History VideoGame / FrankiesDungeon

''Frankie's Dungeon'' is a {{horror}}-themed [[BeatEmUp belt-scroller]] for the UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh. The game's creator and primary developer is Bill Appleton, who put together the prototype in 1989 under the name ''Combat''. ''Frankie's Dungeon'' was only available through mail order from Stingray Entertainment in 1990, reaching the market some time before August. The first chapter, "Wolves in the Woods", went around as {{shareware}}. Within a year of release, the rights to ''Frankie's Dungeon'' were purchased by Reactor, which had it [[UpdatedReRelease updated]] as ''Creepy Castle'' in 1991, some time before September.

* BladeOnAStick: Halberds are the melee weapon available in the castle. They're found as part of the wall decoration where they're paired with a buisine atop a shield.

* AnAxeToGrind:
** Axes for woodchopping are the melee weapon available in the woods. They're found here and there between the trees, always nearby a ditch.
** Hatchets are the throwable weapon lying around in the dungeon. They are wielded by both the protagonist and the igors.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: ''Frankie's Dungeon'' gives titles to its four chapters and each of those titles is alliterative: "Wolves in the Woods", "Ghouls in the Graveyard", "Bats in the Belfry", and "The Doctor in the Dungeon".

%%* HauntedCastle:

%%* TheManyDeathsOfYou:
%%* MatchstickWeapon:

%%* OurGhoulsAreCreepier:
%%* OurVampiresAreDifferent:
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The woods are werewolf domain, which they share with regular wolves. Werewolves are brawlers and deal quite some damage with their punches. They can be taken out by punching back, throwing rocks at them, or using wolfsbane against them. There's also a werewolf about twice the regular's size that can shoot balls of fire from its hands. The most effective way to end him is to shoot him in the mouth with a silver bullet.

The story between ''Frankie's Dungeon'' and ''Creepy Castle'' differs slightly. In ''Frankie's Dungeon'', the male protagonist and his girlfriend are enjoying a camping trip when they are attacked by a FrankensteinsMonster and the girl is abducted to be turned into another such monster. It is up to the protagonist to rescue her. In ''Creepy Castle'', the MadScientist and his crew have abducted a girl for undisclosed science purposes. The protagonist has no apparent relation to her, but has resolved to go save her because it's the right thing to do. In all cases, the protagonist has to make his way through werewolf-harboring woods, a graveyard that is ghoul territory, the castle where vampires dwell, and finally face the doctor and his creations in the dungeon.

* CombatTentacles: In the cave system in the dungeon, tentacles rise up from the crevices. They will drag the protagonist to his death if they aren't avoided.
%%* CreepyCave:

* DamselInDistress: The (most recent) female victim of the doctor is the protagonist's girlfriend in ''Frankie's Dungeon'' and a random girl in ''Creepy Castle''. In ''Frankie's Dungeon'', she's been abducted to be remade into a female Frankenstein's monster, of which several already roam in the dungeon. In ''Creepy Castle'', it's not explained what the doctor wanted her for. In either case, the protagonist sets out to rescue her.

* EinsteinHair: While the mad doctor in ''Frankie's Dungeon'' has normal hair, in ''Creepy Castle'' his hair stands up in all directions to give him a more unwell look.
* FrankensteinsMonster: Multiples of the male monster and the female monster as envisioned by Franchise/UniversalHorror roam around in the dungeon. The female monster has electric powers that allow her to keep a distance while attacking the protagonist. In ''Frankie's Dungeon'', the doctor's intent is to turn the protagonist's girlfriend into another one of these monsters. The male monster attacks with speed and brute force, but can be scared off by simply holding a torch.

** With the exception of the doctor himself, the bosses are very strong and have a large range. Engaging them in melee combat is akin to suicide and ranged combat is limited by the amount of projectiles obtained prior to facing the boss. The most successful choice of action is to use the secret methods, but these are obscure and too require preparation. The only hint in-game is that the third item in the inventory is related to the boss, but how is not explained and once a boss has been engaged, there is no way back. Either the protagonist defeats them or it's game over. The manual does contain a decipherable hint for each of them, but it's still only a hint, and it needs to be deciphered. Specifically, the protagonist has to acquire at least one silver bullet in the woods and grab the .44 magnum in the boss arena, shooting the large werewolf only when it opens its maw. In the graveyard, the protagonist has to acquire two insulated rubber gloves and bring a shovel to the large skeleton. Then in the boss arena, he needs to use the shovel each time lightning strikes to electrocute the skeleton in two turns. Mind that prior to the boss battle, the shovel is only used as a regular melee weapon. Then for the large vampire in the castle, it's not the key that's the essential weapon, but a special smart bomb: a silver cross. Activating one will knock out the vampire and make it possible to kick him into a hook protruding from the wall. Where the key comes into play is that the boss arena cannot be left without it, so if it wasn't acquired, the game ends there even with the large vampire killed off.
** The boss battle against the doctor is a process of avoiding and sabotaging three traps and then finally tricking him into one of his own traps to electrocute him. Failure to avoid any of the traps leads to an instant death.

* HelpingHands: During the final boss fight, the doctor is armed with disembodied hands he throws at the protagonist. Once thrown, the hands crawl all over the floor on the protagonist, not unlike the spiders in the graveyard. There's a container holding a disembodied hand in the back of the lab that when destroyed leaves the hands much weaker.

* LargeAndInCharge: With the exception of the doctor himself, each of the bosses is a larger version of the monsters roaming around in their territory. The boss of the woods is a werewolf over twice the size of the other werewolves. The boss of the graveyard is a skeleton that may or may not be a ghoul who is 1.5x times as tall as the ghouls. The boss of the castle is a vampire who also is 1.5x times the size of the other vampires.
* LetThePastBurn: The ending screen shows the protagonist and the girl setting fire to the doctor's castle to ensure everything inside gets destroyed.

* MadScientist: The doctor is ostensibly the ruler of the castle and therefore of the Frankenstein's monsters, igors, vampires, skeletons, ghouls, and werewolves that dwell inside and around. He himself hangs out in the dungeon where he has his boobytrapped laboratory for various projects and experiments. His latest project involves the abducted girl, which in ''Frankie's Dungeon'' he wants to turn into another female monster and in ''Creepy Castle'' has an undisclosed purpose for.

* MoodMotif: In ''Frankie's Dungeon'', each chapter is introduced with its own distinct title card and accompanying tune. Guitar-heavy metal music plays over the title card of "Wolves in the Woods", on which the title is written in a lightning-style font. Suspenseful percussion tunes plays over the title card of "Ghouls in the Graveyard", on which the title is written in a pirate-like font. Suspenseful percussion tunes plays over the title card of "Ghouls in the Graveyard", on which the title is written in a pirate-like font. Morose piano music plays over the title card of "Bats in the Belfry", on which the title is written in a Gothic font. Lastly, ominous organ music plays over the title card of "The Doctor in the Dungeon", on which the title is written in a clinical font.
* NoNameGiven: Not a single character in either version of the game is named. The Crypt Creeper and the Doctor do at least have titles to go by, and if the title ''Frankie's Dungeon'' is anything to go by, the doctor's name is either Frankie or Frankenstein.

%%* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent

%%* PlayingWithFire:
%%* PowerfulPick:

%%* SilverBullet:

%%* SpidersAreScary:
* SwarmOfRats: The furnished portion of the dungeon is home to many, many rats. And while they leave the monster alone, they'll leap at intruders with their teeth ready.

''Frankie's Dungeon'' is a {{horror}}-themed [[BeatEmUp belt-scroller]] for the UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh. The game's creator and primary developer is Bill Appleton, who put together the prototype in 1989 under the name ''Combat''. ''Frankie's Dungeon'' was only available through mail order from Stingray Entertainment in 1990, reaching the market some time before August. The first chapter, "Wolves in the Woods", went around as {{shareware}}. Within a year of release, the rights to ''Frankie's Dungeon'' were purchased by Reactor, which had it [[VideoGameRemake remade]] as ''Creepy Castle'' in 1991, some time before September.

%%* AnAxeToGrind:
%%* BatOutOfHell:

* CreepyCemetery: The Graveyard is where the ghouls dwell along with vultures and spiders. The weapons that go around are pickaxes, shovels, and knives. Everything is crooked, there are open graves, and the ghouls all hide underground until a suitable time to strike at an intruder.

%%* DamselInDistress: The (most recent) female victim of the doctor is the protagonist's girlfriend in ''Frankie's Dungeon'' and a random girl in ''Creepy Castle''.

%%* DeviousDaggers:
%%* DontGoInTheWoods:
%%* ForDoomTheBellTolls:

* FrankensteinsMonster: Multiples of the Adam-type monster and the Eve-type monster as envisioned by Franchise/UniversalHorror roam around in the dungeon. The Eve-type monster has electric powers that allow her to keep a distance while attacking the protagonist. In ''Frankie's Dungeon'', the doctor's intent is to turn the protagonist's girlfriend into another one of these monsters. The Adam-type monster attacks with speed and brute force, but can be scared off by simply holding a torch.
%%* FrequentlyFullMoon:

%%* HelpingHands:

%%* MadScientist:

* NoNameGiven: Not a single character in either version of the game is named. The Crypt Creeper and the Doctor do at least have titles to go by.

%%* OverTheShoulderCarry:

%%* SwarmOfRats:

* FrankensteinsMonster: Multiples of the Adam-type monster and the Eve-type monster as envisioned by UniversalHorror roam around in the dungeon. The Eve-type monster has electric powers that allow her to keep a distance while attacking the protagonist. In ''Frankie's Dungeon'', the doctor's intent is to turn the protagonist's girlfriend into another one of these monsters. The Adam-type monster attacks with speed and brute force, but can be scared off by simply holding a torch.

[[caption-width-right:350:Are we making precious memories yet?!!]]

Gameplay consists of getting from A to B without dying and there's a distance meter to show how travel is going. By default, the protagonist can jump, crouch, punch, and kick, as well as combine these commands. If a projectile had been obtained, throwing becomes an option. If the protagonist stands upon an item to be picked up, the action command will do so. Otherwise, the action command will activate a SmartBomb if one's in the inventory. Items are divided in five groups: projectiles, smart bomb, boss battle essential, melee weapon, and miscellaneous items. Boss battle essentials cannot be used outside of the BossBattle, but they can be missed before the boss battle occurs, which renders the game (near) unwinnable. Melee weapons are large objects that make short work of enemies, but also cut off all commands except for wielding the weapon and walking left or right. Miscellaneous items are singular objects that give a permanent power boost for the level they're found in.

While both versions of the game are slow to react to input and the hitboxes are a little funky, their presentations are top notch, tapping richly in classic horror lore. The presentation is also where the game's differ from each other. Graphically, ''Frankie's Dungeon'' uses a comic book-style, while ''Creepy Castle'' sports highly dithered graphics that approach the look of PreRenderedGraphics. This does make things harder to see in ''Creepy Castle''. Sound is largely the same between the two games, but there are two main exceptions. In ''Frankie's Dungeon'', the protagonist is voiced by Dick Noel. Mike Saenz, the founder of Reactor, replaces him in ''Creepy Castle''. The other difference is that each chapter in ''Frankie's Dungeon'' is introduced with a gorgeous title card and a MoodMotif. ''Creepy Castle'' omits these, but does add a TitleThemeTune. Gameplay-wise, in ''Frankie's Dungeon'' the protagonist communicates the use of items to the play through [[SpeechBubbles thought bubbles]], while ''Creepy Castle'' adds a HorrorHost, the Crypt Creeper, to guide the player. Mercifully, ''Creepy Castle'' also adds a save function.

%%* DamselInDistress: The (most recent) female victim of the doctor

%%* FrankensteinsMonster:

%%* HolyWater:
%%* HorribleCampingTrip:
%%* HorrorHost: The Crypt Creeper

%%* TheIgor:

%%* MoodMotif:

%%* RiseFromYourGrave:
%%* SavageWolves:
%%* ShovelStrike:
* SmartBomb: There are level-specific items to be found that when activated destroy all enemies on screen. For the woods, these are wreaths of wolfsbane. For the graveyard, these are vials of holy water. For the castle, these are bulbs of garlic during the bulk of the level and silver crosses during the boss battle. And for the dungeon, these are amulets. The amulets are extremely rare and it's likely none are found while moving through the dungeon.