Nightshade was developed by Beam Software and released by Ultra in early 1992. It is not, as one might assume, about a certain family of fruits and vegetables – that’s a whole other game.
When I first started collecting NES games, this was a title I specifically sought out, because it shows up on nearly every list of “hidden gems” on the system. I did eventually find it (it’s not exceptionally rare, but at least where I live it’s a bit hard to come by), and until this week I’m not sure that I actually sat down to try it. So…what is it, exactly? To be honest, it’s a lot of things.
Perhaps first and foremost, it’s a point-and-click adventure, a la Maniac Mansion or Sam and Max. You’ll need to explore various noir-inspired environments, pick up seemingly random items, and then figure out how to put those to good use, often so you can access new places, get more weird items, and so forth.
Oh, and it’s also a fighting game.
The fighting mechanics, while simple and occasionally prone to annoying AI, are fast paced and quite enjoyable, and do a nice job of breaking up the extensive amounts of ‘wandering around’ that you get from the point-and-click segments.
As if two fun genres weirdly blended into one wasn’t enough, Nightshade is silly. Like, actually, genuinely silly. In a good way.
Fantastic – let’s have another!
Throughout the game, there are tons of silly jokes and other bits of self awareness. This is a bit of a weird thing for a noir-styled adventure/fighting hybrid to have, but it honestly totally works – there really aren’t a lot of video games that make me genuinely laugh, but this one did. People who aren’t big fans of the main hero (nicknamed Nightshade, if you hadn’t figured that out) tend to call him “Lampshade” instead, which is just so goofy for an ostensibly dark NES game. I love it.
As if that weren’t enough, the game also features an important “Popularity” meter that changes as you go about your business – some characters will interact with you differently depending on how popular you are (some may even stop calling you Lampshade). It can go either up or down depending on your actions – it’s an interesting and innovative mechanic, and one that predates the similar systems in Fallout and KotOR by several years.
My biggest quarrel with Nightshade is its lack of a save option, which can make the game feel needlessly unforgiving as you progress. No one part is especially difficult (and in most situations there’s a trap that you can escape avoid dying), but a single slip up can cost you the entirety of your progress, which is a bit frustrating. If you happen to play this game in a manner that supports save states, you’d probably do well to use them.
While Nightshade does a lot of different things in a way that could easily culminate in a big mess, it honestly manages to do all of them well. It’s an absolute delight – exceedingly interesting, funny, and full of things to do. As a huge fan of humor, point-and-click stuff, and fighting games, I’m elated that this exists and furious with myself for not playing it sooner. This is truly a must-play for any NES fan.
Despite its full title being Nightshade Part 1: The Claws of Sutekh, there was regrettably never a sequel of any kind. However, the game’s ideas were later adapted into the SNES version of Shadowrun, an excellent game in its own right.
Our next game is…well, it’s not exactly a “game.” It’s played using a game console, but…ugh, it is not going to be good. I’m not excited for this. You’ll see what I mean next week.