Nostalgia for old technology. Sometimes it’s overrated, but not in the case of Atari’s Adventure. Adventure broke new ground in its time even though the graphics were so simple that you could probably build them in an afternoon. There were maybe about 10-20 screens max that you could navigate through, which eventually you would do by heart, but you remained immersed in the goal – kill the dragons and bring the cup to the castle. Along the way a dragon, that apparently couldn’t turn 180 degrees to face you, might eat you with a somewhat unnerving, snapping roar. Ending up in his (or her) stomach didn’t relinquish your ability to wiggle around a little bit, for eternity! Along the way a big stupid bird would steal and drop objects around the kingdom, like a bridge, keys, arrow (sword) and the cups. Your controls were simple, touch and object and drop an object. Touch it and hold it at different spots on your “body” (a square) for optimal performance. For example, you learn quickly which side to hold the sword (which is this –>) on to kill the dragon. I could go on and on but I won’t because I think the reason I started thinking about Adventure today had to do with perceived simplicity, discovery and timing. Technologies that tend to be a big hit usually have perceived simplicity, there may be quite a bit of functionality under the hood, but it’s not initially apparent. When you do discover these functional gems it’s almost like you invented it yourself (“look, I can hold the sword the other way and still kill the dragon”). Timing is obvious, just the right tool, technology or software at the right moment. Atari had that with Adventure. They may have had more sophisticated games ready to deploy but they chose one that was approachable by the masses for their new system.
