Adventure: Yellow key locked in yellow castle?

[mileena]

One time when I was playing this game in the 80's (it was the third option, where every object is placed randomly in the kingdom), I killed all the dragons and locked the bat in a castle, and after searching everyhwere, I could not find the key to the yellow castle. My suspicion was that it was in the yellow castle from the beginning. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

And is there anything I can do in this situation? Or if I accidentally lock the key in a castle and need to get back in?

 

Thanks!

[Tempest]

Yep it can happen. However I think you can get the bat to steal the key and hope it drops somewhere where you can get it.

 

Tempest

[moycon]

How would the bat get in the Yellow Castle?

If I ever want to get rid of the bat, I just lock him in the Yellow Castle, and he can't get out, so I'm thinking he can't get in either.

 

I think the only solution is to start a new game.

[D.Yancey]

How would the bat get in the Yellow Castle?

If I ever want to get rid of the bat, I just lock him in the Yellow Castle, and he can't get out, so I'm thinking he can't get in either.

 

I think the only solution is to start a new game.

 

I agree.

[Tempest]

Hmm... Maybe you're right. I thought you could use the magnet to drag the key out to the grating and then have the bat steal it, but maybe not. It's been so long since I've played Adventure...

 

Tempest

[Godzilla]

yea, i remember playing games that neither bat nor magnet could salvage on the random mode. I just had to restart.

[maibock]

I used to lock the gold key into the gold castle on purpose(it's possible) and then ask my brother to finish the game since I was "stuck"

 

[StanJr]

Hmm... Maybe you're right.  I thought you could use the magnet to drag the key out to the grating and then have the bat steal it, but maybe not.  It's been so long since I've played Adventure...

 

Tempest

 

shame on you!

[Kenwood]

I used to lock the gold key into the gold castle on purpose(it's possible) and then ask my brother to finish the game since I was "stuck"

 

 

Nice

[+Random Terrain]

It's quote time!

 

I used the random object placement in level 3 for variety. I didn't want it to be like a puzzle, where once you've solved it, it's not very interesting to do it again, and I wanted to avoid that. The bat was also added as a confusion factor, to move objects around a bit, so that the game wasn't too predictable. (I did make a mistake in my random object placement code, and there is a 1 in 18 chance that the yellow key will start out in the yellow castle, making the game unwinnable. This only happens in level 3.)

 

As you may gather from the above, I think that randomness in a game is very strong medicine, and must be very carefully controlled.

—Warren Robinett from a Good Deal Games interview

Edited December 17, 2007 by Random Terrain

[mileena]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

 

What I thought was really cool was getting eaten by the dragon, then letting the bat pick up the dragon. Then, if I were lucky, the bat would fly over the sword and kill the dragon with me still in it!

[moycon]

I also used to like to get eaten by dragon.

Get picked up by bat.

And then pick up the bat whilst still inside the dragons guts!!!

You can control the bat (At times) somewhat.

Does the fun ever stop!????

[Nukey Shay]

Hi, thanks for the replies.  

 

What I thought was really cool was getting eaten by the dragon, then letting the bat pick up the dragon. Then, if I were lucky, the bat would fly over the sword and kill the dragon with me still in it!

 

Sorry...but that's not possible. When a dragon eats you, it's state (animation frame) is set to a value of 2, and the state is never changed again for that dragon. This value is looked for whenever the dragon's routine is executed...and if a 2 is seen, the dragon's entire movement routine is skipped (including being killed by a sword). The sword routine can only be looked at if that dragon's state is a value of zero (so you can't kill a dragon while he's roaring either...if the state is not 0 (normal - moving), not 1 (dead), and not 2 (player eaten)...the program keeps adding 1 on every 4th displayed frame to the dragon's state until it reaches 0 (normal) again...at which point it will be vulnerable again.

[Nukey Shay]

I also used to like to get eaten by dragon.

Get picked up by bat.

And then pick up the bat whilst still inside the dragons guts!!!

You can control the bat (At times) somewhat.  

Does the fun ever stop!????

 

Here's something kind of neat, but it's pretty tricky to pull off:

 

Close the black and white castle gates, and put all of the objects in the yellow castle except 1 dragon, the bat, and the chalise (let the gate "swallow" the key). The only objects left in the open will be the chalise, the 1 live dragon, and the bat.

Find the chalise and carry it on your right side...sort of upward from you as well. Wait on the right side of the screen until the bat flies there carrying the live dragon...it will usually try to get the chalise. When the bat hits you, it will be picked up on your left side (with the dragon biting you). The dragon will swallow you up...and you will drop like a rock. Move the controller as far left as you can, and drop the bat. Keep moving the joystick up/right. The bat will try to pick up the chalise (but you will bump into it and carry it on your right side)...and every screen from then on will be the bat flying around carrying all 3 of you (the player, the dragon, and you carrying the chalise that the bat desperately wants). If done correctly, you can "steer" the bat by pressing up/down (that will change the position of the chalise relative to the bat, and he will alter his flightpath to try to grab it).

[Crimefighter]

It wasn't the only randomness error, black key locked in the black castle, white key locked in the white castle, two keys locked in opposite color castles, or no keys sitting outside castles.

[wrenchien]

adventure on random , i'd guess.. would be much like life...

 

.. sometimes there are no solutions.

 

.. ever.

[ulij20]

It wasn't the only randomness error, black key locked in the black castle, white key locked in the white castle, two keys locked in opposite color castles, or no keys sitting outside castles.

 

Actually, I don't think the black key or white keys have ever been locked in their respective castle. This theory is based on the fact that I've never found only the White Castle inaccessible in any game nor have I found the Black Castle inaccessible in any game. Nor have I found both the Black Castle and the White Castle inaccessible (with the Gold Castle accessible) in any games. In fact, there is only one game that I can recall in which the keys to all three Castles were nowhere to be found in the outer world. All I found in that one was the Bat carrying the Magnet. Based on the placement of objects in other games, I theorize that the Black Key was hidden in the Gold Castle (since, as I said, I'd never found it hidden in the Black Castle and the only time it's been in the White Castle was in Level 2). The White Key had never been hidden in the White Castle, but it has been in the Gold and Black Castles. Since the Black Key was probably in the Gold Castle, that means the White Key had to be hidden in the Black Castle. And, since I've found the Gold Key in every single room in the game, it could have been either in the White or Black Castle. God only knows where the other items were hidden. It would be neat to somehow insert a chip that would let you have a bomb to blow open the castle of your choice. The only way to possibly solve this game were to fry it, somehow opening a door to one of the castles, but the chances of that happening are extremely slim to none. But it would be cool, since I've always wondered where the other items and dragons are in the game.

I've found a handful of games when the Gold Key is inside the Gold Castle (I know that's where it is, because I can't find it anywhere else). There is one game in which Yorgle is locked inside with that Key and, since he's afraid of it and yet can't get away from it, he must be freaking out. There are actually two versions of this game, but one thing about it is that Rhindle is in guarding the chalice in the second room of the White Castle.

[Stingray]

There is one game in which Yorgle is locked inside with that Key and, since he's afraid of it and yet can't get away from it, he must be freaking out.

 

HAHAHAHAHA! That's sick.

 

-S

[moycon]

There is one game in which Yorgle is locked inside with that Key and, since he's afraid of it and yet can't get away from it, he must be freaking out.

 

HAHAHAHAHA! That's sick.

 

-S

 

This would be funny to see.

[Curt Vendel]

I also used to like to get eaten by dragon.

Get picked up by bat.

And then pick up the bat whilst still inside the dragons guts!!!

You can control the bat (At times) somewhat.  

Does the fun ever stop!????

 

 

That was ALWAYS the best !!! You got a guided tour of the whole game, I'd forgotten all about that possibility, I remember doing that as a kid :-)

 

 

 

Curt

[ulij20]

There is one game in which Yorgle is locked inside with that Key and, since he's afraid of it and yet can't get away from it, he must be freaking out.

 

HAHAHAHAHA! That's sick.

 

-S

 

This would be funny to see.

 

What's so sick about it, Stingray?

 

Actually, the dragon was probably just moving around aimlessly inside the castle. One thing I really liked to do was to shove the key into the upper left hand corner of the room. Somehow, it came out on the bottom, a few inches from the edge of the room (how, I have no idea - when you picked it up, it was about two inches away from you) and I was able to lure Yorgle into the Castle. When he got in, he started moving across the bottom of the screen.

[ulij20]

I also used to like to get eaten by dragon.

Get picked up by bat.

And then pick up the bat whilst still inside the dragons guts!!!

You can control the bat (At times) somewhat.  

Does the fun ever stop!????

 

 

That was ALWAYS the best !!! You got a guided tour of the whole game, I'd forgotten all about that possibility, I remember doing that as a kid :-)

 

Yeah, the guided tour thing was always the best! Another thing I liked to do was to put everything away in a castle except for the bat and the bridge. I'd get the bat to fly straight down with the bridge, then put the item he was carrying aside. The next time he came into the room one screen down and one screen right from the Gold Castle, I'd get under the bridge and go through the walls ahead of the bat. Having him fly downward was the best way to go, as when he flew upward, he always ended up flying to what my brother and I called "The Blue Kingdom", which were those three rooms off of the Catacombs opposite the White Castle. The top room and bottom room of the Blue Kingdom were used in Level 1 to simplify the game. Anyway, everytime the bat flew north outside, he'd eventually end up in the Blue Kingdom and that wasn't quite as interesting, since you'd only be passing through three rooms instead of about a dozen.

[moycon]

Is there a way to lock the casle door while you are in the castle?

[Nukey Shay]

Not without hacking the game. The player starts in the outside view in all game modes, and once the player hits a closing gate, it automatically bumps ahead to it's "open" state. If it were possible (or if you hack the game to start you inside a castle), you would find that you would not be able to use the exit - even if you are carrying it's corresponding key. If the gate is closed, nothing goes in or out (this was necessary to keep dragons and the bat locked in, since playfield GFX does not restrict their movements).

Speaking of the yellow dragon, what you would see is the dragon jumping back and forth from the top portion of the screen to the bottom, or from the left side to the right - since it always runs from the key directly away from it.

[Nukey Shay]

It wasn't the only randomness error, black key locked in the black castle, white key locked in the white castle, two keys locked in opposite color castles, or no keys sitting outside castles.

 

Actually, I don't think the black key or white keys have ever been locked in their respective castle. This theory is based on the fact that I've never found only the White Castle inaccessible in any game nor have I found the Black Castle inaccessible in any game. Nor have I found both the Black Castle and the White Castle inaccessible (with the Gold Castle accessible) in any games. In fact, there is only one game that I can recall in which the keys to all three Castles were nowhere to be found in the outer world. All I found in that one was the Bat carrying the Magnet. Based on the placement of objects in other games, I theorize that the Black Key was hidden in the Gold Castle (since, as I said, I'd never found it hidden in the Black Castle and the only time it's been in the White Castle was in Level 2). The White Key had never been hidden in the White Castle, but it has been in the Gold and Black Castles. Since the Black Key was probably in the Gold Castle, that means the White Key had to be hidden in the Black Castle. And, since I've found the Gold Key in every single room in the game, it could have been either in the White or Black Castle. God only knows where the other items were hidden. It would be neat to somehow insert a chip that would let you have a bomb to blow open the castle of your choice. The only way to possibly solve this game were to fry it, somehow opening a door to one of the castles, but the chances of that happening are extremely slim to none. But it would be cool, since I've always wondered where the other items and dragons are in the game.

I've found a handful of games when the Gold Key is inside the Gold Castle (I know that's where it is, because I can't find it anywhere else). There is one game in which Yorgle is locked inside with that Key and, since he's afraid of it and yet can't get away from it, he must be freaking out. There are actually two versions of this game, but one thing about it is that Rhindle is in guarding the chalice in the second room of the White Castle.

 

 

It's not possible for the black key to begin in it's own castle...nor for the white key to begin in it's own castle. But it is possible for the white key to begin in the black castle, and any/all 3 keys are allowed to begin in the yellow castle. You only need to look at the room boundry matrix to see which objects could begin where:

 

Boundry data:

Address Ram*    Lower   Upper

F439    B9      13      1A  ;Chalise

F43C    A4      01      1D  ;Red dragon.

F43F    A9      01      1D  ;Yellow dragon.

F442    AE      01      1D  ;Green Dragon.

F445    B6      01      1D  ;Sword

F448    BC      01      1D  ;Bridge

F44B    BF      01      1D  ;Yellow Key

F44E    C2      01      16  ;White Key

F451    C5      01      12  ;Black Key

F454    CB      01      1D  ;Bat

F457    B3      01      1D  ;Magnet



* Ram address used to hold the object's room number

 

Room 00 is the game select screen.

Rooms 01 to 0E are out in the open.

Rooms 0F, 10, and 11 are the white, black, and yellow castles.

Room 12 is inside the yellow castle.

Rooms 13 to 16 are the black castle's maze.

Rooms 17 to 1A are the white castle's maze.

Room 1B is just inside the black castle.

Rooms 1C and 1D are either side of the catacombs.

And room 1E is the secret message room.

 

So nearly all objects are given the possibility of starting out in the open...while the chalise itself can only appear in either the black or white castle mazes. Only the yellow key can begin in it's own castle...this could have been corrected by using an upper boundry of 11 instead of 1D for that key I'm not sure why this was not done.