Shadowgate on the NES | A Friday Night Arcade Retrospective
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- Aaron takes a look back at the classic point-and-click adventure game SHADOWGATE, part of the MacVenture series that was ported to the NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM in 1998. Thank you for watching Friday Night Arcade!
NOTE FROM AARON
"I hope you enjoy this new video. Shadowgate is one of my all time favorite point-and-click adventure games on the Nintendo Entertainment System although the story I tell in the video is 100% true. When I first bought the game, I couldn't figure out where to find the key at the front of the castle and the game ended up on my shelf for several weeks before loaning it to a friend. My friend found the key in one night and gave the game back to me. Then I ended up finding my way through the rest of the castle and defeating the game legit. Cut me some slack, I was like 9 years old when this came out lol. I loved the adventure aspects of this game though and it felt like playing a PC game on my NES console which made for a truly unique experience.
I ended up buying Deja Vu and Uninvited on NES as well, the follow up games and spiritual successors in the Macventure Series to Shadowgate (although they were released in opposite order originally on computer). Loved those games as well and at some point if this video does well, I will consider doing a follow up sequel to this video about the other games in the Macventure Series.
Thanks for watching everybody and we will see you next time on Friday Night Arcade!"
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If you enjoyed this and want to learn more about the MacVenture Series, check out my videos about the rest of the series here!
ruclips.net/p/PLdGtTWqCEvuJeumdyOh3uYChDplTnoS5p
I was in my early 20's and Shadowgate was the first game I actually bought. We rented it for a couple weeks and decided it was worth buying. Wow were we ever stuck at that section where you had to "open bucket" to continue. DOH!
We rented the game for 3 days from a local grocery store and spent the first night stuck on that first room until we found a video game magazine that told us to open the skull. Ah, life with no internet was a hard one. So don't feel bad as a 10 year old not figuring it out. Us adults were no better.
Nice how you showed the lever screen and then the hidden pattern on the staircase. We spent days trying every combination to get those levers to work. It wasn't until we found a cheats website in the 2000's that we learned about the answer hidden in the lion room. DOH!
thanks for the video.
It’s taken me 30 years to find this game again and I’m binging it this week.
In the end NES Door game was the elusive search term lol
This is one of the first games I owned for the NES. The soundtrack still resonates in my head. I love that first tune as you stand at the threshold.
Maybe one of the best soundtrack in video game history ! I love this game a total classic !
The other two were Solstice and Legacy of the Wizard. Then for the Genesis' Gauntlet IV featuring the work of Hitashi Sakimoto.
Makes me wish for the days when I used to play this game as a kid decades ago.
Loved this review! A few years ago I took a course for video game design in late high school, and we got to play old NES games. This was one of them. Everyone in the computer lab was working together to try and solve the game's puzzles. It was probably one of the most fun experiences I had in high school and made this game a personal favorite of mine!
One of my favorites as a 10yr old, sadly I was never able to beat this game, lost it or traded it sometime in my youth.. Still bothers me I never finished it..
This game is my baby. Helped fund the modern remake of the game as well on kickstarter years ago so that a new generation of explorers can lift that same exact book out of curiosity, and die for it just as I did
Oh man, I love this game. Remember sitting down for the first time as a 10 yr old and turning it on for the first time. Played all day. By that evening, I had conquered the game. One of my favorite NES memories.
I had this game as a kid, scared the crap out of me at times. This game is one of my favorites for the simple facts of you having to truly think it through.
Still have it and love to pull it out occasionally. I remember pulling this out with a friend in high school and playing through the night.
It is on my phone with my _Nostalgia.NES Lite_ emulator for android. I am working on _Uninvited_ now since I never played that one back in the day. This one is a lot tougher so far.
The soundtrack and art direction is great on the NES version of this game.
This game kick my ass for ever as a kid!
You talked about this game shaping the way you play games now, how you look in every nook and cranny. I do the same thing, but it feels like most games don't really have any cool items or secrets hidden anywhere like they used to. I'll see an area that looks really hard to get to in a game, impossible even, then I'll figure out some convoluted and risky ass way to get up there only to find some mundane item, some sword that's weaker than anything I could make myself, or sometimes nothing at all. It's always a disappointment. More games should hide cool or legendary/powerful items in secret spots and that's the only place to get it. I always enjoyed that kind of stuff. Or even just some sort of secret message. Something that makes your exploring efforts worthwhile.
That's true Chris. A lot of times I find myself running into an area and then you can kinda tell, "oh... this was just the barrier where the programmers want you to turn around and go back to the game." Sometimes you find cool stuff but often times you're just getting off the rails they want you to stay on.
True, but the counter argument would be that those modern games are designed so that they don't get put on the shelf for six weeks out of frustration, and even though I very much like this style of game, that viewpoint is not wholly without merit IMHO.
@@FridayNightArcade Ultima Avatar also used graphic differences to find secret wall entrances.
Everything in this modern era is so instant..you play a game with the expectation that the game does all the imagining for you..straight out the box total immersion. But looking back, when you had to read through the text from room to room, collecting objects and puzzles, there was a sense of pride in moving forward within these adventure games. How times change.I guess they call it progress, but there isn't the same delayed gratification anymore.
I got to the same point YEARS ago and gave up on it because of that second room. Now I want to play it
lol... you have to play it now.
@@FridayNightArcade too funny I remember getting in the castle when I was a kid. then as a teen I couldn't figure out how to do it lol.
The music when your torch gets low would give me mad anxiety
It is all those off key flat notes that make it so creepy.
I rented the NES version of this game several times and though I never managed to get all the way to the end of that version I loved it nonetheless. Probably my favorite of the three Macventure series of games on the NES. I highly recommend the 2014 remake of the this game, Its everything you know and love about the original but upgraded with spectacular graphics and sound and a much improved user interface. The fact that the original creators of the game were heavily involved helped insure that the spirit of the original game was preserved perfectly. Thanks for the great video and stay safe out there!
Loved this game as a kid, think I'll have my kids play it. I didn't like dejavu as much but watching this I realized I never got that far. Should be a fun revisit.
Owned and beat the game as a kid.
Once I knew what to do, I tried to 'speed run' the game, this is back before the internet even existed and no one knew what 'speed running' was or was even a thing.
My time is most likely abysmal. i think I beat it in ten to fifteen minutes, somewhere between those timestamps.
Still it was fun.
It might have been a no-brainer to port the Macventures to the NES; however, they were definitely NOT for children....Excellent look back!
Played through this with my father when I was young. Took the better part of a year to figure it all out. They did a remaster on Steam and I recently played through it. It was like a remix of the original but with a few more/different rooms. Was fun getting to parts and knowing what to do because I had played the original.
Fun fact: Some of those rooms are actually from an obscure mobile port of the game.
My NES playing was fairly limited... I had a cheap second-hand for a while, but then drifted towards the PC game market as I'm an adventure game fan and didn't have too many games that appealed to me on the NES. 'Shadowgate' was an exception - it was AWESOME. Simple yet vibrant graphics, great atmosphere, great puzzles... and some of the best music heard on the NES. "That" tune you play at the end of the video being the best, it's incredible - I've had it as a ringtone and all sorts over the years, it's my favourite NES tune.
I always longest for a proper 'Shadowgate' sequel (I didn't really know what the MacVenture series was back then, but they were pretty limited on the NES), as it's possibly my favourite NES game (besides 'Maniac Mansion') it's ironic that it's a PC/Apple conversion. :) Loved this review.
I still play this on ROM every now and then when I get the urge. Even tho I heard they had no music I’d like to try the actual Mac games themselves someday just for experience.
Very good game played it in the 90s still have it now a classic
I had all of these as a teen. Bought 'em all used. I even have Uninvited 2 for the NES. Deja'vu 2 came out with Deja'vu in a two game cartridge for the Game Boy Color. Other games like these were Rescue: The Embassy Mission for the NES which was a faster paced hostage rescue game with the same display as the slower adventures, and Sword Of Hope for Game Boy and Sword of Hope 2 for Game Boy Color which had the same point and click adventure concept but included fantasy combat and primitive role playing aspects like spell learning and leveling up. Still have all of these games; loved them as a tweenager Great for long Army deployments, provided you had the batteries.
Awesome video. Very professionally edited and narrated. Would love to see you do a full play through on this!
One of the most comprehensive Shadowgate reviews extant , and the only one I've seen that mentioned Dejan Vu 2.
Cool, mwn.
I had shadowgate and deja vu on nes and loved them both.
I thoroughly enjoyed your review. I still have very fond memories of playing this game in the early 90s and the satisfying feeling when my friend and I beat this game. You’re so spot on with your reflection of how this game shaped the way you play games nowadays; everything must be clicked....Thanks for your review.
the music and sound effects were and still the best, one of the best ''think outside the box'' games i ever played and the thing is, it is one of the best versions of the game, it has charm and personality and some witty moments, a classic that i loved as a kid and still do as an adult , i still humm the music in it even today, truly an ageless classic.
You put together such an apropos video and narration for what was essentially my experience. Great work and thank you. Subscribed and Notified
One thing about this game is the hitting a wall with the puzzles , and at the time being 8-10, I can’t remember if I ever beat it!!
It’s taken me till this week to find the right search terms for Shadowgate because my only memory was the wizard room and I knew I wasn’t imagining it!! 30 years this game eluded me and NES door game was the term that finally led me there. 😊
I thought, was this on another console? I know I didn’t own it, it must have been at one of my babysitters back in the day lol.
Anyway, seeing the playthrough and binging these last few days have been great but especially having the pictorials of the rooms light a fire in my memory has been a true blessing. :)
The music slaps.
Be well and love in love friend
Great work. Hard to believe I was legitimately frightened by this game as a kid. The banshee.
Man I'm so glad I came across this gem!! And aside from DeceasedCrab, you're the only 1 who mentioned this! Unlike Quarter Guy and his arcade series that doesn't seem reliable at all.
I rememebered my sister playing this, who was a HUGE RPG fan back then, and it gave me the whillies with all the traps, creepy music and the Grim Reaper always showing up! This game inspired me so much, that I even made a crossover w/ Dissidia Final Fantasy about a decade ago, known simply as Dissidia: Shadowgate, a final farewell to the juggernaut. You can find the podfics here, and fanfic on other platforms.
Also, question...there was another point-click game I know, around 8-bit but I think it was for the PC, in which there was a level that consisted of several levers in a castle area, and if you activated the wrong one, a scary devil appears!! Then you'd have to start the game all over again, and I always kept seeing that creepy abomination!
WTH was that game???? It was another one my big sis played, btw! Was it a Myst game..?
Speaking of which, there was also a PC space game, also point-click, and after you died, there was this large, creepy lion thing! Even the intro was creepy!! Was it Overlord or something..?
The soundtrack for this game is great.
Yeah , one of the very best , along with Castlevania
oh my GOD, there was a MAC version of this?! That was the only computer my dad had while in my early pre-teens, he would've NEVER passed the BAR exam if he'd known about this, he loved this NES title! We had this earlier and I barely played it because I was thick as a post against anything that didn't have bullets, power-ups, and blood-splattered visuals sprinkled with explosions, but watching him play this was pretty cool. And yeah, real harrowing music for adventure as well, this was great in those other Kemco titles I learned about in adulthood like Uninvited and Deja Vu. I remember loving the.. weird animal lab tune, the cyclops/garden fountain tune, and the bag/pot 'o gold tune a lot
Pops had kind of a one-track mind for solving puzzles, so I was mostly there to tap him on the arm and tell him to light a torch, while also acting as his scribe to take down notes and death-traps, as well as places to come back to, it was a real adventure sometimes! He had this grid-paper map he made to the first Zelda, it was sick~ Again, a fond classic and a real cool experience.. can't wait to see more from ya'z!
That's hilarious and awesome - thank you for sharing. Indeed, glad your Dad wasn't aware of this one. Sounds like you and pops had quite the adventures together; thank you for sharing. That's the good stuff.
I have never played this game. I did enjoy hearing about your first experience playing this game, as I can relate it a lot to my first experience playing many of my favorite NES games. Great video, I’ll have to try this game out.
Don’t feel bad, I haven’t beat the other Shadowgate games either other than the nes version. Thanks for your video. I do Shadowgate games on my channel too. Thank for your story about the skull too.
This brought a lot of memories back. My best friend had this, and we LOVED it. (We eventually became D&D dorks.) I had completely forgotten about how critical the music was to creating the atmosphere. Thanks for the reminder!
This game TOTALLY wouldn't look out of place in a D&D game.
I have vivid memories of playing this one over at a friend's but since I had a PC to play adventure games on I never felt it was a necessity. Since then though I've gone back and picked it up complete in box just as a fun reminder of those times.
20 years later I finally get to see inside the first door.
😄
I hear you. When I played this back in the day it took us forever to figure what to do. Figuring it out was a mindblowing experience. We thought the game was broken because we got stuck within the first 10 minutes.
I enjoyed this game. I would love reading the lines and especially when purposely dying to see what happens when you make a mistake. LOL
A true classic. Thanks for sharing this video.
I was/am a big adventure game and rpg game fan. I wasn’t sure if I had played this.....until the music started. More adventure game reviews! Good memories. I rented most of the games, since I didn’t have much money back in the day.
Glad you enjoyed this one - thank you for checking out the show!
Did it just now dawn on me that EPOR spells ..... ROPE BACKWARDS?!?! 30 years later omg 😂😂😂
Holy crap... I never realized that either!
Dude,this is one of my favorite NES games. I was the same way when I got it as a kid too, I couldn't get through the second door! The main theme of Shadowgate is my ringtone too!!
Oh, and the ending music for this game was some of the best for the Nintendo, period.
really well done vids, and you do a great job with the narration. a treat to watch
Thank you for the kind words, Greg.
Played when I was about 7... hated then, would love it now
I loved these games as a kid and still do love them now. TBH I think in many respects the NES ports improved on the Mac originals.
had this and beat it when i was a kid my first copy i bought had a hint book with it and it helped alot in beatin it
This game scared the crap out of me when I was a kid... but I loved it!! :)
Nice... it's definitely a spooky old castle. The skeleton on the lake always creeped me out the most I think.
I love your history on games and more because I own them all everything that you put on here I have a PS one mini USB That all these games so I paid close attention but cool Page you have
Use. Torch. Self. Three times! 😂
OMFG this is one of my favourite games of all time... and I'm only finding out now (like almost 30 years later) that you can get hints by pressing start/select. 🤦🏻♂️
Looks like the Leprechaun skipped town!
I only know of this game because it was in Compute's Nintendo Secrets book. and that's it till this video
He thinks he's got an embarrassing story?
I was setting my hair on fire lol!
"The rest of your body soon follows!"
I tried playing this when I was 8-10 years old but it was hard as nails. I still got quite far though.
In the middle of the night….,it’s nice to find a friend. Thank you FNA.
We're open 24/7 ... hope you're doing okay bud.
@@FridayNightArcade I’m fine. I was going through some earlier times in my life watching your channel. Have you ever thought of doing any reviews or retrospectives on the Commodore 64? Raid over Moscow/ Beachhead/ Beachhead II would be absolutely stellar. I wish I was a patron. Just wanted to put this out there. Thank you for your channel!!
Definitely want to get into some C64 stuff soon... Thanks for the suggestions!
One of my favorite games
I go through peaks and troughs with retro game channels. I'll subscribe for a bit then go off them and unsubscribe. However since I've found this channel I've never been disappointed. Just started watching from the beginning and really enjoying it. Really well made, well thought out videos. There's some gems I haven't heard of before too like this one. A channel continuously putting out videos of this quality deserves way more subs
That's very kind of you to say, Liam. Thank you.
Very neat video, subbed!
Utterly crazy but my cousin ran up his phone bill calling the Nintendo Hotline for almost every instruction on how to beat Shadowgate for NES! Many of the puzzles were so nonsensical we couldn't figure them out! Everything else about the game is awesome, lol.
Loved these games. I always wished they made more.
Agreed - I'd buy it new every time if they did.
Really liked the video. See you on those Fridays I wanna be motivated to take a run. 😜
I'm pretty sure this trilogy of games are also the only ones that ever received localized and translated Swedish versions on the NES.
It's kinda crazy just how iconic and different the soundtrack to these games sounds though. It sounds so unlike any other NES game that I can think of and it's awesome
Thank you for sharing - had no idea these got Swedish translations. That's awesome.
Yes - the soundtrack to all of these games is very distinctive, particularly Shadowgate which is darn perfect.
This was a total classic! I'd missed it on the NES, so my first time playing was the Game Boy Color port, which was decent, but doesn't look as good. I prefer the NES visuals for all 3, but Deja Vu and its sequel do look great on the Game Boy Color.
A friend and I got in big trouble for racking up a $300 phone bill calling Nintendo power trying to beat this game
4:17 WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?!?!?!?
I beat this game as a kid back in the early 90's (by the way the date in your video description is wrong, it wasn't ported in 1998, it was ported in 1989). Until now I never knew about the secret hints from the select button! That would've been a game changer.
Finding the key in the skull was what almost made me and my friend give up back in the day. I didn't know of any hints in the game either. Finally we found it. Still never beat it. Got quite far though.
So nice to see this game reviewed, loved every frustrating minute of it. They redid Shadowgate with better graphics 'n such not too long ago, it holds true to the original, and just as fun. I think it is on Steam or such. =^.^=
I swear the music in that game went way too hard for absolutely no reason and I still have those tunes to this day and I am near 40 years old
I remember renting this when I was like 5 years old, I was stumped by the locked doors and ended up crying lol
LOL... 😃
I wonder if there is a shadow gate speed run.
Saw the ad on Angry Video Game Nerd.... Subscribed!!!
Hey thanks - welcome to the party!
Great video! Deja Vu was the one that struck home with me as a kid, and I always like seeing these get proper attention.
Side note: I'm fairly new to your channel, but didn't you have a ton more content? I was just getting into your God of War uploads, and now everything seems to be gone! I hope all is well.
Hey thanks cor sharing - glad you're enjoying the channel. The Let's Plays are still up, but they're Unlisted for now. If you go to the main channel page and scroll all the way down to the bottom, you'll see "Friday Night Arcade Classic." Click on that and it will take you to all the LPs and God of War. It didn't seem like those series were doing very well with my usual audience so I backed off for now. I may start up a second side channel for casual LPs and live streams again though and then keep the "edited" stuff on this main channel. I may continue GoW as a live stream. Thanks again for watching! - Aaron
Friday Night Arcade great review once again top notch stuff love the work and will probably be trying my own shadow gate run now never knew of this classic thanks again Aaron best regards
One of ur biggest fans here glad 2 see the new content so soon after u told me 2 keep an eye out
Thanks again u rock can't wait for the next one
Well j can wait but yea you get what I mean lol
This game I don't think would be as great if it wasn't for it's memorable soundtrack. I love this game!
That's a really good point. All these Kemco titles had a very specific tone to them that's just not quite like anything else on the NES. This one specifically is the best and it's just fantastic. It really draws you into the story and every bit enhances the experience.
@@FridayNightArcade Two other NES games that the music was an integral part was _Solstice_ and _Legacy of the Wizard._
You gotta update it with Beyond Shadowgate :P
Viola!!! x'D
Lol yeah when I was a kid i always said it that way...
I returned this game to the library because I couldn't find that key in the skull
Lol I get it.
All that and for under $18,000! Why Friday Night Arcade did you not have 5 of these?! At such a bargain how could you pass that up? ;)
The solution to the first key puzzle was in the instruction booklet Otherwise I likely would have shelved it too.
You didn't get a book when you rented it from Giant Eagle (Pennsylvanian grocery chain). They gave you a simplified instruction sheet.
my gripe with the game right from entering the castle is how short your flame lasts, even after getting the other torch from the wall, now I've only played the Apple IIgs version, so don't know the differences but I actual like the look of the game better on NES from what I've seen here
Funny you mention that. I've always noticed with this game -- and I'm not sure if it's a glitch or a "feature" -- but if you die and use the Continue option, your torch goes dim and the warning music hits within a few turns. No matter what. Even if you freshly light a torch and then immediately die and use Continue, that freshly lit torch will go dim within a few turns. But if you die, reset your console and do a hard reload from your last save, that same freshly lit torch will last the normal amount of time (significantly longer). It's like an unofficial penalty for using the Continue option vs just saving your game as often as possible and reloading from previous saves if you die.
Nice review
Hey thanks. - A
Good stuff once again!
Thank you!
As a child shadowgate wasnt the point and click for me the point and click i played and liked was dejavu
My fiance is a shadowgate fan
She has finished it several times i never finished it
Michelle likes shadowgate so much
That i went and bought her an n64 for her birthday and a copy of shadowgate for n64 and she finished it about 2 weeks (we both work full time jobs) as for the other
Nes point and click games michelle finished them all except dejavu
Oh yeah she finished maniac mansion too i showed michelle how to finish deja vu mi chelle and i are currently casually playing deja vu 2 on the gbc
Not sure why my dad bought this for me when I was like 6 years old. Lol😅 had no idea what to do.
I bet this game it was pretty hard
Yes. We got stuck at the room with the well for over a week.
Awesome vid
hey thanks!
Friday Night Arcade how often do you intend on releasing vids? I love the game history, thorough reviews and personal anecdotes.
Hey thanks Tom! I'm actually working on a new video right now - hope to have it out by the end of the weekend. Sorry for the lack of updates - my personal schedule got a little wonky and then my wife and I went on vacation last week. Eventually the plan is to do 1 video every Friday and also a live stream once a week somewhere in there.
I have always found most RPG's enjoyable.
I loved this growing up.....now...NOPE. Wouldnt touch it.
u interrupted her beauty sleep
SPACE REAPER
Viola😂
ruclips.net/video/xECUrlnXCqk/видео.html&ab_channel=DovidDovidson
we had a shitty tv so we couldn't see at the bottom was leave and speak options,not good
Did Cameron Howe design this game? This joke will be lost on most im sure but idc.
Dude I hated this game... ugh.
Lol it's definitely not for everybody
Friday Night Arcade I played it all the way through with my friend Tom one night in Middle School. We stayed up till all hours of the morning to beat the game. But I did see your review of startropics I absolutely loved that game. However, one thing I never see is anybody review either of the Ultima games on the NES. Ultima 4 quest of the Avatar or Ultima 3 Exodus. Both good games in their own right but I preferred Ultima 4 over 3. I guess RPGs don't get the same attention as action games. This brings back so many memories, Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, skate or die although not an rpg. The Adventures of Lolo. I even remember the first fighting game Urban champion.
Awesome - thank you for sharing your stories. I agree that RPGs don't get as much love as they should although to be fair, they're a little tougher to review. If may take anywhere from 15 to 40 hours to play through an RPG, record all the footage an then write up and shoot a review... versus a game that can be played (and recorded) all the way through in under 3-5 hours. I want to review some RPGs but haven't exactly figured out how I'm going to realistically incorporate them into my schedule. I remember playing Final Fantasy Legend II and III on Game Boy and loved those games (even if I know that that they technically weren't even Final Fantasy games lol).
the nes version is the best one. Check out my channel for a lets play.
I always laughed hard at the remake wolf woman, as she talks all that big game and then transforms, and you just use the same silver arrow and take her down, it isn't even a boss fight or anything, the original werewolf girl was more of a trap than the wolf-woman as the moment you do anything besides looking/talking to the girl (touch the blade of ages or trying to release the girl by punching the chains), then she will turn into a wolf and attack you, the new one was so darn obvious her kill rate was zero instead of 50/50.