Here the player (top right) is carrying the Sword, and Rhindle (middle) is guarding the Chalice (left).

The player in the catacombs of the White Castle, carrying the White Key and being chased by the dragon, Grundle.

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Atari Adventure

Adventure is a 1978 video game for the Atari 2600 video game console and is considered the first action-adventure game. more...

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Its creator, Warren Robinett, also introduced the first widely known Easter egg to the gaming world (several Fairchild Channel F titles predate Adventure's Easter egg, however).

History

Adventure was published by the console's developer, Atari. It was inspired by a computer text game, Colossal Cave Adventure, created by Will Crowther and later modified by Don Woods. Games similar to Adventure such as dnd had previously been published in 1975 on the PLATO System. Atari had logins to Plato.

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 and is considered by many to be one of the company's finest games.

At the time of the game's creation, Atari did not credit any of its authors for their work, so 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. A young player from Salt Lake City, Utah first discovered the hidden message according to video game historian Steven Kent in the Age of Empires strategy guide.

A sequel to Adventure was announced in early 1982. However, the planned sequel was scrapped. It eventually evolved into the Swordquest series of games.

Gameplay

The object of the game is simply to find the Chalice and return it to the Gold Castle. The character, represented by a square, explores a multi-screen landscape containing castles, mazes, and various rooms. Hidden throughout the world are a Sword, keys 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:

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.;

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.