Shadowgate references a song from Deja Vu that didn't exist yet - Retrogaming Easter Eggs #shorts
532In Shadowgate for the NES, you will find a strange Flute that plays a neat little melody when you USE it. It's a necessary part of the game that helps you find some other items you need along your quest in this classic point-and-click adventure. When you play the flute, however, you'll hear a tune that is quite clearly an homage to the music from Deja Vu on the NES.
Both of these games are NES ports of the MacVenture games, which were released on Apple McIntosh computers. Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True was originally released in 1985, and Shadowgate was originally released in 1987. Kemco published the NES ports of these games that were originally created by Icom Simulations.
What's strange, though, is that the NES port of Shadowgate was published in 1989, and the NES port of Deja Vu was published in 1990, so the tune played by the Flute in Shadowgate seems to be an homage to a game that did not exist yet.
Furthermore, the previous releases of Shadowgate and Deja Vu were largely devoid of sound, and included little to no music, so it seems impossible that the Flute from Shadowgate could be a reference to Deja Vu, but here we are. I checked the Windows and Amiga versions, and this tune didn't seem to exist anywhere prior to the Nintendo releases.
Perhaps this Easter Egg was indeed intended to be an homage to Deja Vu, and the sound composer had this planned from the start? Tell me what you think! It's totally possible that the music from Deja Vu is a reference to the Flute from Shadowgate, and not the other way around, but the line of dialogue from the Flute in Shadowgate says something about how it seems like a dream, which is a theme used all throughout Deja Vu so like... I don't know!
Watch me play Shadowgate on NES here - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Tq2EbSZPkgfx3phHn4LepJQ_lAtvypm
Watch me play Deja Vu on NES here - https://youtu.be/Rw1WHwDJBws
I used a screenshot from this Legend of Localization article - https://legendsoflocalization.com/a-very-quick-look-at-japanese-shadowgate/
This video was edited in VideoPad - https://www.nchsoftware.com/videopad/index.html
What are some other weird tricks in old games you know about? I want to make more of these quick shorts, so leave a comment to suggest more glitches, Easter Eggs, and weird things!
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