THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE NIGHTSHADE PUBLISHER Ultimate Play The Game (ACG) AUTHORS Chris and Tim Stamper YEAR OF RELEASE October 1985 CATEGORY Arcade Adventure DESCRIPTION Nightshade is a scrolling, isometric 3D arcade adventure set in an ancient city. CONTROLS CONTROLLING YOUR ADVENTURER LEFT Your Adventurer will turn Left using the X, V or N keys. RIGHT Your Adventurer will turn Right using the C, B or M keys. MOVE FORWARD Your Adventurer will Move Forward using the A, S, D, F or G keys etc. PAUSE The whole game can be continuously paused using the CAPS SHIFT or BREAK SPACE keys. FIRE Your Adventurer will Fire his antibodies using the Q, W, E, R, or T keys etc. JOYSTICK CONTROLS Your Adventurer can be fully controlled by using the KEMPSTON INTERFACE, CURSOR CONTROL INTERFACE or the SINCLAIR INTERFACE II or any JOYSTICK, by replacing the LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN and FIRE controls. INSTRUCTIONS The object of the game is to collect a number of magical items which are scattered around the play area and then use these to destroy the ghouls which are running rampant around the town. CHEATS SEQUELS/PREQUELS In game style but not story-wise, Nightshade is the prequel to the other scrolling isometric 3D game, Gunfright. INLAY CARD TEXT THE LOST VALLEY Somewhere between the purple mountains, and the seas of the Seven Islands lies a hidden valley, a land that time has not touched. All remained peacful and tranquil, until darkness descended upon the land, light and freedom were banished from its homely hills, and the evil set seed. Death and hunger spread, and all who remained within the walls of the village became stricken or hag ridden with haunted evil. All who had deserted the village sought refuge elsewhere. The village was now in complete control by darkness. THE PLAGUES The remaining people, weak and afflicted were unable to leave and soon became enveloped by the vicious evil force, transmuted by some terrible disease into the most hideously foul creatures. They wander their once peaceful village, producing deadly plagues, and fall fouls, to enslave anyone who dares trespass into the village, to try to defeat the evil overlord. THE STORY TELLER Many years had passed since the village became over-run, and soon the knowledge of the village slipped into legend. Songs were sung and tales were told of brave adventurers who ventured into the valley to find and destroy the evil force and never to return, of the riches that could be gained from the successful adventure, and the evil which lay in wait for anyone who dared to set foot in the evil enchanted NIGHTSHADE village. The old story teller's eyes widen into fiery gems as he recalls and re-lives the tale of battle with the force of evil at work in the NIGHTSHADE village. "Tales of ghosts and mad monks enslaved by evil forces to do their bidding and of plagues and foul demons let loose on the village. Even death itself was imprisoned within the village of NIGHTSHADE as an un-invited guest of the evil one." The old man continues: "Skeletons with rotting flesh dripping with the blood of the long dead, waiting, prowling the now empty village for live prey." "Hideous demons" he croaks, "and terrible ailments and spells waiting to absorb any who dares anger the evil force." "Lift the darkness and the Kingdom of NIGHTSHADE shall be yours forever!" The old man slumps back exhausted into the tall carved wooden chair. You extract as much information as you possibly can from him, but he can tell you little more than where to find the village. You set off down the valley and enter the forbidden NIGHTSHADE village. This story is continued by playing this most Advanced Home Computer Action Adventure simulation. FARE THEE WELL CONTROLLING YOUR ADVENTURER LEFT Your Adventurer will turn Left using the X, V or N keys. RIGHT Your Adventurer will turn Right using the C, B or M keys. MOVE FORWARD Your Adventurer will Move Forward using the A, S, D, F, or G keys etc. PAUSE The whole game can be continuously paused using the CAPS SHIFT or BREAK SPACE keys. FIRE Your Adventurer will fire his antibodies using the Q, W, E, R or T keys etc. JOYSTICK CONTROLS Your Adventurer can be fully controlled by using the KEMPSTON INTERFACE, CURSOR CONTROL INTERFACE or the SINCLAIR INTERFACE II or any JOYSTICK, by replacing the LEFT, RIGHT, UP DOWN and FIRE controls. (Due to the enormous complexity and nature of the interactive NIGHTSHADE G.A.S. adventure software, it is almost impossible to guarantee continuous and error-free operation. Although, should any fault prevail, please contact ourselves, enabling the correction of any future versions.) NIGHTSHADE FEATURES ------------------- NIGHTSHADE features the latest development of the Filmation process called Filmation II, this is a unique software development which generates and maintains a realistic moving 3 Dimensional Scenario Background, giving NIGHTSHADE the unequalled realistic feel of a true player participant Film Adventure. Filmation II (C) Bible 3D Movement Hammer Continuous Pause Cross Demons Egg Timer Ghosts Fire Button Plagues Run/Walk Antibodies Game Selection Weapon Stack Tunes Spikers 3 Dimensional View Gremlins Village Blobs Extra Lives Skeletons Superb Graphics Mad Monks Amazing Animation Mr Grimreaper Multi Lives Acid Pools Rotational/Directional Bubbles Joystick Select Germs Superb Sound Effects Spirals Monsters Spinners Bacteria Globes Gargoyles Spinners Goblins Globes Streets Gooks Windows Roads Rooms Doors Houses Cottages Rooms Log Cabins Houses Churches Look Out Towers Walls Barns All Software, Graphics and Audio Visual by RARE LTD. for ULTIMATE PLAY THE GAME Trade Name of Ashby Computers & graphics Ltd. Made in England 481014 SCORES Crash, Issue: 21, Page: 10, 91% REVIEWS Review of _Nightshade_ from Sinclair User No.43, October 1985 HERE COMES Ultimate once more with the continuing saga of Sabre Man. _Nightshade_ is, as you might have begun to suspect, more of the same - the brilliant 3D graphics system of _Knight Lore_ and _Alien 8_ juiced up and improved to simulate a mediaeval village. Somehow the programmers have managed to get colour into the screens. In order to see your little hero in the narrow village lanes one or two walls drop out of the picture, remaining as white lines on the screen. That system does, however, allow for some wonderfully detailed views of inns, barns and the like. As usual with Ultimate there is little information on what you are supposed to do. The village is said to have been possessed by a great evil, which turned the inhabitants into werewolves and other hideous creatures. Those monsters are some of the best yet, coming in a tremendous variety of shapes. Your weapons lie in the village rooms and you collect various missiles to stock up your ammunition. Some will not do you much good - there are monsters which transmute into others if hit, or split into two, and it's going to take you some time to establish which does what to whom. Meanwhile, there are four hypernasties - a mad monk, a skeleton, a ghost, and Mr Grimreaper, death himself. They are scattered about the village, and must, we suppose, be sought out and destroyed, presumably with four special objects, the eggtimer, Bible, Hammer and Cross. The game is well-paced - very much an arcade-style production compared to the logic puzzles of the two earlier Filmation games. On the other hand, there is a sense of deja vu creeping into Ultimate games. It's now well over a year since Sabre Man first appeared, and the concept is wearing a little thin. _Nightshade_ looks a lot different from _Knight Lore_ and _Alien 8_, but not so different as to stifle doubts that Ultimate may be running out of steam. Or dare we hope for something really special this side of Christmas? Chris Bourne Publisher: Ultimate Price: =A39.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Sinclair, Cursor, Kempston Rating: ***** (out of 5, meaning: 24 carat. Buy it.) SNAPSHOTS/URLS: ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/n/nightsha.zip GENERAL FACTS Nightshade was the first game produced by Ultimate which feature the "Filmation II" process, a unique software development which generates and maintains a realistic moving 3 Dimensional Scenarion Background, giving NIGHTSHADE the unequalled realistic feel of a true player participant "Film Adventure". Well, thats what the manual said anyway! NOTES Nightshade was released on the Mastertronic budget label "Ricochet" in 1987 for the paltry sum of 1.99. _Nightshade_, published in 1985, was the 11th Spectrum game coming from cult publisher Ultimate Play The Game. Like many other Ultimate games, this one stars the character of Sabre Man. Historical Notes This game was maybe the last from Ultimate having some authentic original charme. At the time, Ultimate was beginning to loose its edge as the best game company for 8-bit computers, while some other companies finally learnt how to make good graphics on a Spectrum. When _Nightshade_ came out, a new company called Rare Ltd. had been founded by the Stamper brothers, original founders of Ultimate. As far as I know, _Nightshade_ was the first game to be acknowledged to Rare (which, under the guide of the Stampers, was to become the leading software developer for Nintendo systems ten years after, with best-selling products such as _Donkey Kong Country_ and _Killer Instinct_). _Nightshade_ didn't meet the enthusiastic reviews and comments of previous Ultimate's masterpieces, and many people started to criticize the company for making games too similar to each other. Paul Bond's review of Hewson's game _Paradroid_ on Your Sinclair n.11/5, November 1985, closed with the following sentence: "Hewson has come up with the goods just when some of its fellow little league colleagues seem to be just nightshades of their former selves". But Ultimate was declining - the algorithms used in _Nightshade_ were also used in the following game _Gunfright_, which can be described as an arcade version of _Nightshade_ set in the Old West. The company was then sold to U.S. Gold, and the games later published under the Ultimate label (_Cyberrun_ and _Pentagram_, later followed by _Martianoids_ and _Bubbler_) did little or nothing to revive the company's reputation. Description of the Game The game uses a technique derived from the Filmation algorithm used by Ultimate in its legendary game _Knight Lore_, and later in _Alien 8_ and _Pentagram_. This new technique was appropriately called Filmation II, and thanks to it the game is set in a 3-dimensional scrolling environment (a mediaeval village), where nearest walls disappear allowing you to see the Sabre Man moving around and shooting nasties - well, it's all easier to understand if you play the game and look for yourself. In my humble opinion, the original Filmation technique was better, allowing more flexibility and full-screen action against the window-sized games developed with Filmation II. The aim of the game is to collect four objects and to use them to kill the four evil lords that are walking around in the village. Meanwhile, you must collect self-spawning projectiles (antibodies) to defend yourself agains the ever-present monsters. There are many kinds of antibodies and monsters, and each antibody has a different effect on different monsters. There are also lesser monsters (the ones that can move diagonally), and a fire monster that haunts you if you stay too long in the same place - these can be killed with any kind of antibody. How to play the game _Nightshade_ is more difficult than previous Ultimate arcade-adventures. The village is big and difficult to map, and the starting positions of the objects seem to change every time you play, without any recognisable pattern - it's difficult to be sure, though, because the evil lords move around while you play. It all becomes much easier when played with an emulator, saving the position soon after starting the game so that you don't have to start from scratch when looking around for the four objects. _Nightshade_ was the first Ultimate game that I didn't finish the right way - I had to cheat saving the initial position with a snapshot cartridge. Let me know if you finish the game without cheating or saving. Available Material Somewhere on the Internet you can find a good map of the village in JPG format, scanned from a magazine. This also includes a couple of small tables that explain the effects of antibodies and objects on monsters. At the time of writing (december, 1995) this map is available on nvg.unit.no. You should also find a scan of the game cover in a near directory, and a BMP file containing the opening screens of this and other Ultimate games ready for use as a background for your desktop. Comments The best point of the game are the graphics - very good, as was usual with Ultimate. One or two of the monsters are very nice (look for the ''booer'' following you with its arms risen). But there is nothing new to see as you go deeper into the game... No new monsters appearing, or anything like that. When you've seen the four evil lords and the objects you need yo kill them, you've seen it all. Everything is correctly done, but seems to lack the unbound imagination of previous Ultimate games. _Nightshade_ is more action-oriented than _Knight Lore_, but the action can become irritating. Your character, for example, can't move diagonally, while many enemies can - this makes for awkward playability. While graphics and playability where strictly bound together in the majority of previous Ultimate games, _Nightshade_ looks a bit like a very primitive shoot-'em-up turned into a very cosmetically-enhanced arcade-adventure. Nevertheless, if you did enjoy other Sabre Man games (and you should), you'll probably feel compelled to play this one too... Regardless of criticism, it has that strange ''Ultimate'' feeling that makes you want to play it to the end.