Thunder Castle

A whimsical new medieval fantasy game developed Connie Goldman and David Warhol of Mattel Electronics and published by INTV Corporation for the Intellivision in 1986.

Released: 1 February 1984
Platforms: Intellivision
Genres: Arcade Maze
Developers: Mattel Electronics Quicksilver Software
Publishers: INTV
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Fantasy
Languages: English

About

Thunder Castle is a maze video game designed for Intellivision by Dave Warhol and published in 1986. The player controls a knight navigating three mazes, defeating enemies to progress. It was going to be published by Mattel Electronics, but the division closed in 1984. It was released in 1986 through mail order by INTV. The game received praise from Computer Entertainer and, retrospectively, Allgame, with Dave Beuscher calling it one of the best games for the Intellivision.

›Story

In this medieval fantasy game, players take control of a brave knight as he sets out on a quest of treasure hunting and survival. The quest takes the knight into three different realms of danger, each with its own challenges, and an ever changing maze which they must navigate through. The quest is broken down into these challenges:

Forest - The Knight must confront three dragons, each one more difficult than the last. Along the way, an enchanted bat will give him the strength to overcome the danger.

Castle - The Knight must overcome six wizards, his only aid being a mouse that will generally try to avoid capture.

Dungeon - A randomly appearing skull is the only defense against the nine demons that make up the sinister dungeons.

Along the way, the items that the Knight will find may be of some help (or hinder) his quest to make it through the different areas. Challenge the areas again and again for the highest score possible!

Keywords

wizards
medieval
maze
forest
castle
bats
mouse
temporary invincibility

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Thunder Castle, the player controls the knight via the Intellivision direction disc, moving the knight up, down, left and right in the maze. The knight continues in that direction pushed until a turn is possible. The game can be played single-player or two-players alternating. The game is set in three mazes: a forest, a castle and a dungeon.

The player guides their knight through these mazes, slaying three dragons in the forest maze, six sorcerers in the castle maze, and nine demons in the dungeon maze. Magical objects are scattered throughout the maze which may help or hinder the knight. After completing the final maze, the game restarts with enemies moving faster. The player can energize their knight for a few seconds by interacting with a bat in the forest, a mouse in the castle or a red skull in the dungeon.

Development

Thunder Castle was developed by David Warhol. It was initially scheduled to be released by Mattel Electronics as Mystic Castle. By October 1983, Mattel Electronics had a $201 million deficit and closed their electronics division in 1984. After Mattel Electronic closed, Warhol formed Warhol Audio Arts specialized in computer game sound effects and music for companies like Electronic Arts and Interplay.

Terrence Valeski, Mattel Electronics senior vice president of marketing felt that as 3 million people had Intellvisions, there was a market and formed the company Intellvision Inc., later changed to INTV. Valeski began marketing new games, which included ones that were finished by a former Mattel Electronics office in France (World Cup Soccer and Championship Tennis) and two previously completed unreleased games World Series Baseball and Thunder Castle.

Legacy

Warhol later re-branded Warhol Audio Arts to Realtime Associates and began making completing old and making new Intellivision games such as ports of Dig Dug and console exclusive games like Hover Force.

Thunder Castle is included in the compilation Intellivision Lives!.