Magic Castle (by Kaiga) - a new (old) Net Yaroze game for PS1

[gingerbeardman]

A new (old) Net Yaroze title for PlayStation!

it's a randomly generated gauntlet style game (real-time rogue-like, if you must)

Originally created to beta state in 1998, then shelved/cancelled. Finished in 2020 by another developer under direction of the original developers.

interview/history
http://netyaroze-europe.com/Media/Magic-Castle

download bin/cue
https://archive.org/details/magic-castle-2020-23-dec

manual
https://archive.org/details/mcmanual/

Apparently the end is after level 20.

Lots of Easter Eggs.

Note: works on PS2 from hard power off; may not work from standby.

 

[Umdlye]

Haven't played a Net Yaroze game before, this looks neat. Time to dust off the CD burner :)

 

[dock]

Oh awesome! Thanks for sharing!!

I just burned a copy but it hangs after the Start screen for me. I can pick language and version but get no further. I'll try again.

 

[dock]

Trying some more and the beta works but nothing else. Anyone else trying this on real hardware? I'm using a chipped PS2 that often plays burned PS1 games.

 

[gingerbeardman]

I've been playing under emulation, Beetle PSX HW, and all options work.

Will try burning a copy, testing on PS2slim.

edit1: dock I burned a copy with Alcohol 120% (rectify sub-channel data ON) and powered-up my chipped PS2slim holding L1 to force PS1 disc detection: the game booted up fine. at the initial menu screen I press circle without changing any options and the game loaded fine.

edit2: with subsequent launches of this disc I'm getting a black screen after pressing circle.

edit3: so full version won't load from PS2 being in standby. it will work from powering off your PS2 at the wall. How odd!? I've reported this bug.

 

[gingerbeardman]

I've found several easter eggs so far.

Spoiler: Easter Eggs

Art Gallery
QR code
Texture Viewer
Sound Test

 

[Piccoro]

OK, this game looks great!

 

[doof_warrior]

this is fucking awesome

 

[gingerbeardman]

How far have you guys got?

I got it to Level 14 and made a silly mistake wandering into a new room with zero HP.

 

[gingerbeardman]

This got some traction on Twitter but I'm surprised there hasn't been much response on here.

 

[Tamath]

Having grabbed every achievement in Hades, I'm in the mood for pastures new. Will give it a whirl in the next day or two.

 

[Jockel]

I certainly downloaded it, I'll absolutely try it when I get the chance later.

 

[OnePointZero]

I've alredy completed runs with the archer and the wizard. On to the other two characters! Not many people seem to be playing it, and there's some secrets that i'd like to know (such as where is the Black Golem, or the Dark Rat?).

I'm so surprised by the level of polish of this Net Yaroze release, it definitely has the seeds for a much more ambitious, higher budget game in there.

 

[gingerbeardman]

I haven't seen either of those, sorry!

Easter Eggs I've found... previously posted elsewhere.

Art Gallery
(browse the disc with your PC for instructions)

QR Code
(same)

Texture Viewer
Go to the options menu, select Game Options, then highlight the Tag Style option and press SELECT. Detailed help is given. Use Left/Right/Cross to navigate.

Sound Test
Go to the options menu, select Sound Options, then highlight the BGM or SFX option and press SELECT. Use Left/Right/Circle/Cross to navigate.

 

[OnePointZero]

Thx for posting those! Will check them out.

It seems like the only place actively talking about Magic Castle is on the NetYaroze comments section. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough... Anyway, I'm having a blast with this game.

 

[gingerbeardman]

Thanks for linking their comments section!