ICOM's graphic adventure on NES. Explore a haunted castle by making decisions. Dark and oppressive atmosphere, ingenious puzzles. Point-and-click that works remarkably well on NES.
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Category
Adventure1 player12+
Description
Point-and-click adventure featuring a sorcerer exploring the trap-filled Castle of Shadowgate. Published by Kemco, released in Japan in 1989. Text narration with action choices, complex puzzles and frequent death from traps. NES port of ICOM's Shadowgate adventure game.
The Famicom version of ICOM/Kemco's point-and-click adventure, the title's original Japanese form. The Western narrative genre stayed marginal on Famicom, which sets this cart apart in the Japanese catalogue and makes it a curiosity for import-adventure collectors. The small Famicom format and Japanese box suit a Japanese ICOM/Kemco collection, where the piece stays more affordable than its Western counterparts while keeping a niche aura.
Is Shadowgate still worth playing in 2026?
Shadowgate is ICOM's NES graphic adventure, adapted from the original Mac game. Explore a haunted castle through textual and visual decisions, dark oppressive atmosphere, ingenious puzzles and spectacularly absurd deaths make for a point-and-click experience that works remarkably well on console. Adapting pad cursor controls takes some time, but writing and atmosphere are remarkable. Still an absolute classic today.
