Changes: Dark Castle (Sega Genesis)

Dark Castle (Sega Genesis)[[Image:]]
Developer(s)	Original Silicon Beach Software ; Port Three-Sixty Pacific, inc.
Release date(s)	1991 (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)
Genre(s)	Platform game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	Sega Genesis - US; Sega Megadrive - Europe.

Revision as of 23:13, 19 December 2007

This article mainly refers to the Genesis version of Dark Castle, and the differences between it and other versions, for more general Dark Castle info visit Dark Castle

After winning many awards, and being a top seller on the mac, Three-Sixty ported Dark Castle to many systems, including Sega's home Console, the Sega Genesis.

Graphics

The graphics for Dark Castle on the Mac where highly praised for the clearness, and high resolution.

The graphics were vastly redone for the Genesis port of Dark Castle, with very different looking sprites for things. the backgrounds also changed drastically, with some levels, such as Trouble 1, taking place outdoors, then they originally had not.

The Genesis could, however, render color, though, even with the color, the graphics appear highly washed out, and blurry.

Sounds

The sounds on the Mac version of Dark Castle were highly praised. Where as the Genesis port of the game switched, or removed many of the sounds, and the remaining ones sounded noticeably worse.

Additionally, this game is known for having Dark Castle's intro music Toccata Fugue In D Minor, play through on loop throughout the entire game.

Here are some of the changes to sounds in Dark Castle for the Sega Genesis:

Instead of a wing-flapping sound, bats just continuously squeal as though they are dying.
When crows dive, they make the sound formerly reserved for their spawnage.
When our hero is dizzy, his audible stupor is replaced by the sound of his double-take upon remembering gravity (which, incidentally, happens every time he jumps to lower ground).

Controls

Three-Sixty Pacific's control Scheme for Dark Castle on the Genesis read out as such:

While Paused:

Up/Down - Cycle through settings.
A - Toggle current setting (Difficulty/SFX/Music).
Start - Resume.

Great Hall:

Left/Right - Select Door.
C - Enter Selected Door.

In Game:

Start - Pause
B - Duck
B+Down - Pick up
Left/Right - Movement
A - Jump
Up Down - Different arm positions for aiming.
C - Throw rock

Differences from other versions

You start with 2 Elixirs, and get an extra life every 5000 points
If you run out of Elixirs, you are basically dead, regardless of how many lives you have.
Duncan's co-ordination is even more spaz-tastic - landing on stairs from a jump kills you!
You daze spin out the same length as the Dark Castle PC version - i.e. one less spin than the Dark Castle
The clouds in Shield 4 never target you directly even when you have the shield ready to "charge". You have to wait... (and sometimes wait and wait and wait) for them to strike you.
The Wizard's magic door doesn't open even with the right combination if you start pulling another chain whilst it is flashing. (doink!)
There's only one Burning Eye on Advanced - although given the lameness of the rock aiming, this isn't surprising.
You can shoot it's Fireballs with your Rocks.
Shooting the Burning Eye whilst it's closed misses, and the rock goes right through - you have to wait for it to open!
The graffiti has changed to say "Gamers Rule" and "Saddam was here".
You can activate the Shield for as long as you want!
The Gargoyle is silent in this version.
The Shield woks against the Gargoyle, meaning there's no need to ever get the Fireball.
You can kill the Black Knight's mugs with your fireballs, and they never bounce.
If you shoot the Black Knight's Mug, he seems to glitch out, and just sits there drinking - he never throws another Mug. Combining this with being able to shield the Gargoyle makes it incredibly easy.
When you beat the Black Knight on Advanced, you go back to the Great Hall (don't get thrown in Trouble 3) and you keep the Shield and Fireball.
When you get the Shield, it replaces your duck button, so you can't duck anymore.
Every time you hit the action button without something nearby to interact with, Duncan bends down as if to pick something up. Even when he finds nothing, he still says "Yeah!"
The Gargoyle only gives one warning yell, mere moments before he appears.
The Broom splits so quickly that it's impossible to pass. Instead, you have to keep pelting away until the tiniest chunks eventually disintegrate. Or just wait with the Shield for awhile.
The Whip Henchman is shorter than the protagonist.
When you run out of lives, you can just continue without even turning to the Great Hall.
The Black Knight's timing is completely random; sometimes he will take up to seven drinks of the same Mug before throwing it. Thus, there is no way to plan your moves.

Reception

The reception of the Sega Genesis version was highly negative, with critics panning the bad controls and messy graphics, and overall, a badly made port.

The general consensus is that the game is highly inferior to the Mac version, in graphics, sound and gameplay.

This is also considered to be the worst port of Dark Castle, it suffers from bad graphics, horrible controls, not fully balanced game play, repetitive, and shrill music, dulled down sounds.

Gallery

Also See

Dark Castle - For more general info.
Dark Castle ports - list of other Dark Castle ports.

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 |modes = Single player
 |ratings =
-|platforms = '''Sega Genesis''' - US ''Sega Megadrive''' - Europe.
+|platforms = '''Sega Genesis''' - US<br /> '''Sega Megadrive''' - Europe.
 |requirements =
 }}