+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dark Castle Walkthrough Date 1-11-04 Version 0.9 By David Bielsa (davidbielsa@hotmail.com) *********** ** INTRO ** *********** Dark Castle is a platform game. It is old, complex, hard, bit frustrating, and fun.The game consists of controlling your hero, named Duncan who has to defeat the Black Knight. The GreatHall is where Duncan starts and it has four doors: numbers 1 and 2 will lead Duncan to the Fireball stage or the Dungeon stage randomly. 3 leads to the Black Knight and 4 to the Shield. In order to defeat the Black Knight, Duncan has to get some powers i.e. the shield and the fireball. ******************** ** ABOUT THIS FAQ ** ******************** This faq is meant to help you going through the game in its three difficult levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. It starts with the basics (Controls, bestiary, tips, etc...) and then it describes the walkthrough which is the main part of this faq. The walkthrough is written in a way so it explains the easiest manner of completing each level. I tried to find the ways to maximize the chances of survival and that is what it is explained in this faq. It could be more fun to complete some levels in another way, but, heh, the game is already too difficult to start messing around. Please do not reproduce (even only a part of it) this document without my permission. However, ask me about it and I will surely say yes. Also, I'd be glad to answer any question regarding the game. davidbielsa@hotmail.com. I use the following abbreviations: S1, S2 ... means Shield 1, Shield 2... The stages of shield. T1, T2 ... means Trouble 1, Trouble 2... F1, F2 ... for fireball BK means Black Knight ************** ** CONTENTS ** ************** 1. CONTROLS 1.1 CONFIGURATION 1.2 MOVEMENTS CHOOSING DOOR WALKING JUMPING FIRING DUCK SHIELD CLIMBING LADDERS / STAIRCASES CLIMBING WINES PICKING ITEMS UP STUN 2. ITEMS 3. BESTIARY RAT BAT VULTURE MUTANT ROCK HENCHMAN WHIP HENCHMAN GUARD FIREEYE BROOM DRAGON GARGOYLE 4. PITS 5. POINTS 6. TIPS 7. WALKTHROUGH DIFFICULTY ISSUES TROUBLE SHIELD FIREBALL BLACK KNIGHT 8. ENDING 9. FUNNY STUFF 10. CREDITS ***************** ** 1. CONTROLS ** ***************** 1.1 CONFIGURATION If you can customize the controls, use this configuration: Key A. Move left Key D. Move right Key W. Up. Key S. Down Key Q. Use/get/shield Key E. Duck SpaceBar. Jump. Mouse. Fire. With this config, you move Duncan with your left hand and fire with the right hand. The controls in my PC version are horrible and cannot be changed: Arrow Keys. Move left, right, up , down. SpaceBar. Jump Key A. Use/get/shield Key D. Duck. Mouse. Fire. With this configuration you need three hands to control Duncan: one for ducking and using, another for moving and another for shooting. A solution consists on aiming with the number keys (arm position) and firing with enter. Key 1 shoots upwards, and key 8 downwards. Intermediate keys shoot in intermediate positions. I suggest using this way of shooting primarily. Only in situations where hard aiming is required, its wise to use the mouse. 1.2 MOVEMENTS CHOOSING DOOR The keys to choose a door in the Great Hall are: 1 & 2 gets you to either the dungeon or the fireball 3 Black Knight 4 Shield WALKING -Left and right move Duncan in those directions at normal speed (walking). You can move with accurate steps like this. -Walking over a pit (i.e. you have no floor under you any more) results in Duncan flying for a moment, still, he says ooooh, and then he falls vertically. Like the coyote in the cartoons :) However, if during the time Duncan is in the air this way, he comes to have floor under his feet again, he will automatically stay on it. This happens with moving platforms. -Walking over a discrete step, or through a floored whip henchman results in Duncan falling down to the other side and he gets stun. -Walking and colliding with certain walls gets Duncan stun. But in most of the cases he will just stop walking. JUMPING -With no direction key pressed, jump makes Duncan to perform a high-medium range jump. Its the safest way to grab wines. Its also very easy to time when jumping over moving platforms. -left or right + jump makes Duncan perform a low-very long range jump. Its the fastest way that Duncan can move, so its used basically for running. Its the way to jump through pits too. It should NEVER be used to grab wines or to jump through small platforms (however, you have no option in certain situations. See SHIELD 3 intermediate/advanced) -Down + jumps results in a low, short range jump. This jump has also the power to diminsh falling damage which is very important. It should be used to jump to lower platforms and when you want to prevent being killed by falling damage in some situations. -Jumping and hitting a wall can get Duncan stun. FIRING -The keys 1 to 8 allow Duncan to aim at different angles. 1 to 90º and 8 to almost -90º. You can aim with the mouse also. (See controls) Rocks will get lost if they reach the screen limits if they don't hit an enemy beforehand. This means that walls, floors, etc can't interrupt rocks. -If a bat bites you and gets stuck to you, use the 8 angle (arm down) to kill it. DUCK -Duncan ducks as long as the key is pressed. Used mainly to dodge guard arrows. There is a BIG trick/bug involving ducking (see the TIPS section) SHIELD Used with the action key. It makes you invulnerable to everything but the gargoyle. You must have picked up the shield first.Two versions: -In the Mac version, you are invincible as long as the action key is pressed. However, if you keep it pressed, you can only be invulnerable for 4 seconds. However, if you press the action key very fast, you can be invincible all the time you want (see tips) -In my PC version, you can't control the invincible time: it lasts always 4 seconds, then you become vulnerable again. However if you press the action key very fast, you can be invincible all the time you want. CLIMBING LADDERS / STAIRCASES -Use the up/down key. The best way to climb/go down is to press simultaneously the forward and up/down key. With this method, Duncan will walk until he finds the ladder/stair and then he will climb it. - Climbing ladders is fast. Going up/down staircases is SLOW. You are very vulnerable since you can't do anything while you are in a ladder/staircase. CLIMBING WINES - If Duncan jumps to a wine, he will grab it. Afterwards, he can climb it up/down with the up and down keys. -Pressing left or right while you are in a wine will result in Duncan chaging position on the wine (left or right). This is used to jump from wine to wine and to evade rocks disposed along the wine which don't kill you but prevent Duncan from climbing if he's not in the right position. -To change between wines, Duncan's body has to be between the two wines. Then press left or right and Duncan will jump to the other wine. -Duncan can't climb black wines (they lead you to the dungeon) PICKING ITEMS UP -If you are over an item (rock bag, elixir, key, etc) you can take it. You have to be EXACTLY over that item. STUN -If you fall from a moderate distance (more distance will kill Duncan, short distance will do him nothing) Duncan will get stun. You can get stun by other ways (see WALKING above) You can't do anything but wait while you are stun. ************** ** 2. ITEMS ** ************** Items appear always in the same positions. However, they appear randomly. -Rocks. Duncan ammunition. You can pick up rock bags using the action key. Each bag contains 10 rocks. You can have up to 89 rocks. Once you get the fireball power, rocks become fireballs. -Elixirs. Remedy to bats and rats. If Duncan touches a bat or a rat he will lose an elixir. If he has no elixirs left, he die. You can lose elixirs at a maximum rate of 1 elixir per sec approx. You don't have any elixir capacity limit. ***************** ** 3. BESTIARY ** ***************** RAT (20 pts) Their source are rat holes. If you kill them, more rats will go out of the hole after a predermined time. They drain one elixir if you touch them. In shield 3 and black knight 1, they come out constantly from the holes above and they climb down the wines. BAT (30 pts) They are sleeping at the beginning of each stage hanging on the ceiling/platforms. After a certain time, different for every bat, they will wake up and will head to Duncan. If they reach him, they will get stuck to him, draining elixirs at maximum speed. VULTURE (30 pts) Appear always in formation in stages FB1 and S2. They will fly down, then towards Duncan, they make a small loop and they return to their formation. Can be ducked but they will fly down also. They are replaced if killed. If at the very beginning of the stage they appear, Duncan jumps forward to the other side of the screen, the vultures won't be able to reach him. MUTANT (30 pts) Replaced if killed. They can climb down wines in FB1. ROCK HENCHMAN (100 pts) Appear in S1 and BK2. They will throw rocks that will bounce down the screen until they get to the bottom. Immune to rocks/fireballs. Only the BK2 one can be killed by pulling down the lever that will activate 16 tons that will crush him. WHIP HENCHMAN (150 pts) Appear in T3. He is the keep holder. Immune to rocks. Can be K.O.ed temporaly with a morning star. Pick the morning star with with the "get" key. Then move forward and fire to swing the morning star. Once stunned, Duncan has to jump over him. If he just walk, he will fall down and he will get stun. After a certain time, he will wake up. He can only be stunned once, since the morning star is irrecuperable once used. ***Note. I was able once to jump OVER him in both ways. You have to time your jump with his whip movement, so he doesnt touch you. GUARD (50 pts) -Appears from a door in the limits of the screen. He patrols around the floor he's on, normally in a very predictable manner. However, this is not true in intermediate and advanced difficulty. If Duncan is at their level, they will rise their arms, and they can throw an arrow while in this position. The touch of either the arrow or the guard is fatal. -If they are hit with a rock, they get stun and they can't kill Duncan. As the level raises, their stun time becomes shorter and shorter. Then they will get up. -If they are hit with a fireball, they will get down on the floor and then dissapear. After some time another guard will come out from the door replacing the killed guard. As the level raises, their replacement time becomes shorter and shorter. *** Note. Forward jump has weird properties. I was able once to jump over a walking guard with a forward jump. FIREEYE (30 pts) -Only in the FB4 stage. He flies towards Duncan very slowly. He throws fireballs ONLY in the four diagonal directions. If he gets hit by a rock, he gets stunned. As the level raises, his stun time becomes shorter and shorter. If he's stunned, he can't kill Duncan. The stun timer resets if another rock hits him. BROOM (30 pts) -Only in the FB4 stage. It sweeps the floor at a slow speed, moving forward and backwards. If its hit, it will be divided into three smaller brooms. If those smaller brooms are hit, they will be divided into three even smaller brooms. These very little brooms will fall down the pit on the right. However, three smaller brooms will never fall down the pit. -The best way to lead with it is getting close to it and then activate the shield. During 4 secs, the broom will pass through Duncan. DRAGON (150 pts) -Only in S2. It appears from the right side on the screen, throwing flames. ONLY the flames hurt Duncan, not the body (i think this must be a bug, see below) As the level raises, his speed becomes faster and faster. -To stun the dragon (its not necessary) you have to throw some water over him, situated in a tank over the dragon. To activate the tank, use the key action. As the level raises, its stun time becomes shorter and shorter. GARGOYLE (100 pts) -Only in Black Knight levels. It appears after some time, from the opposite side Duncan is. After appearing, it will yell 3 times. As the level raises, its appearing time becomes shorter and shorter. -Can only be killed with fireball. -Once it appears it will always grab Duncan unless: -Gargoyle is killed. -Duncan is killed. -Duncan falls to dungeon. -If the gargoyle grabs Duncan, it will let him fall into the dungeon (T3). ************* ** 4. PITS ** ************* Every pit in the game i.e. a hole in the bottom on the screen, leads to Trouble 3. Once Duncan gets out of trouble, he will get back to the great hall. Many levels start with some black platforms at the bottom of the screen. Duncan can walk over those platforms, but after some seconds, they will disappear, revealing some pits that lead to trouble 3. *************** ** 5. POINTS ** *************** You get points by: Killing an enemy (see bestiary) Getting shield power (1000 pts) Getting fireball power (1000 pts) Killing the black knight (5000 pts) Getting the key (50 pts) Also, at the beginning of each stage, there is a counter that starts with: -2000 pts Beginner -3000 pts Intermediate -4000 pts Advanced That counter starts to count down to 0. If it reaches 0, Duncan is NOT killed. Duncan gets the points remaining when he completes a stage. Completing a stage means: -reaching the opposite exit you started. -getting the key. (bonus counter restarts!) -getting the shield -getting the fireball power -killing the Black Knight You get an extra life every -5000 pts Beginner -7500 pts Intermediate -10000 pts Advanced ************* ** 6. TIPS ** ************* 1- The first thing you must do once you are in the GreatHall is to choose Door 1. If it's the dungeon, reset the game. If you are in the fireball stage, go back to the GreatHall and memorize the door. Once you discover the fireball room, it won't switch positions with Dungeon, even if you defeat the Black Knight. 2- The general strategy to start the stages is as follows: Case 1. If you appear over a pit trap, jump forward fast to evade it. Case 2. If there are some bats, kill them first. Case 3. If there are no bats, move as fast as you can before the enemies appear. Fortunately, there are no stages with cases 1 and 2 simultaneously. 3- If you are short of rocks, you can find a stage with rocks close to the start. Pick them up and then return. Come back again and get the new rocks. Repeat. 4- You need a HUGE stock of elixires to not being worried about the rats in the game (mainly in BK1 and S3). Elixirs are at the end MORE IMPORTANT than lives, since the final stages are full of rats. The fastest way to get them is in S1: Complete the level and then go back. Jump the two pits and go down the ladder. Do it fast or you will get hit by a rock. Get the elixir down the ladder. Wait till the henchman throws another rock and then go up, get the other elixir and go to the exit again. Repeat. 5- Aiming is difficult in Dark Castle. Remember that to aim you can move your arm with the mouse or the number keys but ALSO moving Duncan. e.g. Suppose that you want to kill a sleeping bat and you aim and fire but your shot *almost* touch the bat. You can make a step forward and then fire. You will surely get the bat this time. 6- Shield is great but it can make picking up things really annoying. If you are not exactly over the item you want to pick up, the shield will activate, making you lose 4 precious seconds (this not happens in the Mac version). So be extra careful when picking items up when you have the shield. 7- Monsters are there to kill you not to kill them. Only kill them if necessary. They don't give many points compared to the bonus time of the stage. Complete the stages fast! However, if you need desperately a life and your score is close to an extra life value, it would be reasonable to search some points killing some enemies. 8- Falling down a pit doesn't kill you (unless you are hit in your way down, in this case you are sent to the dungeon AND lose a life) but gets you to the dungeon, which is really annoying and time consuming. On the other hand, in beginner and intermediate levels, this is not too bad, since the dungeon levels are easy and can be used to gain one or two lives with points. So don't´t get frustrated if you are sent to the dungeon, because, from the point of view of getting extra lives is good. However, if you are in the Black Knight stages (BK1 is very elixir consuming), it is preferable to get killed than going to the dungeon. So if you see a gargoyle coming up to you and you can't kill her for whatever reason, think about getting you killed instead of being grabbed by the gargoyle. 9- Focus when you are killed. If you are killed and you restart over a pit trap, you have to move from there as fast as you can. If you regret your death and do nothing, you can end up in the dungeon. 10- In the Black Knight stages, find a safe place to wait for the gargoyle. Remember, if you can't find any when you hear the gargoyle's scream, it is preferable to die and restart the level. 11- Every time but the first one, the GreatHall stage has bonus points. Choose your door quick to get them! 12- This is a great bug I came up with and it is enormously useful: Get to the base of a ladder. Press the duck key and then climb the ladder holding the duck key. When he reaches the top of the ladder, he will be flying some feet in the air!! This can be exploted in many levels as in level S1: Go to the first ladder and do the bug. From your flying position you can reach the third floor with a jump!. Repeat the trick with the other ladder and the level is finished!! It can also be used in level T3, with the only ladder in the stage. You get a very high bonus using this method. ******************** ** 7. WALKTHROUGH ** ******************** DIFFICULTY ISSUES There are 3 levels of difficulty. As difficult increases, there are more foes but also some issues that have to be considered: -Respawning mosters respawn faster. -Whip Henchman wakes up earlier. -Guards appear/wake up (much) earlier. -Rock henchman throws faster, and rock directions become trickier. -Dragon gets faster. -Tower platform combination becomes trickier. -Clouds fire more often, more unexpected. -FB2 platforms change. Stalactites can destroy platforms. -FB2 more rocks. -Fire eye fires more often. Stun time diminishes. -Gargoyles appear more often. -Cups bounce. If you start in beginner, its the safest (and longest) way to face afterwards intermediate and advanced. Besides, your elixir stock will be easier to fill. If you start directly in intermediate, you have still nice chances of facing advanced with success. If you start directly in advanced you will have to be a god in order to get close the Black Knight. Its nearly impossible because you can't pick up too many elixirs. TROUBLE Trouble is the dungeon, the easiest of the 4 rooms. However, the only goal of being in the dungeon is to get out of it. It doesn't get you any further in the game. However, it is great to practice Duncan movements for practice. There are two ways to get to the dungeon: the first is choosing room 1 or 2 and the other is falling down a pit. The first one should never occur (see Tip 1). The second, unfortunately will occur often. In the first way, you start at Trouble 1 and you have to get to Trouble 3, get the key and back again. In the second way, you start at Trouble 3. The way from Trouble 1 to 3 is not discussed here since it should never happen. -TROUBLE 3 (TO EXIT) BEGINNER Wait the stun time. Then kill the bats. There are 3: two in the top of the screen and one in the second roof. Go down the stairs and pick the morning star up with the action key. Get close to the whip Henchman, but outside of his whip range. He will swing his whip twice at you, then he will rest. During his break, get close to him and hit fire. He will go down the floor but only for a short time, so you have to get the key and get back FAST. JUMP over the henchman, (not walk or you will be stun). Get close to the first key. If the prisioners shake their head saying "no, no , no" pick the other key up. If they don't say anything, pick up the first key. Go back, jump forward the henchman. To climb the zig-zag staircase, you can go up pressing the up key but this is slow. Jump from platform to platform instead, till you are in the platform just after the one where the rat is. Kill the rat and the first guard from there. Jump to the rat platform, fwd jump over the pit. don't pick up the rocks. Shoot the second guard instead and do trick 12 (see Tricks above) in the ladder. After climbing it, Duncan will be in mid air. Jump to get to the upper right platform. Go to the exit on the right. INTERMEDIATE Kill the bats. There is one bat more: Below the staircase on the top. Get the key as in beginner. Handle the rat and the first guard as in beginner. Be careful as the guards get up much faster. Be safe and don't rush. Kill the rat on the top of the ladder and the guard. Do trick 12 as in beginner. ADVANCED There is one more bat over the henchman. Apart from that detail, do as in intermediate. -TROUBLE 2 (TO EXIT) BEGINNER This level can be used to fill your rock stock. As soon as the level starts, fwd jump twice, then normal jump to get to the platform. Pick up the rock bag, then get back. Repeat. Be careful with the step between the staircase platform and the lower platform. Jump over it. To get down the stairs, you can do it the normal way or with a small jump. If you use normal or fwd jump you will get stun and probably killed by the guard that appears on the right. To finish the level do this: fwd jump twice, then normal jump. You should be close to the first ladder. Climb it. fwd jump to get the second ladder. Climb it. You should be fast enough so the guards appear once you are in the highest platform on the right. Kill the bats(2) from there. Getting through the swings its tricky. Jump to get the first one. Thats easy. Now wait till you swing to the left but don't jump to the other swing yet! Wait till the other swing gets closer and then jump to change swings. Jump to the platform on the left to finish the level. INTERMEDIATE Use the get rock method described in beginner. Now there will be a new guard on the top right platform. Fwd jump immediately twice (don't kill any bat yet). Normal jump. Climb the ladder. Go fast to the another ladder and climb it up. The top guard shouldn't have appeared yet. Go to the left edge of the platform and turn right. Hit the guard as soon as he opens the door. Now kill the bat thats just below you. Turn to the left and kill the first bat. Turn right again to stun the guard as soon as he gets up. Handle the last bat and do the swings thing as in beginner. ADVANCED Use the get rock method described in beginner. As soon as you start the level, aim for the rat on the second floor. The point is to find the arm angle so that a shot from there at the beginning of the level will kill the rat. (this will save you an elixir) If you lose many rocks using this method remember that you can always recuperate them since you are in a get rocks level. Once you get the arm angle, get back and return to the level. Fire at that angle and then do as in intermediate. The only exception is that you will have to deal with a fourth bat on the top right corner. -TROUBLE 1 (TO EXIT) BEGINNER Take one single step to the left to face left. Kill the two bats. Kill the guard from there. Now jump to the first wine when there are no rats above. Climb down and try to land where there are no rats. If there are, you will lose an elixir, is not so important. Beware the single step! Jump over it. Now you can wait until the guard gets up to stun him again. But in beginner mode, stun time is huge for guards, so you may go up the stair immediately. Pick up the rocks, kill the rats above. Walk up the staircases and open the door. INTERMEDIATE Follow the steps as in beginner to deal with the bats. don't shoot the guard from the initial position. Just descend the wines. As soon as you land on the ground, hit the first guard. Remember that the stun time has been reduced so be careful. Now you want to hit the second guard when he is in the left side of its platform going to the left so you will be safer to climb up the steps. Once you climb them up hit the guard again, kill the rats on the 3rd floor and finish the level. ADVANCED Kill immediately the bat below you but not the rest yet. Go down the wines immediately and get close to the single step. Kill the bats from there as you duck the possible arrows that the guards fire. If you duck they won't even aim at you. Once you kill the bats kill the two guards. Try that they are on the right side of the staircase. Go to the left of the staircase and shoot the guards again. Kill the rats above and go to the second floor. From there it should be easy to kill the rats and guard to get to the exit. SHIELD -SHIELD 1 BEGINNER You have to be kinda fast in this level or it will get filled with rocks. Jump fwd IMMEDIATELY since you start over a pit trap. Jump forward to the ladder. Pick up the elixir first if there is one. Use trick 12 (see tricks above) Once you are floating, jump to the third floor. Repeat trick 12 with the ladder. Climb it up when there are no rocks close to you. Jump to the upper right platform to finish the level. BUT NOT QUITE FINISHED YET: This level is used to get all the elixirs you will need for the rest of the game, so you don't have to worry a lot about rats from now on. Once you finish the level, get back. Fwd jump the two platforms and go down the ladder. Do it FAST or you will get hit by a rock. Pick up the elixir. Wait till the Henchman throws another rock. Then climb up, get the second elixir and head to the exit. Repeat around 20 times. INTERMEDIATE Follow steps as in beginner until you are on the base of the ladder of the third floor. Kill the mutants from there. You can then use trick number 12 as explained in beginner to get to the exit. This level can be used to fill your elixir stock as explained in beginner. However, the henchman throws trickier rocks, so it is more risky. You must know that this will be your LAST CHANCE to fill your elixir stock, since you can't do this method in advanced difficulty. ADVANCED This can be one of the hardest levels of the game. Follow steps as in beginner until you are on the base of the ladder of the third floor. Kill the mutants in the fourth floor. Climb up the ladder the NORMAL WAY, when there are no rocks on the top of the ladder. Once you are there, there are two possible cases: 1. The next rock won't hit the second platform of the fifth floor. If so, it will bounce before the ladder. Duck so it passes you. Fwd jump immediately to the ladder on the right. 2. The next rock will hit the second platform of the fifth floor. Fwd jump immediately to the ladder on the right. Press 5 to aim. Climb up the ladder as you see fit. (there is no strategy here since the rock trajectories are so random). Fwd jump to the middle platform and press fire twice to kill the mutants. Fwd jump to the exit. You have to do all these instructions VERY fast. !!!don't TURN BACK TO THIS LEVEL OR YOU WILL LOSE A LIFE!! !!KEEP THIS IN MIND!! -SHIELD 2 BEGINNER Jump fwd IMMEDIATELY to get through the vulture formation before they go down. If are 0.1 secs late and the vulture on the down right descends as soon as the level starts, you will be killed. Once you are in the down right corner of the screen you are safe. Wait there is no vultures around and jump to the upper platform. Pick the elixir and the rock. Now you have to time your climbing so there are no vultures around and the dragon won't burn you. Is not that hard. Once you are on the top of the ladder, fwd jump immediately to the right, the exit. Remember that only the fire can kill you, not the dragon itself. INTERMEDIATE Repeat steps for beginner. Kill the mutant. ADVANCED !!!don't TURN BACK TO PREVIOUS LEVEL OR YOU WILL LOSE A LIFE!! !!KEEP THIS IN MIND!! Repeat steps for intermediate. -SHIELD 3 BEGINNER Stay on the platform and kill the two bats. One is just above you and the other is hanging from a mid platform in mid screen. don't worry if you waste a lot of rocks, you will fill you stock later. Now is time to climb. Do it FAST to minimize the elixir consumtion. Try to evade the rats, its not that hard. But if you can't, you will not get killed, only an elixir will go off. If there are one elixir in the lower platform in the middle of the screen go for it. Once you jump from the wine to the platform you will land exactly in the elixir position, so you only have to press the action key and jump immediately to the next wine. You will lose one elixir when you pick the elixir up, but thats good, since you will have some invincible time afterwards. Go to the platform where the rocks are (if there are any) and pick them up. Go to the exit climbing the ladder. INTERMEDIATE Do a step forward. From there you have to kill the rat that will come to your place, when it is gliding down the wine. At the same time, you have to handle with the bats. There are two on the right side of the screen and the screen is full of rats, so let the bats come close to you to kill them. From now on, do as in beginner. ADVANCED Do as in intermediate. Now there are 3 bats on the right. -SHIELD 4 BEGINNER Kill the two bats. Go to the switch on the right and activate it. You will see some platforms go black. Those are true platforms, the others are fake. Activate the switch as often as you want to make it sure you memorize the true platforms. You should not use any fwd jump to climb the platforms. Once you get to the ladder climb it up when the clouds are not near. Then wait till the clouds come at you. Be prepared to fwd jump through them as soon as they throw a lightning, since they can't throw lightings at a high frequence. Pick up the shield with the use key. Now wait the first cloud to come to you. Do nothing yet. When it gets close to you, when it is about to kill you with a lightning, use the shield. INTERMEDIATE There are two more bats on the ground. Kill all the bats. Do as in beginner. Be careful tho with the clouds, just jump through them after they blast a lightning. ADVANCED Same as advanced, only with more bats. FIREBALL -FIREBALL 1 BEGINNER Jump fwd IMMEDIATELY to get through the vulture formation before they go down. Once you are in the low right corner of the screen you are safe. Now wait till there are no vultures around and no mutants descend using the wine on the right. Jump to this wine and go to the platform of the elixir and the rocks. Repeat the process to get to the exit. INTERMEDIATE Do as in beginner but now a guard will appear from the left of the screen. Wait in the down right corner and use the shield if he throws an arrow to you. When he turns to the other side, and there are no mutants or vultures around, climb up the wine to the exit. ADVANCED Jump fwd IMMEDIATELY to get through the vulture formation before they go down. This time there is a guard below the wines. If you do it correctly, you should grab the second wine in your fourth jump. Climb it a bit and go immediately to the platform where the elixir is. Wait there till you see fit to jump to the wine and climb up for the exit. -FIREBALL 2 BEGINNER This level is used to get rocks. Keep entering and exiting the level to respawn the rock bag at the beginning. Kill the bats. There is no constraint time, but do it fast for the bonus. There are 7 platforms. I will name them from 1 (the highest) to 7 (the lowest). Jump to platform 1. From there, small jump to platform 2. From there small jump to platform 4. From there, small jump to the exit. INTERMEDIATE Remember, this level is used to fill your rock stock. See Beginner. Kill the bats as soon as you can. If you spend too much time killing them go out the level and restart. There are 7 platforms. I will name them from 1 (the highest) to 7 (the lowest). To accomplish this level you have to use only 3 platforms: 2,3 and 4. Time your SMALL jump so you land on platform 2. From there, small jump to 3. From there to number 4. Now go to the right edge of the platform 4 and small jump to the exit. Wait for the stun and go out. ADVANCED Remember, this level is used to fill your rock stock. See Beginner. Kill the bats as soon as you can. If you spend too much time killing them go out the level and restart. There are 7 platforms. I will name them from 1 (the highest) to 7 (the lowest). If you killed the bats very quickly, platform 4 should be under you. Time your small jump to land on it (its hard). You can't wait till it moves the whole cycle to jump on it, you have to do it ASAP, or the stalagmites will destroy the platforms. If you timed it right, you will get stun. When you recover, go to the edge of the platform and, when it reaches to the right, small jump to platform 5. From there, as soon as platform 5 reaches its right, you have to fwd jump to the exit but be careful: If you touch the right side of the screen you will get killed. You have to time your fwd jump in order to land on the ground without touching the limit of the screen. Wait for the stun time and exit. -FIREBALL 3 BEGINNER Press 3 and fire to kill the bat. Jump on the first platform that glides to the right. Place yourself so you are facing right on the middle of the platform. Some rocks will fall over you. Press the shield key to evade them. Press shield fast if you see that your shield time is going out and another rock c omes to you. Now you will be on the up right part of the screen. Press 5 to place your arm in a horizontal position. (to deal with the mutants later) Now you enter the second sub level. Use your shield to protect you from the rocks. There are some cases that a rock is timed so it would hit you when you have to jump the pit. If this is the case, turn back and jump to the platform that is on your back. When you are close to the pit, fire twice to get the mutants. Fwd jump over the pit and exit. INTERMEDIATE Press 3 and fire to kill the bat. Kill the other bat on the second level and jump to a platform. Repeat the other steps for Beginner. ADVANCED Press 3 and fire to kill the bat. Kill the other bat that is on the upper sublevel. The other bat you can kill it when you are under the rock source of the upper sub level. Repeat the other steps for Beginner. -FIREBALL 4 BEGINNER Fwd jump so you land on the lowest floor. You will see like a black circle written on the wall. Get just to its left before the broom arrives. As soon as the broom is going to touch you, use the shield. 4 secs should be enough for the broom to pass through you. As soon as the shield time expires, fwd jump to the right of the screen, just before the pit. Three things to remember here about the FireEye: 1.the FireEye can only shoot in the four diagonal directions. So try not being in these directions 2.the stun time is accumulative. In other words, its stun time resets after its hit by a rock. 3.the eye can't hurt you if you touch it while its stun. There wait a bit till the Eye comes a bit down towards you. When the broom gets close to you, fire at the eye and climp up the wine. Now jump over the platforms using jumps and small jumps. Every two platforms, shoot at the eye. Kill the mutants and climb up the rope to the levers platform. Now, the best position of the eye to be is below you, and a bit on the right, so if you fire at your lowest angle from some place of the platform, you will hit him. Remember that place to fire the eye, so you don't have to aim. You have to find out the combination of pulling 3 DIFFERENT levers to open the door of the wizard. Use trial an error. The order I use is: 123 321 132 312 213 231 After each try, go to your shooting place and fire at the eye. Once you open the door, use jump to get it and go down the stairs. Walk over the magician. INTERMEDIATE Follow the steps of Beginner. ADVANCED This time there are TWO FireEyes, which means you have to be extremely careful. Dodge the broom as in beginner mode. Once it is on your left, fire at the lowest eye which is very close to you. Go to the edge of the pit on the right and let the upper eye descend a bit. Keep firing from time to time to the lowest eye. Once the upper eye has gone low enough or the broom is getting near, fire the two eyes and climb up the wine. Pick up the rocks. Your major problem here is not losing a life, but losing many rocks. If you run out of rocks, best thing you can do is getting back to Fireball 3 and fall to the dungeon. Fire at the two eyes. Jump from platform to platform. In every platform, shoot the two eyes. Kill the mutants and climb to the lever platform. Shoot the two eyes in the way described in beginner. It could happen that the two eyes are in the same shooting line. If that happens, fire to the first one till the second comes shootable. Keep trying combinations. This level is very difficult and, well, you have to be a bit lucky with the combinations. don't rush tho, so keep firing the eyes after each try. Once you get the door open, rush for the magician. BLACK KNIGHT In all the three Black Knight chambers, gargoyles will appear. They will scream three times after going out for you. The arm angle to deal with them is a bit lower than angle 4. You CAN'T dodge the gargoyle, and you can't protect from her with the shield. It appears always from the opposite side of the screen you are in. You will have to use the shield very little because of that. In fact, it should only be used to dodge the possible rocks in the second level. Because of the gargoyle, you have to find places in every stage that are safe. Safe means a place where you can wait without any danger. -BLACK KNIGHT 1 BEGINNER Ignore the rats. You will lose many elixirs here, but you have to be fast. Take 2 or 3 steps forward and jump to the wine. Go to the first platform where the elixir is. Pick it up (not the rocks) and get back to the wine. Now climb to the upper left platform and get the elixir and the rocks. Jump again to the wine. Change three times of wine moving to the left, just before the black wine. (if you grab one black wine you will be sent to the dungeon) Go down that rope changing your position in the rope to dodge the rocks around the rope. Move twice to the right so you get the first white platform. Wait the gargoyle from there. Fire continuously when she appears, since rats could intercept your shots. Small jump to the second white platform and then normal jump to get a wine. Climb it up a bit and change move twice to the left (don't get the elixir). Jump to the platform on the left (the one that is in mid screen). If the guard has thrown an arrow, wait there till it passes. Jump to the next wine on the left. Climb it up dodging the rocks. Once you are on the top, change six times of wine to the right. You should be on the third rope from the left. Go down that wine dodging the rocks. Jump to the floor on the low right part of the screen. don't jump from too high or you will get killed by the guard. If you are on the lowest floor, the first guard won't be able to hurt you, even if you touch him. Wait for the gargoyle from there. Now kill the first guard. Jump fast to its platform (don't use the stairs)Kill the second guard from there. Climb the ladder and then jump to the wine. Climb it up to the top. When you get to its highest part, go to the wine on the right. Change position on the rope and go down. Jump to the floor and head to the exit. INTERMEDIATE Same as in beginner but faster :) since gargoyles appear earlier. ADVANCED Same as in intermediate but faster :) since gargoyles appear earlier. -BLACK KNIGHT 2 BEGINNER Jump fwd immediately to the ladder on the right to pass through the pits. You can take the elixir if you are fast. Climb up the ladder. Now the first skeleton should be approaching. Jump over it. Go to the edge of it, in order to get ready to jumping to the second skeleton. Time your jump so you land on it. Now it can happen that the first rock that the henchman threw, may be approaching you from the right. If so, fwd jump as soon as you can to the ground on the left, where the second ladder is. If there is no danger, jump with normal jump. Its safer. Climb up the ladder and face right. Wait for the gargoyle from there. Now you have to jump to the 3rd skeleton and immediately after to the lever to kill the Henchman. You have to do this as you see fit, i.e. when the henchman leaves you some time to do so. Just wait for your chance. Once you killed the henchman, you may wait there for another gargoyle if it took so much time to kill the henchman. If you did it quickly you may proceed with the next steps. Turn left. Small jump to the 3d skeleton and then jump to the 4th. Go to safe ground. If you didn't kill the gargoyle in the lever platform, wait for her here. Kill the rats if you want, to save some elixirs. Climb up the ladder. Face left. Jump. Go right to the exit. INTERMEDIATE Do as in beginner. ADVANCED Do as in beginner. -BLACK KNIGHT 3 BEGINNER The Black Knight is on the top of the screen, throwing beer cups to you. He throws in 6 directions: Two vertical, Two diagonal, and two vertical, each pair is symmetrical. In order to beat him, you have to pull down the five levers, to demolish the 5 pilars of his throne. Patience is key. Wait for the gargoyles and don't try to end the level fast, even if you are so close to defeat the black knight. Because if you pull down the last lever but there is a gargoyle on the screen, she will pick you up, and the game will consider that you have NOT defeated the BK, even if you see him fall. This is VERY important. Shield here is more an enemy than an ally. The shield period is almost the same as the period of the black knight throwing cups. So that means that you are stuck in your shield pose, not being able to move. The gargoyle can arrive and pick you up. Disaster. So don't use the shield. Dodge the cups instead. Ok, lets go. Fwd jump IMMEDIATELY to the right, three fwd jumps so you get the switch on the wall. Activate it (this switch activates the right platform of the middle lever) and, IMMEDIATELY fwd jump the pit again going to the left. It can happen that in your jump, you will grab the wine accidentally. If that happens, press the left key twice fast, to get to the ground again. Normally you would fall to the pit, but the pit trap should'nt be activated yet. Fwd jump the middle pit to to the left. Now watch the BK. When he's about to throw you a cup, go to the left and jump the other pit. If you have done it correctly, he should have thrown a cup vertically. Now you have to be extremely fast or you will get killed. Once you jump the left pit (you may accidentally grab the wine, do as above) activate the switch, jump to the wine, change position on the rope (note that the pillar has a protuberance that doesnt let you climb) and climb it up. If you do it correctly, a cup should miss you as you climb the rope. Change rope, change position on the rope and jump to the platform (not from a high distance or you will be stunned) Climb the ladder and once you get to the top, take a step to the right to face right. Notice that in that position, the BK can't kill you. Wait for the gargoyle and kill it. Wait till the BK throws a cup and move right. Activate the lever and jump to the rope on the right. Climb it to the TOP immediately. Wait for the BK to throw a cup that will barely miss you. Descend to the lowest part of the rope but don't leave it. Wait for the BK to throw another cup. As soon as it misses you, go to the platform and climb the stairs. Wait the BK to throw a cup. As soon as he does so, small jump to the middle platform (it should be already activated with the two switches). Activate the lever.Small jump to the left platform. Go down the ladder and activate the third lever. MOve to the edge of the pit (where the rat hole is) and wait for the gargoyle. As soon as you kill it, wait for the BK to throw another can. Now do the hardest fwd jump on the game and fwd jump to the other platform on the right. You have to jump from the rat hole. Activate the fourth lever. Wait down the ladder so the BK throws another cup. Do trick number 12 climbing the ladder. When you get to the top, jump to the right. You will grab the wine. Climb it up fast and jump to the fifth lever. But don't activate it yet. Move to the very right so the BK can't hit you. Wait for the gargoyle. Once you kill it, activate the fifth lever. INTERMEDIATE Now the cups bounce!! Do the steps as in beginner until you activate the first lever. Jump to the rope and climb it to the top. As soon as a cup misses you, descend a bit, but not much: watch out for the bounce of the cup! Then descend to the platform, walk up the ladder ( the BK will throw a can downwards ) and small jump immediately or the previous cup will hit you after bouncing. Activate the middle lever. Small jump to the RIGHT platform. Go down the ladder, activate the lever, turn left to wait for the gargoyle. Once you killed it, fwd jump to the other platform to the left, watching out for cups. Activate the fourth lever. Fwd jump to the right platform, the one you just left (watch out for cans) Repeat the last paragraph of beginner. ADVANCED Well, well, well. So you ARE here. You are good. You are VERY good. But maybe not enough. We will see that in a sec. This is going to be the hardest level by far, and you shall not fail many times... not because of your lives remaining, but because of your elixirs. This level can easely take 7 or more elixirs per life, so you'd better have loads of those. The worst thing that can happen to you here is to be sent to the dungeon, which would entail an enormous loss of elixirs. So watch out for the pits and the gargoyles. Now the cups bounce TWICE!! Lets go for it. Do the steps for beginner until you climb to the top of the first rope on the left (after activating the left switch). Watch out for the second bounce, so wait a bit that it passes over you to change rope and go to the ladder platform. don't get stun there or you will get killed. Climb the ladder and wait for the gargoyle as in beginner. Activate the switch. Follow the instructions as for intermediate until you are on the right platform of the 3rd lever. You have to find a single position near the pit so the cup of the BK passes just in front of you after its first bounce and just behind you after the second bounce. From this point, wait the gargoyle (ignore the rats, don't use shield) From here, repeat steps of intermediate. Be extra careful with second bounce of the cups. *************** ** 8. ENDING ** *************** Dark Castle was the first comp game I had ever played. I was 8. I was close once, to beat the third Black Knight, but i fell down the pit and I never got that close again. When i was 10 my Mac crashed, and the game couldnt be played any more. One of the things i did when internet came out, was searching for a DC version for PC. I searched with not many hope, and I couldnt find any... But now, after 15 years, I got my PC version. It sucks compared to the Mac one so I played it with the nasty control configuration (described in the section above), with fixed shield time, with an awful input lag (e.g. i have to push the forward key 2 secs (!) before jump if i want to do a fwd jump), and with no sound (so i couldnt tell when the gargoyle would appear). But even so, I defeated the black knight in the hardest level. So I rule. Yes I do. I can say, without any possible doubt, that I completely dominate this game. :) Well, after this ego thing, I can tell you that there is no end. Simply, If you defeat the BK, you are sent to the dungeon again (no shield, no fireball) with the advanced difficulty. So the game enters a loop. ******************** ** 9. FUNNY STUFF ** ******************** One strong point of the game is the different possibilities of dying: . Hit from the back: He falls face down, saying "aumph". . Hit from the front: He falls face up, saying "aumph". . Height death / hit on jump/ladder/wine/activating/ from upwards or downwards: he dies in the place you are on, saying "oh iiiih!". . Burnt: He turns into ashes, yelling. . Drown: He disappears into the waters, with a "splash" . Crushed: by 16 tons (dungeon). Sound of tons falling down.
. On the stairs: he rolls down the stairs and then he dies "hit from the front"
   style.






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** 10. CREDITS **
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Ashultz, for showing me this great game again.