To explain why I absolutely needed this game, you have to go back to my days as a young child. My parents had bought me and my little brother an NES for Christmas fairly recently and we loved playing on that thing. In fact we were into it enough they actually subscribed to Nintendo Power for us, and this was how I met Shadowgate for the first time. One of the earlier magazines included a walkthrough for the game up till you face off with the fire drake about 1/3rd or so through the original title… and I devoured every inch of those pages, loving everything I found about the game. I knew a game this intricate HAD to be in my library.
My parents were apparently listening as I got the game for my next birthday… and then I had my first encounter with the grim reaper. Maybe as a kid, I had not had enough exposure to horror to be ready for it, but that thing creeped me right the hell out, and yet I couldn’t let him beat me. With that in mind, I faced off with the game again and again and finally, it was, if I’m not mistaken, the second game I ever finished since I started playing video games. (In case you are wondering, the first was Life Force, which I borrowed from a friend and took out with the 30 life code.)
Suffice it to say, this game stuck with me, enough so I would speed run it a few more times before I put down the cart forever due to the nature of the game itself. And I would ultimately get an N64 almost exclusively to play the one sequel I was aware of (even if I got it after it finished it’s run cheap). So when I saw the original being remade with new puzzles on Kickstarter, I got excited and already knew I would have this one too. And now that I finished my first playthrough of the new version… I have to say, it was worth the wait. Welcome to Castle Shadowgate!