The Retro Critic

Nightshade

Big plans were brewing back in 1992.

BIG plans.

Like a group of mad scientists in an old black and white movie, Beam Software developed a little game called Nightshade, also known as Nightshade Part 1: The Claws Of Sutekh and, although the game never received the sequels it promised/deserved, it was later used as a starting point for Shadowrun.

Released on the NES, the game was an ambitious mix of RPG adventure, point-and-click mystery, fighting action and… bad jokes.

The plot involves a vigilante called Nightshade defying the villains who have taken over Metro City and killed local superhero Vortex (don’t worry, he cameos as a super-computer at one point). An Egyptian god-themed baddie called Sutekh is the main villain and you are Nightshade, some film noir-style private detective looking dude with a long trench coat and a hat.

Nightshade’s first appearance isn’t exactly all that heroic since the game opens with him being tied to a chair by Sutekh and left to die at the hands of a terrifying bomb.

As tempting as it is to burn the ropes keeping you stuck to that chair with the oversized candle displayed here first, you might want to hide behind this wall like I’ve done because this is one big, scary bomb and…

Ok, so it’s not so much “big and scary” as it is a nicely formed soap bubble but still: hide, wait for it to blow up, then get rid of those ropes.

You’re left to wander this sewers-like lair and that’s when you’re first allowed to search wherever you are for clues and secrets and speak to whoever’s around. You soon find some paintings on the walls and the game’s silly sense of humour kicks in as Nightshade turns into an art critic for a brief moment:

I agree.

Luckily, the painting changes radically throughout the level…

And Nightshade eventually finds one he likes.

One of those paintings hides a secret exit, funnily enough, so make sure you search those bad boys.

Although, now I’ve revealed this little clue to you guys, you probably won’t attain the same heights of euphoria Nightshade reaches when he figures it out.

If you’re not a big fan of point-and-click games, you should still enjoy Nightshade: the humour alone should carry you through and there’s enough variety to the gameplay that it’s never dull. You have an inventory with items to use at the appropriate moments, a popularity meter gauging how respected Nightshade is by the people of Metro City, actual boss fights and mini missions.

The more popular Nightshade is, the more areas he has access to.

In order for that to happen, as well as brutally taking down villains, you’re made to do some random good deeds here and there like saving a girl from a burning building:

(you’re the orange shape on the bottom left)

Or helping an old lady grab her cat from up a tree:

The way in which you rescue poor little Tibbles is, I should point out, amusingly laborious.

First you select your ladder, use it, then you select some catnip, which you happened to have, use it on the cat, grab the cat and climb down the ladder. It’s the kind of “action sequence” probably not best suited for a point-and-click adventure but it’s amusing enough so it works nonetheless.

Not sure what this game’s obsession with animals is about, by the way.

Really?!

Are we seriously taking time out from fighting super-villains to comment on the cuteness of stray squirrels?

Nightshade needs to get his priorities straight.

If he’s going to focus on an animal, why not focus on killing off those Adolescent Irradiated Samurai Rats instead?

Is that what Splinter was in his youth?

That’s totally what the new TMNT movie should have been about: Nightshade/Adolescent Irradiated Samurai Rats/TMNT crossover. Like The Avengers but with ugly radioactive animals and a jokey little art critic.

The big rat you need to defeat, however, is this gorgeous heart-breaking over here:

D-did he just “squee” at me?

Is he a fan?

Well fan or not, he’ll slap his tail right in your face so make sure you jump around him fast and get a couple of hits in there.

There are loads of jokes in the game, as you might have guessed, and because I do recommend this one I won’t spoil all of them for you but suffice it to say that a pizza guy shows up at one point for no particular reason and it’s pretty darn funny:

Just when you think the game’s back on some sort of sensible track, it goes and pulls something wacky like that, just to remind you that it’s all in good fun.

When you die in the game you don’t go back to the very beginning. Instead, Sutekh captures you and ties you down into some kind of death trap you then have to escape from.

Oh yeah, I forgot, he also calls you “Lampshade.”

Just to mess with your head.

I do like that the game stays constantly creative, even after your character seemingly loses. They could have simply included a “Continue” option but they instead went with the death trap scenario, a good idea in itself.

In the end, if you play your cards right, you fight and beat Sutekh and, in case you’re not sure how to defeat him, I’d suggest just asking him flat-out.

Sutekh>Darth Vader>The Joker.

Best. Villain.

Anyway, if you defeat him, he is captured and sent to jail as the game sadly draws to a close.

But look out for some extra Nightshade wackiness post-credits.

All in all, I do urge you guys to hunt down this NES gem: it’s inventive, ambitious, very funny and very random. It’s definitely a shame it didn’t spawn sequels but at least we got one good game out of this failed franchise.

Nightshade must return, I say.

How many point-and-click or RPG games can you name in which you try to talk to a cat and it actually responds with genuine information?

Nightshade: that’s how many.

Now I know the review’s over and all but I shall not sleep before I get an update on the squirrels.

I DEMAND SQUIRREL NEWS.

Awww…

Nice Nightshade is nice.