.gif)
Adventure (Atari 2600)
Encyclopedia
Adventure is a video game for the Atari 2600
video game console
and is considered the first action-adventure game
. Its creator, Warren Robinett
, also introduced the first widely-known Easter egg
to the gaming world.
by the console's developer
, Atari, Inc
. It was inspired by a computer text game, Colossal Cave Adventure
, created by Will Crowther and later modified by Don Woods.
Despite discouragement from his boss at Atari who said it could not be done, game designer Warren Robinett created a graphic game loosely based on the text game. Atari's Adventure went on to sell a million copies, making it the seventh best selling Atari 2600 game.
At the time of the game's creation Atari did not credit any of its authors for their work. Robinett included a hidden message in the game identifying himself as the creator, thus creating one of the earliest known Easter eggs in a video game. According to Warren, a young player from Salt Lake City, Utah
first discovered the easter egg and wrote in to Atari regarding it.
The total memory used by the game program was 4096 byte
s (4 KB
) for the game code (in ROM
) and 128 bytes for program variables (in RAM). The Atari 2600's CPU was a 1.19 megahertz 8-bit MOS Technology 6507
, which was a cheaper version of the 6502
.
Because of a limitation in the Atari 2600's hardware, the left and right sides of nearly every screen are mirror images of each other, which fostered the creation of the game's confusing mazes. The notable exceptions are two screens in the black castle catacombs and two in the main hallway beneath the Gold Castle. These two hallway screens are mirrored, but contain a vertical "wall" object in the room in order to achieve a non-symmetrical shape, as well as act as a secret door for an Easter egg.
or joystick
input. Adventure allowed the player to drop one item and pick up another without having to type in any commands.
Inside the black castle catacombs (on difficulty level 2 or 3), embedded in the south wall of a sealed chamber (accessible only with the bridge), is an "invisible" 1-pixel object referred to as the gray dot. One must "bounce" the player cursor along the bottom wall to "grab" the dot. The dot is not actually invisible, but simply the same color as the wall and is easily seen when placed in a catacombs passage or over a normal wall. The dot is not attracted to the magnet, unlike most other objects in Adventure.
Bringing this dot to the east end of the corridor below the golden castle while other differently colored objects are present causes the wall object to also become 'invisible', allowing the player to pass into a room displaying the words "Created by Warren Robinett
".
and return it to the gold castle
. The player character, represented by a square, explores a multi-screen landscape containing castles, maze
s, and various rooms. Hidden throughout the world are a sword
, key
s to unlock each of the three castles (gold, black, and white), a magic bridge
which allows the player to travel through a wall, and a magnet
which will pull any of these objects toward it.
Roaming the world are three dragons
:
A dragon can be "killed" by touching it with the sword. If the console's right difficulty switch is in the "A" position, the dragons will run away when they see the sword.
When a dragon touches the player, it will "strike" (remaining motionless for a moment with its mouth open, waiting for a shorter time if the console's left difficulty switch is in the "A" position) and then "swallow" the player, who becomes trapped in the dragon's belly. While the dragon's mouth is opened, it cannot be killed.
A black bat
flies around randomly, occasionally picking up or dropping objects (including live or dead dragons). The bat can steal the player's sword and give him a live dragon in return, or vice-versa. The player can catch the bat and carry it around. The bat continues to fly even after the player has been killed, and occasionally the bat will pick up the dragon whose stomach contains the player, giving the player a whirlwind tour of the Adventure universe. The player can trap the bat inside a castle; this works best with the gold castle, since it has only one room and (provided the player has emptied it beforehand) the bat will, if it is flying upwards (straight up or diagonally up-right or up-left), fly around endlessly in the room and will not leave the castle. If the player enters with another item, the bat will change direction to grab the new item and usually end up leaving the castle. The bat's name was intended to be Knubberrub, but that name never made it into the manual.
There are three different games available via the Game Select switch:
When a player is eaten by a dragon, he does not necessarily have to start over. Hitting the "Game Reset" switch resurrects the player back at the gold castle and resurrects any killed dragons; however, the objects all remain where they were at the time of the player's death. This could be thought of as one of the earliest usages of the "continue game" feature, which is now prevalent in most video games. Hitting "Game Select" after death returns the game to the game select screen and an entirely new game can be played.
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and is considered the first action-adventure game
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
. Its creator, Warren Robinett
Warren Robinett
Joseph Warren Robinett, Jr. is a designer of interactive computer graphics software, notable as the developer of the Atari 2600's Adventure — the first graphical adventure video game — and as a founder of The Learning Company, where he designed Rocky's Boots and Robot Odyssey...
, also introduced the first widely-known Easter egg
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
to the gaming world.
History and design
Adventure was publishedVideo game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by the console's developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
, Atari, Inc
Atari, Inc
Atari, Inc. was an American video game and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Primarily responsible for the formation of the video arcade and modern video game industries, the company was closed and its assets split in 1984 as a direct result of the North...
. It was inspired by a computer text game, Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure gave its name to the computer adventure game genre . It was originally designed by Will Crowther, a programmer and caving enthusiast who based the layout on part of the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky...
, created by Will Crowther and later modified by Don Woods.
Despite discouragement from his boss at Atari who said it could not be done, game designer Warren Robinett created a graphic game loosely based on the text game. Atari's Adventure went on to sell a million copies, making it the seventh best selling Atari 2600 game.
At the time of the game's creation Atari did not credit any of its authors for their work. Robinett included a hidden message in the game identifying himself as the creator, thus creating one of the earliest known Easter eggs in a video game. According to Warren, a young player from Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
first discovered the easter egg and wrote in to Atari regarding it.
The total memory used by the game program was 4096 byte
Byte
The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer...
s (4 KB
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
) for the game code (in ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
) and 128 bytes for program variables (in RAM). The Atari 2600's CPU was a 1.19 megahertz 8-bit MOS Technology 6507
MOS Technology 6507
The 6507 is an 8-bit microprocessor from MOS Technology, Inc.It is essentially a 6502 chip in a smaller, cheaper 28-pin package. To do this, A15 to A13 and some other signals such as the interrupt lines are not accessible...
, which was a cheaper version of the 6502
MOS Technology 6502
The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...
.
Because of a limitation in the Atari 2600's hardware, the left and right sides of nearly every screen are mirror images of each other, which fostered the creation of the game's confusing mazes. The notable exceptions are two screens in the black castle catacombs and two in the main hallway beneath the Gold Castle. These two hallway screens are mirrored, but contain a vertical "wall" object in the room in order to achieve a non-symmetrical shape, as well as act as a secret door for an Easter egg.
Innovation
Not only was Adventure the first action-adventure game on a video console and the first to contain a widely known Easter egg, it was also the first ever to allow a player to have a stash of items, which required the player to select which one to use at any given moment, usually through keyboardComputer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
or joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
input. Adventure allowed the player to drop one item and pick up another without having to type in any commands.
Easter egg
Bringing this dot to the east end of the corridor below the golden castle while other differently colored objects are present causes the wall object to also become 'invisible', allowing the player to pass into a room displaying the words "Created by Warren Robinett
Warren Robinett
Joseph Warren Robinett, Jr. is a designer of interactive computer graphics software, notable as the developer of the Atari 2600's Adventure — the first graphical adventure video game — and as a founder of The Learning Company, where he designed Rocky's Boots and Robot Odyssey...
".
Gameplay
The player's goal is simply to find the enchanted chaliceChalice (cup)
A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony.-Christian:...
and return it to the gold castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
. The player character, represented by a square, explores a multi-screen landscape containing castles, maze
Maze
A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...
s, and various rooms. Hidden throughout the world are a sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
, key
Key (lock)
A key is an instrument that is used to operate a lock. A typical key consists of two parts: the blade, which slides into the keyway of the lock and distinguishes between different keys, and the bow, which is left protruding so that torque can be applied by the user. The blade is usually intended to...
s to unlock each of the three castles (gold, black, and white), a magic bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
which allows the player to travel through a wall, and a magnet
Magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.A permanent magnet is an object...
which will pull any of these objects toward it.
Roaming the world are three dragons
European dragon
European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.In European folklore, a dragon is a serpentine legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek δράκων,...
:
- Yorgle, the yellow dragon: He is afraid of the golden key and will run away from it. He guards the chalice when he can find it; otherwise he wanders around or helps the other dragons guard their possessions.
- Grundle, the green dragon: He guards the magnet, the bridge, the black key, and the chalice.
- Rhindle, the red dragon: He is the fastest of the three and the most aggressive. He guards the white key and chalice.
When a dragon touches the player, it will "strike" (remaining motionless for a moment with its mouth open, waiting for a shorter time if the console's left difficulty switch is in the "A" position) and then "swallow" the player, who becomes trapped in the dragon's belly. While the dragon's mouth is opened, it cannot be killed.
A black bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
flies around randomly, occasionally picking up or dropping objects (including live or dead dragons). The bat can steal the player's sword and give him a live dragon in return, or vice-versa. The player can catch the bat and carry it around. The bat continues to fly even after the player has been killed, and occasionally the bat will pick up the dragon whose stomach contains the player, giving the player a whirlwind tour of the Adventure universe. The player can trap the bat inside a castle; this works best with the gold castle, since it has only one room and (provided the player has emptied it beforehand) the bat will, if it is flying upwards (straight up or diagonally up-right or up-left), fly around endlessly in the room and will not leave the castle. If the player enters with another item, the bat will change direction to grab the new item and usually end up leaving the castle. The bat's name was intended to be Knubberrub, but that name never made it into the manual.
There are three different games available via the Game Select switch:
- Game 1 is a simplified version of the game and does not have the red dragon, the bat, the catacombs, the white castle, or the maze inside the black castle.
- Game 2 is the full version, having all the features described. The location of the objects at the start of a new game is always the same and because of this known initial state, this is the easiest game to use to find the Easter eggEaster egg (media)Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
. - Game 3 is just like Game 2; however, the initial locations of the objects are pseudo-randomized, providing a different game each time. Because of this, the game could be easier or harder to solve (occasionally impossible, because of a bug in the item-placement routine that sometimes locks the gold key inside the gold castle). Because of the unpredictable placement of the items, it is more difficult to secure the bat and locate the items needed to find the Easter egg (though the location of the dot is consistent).
When a player is eaten by a dragon, he does not necessarily have to start over. Hitting the "Game Reset" switch resurrects the player back at the gold castle and resurrects any killed dragons; however, the objects all remain where they were at the time of the player's death. This could be thought of as one of the earliest usages of the "continue game" feature, which is now prevalent in most video games. Hitting "Game Select" after death returns the game to the game select screen and an entirely new game can be played.
Ports and re-releases
Adventure has been ported to or re-released on several platforms:- Jakks Atari Classics 10 In 1 TV Games (2002)
- Atari FlashbackAtari FlashbackThe Atari Flashback, Atari Flashback 2, Atari Flashback2+ and Atari Flashback 3 are dedicated video game consoles marketed by Atari Inc. in 2004, 2005 and 2010, then AtGames in 2011...
(2004) - Atari AnthologyAtari AnthologyAtari Anthology is a collection of 85 Atari, Inc. games released in 2003 as Atari - 80 Classic Games in One! for Microsoft Windows, and in 2004 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. It reproduces both Atari arcade games and titles from the Atari 2600 game console. The Windows version features a slightly...
(November 22, 2004) for the PlayStation 2PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and XboxXboxThe Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... - Atari Flashback 2Atari FlashbackThe Atari Flashback, Atari Flashback 2, Atari Flashback2+ and Atari Flashback 3 are dedicated video game consoles marketed by Atari Inc. in 2004, 2005 and 2010, then AtGames in 2011...
(2005) - Atari: 80 Classic Games in OneAtari AnthologyAtari Anthology is a collection of 85 Atari, Inc. games released in 2003 as Atari - 80 Classic Games in One! for Microsoft Windows, and in 2004 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. It reproduces both Atari arcade games and titles from the Atari 2600 game console. The Windows version features a slightly...
(September 20, 2005) for WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... - Game RoomGame RoomGame Room is a gaming service for the Xbox 360 video game system, Microsoft Windows PCs, and Windows Phone 7. Launched on March 24, 2010, Game Room lets players download classic video games and compete against each other for high scores...
for Xbox Live ArcadeXbox Live ArcadeXbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
and Games for Windows Live (March 24, 2010) - Atari's Greatest Hits for iOS, released in April 2011 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Legacy
- A sequel to Adventure was first announced in early 1982. However, the planned sequel eventually evolved into the Swordquest seriesSwordquestSwordquest is an unfinished series of video games produced by Atari in the 1980s as part of a contest. Each of the games came with a comic book that explained the plot, as well as containing part of the puzzle that had to be solved to win the contest...
of games.
- In 2005, a sequel written by Curt Vendel was released by Atari on the Atari Flashback 2Atari FlashbackThe Atari Flashback, Atari Flashback 2, Atari Flashback2+ and Atari Flashback 3 are dedicated video game consoles marketed by Atari Inc. in 2004, 2005 and 2010, then AtGames in 2011...
. In 2007, AtariAgeAtariAgeAtari Age was a magazine distributed to Atari Club members from 1982 until 1984. It was published by The Atari Club Inc., a subsidiary of Atari, Inc.-History:...
released a self-published sequel heavily inspired by the original, called Adventure II. For the Atari 5200Atari 5200The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, commonly known as the Atari 5200, is a video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a higher end complementary console for the popular Atari 2600...
, it was used with permission from Atari InteractiveAtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
.
- Though not the first "questing" computer game, Adventure was the first to be programmed for a home console. The locations (castles, labyrinths, secret rooms, and dark dungeons), items (keys, sword, and "treasure"), and monsters (bats, dragons) were also unique in the world of video games, and later would find their way into games such as Haunted HouseHaunted House (video game)Haunted House is an Atari 2600 video game, first released in 1982, in which the player must navigate the haunted mansion of the late Zachary Graves to recover the three pieces of an urn...
, The Legend of Zelda and Final FantasyFinal Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
. Though significantly simpler and smaller than the latter two games, Adventure is on occasion described as their "spiritual forerunner."
- Adventure was the subject of a segment in the 2009 Robot ChickenRobot ChickenRobot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
episode "Cannot Be Erased, So Sorry" which parodied the game's low resolution graphics.
- The dragon has been used several times throughout the Homestar RunnerHomestar RunnerHomestar Runner is a Flash animated Internet cartoon. It mixes surreal humor with references to retro pop culture, notably video games, classic television, and popular music.The cartoons are nominally centered on the title character, Homestar Runner...
flash cartoon series.
External links
- Official Version of "Adventure" at AtariAtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
Arcade - Warren Robinett's Adventure page including game map and software design presentation (PowerPointMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...
) - Adventure at AtariAgeAtariAgeAtari Age was a magazine distributed to Atari Club members from 1982 until 1984. It was published by The Atari Club Inc., a subsidiary of Atari, Inc.-History:...
- Quake 3: Adventure