Atari 2600 Secret Quest

[trey]

I recently got a boxed copy, (it was still in the shrink wrap) of Secret Quest (1989) for my retro collection. Very nice early RPG for the Atari 2600, it's really cool how you can actually save a game and carry on later.

Secret Quest

 

[TuxCoder]

Nice.

I'm a 2600 fan with a retro games collection myself but I hadn't heard of this one. I am also a big fan of RPGs. Looks very cool.

You're not gonna open it, are you?

 

[JamesJ]

if you guys are ever looking for a agame my friend is into old scholl systems and has well over 600 games for the atari, he also has 5 systems right now, just to let you know, but that is a good find for you!

 

[JamesJ]

I didnt go to school, so I spell it scholl, lol, old school sorry about that, and I probably should have just edited my post

 

[trey]

I wanted to play the game on an actual console so I was forced to open it. The packet and cart was date stamped 1989 so it was a shame to break the seal. In those days they came in cardboard boxes but, it was perfect, could have been made yesterday.
With this game you move through the rooms of space stations with several floors battling aliens to get a code/codes to detroy each station. You get a countdown sequence when the self destruct mechanism is activated and them you have to remember the way to the teleporter. There were a couple more titles released overseas in PAL format in 1990, Motorodeo (like NES Exciteabike but with monster trucks) and Klax (like Tetris).

Klax 2600

Klax 7800

I have the Atari 7800 console in the collection too.

 

[TuxCoder]

Did it still have the "new game" smell? Call me weird, but I've always liked the smell of freshly opened electronics, video games, etc. (especially NES games).

I like how the box says "NEW" on it.

My collection isn't necessarily vast, but it includes one 6-switch woodgrain 2600 (the original 2600), one woodgrain IntelliVision, one Vectrex (seen those? ), one original GameBoy, one SNES, one GameBoy Advance SP, one GameCube, and many games for each. I also have one of those (unlicensed) NES clone lightgun battery powered units with A/V connection and ~40 or so games built in, the Namco arcade classics similar unit (I think 4 games), and the Atari classics one released this past year (about 20 games).

 

[Mr Tony]

Still got my old 2600 in storage

Also got a NES that I play on a regular basis....love "Mike Tyson's Punch Out" (the real version with Mike...not the imitation one)

 

[skidog]

Well when my dad moved out of our house we had a ten yard dumpster and you guessed it the atari 2600 with about forty games got hurled into the dumpster. Then I see people paying good money for the damn things, and I watch the Antiques Roadshow so I should have known!!

 

[TuxCoder]

That's sad to hear, skidog...

When I was a kid we had two for some reason (never asked why) but one eventually quit working so I took it apart to see what it was like inside. I was only about 8 years old at the time, so I didn't exercise any precautions when handling the board or anything (probably a lot of TTL stuff anyways, tough stuff ), besides it just ended up getting tossed after my exploration. Might have been fixable.

 

[tdti1]

I got a 2600 and 2 Gemini's (play the same) maybe 3-4 other Atari's, an intelavision with the voice box, a hugh box of games for them all. I also have a old school Nintendo and Sega Master System, I still play the Sega got a Genisis, had a game gear but gave it away and miss it had a coleco vision, but that vanished? I also have a leisure vision with one game and a broken remote, game is baseball, think it came with the system. I also have a Commodore 64 with the tape rom no CD back then, yup I had fun with all of these systems, had them all hooked up and running about 5 years ago all on one TV, then I moved and they all are in boxes somewhere in here, with all the games in other boxes.

 

[JamesJ]

had a coleco vision, but that vanished? .

hmm thats weird, I just got a nice coleco vision, just found it one day

 

[dfergie]

I had a set up that plugged into the atari like a game cartridge, but you used a cassette player to load the game(like the old C-64 kinda)...via a cable to it, and they were a lot better than the standard atari games... cannot remember the name of it, but probably still have it in storage...

 

[BobMurdoch]

I donated my 2600 and all 40 of my games to a needy family in VA in the early 90's (My brother in law was in the navy at the time, and my sister told me this sad story about a family that didn't have much. I gave the 10 year old son these games and his eyes welled up like I gave him a million dollars as they had a TV with rabbit ears and that was it. I miss some of the old games, but like that XBox Live Arcade has resurrected some of the old coin op games and there are some joysticks being sold with old Atari games built into them for nostalgia guys like me.

 

[BobMurdoch]

I had a set up that plugged into the atari like a game cartridge, but you used a cassette player to load the game(like the old C-64 kinda)...via a cable to it, and they were a lot better than the standard atari games... cannot remember the name of it, but probably still have it in storage...

I had the same thing that plugged into the 2600. Blanking out on the name but they had a Galaxian knockoff and another which was was the first big adventure game (I don't count the 2600 Adventure game as "big").

Wait! I found it on Google!

It was called the Starpath Supercharger and plugged into the 2600 and loaded games from cassettes. The Adventure game was called Dragon Stomper (hich was interesting since you got healed by going to a church. The bigger your "donation" of your coin, the healthier you got (more money = more hit points). (Hmmm. I guess that's how the church worked in those days if you follow Martin Luther's main complaint about the church re: indulgences at the time) The other big game "Mindmaster" was a 3D maze game that had you walking down 3D hallways dodging hazards 10 years before Castle Wolfenstein and Doom revolutionized the gaming industry.

My other big favorite idea embraced by these two games...... An actual finish line. Most games at the time merely challenged you to survive longer and earn higher scores, but never let you "finish" the game by getting to the ultimate goal. They would merely ramp up the difficulty more and more until sweet sweet death finally claimed you.

These games changed that. You eventually slayed the dragon in Dragonstomper. And when you finished the final maze in Mindmaster you were greeted with virtual fireworks and a 2 minute congratulatory finale.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Another goodie was the Galaxian-esque "Communist Mutants from Space".

Here's a link to a picture........

http://darkwatcher.psxfanatics.com/console/starpath.jpg

 

[fenwah]

My favorite game was Video Pinball...one of the original Atari 2600 games. I remember standing in line with my dad when PacMan came out on the 2600...and how disappointed I was when I played it. The color scheme was correct...and PacMan never turned...so when he went up, his mouth was still chomping on the right-hand side.

Another favorite of mine was the castle game that had no ending...Adventure. I also remember playing a game where you skydive out of an airplane and try landing on a 'X' on the ground.

Brings back some good memories.

My mom sold my 2600 and games at a garage sale in the late 80s. So much for the good memories...I'm sad...need to drink some Jack Daniels now.

 

[TuxCoder]

Pour me one too, fenwah, I gotta quit checking the new posts in this thread.

Did anyone else ever just like to sit at their 2600, hitting the RESET switch with Super Breakout in there until you get a "sound scheme" you liked? I need sound clips of all those different reset sounds so my computer can play them at random times during the day to boost my spirit.

 

[BobMurdoch]

There was also a game I really liked called "Miniature Golf". You moved this square cursor to either side of the dot-ball and the ball would jump away depending on how far you were. Strangely addictive as the ball would bounce around like crazy in some cases like the shots in Combat. When you got close to the hole it would zoom to a closeup if memory serves.....

The other addictive game was Space War. You controlled an Asteroids like ship to hunt your buddy (with the ship wrapping around Asteroids like from one side to the other).

Jeez, you are all giving me flashbacks. I remember the Odyssey2 console my grandfather had bought. We used to play Blackjack on that until all hours.......

 

[dfergie]

I had the same thing that plugged into the 2600. Blanking out on the name but they had a Galaxian knockoff and another which was was the first big adventure game (I don't count the 2600 Adventure game as "big").

Wait! I found it on Google!

It was called the Starpath Supercharger and plugged into the 2600 and loaded games from cassettes. The Adventure game was called Dragon Stomper (hich was interesting since you got healed by going to a church. The bigger your "donation" of your coin, the healthier you got (more money = more hit points). (Hmmm. I guess that's how the church worked in those days if you follow Martin Luther's main complaint about the church re: indulgences at the time) The other big game "Mindmaster" was a 3D maze game that had you walking down 3D hallways dodging hazards 10 years before Castle Wolfenstein and Doom revolutionized the gaming industry.

My other big favorite idea embraced by these two games...... An actual finish line. Most games at the time merely challenged you to survive longer and earn higher scores, but never let you "finish" the game by getting to the ultimate goal. They would merely ramp up the difficulty more and more until sweet sweet death finally claimed you.

These games changed that. You eventually slayed the dragon in Dragonstomper. And when you finished the final maze in Mindmaster you were greeted with virtual fireworks and a 2 minute congratulatory finale.

YES... dragonstomper was my favorite of these, I probably still have them in storage in my old house...gonna have to boot up my old C128 sometime to see if the old floppys are still alive ....

 

[dfergie]

There was also a game I really liked called "Miniature Golf". You moved this square cursor to either side of the dot-ball and the ball would jump away depending on how far you were. Strangely addictive as the ball would bounce around like crazy in some cases like the shots in Combat. When you got close to the hole it would zoom to a closeup if memory serves.....

The other addictive game was Space War. You controlled an Asteroids like ship to hunt your buddy (with the ship wrapping around Asteroids like from one side to the other).

Jeez, you are all giving me flashbacks. I remember the Odyssey2 console my grandfather had bought. We used to play Blackjack on that until all hours.......

Also probably still have a colecovision...