Thoughts on Shadowgate 64 (published by Kemco exclusively for the N64)

[Victar]

Kemco is well-known for publishing the "MacVenture" trilogy of adventure games (Deja Vu, Uninvited, Shadowgate) on the Nintendo Entertainment System, back in they day. They also published Deja Vu's sequel in "Deja Vu I & II" for the GameBoy Color. Kemco did not publish Shadowgate's direct sequel "Beyond Shadowgate" for the Turbo Grafx...

...but Kemco did publish Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers, a distant sequel to Shadowgate released exclusively on the Nintendo 64 system. Shadowgate 64 was never released for virtual console.

Shadowgate 64 is a point-and-click adventure-puzzle game, not an RPG, although it sometimes gets categorized as one because the N64 has so few RPGs. There is no significant combat system.

Shadowgate 64 is set centuries after the original Shadowgate, in an era when Shadowgate's noble hero has become a revered figure of myth. The playable character is Del Cottonwood, a small, physically weak halfling. Del is kidnapped and imprisoned at the beginning of the game, and must brave the titular four towers to confront an evil sorceror and prevent his nefarious plans.

The gameplay is primarily in first-person perspective, like the original Shadowgate; Del isn't seen unless a mirror is present. Del navigates seamless (albeit rather blocky and polygonal) 3D enivronments, instead of the static windows of the original Shadowgate. The user interface is simplified, with one button dedicated to actions and the other to using items.

Like the original Shadowgate, death lurks behind every corner of Shadowgate 64, and stumbling across the many, many ways Del can die is part of the game's "fun". I remember enjoying Shadowgate 64's gameplay, but I also remember feeling 100% "done with this" after finishing the game.

Today, Shadowgate 64 cartridges can be tracked down for a reasonable price (unlike Beyond Shadowgate, which auctions for jaw-dropping amounts). It's the cost of obtaining an N64 to play a cartridge on that would give most gamers pause, and makes Shadowgate 64 hard to recommend.

According to Wikipedia, the other N64 games published by Kemco are The Bombing Islands, Knife Edge: Nose Gunner, Twisted Edge Extreme Snowboarding, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Daikatana, and some Top Gear series titles. The only thing I know about any of these is that they're not RPGs.

[SylarDean]

I enjoyed Shadowgate 64 - Tot4T to be fair, it was like playing Doom 64 without the monsters LOL! My only issue with the game was most of it you spent down in the same looking stone walled dungeon, which was boring to look at, other than that it wasn't a totally bad game at all.