History VideoGame / Shadowgate

* RecycledTitle: ''Beyond Shadowgate'', hinted at in a teaser after completing the remake, appears for now to have nothing to do with the Turbo CD game.

The game was also included as part of a CompilationRerelease titled ''8-bit Adventures: Volume 1'' for UsefulNotes/Playstation4 on Oct. 31, 2017.

* SerpentStaff: The snake statue found in a cave is transformed into the Staff of Ages when you use the wand on it. Its appearance even has coils.

Several succeeding games were produced: ''Beyond Shadowgate'', developed by ICOM and released exclusively for the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 Turbo CD]] in 1993; ''Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers'', developed by TNS and released for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} in 1999; and ''Shadowgate VR: The Mines of Mythrok'', developed by Zojoi and released for the UsefulNotes/OculusQuest in 2021. In 2023, an official sequel called ''Beyond Shadowgate'' was announced as being developed by [=GrahfMetal=] (who also made similar games in this style known as ''VideoGame/{{Infested}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Spectacle}}''), featuring an improved version of the 8-bit graphical style and many other upgrades (you can watch the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86pbDP6-Lqw here]])/ Also received a TieInNovel in the Literature/WorldsOfPower series.

Three sequels were produced: ''Beyond Shadowgate'', developed by ICOM and released exclusively for the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 Turbo CD]] in 1993; ''Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers'', developed by TNS and released for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} in 1999; and ''Shadowgate VR: The Mines of Mythrok'', developed by Zojoi and released for the UsefulNotes/OculusQuest in 2021. Received a TieInNovel in the Literature/WorldsOfPower series.

Three sequels were produced: ''Beyond Shadowgate'', developed by ICOM and released exclusively for the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 Turbo CD]] in 1991; ''Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers'', developed by TNS and released for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} in 1999; and ''Shadowgate VR: The Mines of Mythrok'', developed by Zojoi and released for the UsefulNotes/OculusQuest in 2021. Received a TieInNovel in the Literature/WorldsOfPower series.

Three sequels were produced: ''Beyond Shadowgate'', developed by ICOM and released exclusively for the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 Turbo CD]] in 1991; ''Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers'', developed by TNS and released for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} in 1999; and ''Shadowgate VR: The Mines of Mythrok'', developed by Zojoi and released for the UsefulNotes/OculusQuest in 2021.

* ArmorIsUseless: The game and instruction manual gives a few references to your hero's armor... and you can get a spiffy new helmet and gauntlets from the castle. But everything still kills you. You should have been a purple-underwear-clad nudie like Ace Harding in the beginning of ''Deja Vu II''. This is rather egregious in the 2014 remake, as you can find various equipment to wear, but all of it protects you from absolutely jack squat[[note]]They make a good disguise for the goblins, though[[/note]]. Averted with the shield you find in the same room as the helmet, as you need it to survive the dragons flame in the same room. It will still melt and kill you after a certain number of hits though.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: The Japanese localization changes the narration from being in second-person to being in first-person, and as a result made the protagonist be overly self-absorbed and hammy. It also removed a few important characters such as Lakmir in their attempt to simplify the dialogue.

* RedHerring: And ''how''! Several items strewn around Castle Shadowgate are just time-wasters meant to clutter your inventory or even kill you for looking at them wrong; this also extends to the sequels, with ''Shadowgate 64'' even offering a ''shop'' where Del can trade coins he has found for completely useless knick-knacks.* ReptilesAreAbhorrent:

%%* RedHerring: All over the place.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent:

* UselessItem: And ''how''! Several items strewn around Castle Shadowgate are just {{Red Herring}}s meant to clutter your inventory or even kill you for looking at them wrong; this also extends to the sequels, with ''Shadowgate 64'' even offering a ''shop'' where Del can trade coins he has found for completely useless knick-knacks.

Two sequels were produced: ''Beyond Shadowgate'', developed by ICOM and released exclusively for the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 Turbo CD]] in 1991; and ''Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers'', developed by TNS and released for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} in 1999.

** In the NES version, the Game Over message was changed to "It's a sad thing that your adventures have ended here!!". This has become so iconic that its used in the remake.

** In the NES version, the Game Over message was changed to "It's a sad thing that your adventures have ended here!!".

[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shadowgate_title.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:256:[-[[JustOneMoreLevel Abandon all your free time, ye who enter.]]-] ]]

* SerpentStaff: The snake statue found in a cave is transformed into a staff when you use the wand on it. Its appearance even has coils.

* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Loads of it. One room is a hall of mirrors, and you have to guess which mirror to smash to continue. Smash the wrong one, and you get sucked out into space, or the broken glass kills you.

* ArmorIsUseless: The game and instruction manual gives a few references to your hero's armor... and you can get a spiffy new helmet and gauntlets from the castle. But everything still kills you. You should have been a purple-underwear-clad nudie like Ace Harding in the beginning of ''Deja Vu II''. Averted with the shield you find in the same room as the armor, as you need it to survive the dragons flame in the same room. It will still melt and kill you after a certain number of hits though.

* HellIsThatNoise: The Music that plays when you only have one torch currently lit and it is about to die, while the music serves as a warning that you should light a new torch soon, you wouldn't know that when playing for the first time until your torch died and then you died, until then you were stuck with the disturbing eerie and creepy music.

* HellIsThatNoise: The Music that plays when you only have one torch currently lit and it is about to die, while the music serves as a warning that you should light a new torch soon, you wouldn't know that when playing for the first time until your torch died and then you died, until then you are stuck with the disturbing eerie and creepy music.