a console. Most D&D branded games are all point and click, real time combat fests (i.e. Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate) but this embodied the puzzle aspect that is always fun when roleplaying. And the answers to said puzzles come to you in the weirdest ways. I remember that I had to virtually recruit a team of other 4th graders to help me beat the game. At one point, I'll never forget, We were stuck at the point where the Cyclops is guarding the other half of the castle, and you couldn't get past him. None of us knew how to beat him, and I remember at dinner (after 3 frustrating hours of gaming) that I was mentally going through the inventory of things that you picked up along the first half of the game, and when I got to "Sling", it struck a chord, and for some reason I made some odd parallel between the cyclops and "David and Goliath" and DING! It came to me. I remember calling up all my friends at like 9 PM excitedly telling them all over the phone, we were all so excited. Only to get together the next day and be eternally stumped by the damn chemistry lab afterwards.

It may not seem like such an epiphany, but for a ten year old, it was akin to finding the secret to One-Eyed Willy's treasure that day. Ahhh, good memories.

~JYH