showing 8 games
| name | publisher(developer) | year arrow_downward | description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adventure | Atari;Polyvox (Atari) | 1980 | An evil magician has stolen the Enchanted Chalice and has hidden it somewhere in the Kingdom. The object of the game is to rescue the Enchanted Chalice and place it inside the Golden Castle where it belongs. This is no easy task, as the Evil Magician has created three Dragons to hinder you in your quest for the Golden Chalice. There is Yorgie, the Yellow Dragon, who is just plain mean; there is Grundle, the Green Dragon, who is mean and ferocious; and there is Rhindle, the Red Dragon, who is the most ferocious of all. Rhindle is also the fastest Dragon and is the most difficult to outmaneuver. There are three castles in the Kingdom; the White Castle, the Black Castle, and the Golden Castle. Each castle has a Gate over the entrance. The Gate can be opened with the corresponding colored Key. Inside each Castle are rooms(or dungeons, depending at which Skill Level you are playing). The Castles are separated by rooms, pathways, and labyrinths. Common to all the Skill Levels is the Blue Labyrinth through which you must find your way to the Black Castle. Skill Levels 2 and 3 have a more complicated Kingdom.***[b]About the release date[/b]: Could be 1979 or 1980. According to the game developer, Warren Robinett: [quote]I am pretty sure the Adventure cartridge was released during the 1979 Christmas season. But I was in Europe during that time. People were definitely playing Adventure in early 1980 [...] Anyway, the Adventure cart was definitely out in the world by June 1980, and had been out there for a while. My belief is that it was released during the 1979 Christmas season, but I did not actually see an Adventure cart in a retail store prior to Jan. 1, 1980. So I guess I don't truly know for sure.[/quote]*** [48]***Adventure was released in North America by Atari, CX2613, picture and text labels rarity 2 Common+, NTSC. Sears 49-75154, picture label rarity 4 Scarce+, text label rarity 3 Scarce, NTSC. Released in South America by Polyvox, NTSC. This game was inspired by another game called [game=Colossal Cave Adventure]Colossal Cave Adventure[/game] (later known as [i]Colossal Cave[/i]) by Will Crowther and Don Woods. Adventure was hundreds of kilobytes in size and ran on a room-sized mainframe; Mr. Robinett's Adventure fit in 2k and ran on a VCS, which is smaller than a VCR. Mr. Robinett developed this game against his boss' instructions (who said it was too big). [spoiler=The first videogame with an easter egg (secret):;Close]Find the hidden dot that removes a wall and enter a secret room where the words 'Created by Warren Robinett' are spelled out.[/spoiler] Mr. Robinett also did this without permission and it was discovered after he'd left employment with Atari. At the time, programmers at Atari were not given credit, could not discuss their work in public, had no official creative input, were not allowed to collect royalties and were being paid less then some of their own secretaries. In a development version of the game, there was a roadrunner character that just ran around. Late in the development of this game, Mr. Robinett was told by marketing to change the game to 'Superman' to ride the hype of the Superman movie that was released in 1978. John Dunn came to the rescue and volunteered to do the [game=#99763]Superman[/game] game. [game=Rocky's Boots]Rocky's Boots[/game] was the followup to this game and uses a later version of the adventure engine (ADV# engine). [Zerothis] | labelimagesubject |
| Haunted House | Atari;Sears (Atari) | 1981 | labelimageminimize | |
| Dragonstomper | Starpath;Arcadia (Starpath) | 1982 | The story goes; a magician created an amulet that he could use to subdue the great dragon. On his way deep into the lair where the dragon slept, the amulet was lost and the magician was forced to leave without accomplishing his task. But the dragon found the amulet and used it to increase his intelligence and power. He recruited monsters and allied with evil men, terrorizing the surrounding kingdom. The king selected a dragon hunter to build up to become, "The DragonStomper". An actual RPG on the lowly 2600. Made possible by the Super Charger adapter that loads multiple portions of the game that is stored as digital audio data on a cassette. It even has two music clips. Uses the joystick for a menu based interface. The game has multiple 'locations', including an expansive The Wilderness, churches, villages, castles, wilderness huts, bridges, trading shops, magic shops, The Scorpion Pit and The Dragon's Cave. The game has 3 distinct modes corresponding to its three loads. [list][*]Battling monsters to build up strength and become The DragonStomper. [*]Recruiting warriors to protect oppressed villages whilst buying, selling, and trading supplies. [*]Descending into The Dragons Cave, attacking it with a unit of warriors, and slaying it.[/list]This 3 step process is the recommended path, yet there are several alternatives that will work equally well (none of them are really shortcuts). For instance, if the player manages to find destroy the legendary amulet, the dragon will lose his power; after this, there is the choice of two more options. The Wilderness area is HUGH, considering most 2600 games were no more than 3 screens in size. There are no experience points or levels, rather stats can be directly improved (or lost) with items collected from defeated enemies. A Charm, Cross, Potion, Ring, or Staff will randomly: add strength and heal you, add dexterity, decrease strength, decrease dexterity, or reveal traps. An Axe and a Shield are the only weapons and armor available for use in The Wilderness. Keys can be used to open locked doors and treasure chests. Vitamins will restore strength. Elixir increases dexterity. Medicine protects against fever and acts as an antidote. Lanterns will reveal traps. A Rope or Chain can be used to descend into pits or into The Dragon's Cave. Rubies and Sapphires are more efficient than gold. Bow and Arrows can be used against the Dragon. The Flash spell will momentarily show all traps. The Vision spell will completely reveal traps. The Blast spell is for attack. The Protect spell makes to invincible to enemy attack for its duration. The Stun spell will stun enemies. The Unlock spell will dispel magic barriers. Was originally advertised as "Excalibur" but the name was changed before publishing. "The best title ever made in the history of U.S. videogaming." - Forbes Magazine November 2005 Without doubt, DragonStomper would have been the shaper of things to come as the first RPG on the 2600. With subsequent RPGs for the system having better graphics, music, cut sequences, and more in-game story and dialog. Multi-loading from cassette (or CD, first available the same year as this game) and/or more ROM and RAM in the cartridges, would have allowed for chapter structured gameplay and/or each location to have its own load, complete with talking characters and side quests. An audio CD with voice and game data, couple with second generation supercharger like device(s), would have effectively became the first CD drive for consoles and could have included voice for characters and/or many tracks of music. Alas, the videogame market crashed in 1983-84 and DragonStomper remains the only RPG for the system. A huge setback for game quality but a boon for game hardware because the 2600 officially hung around until 1992 with a relative few innovative games. More innovative games, especially RPGs, may have extended its life even longer and delayed the success of consoles with more capabilities. [spoiler=Always good advice;Close]Pray.[/spoiler][spoiler=Programmers Initials;Close]While the Axe is on-screen, use your shield.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: In the Dragons Lair;Close]In the Dragons Lair, The Dragon has hidden many traps. They can be avoided[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: The Rope & Chain;Close]The rope and chain are not entirely necessary. The player can simply jump down if they don't mind taking damage. Choose wisely.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Stealing the Amulet 1;Close]The "Unlock" spell has a random chance of opening the gate the the amulet is behind[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Stealing the Amulet 2;Close]A large army can be an large distraction to a large enemy[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: The Guards 1;Close]The guards are corrupt which is fortunate for the Dragon. However, if you were to offer a larger payoff than the Dragon gives them... Or you can work the system and get yourself a bureaucratically acceptable ID[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: The Guards 2;Close]The guards like Rubies and Sapphires[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: The Guards 3;Close]You have the option to murder Guards. Their hit points do not regenerate.[/spoiler][spoiler=Spoiler: The Guards 4;Close]Attack guards while distracting them with your ID and conversation. They will lash out at everyone nearby but won't know it was you who started it.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Resurrection;Close]When your character dies, simply hit the reset button to resurrect your character on the spot. You will have lost your improved skills, items, and gold, but at least you don't have to start the game over[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Improving Stats;Close]Stat altering items are random in their effect, except for Elixirs. Monsters some times drop them after being defeated. You don't have to battle monsters to gain stat altering items, they are hidden in many of the locations[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Axe and Shield;Close]Axes and a shields are hidden in many of the locations[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Darts;Close]When your ready, you can dodge bullets. Well, darts maybe.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Avoiding Traps 2;Close]Traps must be set each time the game starts or when you are resurrected. This takes time. Hurry past them while the copyright notice is still displayed.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Another way to heal;Close]Bribe the church with 200 gold for a secret healing prayer and to rescue someone from purgatory (jk about the second part).[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Maximum Stats;Close]Maximum dexterity is 49 with random stat building items, and 52 with Elixirs. Maximum strength is 50. Strength has a random chance of increasing when you are healed.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Skeleton Key;Close]Just smash the door with your Axe. Although some doors are to strong.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Recruitment tactics 1;Close]Volunteer Warriors are better than hired ones[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Recruitment tactics 2;Close]Warriors like Rubies and Sapphires[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Recruitment tactics 3;Close]You can recruit a maximum of 3 warriors and send out a maximum of 2 simultaneously.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Recruitment tactics 4;Close]You can murder your own warriors. Why? Well, they might get in the way should you want to recruit something better.[/spoiler][spoiler=Spoiler: Recruitment tactics 5;Close]Smash the amulet and you can will become the dragon's master, or just leave the powerless beast to live out the rest of his now peaceful life in his lair.[/spoiler][spoiler=Spoiler: Maximum Funding;Close]You'll need 2500-4000 gold (depending on how much you sell) to buy a full set of equipment.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Monkeys;Close]Monkey's hangout in trees and often carry potions[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Snakes;Close]Snakes hangout everywhere in the Wilderness and often carry rings[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Bugs, Beetles, Spiders;Close]Beetles, Bugs, and Spiders often carry potions[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Secret Enemy;Close]A Slime is the rarest enemy in the game.[/spoiler][spoiler=Hint: Secret Item;Close]A Stave is the rarest item in the game. You may never see one.[/spoiler] [Zerothis] | labelimagesubject |
| Riddle of the Sphinx | Imagic | 1982 | Hieroglyphics on an ancient obelisk tell a strange tale: These are dark times. Death's long shadow rests across the Valley of the Kings. Anubis, jackal-headed god of the dead, has cast his curse over all of Pharaoh's kingdom. A plague of scorpions and hordes of thieves lie thick upon the land. O hear the thin whine of despair! Sing of Pharaoh's Son, all hail the Prince of Egypt! Deliver us from this curse! Brave the dangers of the desert. Seek the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx. Pay Anubis' ransom with your treasures, O cunning Prince of Wiles. Reach the Temple of Ra, source of light and life. Pharaoh's heir--be wise, be wily--and beware!*** [48]***Imagic IA3600 published in the North America, Rarity 2 Common+, NTSC. Uses both joysticks the switches on the Atari 2600 console to play. Riddle of the Sphinx is an surprisingly complex adventure game for the 2600. Players will not likely accomplish much without reading the manual first. The Left joystick is used to move around, shoot at enemies, and use items. The Right joystick navigates the inventory and status screens. Difficulty switches and B&W/Color switches select the different status views. There are Egyptian deities to deal with, some enemies, some allies, some neutral. Likewise there are nomadic traders of various alignment and and thieves. Carry too many treasures around and any nomad might find to a temping target for theft. You score points for advancement in the game and destroying thieves. You lose points and/or health for attacking deities or nomads, regardless of their alignment. To advance in the game, find and trade objects to deliver the correct objects to the correct temple or deity. | labelimagesubject |
| Secret Quest | Atari (Axlon) | 1989 | labelimageminimize | |
| Adventure II | Atari;Syzygy Company | 2005 | labelminimizeminimize | |
| Return to Haunted House | Atari;Syzygy Company | 2005 | labelminimizeminimize | |
| Halo 2600 | Code Mystics;AtariAge | 2010 | labelminimizeminimize |
