In 2010, LittleWing released Mad Daedalus, a Digital Pinball Table and the sequel to Loony Labyrinth.
This game revisits the land of ancient Minos by introducing the Athenian scientist Daedalus and Ariadne, a sentient AI he found in a wrecked spaceship. During the events of Loony Labyrinth, they had helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur, but were unable to return with him to the present day. Recognizing the Loony Machine as his future handiwork, Daedalus set out to recreate it, in hopes of escaping to the future and finally repairing Ariadne. But before the two can perform their time jump, they are raided by their patron, King Minos, who is desperate to keep their technological treasures for himself — and it's up to the player to use his pinball skills to save Daedalus and Ariadne...
Mad Daedalus is available for the Apple Macintosh and Windows PC, with a free trial that unlocks to the full game. Compared to Loony Labyrinth, this is a tougher sequel, with faster and more challenging gameplay to go with its more serious tone.
Mad Daedalus demonstrates the following tropes:
- All There in the Manual: The backstory of the game is spelled out with an 800-word introduction
in the instruction manual. - Ancient Astronauts: The unnamed civilization that Ariadne came from is this to the ancient Greeks.
- Artificial Intelligence: Ariadne.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to Loony Labyrinth, though the somber tone of the backstory does not intrude much on the gameplay itself.
- Driven by Envy: In the backstory, Daedalus had previously murdered his nephew out of jealousy at the latter's genius, and was banished to the Isle of Crete as punishment.
- Evil Uncle: Daedalus was banished to Crete as a punishment for murdering his own nephew.
- Forbidden Zone: The Ariadne Shrine, which King Minos erected as a tribute to Ariadne, then forbade his subjects from visiting.
- Imported Alien Phlebotinum: The wrecked spaceship Daedalus found, and the technological knowledge from Ariadne.
- Keeping the Enemy Close: King Minos tries to do this with Daedalus, to maintain the technological advantage of his reign thanks to Daedalus' inventions.
- Low Culture, High Tech: Ancient Minos is implied to be this, largely due to Daedalus' creations.
- The Professor: Daedalus.
- Retcon:
- The Lost Technology of Loony Labyrinth is retconned as the result of Daedalus' inventions, made possible using the Imported Alien Phlebotinum from Ariadne.
- In a minor case, the "Galopetra Stones" of Loony Labyrinth are now referred to as "Loony Stones".
- Robosexual: This is the relationship between Daedalus and Ariadne. Daedalus' ultimate goal is to travel to the future to effect repairs for Ariadne, so the two of them can travel the universe together.
- Self-Duplication: The backstory briefly mentions Icarus, Daedalus' clone and assistant.
- Shareware: Of the "play a free trial and pay to unlock the game" version.
- Spaceship Girl: Ariadne appears as an attractive, glowing spectral woman.
- Spelling Bonus: M-A-D spots a letter in D-A-E-D-A-L-U-S, while A-R-I-A-D-N-E enables an award at the Ariadne Shrine.
- Stable Time Loop: The invention of the Loony Machine forms a Stable Time Loop: Theseus travels to 2,000 B.C. with the Loony Machine, which Daedalus examines. After Theseus returns to the present day, Daedalus eventually (re-)invents it. However, Daedalus cannot power it because Icarus lost the Loony Stones, so Daedalus places the machine in the Labyrinth. it is excavated several thousand years later, and the player (as Theseus) finds the Loony Stones, then uses the Machine to travel back to 2,000 B.C....
- Time Machine: The Loony Machine.
- Wizard Mode: "Spatiotemporal Rendezvous", which can only be activated after defeating the Minotaur, exploring all three underground tunnels, collecting the Ariadne Award from King Minos Frenzy, and completing the Power Plant. This is a four-ball multiball, and the player can shoot the Minos Palace and the Mino Chamber to restart King Minos Frenzy and Minotaur Multiball. The objective is to simply score as many points as possible before multiball ends.
