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| Courtesy of www.deltatao.com |
 Back in the dungeon: Old-school gamers who saw way too much of this dungeon scene can revisit it in "Return to Dark Castle," a new release that adds 60 screens to the 30 from the original "Dark Castle" games of the 1980s. courtesy of www.deltatao.com |
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Studies say college students retain only about 15 percent of what they're taught. Researchers cite lots of scientific mumbo-jumbo, but I blame my academic vacuity largely on "Dark Castle."
We had a copy of the platform game on an old black-and-white Mac used to publish the college newspaper, and it soaked up my leisure time (and then some) while waiting for reporters who were also missing their deadlines.
It was brutally hard but featured cutting edge graphics and sound for the time, plus great creativity and liberal doses of humor in its medieval game screens. Next year the more complex "Beyond Dark Castle" ensured a lingering sophomore slump.
Color versions of "Dark Castle" were released for numerous platforms, including a cell phone version in 2006; but when a remake with a vastly expanded number of screens and a level editor was announced, I was champing at the bit.
That was seven years ago.
"Return to Dark Castle" limped through buggy betas and dubious explanations for delays, making many fans suspect vaporware. But developers just announced the Windows/Mac remake is done - and even if not, there's a free demo offering nearly as much game play as either of the originals at a somewhat hard-to-find Web site (URL below).
Bad news is it's Mac-only at the moment, so I'll recommend that Windows users kill some time with a browser game at Yahoo! Games called "Avalanche" - a must-try title given the current Juneau-under-siege snowpack - where a much-needed shoot-em-up mentality is applied to the tired "Tetris"/"Bubble Bobble" puzzle genre.
The 15 screens on each of the original "Dark Castle" games might be a paucity by modern standards, but it still took weeks to conquer them on the easiest of three difficulty levels.
The main character, Duncan, needed to collect some power-ups/treasures before facing the black knight in a final showdown. Duncan could run, jump, throw rocks at enemies and do other basic actions, with the sequel adding extras such as jet-pack flight.
The remake apparently has 90 screens, including new levels and a large number of secret areas. Even better is the promised level editor that allows easy modification of virtually everything on screen (it's possible to hack the demo, but a lot more complicated). If the patience shown by fans at online boards is any indication, a vast number of quests are likely to show up in short order.
Almost everything appealing from the originals survives in the demo, including the intuitive mouse-and-keyboard controls and sound effects that mostly make Duncan seem like a clueless dork. There's also an extremely friendly and reasonably short tutorial that gets one up to speed, plus the ability to save games.
Two bits of caution: The game should be played in full-screen, rather than windowed mode, because aiming rocks with the mouse barely works otherwise. Also, a few minor graphics glitches occur during unorthodox situations/movements, which are the sort of thing likely to be detected and fixed before final release.
The demo for "Return To Dark Castle" is www.deltatao.com/joedelta/iblog/B1331004611/C1696870512/E20070111210044/index.html. Don't mistake this for an old beta that is more prominent on Web pages of those working on the game.
• Mark Sabbatini is a professional retrogamer, who as a child had to play games on computers that used letters such as "A" to depict space invaders and "T" as the ship that shot them down.
