Dark Castle FAQ/Walkthrough
Version 0.9.9
By Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net

This FAQ is for the game Dark Castle for DOS/Windows by Silicon Beach
Software(1986) and Three Sixty Pacific(1987). I am not affiliated with
either entity, but I played this game 11 years ago and still liked it
enough on replay to make a FAQ of it without having completed it.
Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my permission--it
took a lot of playing and typing to get through with it. I enjoy
publicity of my work, but please ask politely and ask me by name, so
your e-mail doesn't seem spammy. Thanks!

****AD SPACE****
My home page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762
My games page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762/games/games.htm

OUTLINE BELOW:

*********************

INTRODUCTION

CONTROLS

POINTS

SCENES

TROUBLE 1

TROUBLE 2

TROUBLE 3

....and back again!

SHIELD 1

SHIELD 2

SHIELD 3

SHIELD 4

FIREBALL 1

FIREBALL 2

FIREBALL 3

FIREBALL 4

DARK KNIGHT 1

DARK KNIGHT 2

DARK KNIGHT 3

INTERESTING STUFF

CREDITS/VERSIONS

*********************

INTRODUCTION

**This introduction is taken from the help option in Dark Castle. No
copyright infringement is intended, but I thought I should mention it.
It seems succinct for the most part. I've added important information
where it seems necessary in curly brackets.**

Now you've done it! Did you really have to volunteer to go in after the
Black Knight? You know what happened to the last warrior who did!
Well, in your quest, you'll quickly discover that the Dark Castle has
four areas, called Trouble, Fireball, Shield and Black Knight. From the
Great Hall, you enter these areas by choosing on of the four doors.

Pressing a key from 1 through 4 chooses a door. The 1 and 2 doors
randomly choose the Trouble or Fireball areas. The 3 key chooses the
Black Knight's Chambers and the 4 key sends you on your way to the
Shield rooms. {The identities of rooms 1 and 2 are constant for each
game. A neat trick is to start a game by hitting 2. If you go to
trouble, hit ctrl-q to quit and then restart until you go to fireball.}

[Page 2]

Beware, the Castle is infested with plague-ridden bats and rats. Their
bites usually mean instant death.

If you manage to reach the Black Knight, he can be defeated by toppling
his throne. Almost certain failure awaits you if you enter his Chambers
without the Fireball, Shield and lots of rocks and elixir.

Little is known about all the pitfalls that await you, hearty
adventurer, so you will have to rely on your quick wits and fast
reactions to stay alive. The folks in the village have heard many
rumors though.

[Page 3]

The wizard was once seen hurling Fireballs. Could he be the secret to
obtaining them? The peasants whisper of a magical shield that can
render the owner invisible to dangerous objects for a short time. And
they talk of rumors that the wizard once concocted a batch of magic
elixir which contains an antidote to the plague, caused by the many rats
and bats in the castle.

[Page 4]

A year ago a wandering minstrel sang about a brave warrior who battled
the Black Knight with only the rocks he had brought in many little bags.
He failed, though he did find that there is a key at the bottom of the
dungeon that will unlock the door back into the Great Hall.

[Page 5]

Use the keyboard cursor keys or the joystick to control the movement of
the player. Moving around will become much easier as soon as you learn
to use two keys simultaneously. For example, if you want to move to a
ladder on the right and then go up, hold down the right and up keys.
The player will run to the right and start climbing the ladder as soon
as he gets there.

[Page 6]

The Space bar is used to make a jump. To go far, jump while running.
To go as high as possible, use a standing jump. For downward jumps hold
the down key and press the Space Bar.

Standing / Running / Downward

[Page 7]

The rocks can be thrown by using either the keyboard or the joystick.
To aim with the joystick, move the joystick up or down with the right
button down. To aim with the keyboard, use keys "1" through "8" to
select an arm position. The "+" and "-" keys can be used to move the
arm in finer increments. To fire, push the left button on the joystick
or the "Enter" or "INS" key on the keyboard. You start out with 60
rocks. If you have 80 or more rocks, you cannot pick up any rock bags.
When you get the Fireball power, your rocks turn into fireballs.

{Note--you can have 6 elixirs or 5 extra lives displayed on the screen,
but the computer keeps track of surplus.}

[Page 8]

The "action" key is the "A" key. It is used to get objects, activate
switches, pull chains, etc... To activate the shield, press and hold
down the action key. There is a time limit on how long it will stay
active. If you are standing on something else that uses the action key,
you may have to press the action key twice to activate the shield. The
"D" key is used to cause the player to duck. He continues to duck for
as long as the "duck" key is held down.

Pressing Ctrl-Q quits the game in progress and returns to the "Scores of
Merit" screen.

{You can get your high score placed that way. Also, the A key can be
awkward because you may wind up just next to an item, and when you have
the shield, that will activate the shield as well as not taking the
item.}

[Page 9]

Scoring

You get a bonus for completing a room quickly. The bonus timer starts
counting down to zero when you enter a room. You get the points
remaining on the timer when you leave the room. Starting values:
Beginner = 2000, Intermediate = 3000, Advanced = 4000.

{On Trouble 3, you get the bonus and reset the counter after getting the
key. Also, the bonuses are shown in increments of 100, but they are
given in increments of 10. For instance, a bonus of 1700 means you
might get anywhere from 1610 to 1700 points for completing the level.
And NO, walking in and out of a level gives you nothing.}

When you reach a certain number of points, extra men are given. The
number of points needed are: Beginner = 5000, Intermediate = 7500,
Advanced = 10000.

{The tougher it is, the more monsters the computer drops in. Eegh.}

Getting Fireball or Shield = 1000 points.
Toppling Black Knight's Throne = 5000 points.

[Page 11]

Bad Guys

Bat 30 pts.
Vulture 30 pts.
Rat 20 pts.
Magic Broom 30 pts.
Guard 50 pts.
Whip Henchman 150 pts.
Dragon 150 pts.
Mutant 30 pts.
Burning Eye 30 pts. {This is 25, strangely, in my version.}
Rock henchman 100 pts.
Gargoyle 100 pts.

{Note--100 for each chain you pull in the Black Knight's chamber. You
get 500 for the key or for leaving Trouble.}

CONTROLS

At the start of the game you find yourself in a hall with your player's
back to you. Based on the number you pick(1-4) he will run through a
door on the left(1-2) or the center door(3) or the right door(4) and the
adventure begins. Doors 1 and 2 lead randomly to the Trouble and
Fireball area, while door 3 leads to the Shield area and door 4 leads to
the Black Knight area.

You use arrows to control your character, and the keys 1-8 to aim
rocks(1=top, 8=bottom, the numbers between are various angles,) and
return to throw the rocks. The action key "A" lets you pick up elixirs
or rocks or important items or activates your shield for temporary
invincibility, and the key "D" lets you duck--although it is not useful
for extensive periods of time.

Useful notes:
--you long-jump faster than you run.
--On a vine, you must hit an arrow twice to move to an adjacent vine.
Hitting it once either 1)switches whether you're to the left or right of
it or 2)switches the vine and switches you from the left to the right
side or vice versa.

Things you can't do:
--throw rocks on the stairs or on vines

POINTS, ETC.

Monster |Points|Powers |Seen
-------------+------+-------------------------+---------------
Bat |30 |lose 1 elixir. They'll |T1,2,3
(flying, from| |stick w/you and drain |S3,4
ceiling) | |elixir 'til killed. |F2,3
Vulture |30 |swoop, can kill. You can|F1
(flying, from| |duck the first time, but |S2
formation) | |they get smart. They get|
| |replaced if killed.
Rat |20 |lose 1 elixir |T1,3 S3
Magic Broom |30 |Can split in 3 when hit |F4
Guard |50 |Fire crossbows(parabola) |T1,2,3
Whip Henchman|150 |Ignore rocks, long range |T3
Dragon |150 |Breathes flame, ignores |S2
| |rocks |
Mutant |30 | |F1,4 S1
Burning Eye |30 |shoots fireballs, stalled|F4
| |by rocks |
Rock henchman|100 |Throws rocks |S1
Gargoyle |100 |Drops you to Trouble. |D1

SCENES

TROUBLE 1

The trouble sequence is the easiest of the lot to complete.
However, it doesn't further you in the game. You just get to the
bottom, get up, and get out. This level is a good one for practice,
though. To make things easier for yourself you may want to try to hit
the two bats on the ceiling and also the rats before you walk down.
Hold the right-arrow/down-arrow keys to climb down, but remember that
you can't throw anything when you are on the stairs.
Basically, you climb down two flights of stairs and knock the guard
out below before climbing down again. Then jump to the right over the
small drop(or you will be stunned)--you can knock out the rats with
5(from a distance) or 6(up close.) Jump on to a vine and climb all the
way to the top. The rats seem to know which vine you are on, so wait on
one and then change to get to the upper right ledge and to level 2.

TROUBLE 2
Grabbing the left rope is not tough(wait 'til it swings all the way
left,) but you can knock out the two bats on the ceiling first. Then
wait until the right rope is all the way left and grab it. You can
shoot the guards down from above and then climb down the two stairs. Go
left, jump up, and climb down the stairs to the third level.

TROUBLE 3
You must make a running jump across the gap. Beware the guard that
will come from the left. You might want to wait to shoot him(pick off
the bats on the ceiling) and then pick off the guards on the two levels
below. Go down, right, down, and jump left over the gap(the rat on the
other side can be nailed by shooting a rock at angle 5) and go all the
way down the stairs. Beneath the mace's handle, type A. Make sure the
bats are all cleared away first, because you cannot defend yourself
against them. Then walk over to the guy with the whip and when he's
stopped whipping to the left, run at him and hit him. Now jump over him
and you will be by two keys. Get under one and if the prisoners shake
their heads, take the other one because that key is trapped. Then
quickly jump over the prostrate whip guy(if you're not quick enough
you'll lose a life) and go back the way you came.

....and back again!

[NOTE: You can get a lot of rocks and elixirs going back and forth
between the two levels. But you don't get bonus points unless you
COMPLETE a level, i.e. go from one entrance to another!]

Nothing too tough here about going back. The swinging ropes are the
toughest but if you wait 'til the left rope is at its furthest right you
should catch it. At Trouble 1 "A" with the key at the right of the door
to unlock it and then go left to get back to the main room.

SHIELD 1
First note that if you run right, the left-hand platform blinks. If
you try to leave the way you came, you fall to trouble three. But this
level is fortunately not too difficult. Run right, then up, left,
right, up, run right and jump twice. Ah, but the boulders and mutants
get in your way. To avoid boulders coming at you, stay by stairs and be
ready to climb them back and forth, and remember that you can't outrun a
boulder unless you running-jump. To nail the mutants, walk under them
and kill them.

SHIELD 2
You can knock out a lot of the bird formation if you want to before
proceeding further, but also if you run a bit, duck, get up and jump
over the blinking panel in the middle(which will drop you to Trouble 3
if you step on it) and go to the right. Pick up the items and wait on
the far right where the birds can't touch you. Eventually you'll need
to risk it--climb up the stairs just after the dragon has retreated and
RUN RIGHT. Even if the dragon shows up, he won't kill you. It's just
his breath. You may be able to knock him out with fireballs, as well.

SHIELD 3
You'll probably lose one elixir just by chance in this level, but
there is a way to get through a huge part of it rather quickly. Jump
onto the rope immediately, drop down, and push 1 and throw a rock to get
the bat. Then jump again--you'll catch a rope to the right. You can
fall onto the next platform and repeat, or you can climb upwards and
make a beeline right. When you get to a platform, nail the bat that's
probably gotten near you, jump right, climb up, walk right, and climb up
the ladder.

SHIELD 4

It's not too bad to kill the two birds. Hit right twice, then left,
and push 1 and fire. Then go to the rightmost platform and hit 3 and
fire left. Now you can concentrate on the platforms.
You must jump diagonally from platform to platform until you reach
the upper left where there is a stair. Half of the platforms here are
fake, and this is random every time you get to the level. It's a matter
of trial and error, but fortunately the error doesn't kill you like
usual--it just drops you down to the next platform below. Each diagonal
jump in the same direction takes you a little closer to falling off an
edge, so if you think you are too close to an edge take two steps back
and one forward(carefully!) Wait until the thunder clouds won't be at
the left end for a moment, and try to pass them just after they have
struck lightning. A running jump doesn't hurt. When you get to the
shield, push A to take it and when the clouds are close push A. They'll
zap the shield, and you'll be back in the hallway with the shield and
some bonus points.

**WARNING**: When jumping right onto a corner platform, if you hit the
wall, the computer encounters a bug where you are stuck.

FIREBALL 1
Taking out the vulture formation is tricky. You'll want to make a
run for it(and jump before the slight drop) and shoot the mutants with 5
and 6. Then you can go to either lower right ledge where you will be
safe and can get items. The mutants will usually climb down the vine
that you are on so be prepared to change vines. The right edge of the
top ledge leads to the next level.

FIREBALL 2
The rocks are nasty until first solved, and so you want to get rid
of the added distractions of the bats as quickly as possible. You can
move a bit right, turn left, hit 8 and fire. Then throw at angle 4 once
you are on the first rock. If you wish to go the long way, the rocks to
jump on to(using standing jumps, in order of height) are 1, 2, 4, 5, 3,
6, 7. However, the short way consists of a down-jump to the right when
the small target platform is just about to turn back right, then one to
the left when the target platform passes under the rough vertical line
in the middle of its range, then down and to the right. You can kill
the bats as follows: right, turn left, and hit 8. Then wait until the
other bat comes down and throw with 5. It's also important to wait for
the stalactite to fall before starting off, or it'll nail you on the
first platform. With a bit of timing, this level's a cinch.

FIREBALL 3
Push three and throw a rock immediately to get rid of the bat. Then
jump immediately on the first raft and wait until the second rock
bounces. You'll need a bit of luck and judgement to get by this level.
After a while you know when a rock will fall on you and when it won't.
Alsways stay on the left edge of a raft/log and duck if the boulder is
coming to the front of the raft or jump left if it's in the middle.
You'll exit the top right and come out on the bottom left. Sometiems a
boulder will come by and just ruin your day, but otherwise, wait until
you're past half way on the screen to hit the mutant(angle five,) or
Sod's Law will assure that he nails you as you exit, since he
regenerates after a certain amount of time. Then go right on the log
and make a running jump to get to level 4. A standing jump will only
land you in Trouble 3.

FIREBALL 4
The broom breaks into three small brooms, which break into three
smaller brooms. You can kill all but three, after which they just stop
when hit. As for the eye, you can hit it with as many rocks as you
want. Each hit pauses it and gets you 25 points. I find I'm close to
5000 when playing through this on beginner so someone trying to master
this may want to hit the eye a lot to get the extra life and experience
that result. Now, you don't have to break the broom into tiny brooms
and wait to jump over them. My preferred solution is to hit 3 and enter
right when I get in this room. Then I climb down the stairs, hit 5 and
enter, and quickly jump right when I see the broom close. I make a
beeline for the rope and then jump up and down on the platforms. Your
key break here is that touching the eye while it's stunned will not hurt
you. You can jump onto the left vine and then hit A when in front of
each lever. One will flash the wall to the right. Jump through and
wait on the platform next to the wizard(getting too close will kill
you.) He'll give you fireball capabilities before going back to reading
his book.
This level is not too bad, but it's confusing, and the broom and
eyeball look intimidating at first.

DARK KNIGHT 1

The gargoyle will fly by and try to pick you up and drop you in
Trouble 3--he will succeed unless you use the fireballs. Put your arm
angle at 4 and remember the gargoyle comes from the opposite half of the
screen you're on. Rats may interfere with your fireballs, so you'll
want to clear them out beforehand and not wait until the last second to
shoot the gargoyle. The gargoyle also gives warning noises when he's
about to come on. Usually it's about every 600 bonus points. This
occurs in all three dark knight levels. What is also annoying is that
if you are hit by an arrow you may be dropped to Trouble 3, which can be
more time-wasting than just getting killed. If only there was a
password that allowed you to start on a Dark Knight level!
Navigating the vines is also tricky--see below--but the main thing
to remember is that if you are too close to a vine and jump for it,
you'll miss it.
Looking at this level, you may notice dots on the vines. Those make
it impossible to pass while you're on a certain side of a vine. If you
try to jump on that dot, you will fall, likely into Trouble 3. The way
things are organized, there is a definite pattern to this board. You
will also have to shoot the gargoyle two times, and I recommend one of
the three central bottom platforms for the first one(the right is best)
and the corner lower right for the second. You'll have to bide your
time a bit and resist the temptation to finish quickly.
To start off, walk a few steps and jump on the vine, or your
starting platform will disappear and drag you down. Now the nuisance of
possibly repeating this level is minimized by the amount of elixir and
rocks you can immediately pick up, and after a little practice in
Trouble you will be able to recharge there and maybe get an extra guy or
two--6k to 7k at a pop makes this a great way to store up extra guys for
the final confrontation. So pick everything you can up as you scale the
wall. Go right two vines at the top and wait for the rat to fall.
Shimmy down the right side of the vine, switching at the dot on the
right, then go to the left and quickly go right until you drop on the
platform. You may get hit by a rat as they come down pretty quickly,
but with practice you'll just miss it. Fire at the rats on the platform
above with 1, and hit the ones to the right with 6. Jump right and
right again without walking(don't move or change orientation after you
drop off the vine!) and wait for the gargoyle. You might want to shoot
the guard with the crossbow as he may fire at you. Face right and hit 5
and 4 to get both of them. From there climb up the vine to below the
dot, pick up the elixir to the right, and fire 7 to the left to knock
off the rats. Firing at angle 6 to the right will wipe out a meddlesome
guard who sometimes shoots you--and falling to Trouble 3 can be a fate
worse than death! Climb right across the vines. Drop in where the rats
were, climb right and up, and at the top, floor it right until you're on
the right side of the second-right vine. Wait for the guard to turn
away before falling right off the vine and shoot him. Wait for the
gargoyle, then jump up a platform, climb the stairs, and climb the
leftmost vine. Make sure you're high up before you go right or you'll
fall to your death. Here's another place where you might have to
sacrifice an elixir as rats are constantly sent here. I'd recommend
jumping from a low enough height so you won't get dizzy. Then climb up
to level 2.

DARK KNIGHT 2

There's no way back to level one. Go right immediately to avoid yet
another drop to Trouble 3. Note that the middle disappears soon after
for another drop. Jump over it and up to the bottom floating platform
level. It's not too hard to time the platforms, and in fact, there's a
pretty easy pattern to this. Get up the stairs as quickly as possible,
jump on the platform, and go left. It'll always work even if you may
have to run up the stairs on the left. From there, you can jump on the
upper platform at any time, as the shield you have will render you
invulnerable for a short time, in a pinch--remember that the gargoyle
may appear as well, and although you can get through most of this level
before he appears, waiting below the rock henchman makes the gargoyle
easy picking. You'll want to jump up to the small platform with the
lever soon after your first jump up top. Pulling the lever drops 16
tons on the henchman, and then you should go to the right of the
platform and jump left--again a bit of timing--and then jump to the
final floating platform. Take the rats out with rocks, climb up the
ladder, climb the stairs, and exit in the top right.

DARK KNIGHT 3

Bleah. The Dark Knight sits on his throne constantly drinking a cup
of something and throwing it. There appear to be six directions he
throws it in, depending on where you were when he finished his drink,
and they correspond roughly to the five levers. Two go in the bottom
corners, two to the tops of the stairs on the edges, and two down the
center slightly left or right. The bottom-corner mugs are nasty, as
they are thrown in sync with your invincibility counter, meaning you can
get stuck just using your shield while the knight throws cups. Then
along comes the gargoyle... If you're concentrating on this level, it
may be better to get killed by the cup than dropped by the gargoyle.
For starters, go left or right. But do it quickly unless you want
to go through the first two dark knight levels--and three trouble
scenes--again. To pull the top levers, run quickly left, jump, get on
the left side of the vine, climb on top, go to the leftmost vine, fall
off to the left, and climb to the upper left corner. The cup will just
miss you. Run over and pull the lever. The knight may be shocked and
look around a bit, but in any case sneak by him and downt he rope. ****
A down jump to the right gets you to the area of the second lever, and
while you wait, a safe area is just under the knight's nose. Beware
that the middle platform is not solid at the start, and jumping on it
will lead to Trouble 3. I think you can jump between center platforms,
but in any case to get back up, you to the opposite jump from your down
jump. I assume the platform appears that allows you to take the
knight's time. As always, wait until you see where he's thrown it to
move it. See the ending, and drop me a line about it if you can!!
Thanks!

INTERESTING STUFF

--"Vandals sack" and "Huns rule" are the graffiti.
--You can bounce a rock off a whip henchman and hit a bird.
--Apparently on the MAC version there are trees that appear in some
dungeons if your date is set to Christmas. Cute easter egg!

*********************

End of FAQ proper.

CREDITS/VERSIONS:

0.1.0 10/20/2000: Created first crack at the FAQ. "Solved" through
Shield 4, Fireball 3, Trouble 3.
0.9.9 2/10/2001: Got all but Black Knight 3 done. It's just too much
physical effort to win the game, but there's only one way it can be
done. So this is likely a final draft.

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