Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (DOS)

Elvira

Platform: DOS Year: 1990 Developer: Horror Soft Ltd.

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is a horror-themed point-and-click adventure game developed by Adventure Soft under their Horror Soft moniker. Despite being titled after the movie of the same name, the game has a completely original story not related to the movie.

In this game, Elvira inherits a medieval castle that her uncle left to her. She decides to turn the place into a tourist location. However, in doing this, she has woke her evil ancestor Emelda, who is now trying to reincarnate herself, and destroy Elvira. The player, an unnamed ghostbuster, is hired by Elvira to slay Emelda and free the castle from her evil grip. To do this, you must solve clever traps and fight off hordes of monsters and guards, both living and undead. You can also collect certain ingredients for spells that Elvira can make you.

The game would go on to spawn a sequel, Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus, and later a game considered as a spiritual sequel, WaxWorks. Though the latter has nothing to do with the first two games, it used the same engine, and was officially included in Elvira's Horror Pack. As its two successors, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark features a large amount of death/game over scenes.

Screenshots

The title screen. The games begins with you standing outside Elvira's castle. The guard captain isn't happy you've interrupted him. Elvira saves you, but she's not happy about it! The guard captain loses his hair in combat! Guess it wasn't a good idea to tangle with the guard captain!

Music

The DOS version of Elvira has a completely different soundtrack than that of the Amiga/Atari ST versions. While those versions had a more atmospheric soundtrack, the DOS version has both orchestral and rock-sounding tracks. The only downside is, while each track is lengthy, there are only 6 songs in the whole game, which means the music might get repetitive to some if they play the game for an extended period of time.

It is to note that, at the time of release, the Amiga and Atari ST were far more popular than DOS machines, meaning this soundtrack is much more obscure. The Amiga tracks are probably the most known.

Unfortunately, as with other Horrorsoft/Adventuresoft games, the AdLib music is downright bad emulation of the MT-32 music, with odd patches being used.

Recording

The music was recorded using different sound options marked by prefix numbers:

1. Roland LAPC-I / MT-32
2. Creative Labs Sound Blaster / AdLib

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
101	Main Theme	Dave Hasler	3:31		Download
102	Castle	Dave Hasler	5:44		Download
103	Dungeon	Dave Hasler	4:57		Download
104	Garden	Dave Hasler	3:43		Download
105	Altar	Dave Hasler	6:31		Download
106	Crypt	Dave Hasler	5:05		Download

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
201	Main Theme	Dave Hasler	3:31		Download
202	Castle	Dave Hasler	5:44		Download
203	Dungeon	Dave Hasler	4:57		Download
204	Garden	Dave Hasler	3:43		Download
205	Altar	Dave Hasler	6:31		Download
206	Crypt	Dave Hasler	5:05		Download

Credits

• Ripper: MusicFox (VGZ)
• Recorder: Cancer
• Game Credits:
  • Music: Dave Hasler

(Source (Manual))

The game shows a staff roll after the game is completed, but the developers names are only shown, without any roles given. The game's instruction manual gives roles to the developers.

Also, it is possible Jezz Woodroffe worked on the soundtrack, and not Hasler, as the music is different from the Amiga/Atari ST version, in which the MOD files credit Hasler, verifying his involvement with the Amiga/Atari ST versions.

Game Rip

Format	Conversion	Download
		Download (Info)

The VGMs were ripped during gameplay using the DOSBox SVN Daum version. File swapping methods were used to play the music on the title screen. mod1.mus is the title music, so simply renaming any of the other mod#.mus files to mod1.mus will cause it to play on the title screen. DRO files were logged, then converted to VGM with DRO to VGM. The files were then trimmed to loop properly. Interestingly, the game contains mod files 1-14, but is missing 2-6, and 11-13, indicating that there could have originally been more music made for the game.

The sound effects have an SND extension. The actual format is unidentified, possibly an Accolade custom one, and should have its own page created.

Audio Devices

Music
Sound

(Sources: Audio Setup).

Releases

USA Title: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Platform: DOS Released: 1990-??-?? Publisher: Accolade, Inc.     UK Title: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Platform: DOS Released: 1990-??-?? Publisher: Accolade, Inc.     Germany Title: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Platform: DOS Released: 1990-??-?? Publisher: Accolade, Inc.     Spain Title: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Platform: DOS Released: 1990-??-?? Publisher: Accolade, Inc.

Links

• gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564814-elvira - GameFAQs.
• mobygames.com/game/dos/elvira - MobyGames.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvira: Mistress of the_Dark (video_game) - Wikipedia.

View Elvira
Mistress of the Dark	•  •  •
The Arcade Game	•  •  •
The Jaws of Cerberus	•  •  •
WaxWorks	•
Notable Personnel	Dave Hasler • Jezz Woodroffe • Philip Nixon
Notable Companies	Accolade • Adventure Soft