DavidD Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Okay, I have a question that's bugged me in the past... How badly (or well) did Adventure do? It's always stuck out as one of the most unique 2600 titles, and I was puzzled as to why Atari never did a port/upgrade/sequel to it on their home computers... (For that matter, if Atari and Nintendo had partnered for the US release of the 2600 -- it would have been interesting to see Nintendo's take on porting it to the NES. Weren't a few of HAL's 3rd party NES titles (Defender, etc.) supposedly programmed as examples of that?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 It was ported to the Atari 800 and released under the APX (Atari Program Exchange) that Atari used to publish independent developer’s games for Atari home computers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galahad_and_the_Holy_Grail 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 8 hours ago, DavidD said: Okay, I have a question that's bugged me in the past... How badly (or well) did Adventure do? It's always stuck out as one of the most unique 2600 titles, and I was puzzled as to why Atari never did a port/upgrade/sequel to it on their home computers... (For that matter, if Atari and Nintendo had partnered for the US release of the 2600 -- it would have been interesting to see Nintendo's take on porting it to the NES. Weren't a few of HAL's 3rd party NES titles (Defender, etc.) supposedly programmed as examples of that?) I think Adventure did fairly well. Atari released a number of adventure-type games for the 2600, but not on the home computers. They did release "ET phone home" on the computers, but it's a completely different game than the 2600 game. Most of the Atari cartridges for the computer line are arcade ports. It's funny, one of my reasons for wanting a computer is because I wanted to play games like this with actual graphics :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) Adventure did very well. It is usually listed as selling over 1 million copies, although I don’t know if accurate sales figures exist. (For reference, the best selling VCS game is Pac-Man at 7 million copies). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Atari_2600_video_games As for why more ports don’t exist, it is probably that Adventure has a unique graphical representation that was required by the VCS hardware. If you ported the game and kept the similar graphical limitations it would look pretty unimpressive. If you enhanced the graphics, would you know that the game was Adventure? https://www.giantbomb.com/adventure/3030-8851/similar-games/ Edited August 18, 2020 by CapitanClassic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said: Adventure did very well. It is usually listed as selling over 1 million copies, although I don’t know if accurate sales figures exist. (For reference, the best selling VCS game is Pac-Man at 7 million copies). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Atari_2600_video_games As for why more ports don’t exist, it is probably that Adventure has a unique graphical representation that was required by the VCS hardware. If you ported the game and kept the similar graphical limitations it would look pretty unimpressive. If you enhanced the graphics, would you know that the game was Adventure? Adventure II gives an idea of what could have been done. But still, it didn't have to be "Adventure", it could be a game with similar mechanics. This type of genre was kind of underserved on Atari computer of the day. For adventure games you had text and graphics adventures on one hand, and RPGs on the other. Adventure, and a few other similar 2600 titles like Raiders of the Lost Ark had fixed locations, but randomized treasures, so you could go back and replay many times. Most computer adventures have a fixed solution and not much replay value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 The probably spiritual successors to Adventure are Rocky's Boots and Robot Odyssey (which even has a Warren Robinett room!). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 35 minutes ago, The Usotsuki said: The probably spiritual successors to Adventure are Rocky's Boots and Robot Odyssey (which even has a Warren Robinett room!). I've never played those. I was thinking something like "Maxwell's Manor" gives off Adventure-type vibes, even if it is more a horror type game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edladdin Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Haunted House and Superman both fit the template of Adventure. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 On the Atari 8-bit computers, I think some of the Roklan games, like Journey to the Planets, are a nice expansion of the idea, but with more graphics and variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidD Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 20 hours ago, CapitanClassic said: It was ported to the Atari 800 and released under the APX (Atari Program Exchange) that Atari used to publish independent developer’s games for Atari home computers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galahad_and_the_Holy_Grail While there are similar gameplay components... Galahad isn't Adventure. It does feel like what you'd expect an Adventure follow-up to have, though. (It had this horrible habit of freezing up whenever I killed a knight, too -- ah, the memories...) At some point, weren't the ___ Quest titles supposed to be Adventure-esque? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidD Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 19 hours ago, The Usotsuki said: The probably spiritual successors to Adventure are Rocky's Boots and Robot Odyssey (which even has a Warren Robinett room!). Oh, I forgot about those -- I've heard about Rocky's Boots so many times. I need to try it out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleman jack Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 I wondered about it as well. I loved the game for the 2600 as a kid and always wished there were more games like it. Haunted House was a little like it. I felt like Pharaoh's Curse, Shamus, Montezuma's Revenge, and Castle Wolfenstein were kind of spiritual successors on the Atari 800 when I was a kid. Montezuma's Revenge did come out on the 2600, but I didn't know about it until I was an adult. Thankfully there's a modern homebrew for the 5200, Adventure II, that contains a lot of the same qualities. If you have a 5200, it's worth checking out here at the Atari Age store. Also, Albert is planning on releasing Cafeman's Adventure II for the Atari 800XL soon at the store as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithbk Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 Let's be honest, Zelda on the Nintendo was the "spiritual successor" to Adventure. On the PC, I think they called it "Skyrim" due to licensing issues. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidD Posted August 24, 2020 Author Share Posted August 24, 2020 4 hours ago, keithbk said: Let's be honest, Zelda on the Nintendo was the "spiritual successor" to Adventure. On the PC, I think they called it "Skyrim" due to licensing issues. Eh, that's going a bit far -- the original Legend of Zelda is an action adventure, and closer in gameplay something like Gauntlet than Adventure... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 I loved Adventure as a kid. I can remember in the back of video game magazines in the 80s, shops would list new releases and Adventure 2 started showing up for sale. From what I recall they were referring to was the new Swordquest game, which is a far cry from great fun. I always wanted a sequel. It's sad one or more never happened. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 10 years ago the Atari website had a playable Adventure game with a timer. The faster you complete the level the higher your score, pretty cool. https://web.archive.org/web/20100315225901/http://www.atari.com/arcade/adventure 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.