Milon's Secret Castle (NES) Playthrough
251A playthrough of Hudson's 1988 action-adventure game for the NES, Milon's Secret Castle.
In this video, I played through both loops of the game in order to show the "true" ending. The second "quest" begins at 42:54.
Milon's Secret Castle was released in North America alongside Adventure Island (https://youtu.be/vL3urZJBkQM) in the fall of 1988, and it was one of Hudson's first internationally self-published NES games.
Milon, who had previously appeared as a bonus point item in Star Force, lives in the kingdom of Hudson, a land where everyone communicates through music. Unfortunately, the poor guy suffers from some form of musical mutism, so he decides it's time to move on to greener (atonal) pastures. He heads to the castle to inform the queen, but when he arrives, he sees that the place has been overrun by demons that have stolen everybody's instruments. Seemingly oblivious to the irony of the situation, Milon takes it upon himself to expel the demons, reclaim the instruments, and save the queen.
Armed with magical bubbles, Milon has to fight his way through the castle's four floors, each home to a set of labyrinth-like rooms that have to be searched for shops, life upgrades, and special items that'll open the path forward.
It's one of those NES titles that's known for its ability to divide the modern audience. Some people, myself included, regard it as a classic, while others would sooner set themselves on fire than touch it with a ten-foot pole.
I think that probably stems from how old-school it is, even by NES standards. The game was two years old when it showed up on this side of the Pacific, and game design had evolved by leaps and bounds in that short period. Super Mario Bros. 3 came out in Japan just a month after Milon debuted stateside.
Milon's Secret Castle hails from the same period as Kid Icarus and Metroid, and it has a lot in common with those games: it's a semi-linear, genre-bending action game that encourages and rewards exploration and experimentation. It's unapologetically obtuse and the difficulty curve is vicious, but it is also an incredibly satisfying game to see through to the end. It takes a dedicated effort to come to grips with the game's flow and logic, but once everything clicks into place and the theme song has wormed its way into your head, it's all too easy to sink hours at a time into it.
I spent many, many hours as a kid playing this one, and I enjoyed how hard it made me work for the ending. The castle layout and the NPC chatter will nudge you in the right direction, but the game expects you to figure most of it out on your own. It's not going to be a good fit for the impatient, but if you're a fan of games like Metroid, Mystery Quest, or Castlequest, then you'll probably enjoy the challenge this one poses.
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