Beyond Dark Castle — the one with the jetpack Runs here
1987 · Silicon Beach Software · System 6 · Mini vMac (Mac Plus) · 512×342 black and white
Guide updated September 2026
The sequel to the game that proved the Macintosh could do action, and it is bigger in every direction: more rooms, a map to get lost in, an actual objective beyond surviving, and a jetpack.
It is also harder, which in the context of Dark Castle is a substantial claim.
Boots from the original 1987 disk on an emulated Macintosh Plus, straight into the title screen. Same split controls as Dark Castle: left hand moves, right hand aims and throws.
Controls
| Mouse | Aim, and click to throw |
| A / S / D / W | Run left, crouch, run right, jump |
| Space | Jump |
| Options menu | Difficulty and key remapping |
| Cmd-Q | Quit |
Silicon Beach Software was acquired by Aldus in 1990 and Aldus by Adobe in 1994. Neither has ever published it. The 1987 Macintosh original has not been sold by anyone in nearly forty years. Full reasoning is in notices/beyond-dark-castle.md, and the takedown promise applies without argument.
Archives
- Internet Archive — the two preserved Macintosh disks this copy came from.
- Macintosh Garden — other releases and documentation.
How it works & what to expect
| Machine | Macintosh Plus, 512×342 black and white |
|---|---|
| System | The disk's own — this one boots itself |
| Emulator | Mini vMac, compiled to WebAssembly |
| Version | The 1987 Silicon Beach release, both disks merged onto one volume |
| Saves | Inside the emulated Mac, in your browser. |
This is one of the handful of titles here that runs on its own System rather than on the System 7.5.3 disk the rest use. Copied onto System 7 it boots to a black screen and stays there — no error, no bomb, just black. Its own 1987 System runs it perfectly.
The game shipped on two disks, the program and half its data on one and the rest on the other. Both have been merged onto a single bootable volume here, and the disk's own boot blocks were kept and pointed at the game, which is how a self-booting disk of that era launched straight into a title with no Finder in the way.
What is different from Dark Castle
There is a goal. Dark Castle was a set of rooms to survive. Beyond has you collecting five orbs scattered through the castle and using them to reach the Black Knight, which means navigating rather than simply enduring.
The jetpack. A limited-fuel flight pack that opens up vertical routes and is entirely capable of flying you into something that kills you.
A map screen, because the castle is now large enough to get lost in.
More to do with the mouse. There are shields, bombs and a fireball weapon, on top of the rocks.
The engine, the art style and the punishing physics are all carried straight over, so anyone who has played the original will be immediately at home and immediately dying.
The same two people
Jonathan Gay wrote it and Mark Stephen Pierce drew it, the pair who made the original. Gay was barely out of his teens at this point and would go on to build FutureSplash Animator, which Macromedia bought and renamed Flash — so the person responsible for these bats and this jetpack is also responsible for a decade of the animated web.
Pierce's art does more here than in the first game because there is more of it: the castle has genuine geography, and the cross-hatched one-bit style holds up across a much larger set of rooms than it was originally asked to.
Questions people ask
Do I need to play Dark Castle first?
No, but it helps. Beyond assumes you already know the movement and the throwing, and it is not gentle about teaching them again.
Why does it boot with no desktop?
It runs from its own 1987 disk rather than the System 7 disk most titles here use, because under System 7 it comes up to a black screen and stays there. The disk's boot blocks name the game as the startup program, so the machine comes up in it.
Was this two floppies originally?
Yes — the program and part of its data on one, the rest on the other. Both have been merged onto a single volume here so nothing asks you to swap disks.
What is the actual objective?
Collect five orbs from around the castle and use them to reach and defeat the Black Knight.
How does the jetpack work?
Limited fuel, and it opens vertical routes you cannot reach on foot. It will also happily fly you into a hazard, so it is not a way out of trouble.
It is extremely hard.
It is. Turn the difficulty down in the Options menu — the game was built for people who would spend weeks on it.
