I never had a 2600 as a kid so I don't have any special memories with these gamse. But even if I did have a 2600, I'd probably be more interested in the arcade ports and such.
RPG Precursors - Adventure and Sword Quest
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 On 02/04/2021 at 04:38 PM by Matt Snee See More From This User » |
It didn't take long after video games were invented for people to try to make RPGs. Or at least, they made the precursors to what we later understand as an RPG. While Atari computers would be fertile grounds for RPGs, you usually don't think of the Atari as an RPG powerhouse. Of course, the Atari consoles didn't have a lot of computing muscle and memory back then.
We did get games like Adventure and Swordquest. Adventure, released in 1980, brought a lot of new innovations to console gaming, including multiple screens and enemies that continue to move offscreen. Players have to solve mysterious mazes and battle evil dragons to restore a mighty kingdom. Sounds RPG to me.
And then there's Swordquest. Originally planned to be a 4-part series of games, the last part was never finished due to Atari's inevitable financial trouble. Once again, compared to modern games, the Swordquest games (Earth World, Fire World, Water World, and the unfinished Air World) are pretty rudimentary. But at the time, they were doing new things with narrative logic and multimedia storytelling - players were to solve puzzles in the games using the D.C Comics published comics that told the lore of the game.
Both these games could exist today, as low budget indie games, or huge, vast, AAA games. They're pretty solid concepts.
Hmmm. Since I wrote this blog, I'm not sure I know what an RPG is anymore....
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