Shadowgate, Deja Vu, Uninvited

[Barbarianoutkast85]

Are there any games that are like Shadowgate? Other then Deja Vu, Uninvited and Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. Also I was wondering Is Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Tower any good? Also does it stick to the roots of the original Shadowgate for the NES?

[mills]

There's a sequel to Shadowgate on the turbo duo.

[kainemaxwell]

Ah, the Keimo-Seika games. Shadowgate and Deja Vu were games I rented or borrowed often and were often discussed at summer camp and at lunch. I only played The Uninvited via emulation, and for some reason didn't have the same feel for me. maybe i'll try it again and maybe try Princess Tomato.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

I own Shadowgate, Deja Vu, Uninvited and Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom for the NES. I have Shadowgate and Uninvited complete. My favorite for the four is still Shadowgate it just has a dark feel to it that I enjoy second would have to be Uninvited. Princess Tomato is a decent game IMO I havent beaten it or anything, and only played it a handful of hours. I did enjoy the game for the time I did spend playing it.

[Lemmi_Is_God]

maniac mansion is the same type of game but you control more people with different outcomes

i dont know about these types of games on other systems tho, but i wouldnt mind knowing also :)

[Blitzwing256]

trace memory on ds is very simmilar
snatcher on sega cd (although its an expensive game nowadays)

[InsaneDavid]

Wasn't there a Game Boy Color release that contained a Deja Vu sequel?

[VACRMH]

Wasn't there a Game Boy Color release that contained a Deja Vu sequel?

Yessir. Deju Vu 1 and 2.

[Graham Mitchell]

The Sega CD had several good adventure games. Dynamix ported over Willy Beamish and Rise of the Dragon. Willy Beamish is great but the load times are sooooooooooo slow. It's quote painful. Rise of the Dragon on the other hand is short, but it's an absolute gem. I think the reason it seemed short to me is because I loved it so much that I couldn't stop playing it. As such, I finished it off in 2 evenings.

JVC also published a port of Secret of Monkey Island for the Sega CD as well.

If you're willing to play PC games and are savvy with Dosbox, just about any Sierra game from the late 80's and early 90's is in that style. The series of note are Kings Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Quest for Glory/Heroe's Quest, and Liesure Suit Larry. Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist was a one-off from the designer of the Leisure Suit Larry series, and it's also very good.

Somebody mentioned Snatcher--that's the best game in this genre you'll ever play. Try it if you can.

[Lemmi_Is_God]

If you're willing to play PC games and are savvy with Dosbox, just about any Sierra game from the late 80's and early 90's is in that style. The series of note are Kings Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Quest for Glory/Heroe's Quest, and Liesure Suit Larry. Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist was a one-off from the designer of the Leisure Suit Larry series, and it's also very good.
.

do any of those games require typing a command or action?

if so i dont really like those, i like everything point, click, use/thinking :)

[norkusa]

I just started playing Beyond Shadowgate recently. It's not bad but the original is still the best. Shadowgate 64 kinda sucked though.


BTW, I've got a sealed copy of Deja Vu I & II for GBC if anyone is interested.

[Gentlegamer]

There's a sequel to Shadowgate on the turbo duo.It's more like King's Quest, though.

[VACRMH]

do any of those games require typing a command or action?

if so i dont really like those, i like everything point, click, use/thinking :)

I'm playing another old Sierra game, Phantasmagoria. Point and Click only but.... it's kind of dull.

The Space Adventure for Sega CD was nice as well.

[Cinder6]

Not quite the same, but there's Maniac Mansion (already mentioned), Day of the Tentacle, and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Those last two are two of my favorite games. There's also the Monkey Island series, but I think I'm beginning to just start listing adventure games :P

[Mark III]

trace memory on ds is very simmilar
snatcher on sega cd (although its an expensive game nowadays)

There's also Rise of the Dragon for Sega CD. It's the poor man's Snatcher.

[rbudrick]

Phoenix Wright games are right up there too. They are very Shadowgate/PTitSK-like.

-Rob

[exit]

Samurai Sword is a nice one for NES, it's pretty short, but I found it quite enjoyable. There's a translation for it released, so check it out if you have the time. It's a Famicom Disk game, so I suggest using FCE Ultra if you play it.

[Arasoi]

Hotel Dusk.

[Graham Mitchell]

do any of those games require typing a command or action?

if so i dont really like those, i like everything point, click, use/thinking :)

The earlier ones in the series do, particularly those in EGA. But anything with
VGA or better graphics used a point and click interface. If it's published in the 90's, it won't use a parser.

[James8BitStar]

One I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Scooby Doo Mystery for the Sega Genesis is a Maniac Mansion-like game and a pretty engrossing one too.

[rbudrick]

IIRC, ALF and Alex Kidd in High Tech world were kind of Maniac Mansion-ish, weren't they?

-Rob

[norkusa]

One I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Scooby Doo Mystery for the Sega Genesis is a Maniac Mansion-like game and a pretty engrossing one too.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that one. Pretty decent point & clicker. There's a SNES version too but the story is totally different from the Genesis one and I think the gameplay is a little different.

[koster]

One I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Scooby Doo Mystery for the Sega Genesis is a Maniac Mansion-like game and a pretty engrossing one too.
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that one. Pretty decent point & clicker. There's a SNES version too but the story is totally different from the Genesis one and I think the gameplay is a little different.

Scooby Doo! Classic Creep Capers for the Game Boy Color is point-and-click; the game is pretty short, but fun while it lasts.

[James8BitStar]

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that one. Pretty decent point & clicker. There's a SNES version too but the story is totally different from the Genesis one and I think the gameplay is a little different.

More than just "a little" different.

Genesis version = Maniac Mansion-style adventure game.

SNES version = A platform game. Well okay, there is an exploration and item-collection element but its still essentially a platform game.

[Mobius]

do any of those games require typing a command or action?

if so i dont really like those, i like everything point, click, use/thinking :)

It depends on which ones you play. The newer ones are all point/click while the older ones require typing.

[Cryomancer]

Phantasy Star Gaiden for the Game Gear actually has a similar interface to Deja Vu / Shadowgate, and has a nice translation hack.

Most of these other suggestions are good games, but totally different interfaces, and I think the interface is an important part to that subgenre.

[jerkov]

It's been quite a few years since playing through Shadowgate 64: Trial of the Four Towers, and as a fan of all of the original ICOM Simulation games, I can honestly say that I enjoyed this game a lot. Although it's been panned a fair bit by casual reviewers and die-hard Shadowgate fans alike, I became engrossed in the world and the atmosphere of the game and stayed interested until the finish. For someone who is notorious for losing interest in games before finishing them, that's usually a good sign that a game has my attention. It is short on action and a bit of a departure from the more traditional point & click interface, but I'd say it's at least worth a try if you're a fan. Be warned, there are some frustrating parts of the game (I remember one tower being a real pain in the ass where you get lost in a maze of transporters), but I found it to be a worthwhile experience.

Haven't ever got the opportunity to try Beyond Shadowgate, but it's on my "wish list" - I just doubt I'll pony up the cash to buy both a Duo and a copy of the game, which still fetches quite a bit of $$$ if I remember correctly.

Many of the suggestions previously made for similar games are right on - Maniac Mansion (and certainly its sequel, Day of the Tentacle), Princess Tomato, Hotel Dusk, and the Phoenix Wright series are all must-plays. One other title that I'll throw out there as a suggestion is Tombs & Treasures for the NES. There is some overworld map exploring a la traditional NES RPG's like Dragon Warrior, but the view quickly changes to a first-person, point & click interface when entering temples and other points of interest on the map. Another game I haven't really played in many, many years, but I remember being rather impressed with it.

Scooby Doo for Genesis sounds good as well - for those who have played, is it really worth tracking down for a point & click fan? Does it stack up to the classics of the genre at all?

[jerkov]

Oh, and forgot to mention - I agree that Snatcher is most likely the high-water mark for the genre. Play this by any means necessary if you're a fan of the Shadowgate/Deja Vu titles, although you really need to play with the lightgun for the full effect, IMO.

And as others have mentioned, if you're fan of Deja Vu, it really is a no-brainer to pick up Deja Vu 1 & 2 for Game Boy Color, as Deja Vu 2 is certainly a worthy addition to the series.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

Thanks for all the suggestions I picked up Maniac Manson, Deja Vu 2, and Shadowgate 64. I've only played Shadowgate 64 and so far I'm enjoying it.

[kainemaxwell]

Shadowgate 64 is/was enjoyable??

[Blitzwing256]

i'm surprised theredeye hasn't come in and recomended Grim Fandango yet, same style of game as well.

[James8BitStar]

Scooby Doo for Genesis sounds good as well - for those who have played, is it really worth tracking down for a point & click fan? Does it stack up to the classics of the genre at all?

I really loved it, but then, I'm a huge Scooby fan as well.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[kainemaxwell]

I should replay these games sometime.

[Rob2600]

Tass Times in Tonetown has a similar interface/text parser to Shadowgate, if I recall correctly. It was released in 1986 for the Atari ST, Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, DOS, and Macintosh. It was written by veteran Infocom designer Michael Berlyn and his long-time collaborator Muffy McClung Berlyn, and programmed by Bill Heineman of Interplay.

Wikipedia - Tass Times in Tonetown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tass_times_in_tonetown)

MobyGames - Tass Times in Tonetown (http://www.mobygames.com/game/tass-times-in-tonetown)


EDIT: If you want to try the game out, this web site should let you play it in Internet Explorer:

Virtual Apple II Online disk archive - T (http://www.virtualapple.org/2gslistT.html)

[jb143]

I think there was a Neuromancer game that was very similar to Deja-Vu.

[Graham Mitchell]

I've actually loaded Deja Vu on my palm pilot and I've been playing it at work while on call. The game is perfect for a portable.

[ShinobiMan]

LOVE these games. Never played Princess Tomato, but that name probably inspired Nintendo to change Toadstool's name to Princess Peach. LOL

[InsaneDavid]

Tass Times in Tonetown has a similar interface/text parser to Shadowgate, if I recall correctly. It was released in 1986 for the Atari ST, Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, DOS, and Macintosh. It was written by veteran Infocom designer Michael Berlyn and his long-time collaborator Muffy McClung Berlyn, and programmed by Bill Heineman of Interplay.

Wikipedia - Tass Times in Tonetown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tass_times_in_tonetown)

MobyGames - Tass Times in Tonetown (http://www.mobygames.com/game/tass-times-in-tonetown)


EDIT: If you want to try the game out, this web site should let you play it in Internet Explorer:

Virtual Apple II Online disk archive - T (http://www.virtualapple.org/2gslistT.html)

Reading back through this thread I was surprised I didn't mention that game and was going to post about it once I got to the end of the thread. Tass Times in Tonetown is most certainly an excellent entry into this type of game, allso my favorite Apple II game of all time. A must play for those stuck in the 80's. :D

[rbudrick]

LOVE these games. Never played Princess Tomato, but that name probably inspired Nintendo to change Toadstool's name to Princess Peach. LOL

Lolz, she was always Peach in Japan, but not anywhere else until SUper Mario 64.
-Rob

[savageone]

I actually just played through Shadowgate 64 not even 3 months ago, the first time I'd ever played it. I wasn't expecting a whole lot but I found it to be pretty good actually. Excellent atmosphere and while the character models are pretty pathetic (even by the back then standards) the enviroments hold up well enough. I'd recommend checking it out, just go on gamefaqs for some of those more obscure puzzles. :P