Diablo

1001 Video Games

Diablo appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Bosses

The game treats the Dark Lord (Diablo), the final boss, as a regular enemy rather than a boss monster. He has no catchphrase (e.g. the Butcher's 'Fresh Meat'), his name appears in white instead of gold, and if the player kills him enough times (by starting a new game with the same character) the game will even show the player his stats.

Cheats

At one time, cheat programs for Diablo were sold in stores that allowed the player to obtain special objects, increase levels, and such.

Development

• Blizzard North was originally going to make Diablo a turn-based game;
• Outlined in the game's original pitch document were plans for releasing cheap expansion pack discs, containing, as an example, a handful of weapons, items, and/or room types, which would be sold like Magic: The Gathering card packs to appeal to collectors. While expansions were eventually made for Diablo, none were developed by any Blizzard studio.
• There were persistent rumors about a special quest that had to do with the cows (the player had to click on it X time in a special way at certain time of the day after doing so and so and things like that). It's false of course, but it didn't stop the newbies from asking. Blizzard was so amused, that Cow Quest was officially added to Diablo II.

Gags

In most (if not all) Blizzard games, the player can get a quick laugh from repeatedly clicking on certain objects. In Diablo, try the cow outside the city.

Messages

The Diablo art team were fans of Natalie Portman. Embedded in the menu image are messages that are only visible if you capture the image and reduce the image to 16 colors.

Novels

Numerous published novels have been inspired by the Diablo campaign setting, among them: * Moon of the Spider (2005) by Richard A. Knaak. * Kingdom of Shadow, The (2002), by Richard A. Knaak. * Black Road, The (2001), by Mel Odom. * Legacy of Blood (2001), by Richard A. Knaak. * Demonsbane (2000), a Robert B. Marks' e-book.

Online Multiplayer

As of 2016 Diablo's online peer-to-peer matching remains officially supported by Battle.net.

References

Cain's real name is Deckard Cain the Elder. It may be a reference to Rick Deckard played by Harrison Ford in the movie Blade Runner.

Shareware Version

There was also a shareware version available on CD which featured a fair amount of gameplay including all three classes and even multiplayer. The player could buy it for a small amount of money in many stores around the time of the release of the full game.

System Compatibility

This is one of the few games that will run natively on Windows NT. Diablo requires DirectX 3, but the installation CD comes with DirectX 5.

Awards

• Computer Gaming World
  • May 1997 (Issue #154) – Game of the Year.
  • October 2001 - #7 in the "Top 50 Games of All Time" list.
  • May 1997 (Issue #154) – Role-Playing Game of the Year (Readers' Choice).
  • December 1999 (Issue #185) - Introduced into the Hall of Fame.
  • March 2001 (Issue #200) - #8 Best Game of All Time (Readers' Vote).
  • April 2005 - #6 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list.
  • Hall of Fame member.

• GameSpy

  • 2001 – #6 Top Game of All Time.

  • GameStar (Germany)

  • Issue 12/1999 - #11 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking.

  • PC Gamer

  • April 2000 - #3 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll.

  • PC Player (Germany)

  • Issue 01/1998 - Best RPG in 1997.

  • Power Play

  • Issue 02/1998 – Best Game in 1997.

French SELL Rating

Diablo first SELL rating was 12, which was later changed to 16

French Version

The Windows version of Diablo was never localized in French. Though the box included a coupon which was meant to be mailed in order to receive the localized version as soon as it would have been completed, it was actually never released. The 2nd edition of the game (which claimed to be the "definitive" one) only included a booklet with the translated dialogues written inside. Oddly enough, a fully localized French version of the game (even including a full professional cast for the voice acting) does exist but was released only for the PlayStation.

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Alan Chan, Isak, Entorphane, Kalirion, Kasey Chang, kbmb, Patrick Bregger, PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual, Scott Monster, Sicarius.