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History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

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Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#11

Post by 31337Logic »

zzzeek wrote: post #3

I found the easter egg in Adventure on my own, however, this was using the method of turning the 2600 power switch on and off really fast which caused the game to boot into a semi broken mode where one of those thin vertical black lines would be moved over, such that you could go under it. that's how I got into the room. I thought if I kept experimenting like this I'd find the source code for the game, but that didn'…

Yo!!!!!

I thought I was the only one that knew/did this! I also did this on my Pitfall 2 (awesome soundtrack, btw) and watch Harry fall through the otherwise solid ground, landing directly beside the gold monkey (or whatever it was) to instantly win the game!! Good times. ;^)

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#13

Post by canucker2016 »

Dwedit wrote: post #7

This game is quite simple in how it uses the Atari 2600 hardware. Atari Hardware can draw exactly 6 things on a scanline: Playfield, Ball, Sprite 1, Sprite 2, Missile 1, Missile 2. So Adventure made the player be the Ball, the thin walls (seen on two rooms) be the missile, and two of game objects become the two sprites. There is also the torch-light sprite that can take the place of one of the game objects in dark ro…

...in 4KB.

Racing the beam - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_the_Beam

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#14

Post by glimshe »

chaoskitty wrote: post #12

It's absolutely amazing to compare Adventure on the Atari 2600 with a fancy, ray traced game today. What's even more amazing is that both have the ability to capture our attention for hours. It just goes to show how significant of a role imagination plays in games.

Although the 2600 version leaves a LOT more to the imagination...

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#15

Post by corysama »

zzzeek wrote: post #3

I found the easter egg in Adventure on my own, however, this was using the method of turning the 2600 power switch on and off really fast which caused the game to boot into a semi broken mode where one of those thin vertical black lines would be moved over, such that you could go under it. that's how I got into the room. I thought if I kept experimenting like this I'd find the source code for the game, but that didn'…

In the https://benfry.com/distellamap/ for Adventure, you can see the "Created By" easter egg plainly in the sprite data :)

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#16

Post by AStonesThrow »

I was only about 8 when Adventure was released. I basically had no interest in it at all. We'd go to Sears or the mall every week and I'd grab a handful of cartridges, but I never wanted this one.

It is very strange considering my affinity for weird stuff. I loved the BASIC Programming cartridge, and later in life, I would amass a huge Infocom collection starting with Zork on the C=64. But this graphical Adventure held no interest for me or my sister. Neither did Superman, which was modeled after it. Sure, I heard a lot about it. I heard enough to squick me, because it seemed that the devs were sort of abusing the hardware limitations to provision this weird adventure-y experience in a graphical format that I would not enjoy. (Nor would I get very far in exploring this world because it was so, picky-picky-picky. If you ever played E.T. on the 2600, you'd understand!)

When Haunted House was released 2 years later, I did pick that one up, out of morbid curiosity, I suppose, and it was kind of interesting, but not something that I spent a long time figuring out. I followed the Swordquest series with interest, (the marketing built those up with a real mystique and some epic fanfare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swordquest#Contest) and invested some time in some of those, but still -- I suppose, even back then, I was far more interested in the "twitch" action type games. We loved Pitfall and other Activision titles such as River Raid.

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#17

Post by davetron5000 »

This is my favorite game for the 2600.

I built a clone of it for Windows using Direct X in probably 1999/2000. I don't have a Windows machine, but I think Microsoft's obsession with backward compatibility means it probably still works:

https://naildrivin5.com/adventure/index.html

Here's the C++ code in all its glory: https://github.com/davetron5000/adventureclone/

It replicates the 2600 game, and adds two new levels (additional castle and maze), and two new (optional) objects, a candle that shows more of the labyrinths, and a shield that prevents the dragons from eating you.

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#18

Post by evo_9 »

socalgal2 wrote: post #9

There's a kinda remake/update/reimagined version of "Adventure" for iOS called Pixa https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pixa/id826977016 I'm old, I played the original "Adventure" for the Atari 2600 to death when I was a kid and am a huge fan . And, personally I really liked Pixa. I thought they did a good job of translating it to something interesting with mobile controls and I "cleared it". I suspect maybe only oldies li…

Thx for posting this I never ran across it before. I too played the original when it came out and actually wrote to Atari after I found the invisible dot and the hidden room / Easter egg. They wrote me back and told me I was one of the first people to find / report it to them which was kind of an honor for my eight-year-old self. I wish I kept that letter lol

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#19

Post by MBCook »

“Of all the original games Atari put out for the VCS, Adventure may be the one that most people are familiar with today.”

Is it? It’s certainly up there. But I would think Pitfall would be the best known today in terms of gameplay.

That aside, I really enjoyed the article.

Re: History of “Adventure” for the Atari 2600

#20

Post by pansa2 »

MBCook wrote: post #19

“Of all the original games Atari put out for the VCS, Adventure may be the one that most people are familiar with today.” Is it? It’s certainly up there. But I would think Pitfall would be the best known today in terms of gameplay. That aside, I really enjoyed the article.

Pitfall was from Activision, not Atari
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