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Fantasy's Doomsday Castle - Year of Release?

roberthazelbyroberthazelby
edited August 2010 in Games
Afternoon all,

I'm hoping someone (or some people) reading this forum can help to clear something up.

I'm trying to find out when exactly Fantasy Software's Doomsday Castle was released. I realise the WOS archives say 1983, the game itself has a copyright of 1983, and it was certainly advertised towards the back end of 1983.

So, a 1983 year of release looks VERY likely. However, the reason I'm querying this is that none of the magazines in WOS managed to review the game in their 1983 issues.

The Pyramid just scrapes in with a couple of 1983 reviews, but I've not been able to find anything relating to a 1983 release/review of Doomsday Castle.

Did any of you buy this or were given this in 1983? Or perhaps you saw it on a store shelf in that year?

Any information would be appreciated!

Many thanks.
Post edited by roberthazelby on

Comments

  • VampyreVampyre
    edited August 2010
    Tricky one. This is what I know, which is probably less than yourself!

    Doomsday Castle is the sequel to The Pyramid as mentioned in the Crash review (Issue 2, March 1984) which was also reviewed in the same issue. Obviously it would have been impossible for Crash to have reviewed either game in 1983 as it didn't exist!

    I'm pretty certain that I had a copy of The Pyramid on Xmas Day 1983, so that would certainly clarify that The Pyramid was released in 1983. That doesn't however answer your question about DC!! My gut reaction would be that both were released in 1983.
    ZXSR - Speccy Mags Reviews
  • roberthazelbyroberthazelby
    edited August 2010
    Yep - I'm 99.9999% sure The Pyramid made Christmas 1983, but with Doomsday Castle I'm not so sure.
  • Dave_CDave_C
    edited August 2010
    I saw some brief shots of Doomsday Castle being played on a TV programme, or news report in 1983. I liked the look of it with the baddies being winched up and down in those lifts. The name of the game wasn't mentioned at the time, but I later recognised Ziggy in a magazine advert for The Pyramid in the December 1983 issue of 'Your Computer'. I assumed that was the game from the telly, and put 'The Pyramid' on my wish list for Santa.
    Must admit I was a bit disappointed on Christmas Day when I loaded up The Pyramid on my brand-new Speccy to find it wasn't the same game I'd seen on the TV... But hey, I also got Manic Miner and Harrier Attack - so had plenty to keep me amused. ;)

    Anyway, to summarise - Doomsday Castle was definitely in a playable condition in 1983 because I saw it on TV. However, the footage could have been a work in progress version from a trade show (I can't remember what the TV report was about). I definitely didn't see any adverts for Doomsday Castle before Christmas 1983 - only 'The Pyramid'.

    Hope this rambling tale helps! :smile:
  • roberthazelbyroberthazelby
    edited August 2010
    Dave, some fantastic tidbits of info there. I'd love to know what the programme was.

    Still no 100% confirmation it made it to release in 1983, but some brilliant info.

    The plot thickens!
  • Matt_BMatt_B
    edited August 2010
    A definite yes to The Pyramid; I first played it sometime in mid-autumn of 1983.

    I don't think I got Doomsday Castle until the following year though. That's not to say that it wasn't available, but it's a game I remember buying as soon as I saw it.
  • VampyreVampyre
    edited August 2010
    Dave_C wrote: »
    Anyway, to summarise - Doomsday Castle was definitely in a playable condition in 1983 because I saw it on TV. However, the footage could have been a work in progress version from a trade show (I can't remember what the TV report was about). I definitely didn't see any adverts for Doomsday Castle before Christmas 1983 - only 'The Pyramid'.

    Hope this rambling tale helps! :smile:

    It wasn't the Commercial Breaks program was it? I'm sure I saw it's on that, or am I thinking of Pyramid?
    ZXSR - Speccy Mags Reviews
  • Matt_BMatt_B
    edited August 2010
    Vampyre wrote: »
    It wasn't the Commercial Breaks program was it? I'm sure I saw it's on that, or am I thinking of Pyramid?

    Commercial Breaks came much later. It even had Pud Pud on it.
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