MacVenture (universe)

The MacVenture logo.

MacVenture is a title used for a series of puzzle video games made by ICOM Simulations, each using the same game engine. As the name suggests, the games were all first released on the Macintosh, but were later ported to various other platforms. Although Déjà Vu is the only game in the series to receive a sequel by the original developers, the game that became the most popular, and went on to become a franchise in its own right was Shadowgate.

Personal

I first became aware of the series around 1990 when I saw Shadowgate at a rental store. I didn't get to play it until a little while later, but, when I did, I found the game to be very enjoyable. I later bought the three NES ports of the games and eventually beat all three. I have yet to play Déjà Vu II: Lost In Las Vegas.

Works

Video Games

In total, four unique titles were released in the series. These games were ported to a number of platforms. A compilation game was also released which combined Déjà Vu I and II.

Title	Macintosh	Amiga	Atari ST	Commodore 64	MS-DOS	Apple IIgs	NES	PC-9801	Windows 3	Game Boy Color
Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True!!	1985	1987	1987	1987	1987	1988	1988-11-22	1991-07-21	1991
Uninvited	1986	1987	1987	1988	1988	1988	1989-09-09		1993
Shadowgate	1987	1987	1987		1988	1989	1989-03-31		1993	1999-03-31
Déjà Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas	1988	1989	1989		1990	1989		1991-09-05
Déjà Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding						1992			1992	1999

When the games were first ported to other platforms in 1987, the name "MacVenture" was changed to "AmigaVenture," "AtariVenture," and "PCVenture" (for MS-DOS). However, by 1988, this convention was eliminated so there was never a "WindowsVenture."

Books

• Before Shadowgate is a novella in the Worlds of Power series which acts as an unofficial prequel to the NES port.
• Short hint books were made for each of the three NES ports.

Links

   

• github.com/mrkite/webventure - An HTML5 implementation of the Macintosh and Apple IIgs engines.