Shadowgate (Europe) ROM

Shadowgate was perhaps the first, and certainly one of the best (and possibly the best), dungeon exploration games on the NES. It demonstrates that one does not need particularly powerful processors to create an extremely enjoyable experience, provided sufficient imagination is present. It also reveals the advantages of defying the norm. For Shadowgate is different.

The typical NES game involves a two-dimensional view, in which the player controls a character and battles monsters. Not Shadowgate: here we have a three-dimensional, first person view, with the character moving from room to room, solving problems and encountering traps. Regarding the latter, it would be fair to give this game the subtitle 'A hundred ways to die' - for there are many painful (and funny) ways in which your character can come to grief. Fortunately the game permits you to continue from the room prior to the location of your untimely demise, though saving is nonetheless advisable.

Shadowgate's interface is also very different from that of a typical NES game. As the screenshots indicate, the game's screen is basically split into three areas: an inventory screen in the top-right corner, a navigation bar at the bottom (where actions can be selected and messages are displayed), and the game screen at the top-left corner. The D-pad is employed to move a cursor along this screen, and the buttons are used to click on items, actions, enemies, etc... or to cancel. In short, the essential gameplay is that of a 'point-and-click' adventure.

Solving puzzles, rather than winning battles, constitutes the bulk of the activities in the game, and there are plenty of them. Furthermore, some are far from obvious and can leave even an experienced player wondering what to do next. Perhaps the best advice one can give in this regard, is to try everything and to pay close attention to the details of the rooms.

The graphics are quite well-drawn for an NES game; thus the various rooms look and feel distinct, which makes exploring the castle a pleasure. Musically, Shadowgate excels whilst its sound-effects are satisfactory, although perhaps a little sparse. It is not a particularly long game, but it easily compensates in terms of quality for whatever is lacking in terms of quantity.

All in all, Shadowgate is a game that an intelligent person will relish.