Long, long ago, video games were not just games, but our childhood adventures.
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In the 21st century, we can sit on the subway, lie on the sofa, or even play PSP in class, and complain about how bad the game resources downloaded for free are; Sit in front of the machine for a day, commenting on the bloody elements and sexy beauties in the game; we will still feel that even though today's audio-visual technology improves, the PlayStation in the 1990s has still become the last classic console platform.
But in the early 1980s, in the era when NES (the Japanese version is abbreviated as FC, which is the red and white machine we are familiar with) had not yet been developed, people's tolerance and enthusiasm for games were so simple and pure. strong.
It was the beginning of a golden age. In the early 1970s, people even flocked to games like PONG (a ball of light and two vertical bars to play ping pong). People today may find it incredible, but back then, The game PONG has more than ten independent consoles. Please note that it is not a game cassette, but a game console. That is to say, there are more than ten kinds of game consoles dedicated to playing PONG. In fact, there were no "game consoles" at all Cassette” concept, they developed game consoles specifically for PONG… one after another, each with only one game called PONG…
It was the "wood age" of the video game industry, I don't know why it is called that, maybe because most of the consoles at that time had a wooden look. From the large PONG that first appeared in some stores (which can be regarded as the originator of the arcade), to those "wide variety" PONG home machines, to the odyssey (Odyssey, one of the first professional home game machines, with a printer-sized appearance , a handle line that looks like a bold version of an infusion tube, a huge toaster-shaped handle, no name, no shell, only a numbered game cartridge, well, at least he can change the cartridge... Even later, odyssey also launched The first game gun in the history of home video games, its appearance is the same as that of a real rifle, except that the end is connected with a wire that cannot be pulled out). Throughout the 1970s, the progress of video games was slow but gradual.
You may ask, who would buy something like that? And who developed those crude junk? Let Conan children tell you that there is only one answer: the earliest hardcore players in modern society and the pioneers of the game development industry.
So let's go back to what I just said, the early 1980s, the beginning of the golden age. At that time, the game industry had nothing to do with Nintendo and Sega, please don't rush to try it, sit down, shut up and watch.
At that time, the king of the video game industry was Atari, the Atari 2600, a milestone game console, the console with the longest life in human history. The 1990s, when there were conflicts between heroes. This aging pioneer was finally declared discontinued in January 1992, and the record of 14 years and 2 months will forever shine in the history of video games.
There is only one button but the handle of the joystick is installed, simple operation, simple picture, simple sound effect. But at the time, it seemed good enough!
Perhaps today's players have difficulty imagining what video games looked like before the appearance of red and white machines. I can roughly describe it. You only need to blur the image of the eight-bit machine with mosaics, and then simplify the game sound effects into explosions. Single rates like beeps, beeps, etc., and finally add your own rich imagination, you will find it very interesting.
It is such a host, there used to be a legend, a legend that has not yet ended...
At the beginning of the 1980s, a game series called "Swordquest" was successively released on the Atari 2600, consisting of four parts in total. The world view of the game is based on the four basic elements of the universe, so the four games are "Earth World", "Fire World", "Water World" and "Air World". Its theme is just mentioned - to find the sword.
In the game, you control a character to explore some mysterious secret rooms, looking for some hidden clues and treasures. Sound like an ordinary puzzle game? Do not! It's much more than that.
You're not just playing a game, you're on a really big quest for real treasure.
The rules are roughly like this. You buy the four games released by Atari in turn. In the game, you will find many clues. You just need to find as many clues as possible, and then send them to Atari. The person who finds the most clues can go to the company headquarters for the finals. In the finals, Atari specially made a game version for the players. The person who completes the game process first within 90 minutes is the champion.
Don't think that a decryption game on an old game platform is very simple. In fact, its difficulty is jaw-dropping. Take "Earth World" as an example, you plug in the game card, if you don't read the game manual, congratulations, you don't know what you should do at all, the character you control walks through some diamond-shaped rooms that look exactly the same, Walking in and out, I can't feel any game progress at all, of course, except for the sound of the explosion when entering the room...
Well, let's open the game manual, you will see the guide, there are twelve rooms in total, each with a different color, each room represents a constellation, and each room actually has a secret room, sometimes you can Just go in, sometimes you have to play a little game of crossing the light strip waterfall, anyway, when you go in, you can find a few hidden treasures.
Characters can choose to pick up or drop treasure, and as long as you place certain items in a certain order (too puzzling), you can see the game screen change and get a clue.
The clue is that there are two very annoying numbers in the middle of the screen, the meaning of which is completely unknown. Guess what to do next? You never imagined that now you have to take out the peripherals of this game, yes, you heard that right, the games on the Atari 2600 still have peripherals, scumbags who don’t buy genuine ones, go shit!
We can ignore these two things, T-shirts and posters, but each game in the Sword-seeking series will give a comic book, and then let us open the comic and find the pages and grids corresponding to the numbers on the screen, damn it! There is a word hidden in that frame! You can't find it unless you look carefully!
When you find all 10 hidden words, you have to find a way to form them into a sentence, but before that, you have to kill five words first, how to filter? Talent, you guessed it right, let's pick up the game manual again. There is a hidden hint on the first page. There are two words in a large paragraph with slightly different colors, namely "Prime" and "Number". According to the "quality" and "number" prompts, reduce the words found throughout the game to five to form a sentence.
1982 was not the information age when the Internet was popular, but believe me, people in those days had a lot of spare time, and it was nothing to solve this step... Among the final 5,000 answers, only eight high-ranking players solved it. Correct sentence, and the winner, 20-year-old Steven Bell.
Brave boy, you are simply creating a miracle!
The above is the competition situation of "The Earth World".
Why do I say that such a game is a legend? Legendary difficulty? Of course not, but a prize.
The winner of the "Earth World" will receive an "Amulet", made of 18K pure gold, inlaid with 12 diamonds, and engraved with the engraved golden patterns of the zodiac.
The winner of the "Fire World" receives a chalice made of platinum and decorated with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, jasper and more.
The prize of "Water World" is a crown made of pure gold, embellished with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and aquamarines.
The prize of "Qi World" is a piece of "Sage's Stone" (the shape is hard to describe, a bit like a squat version of the obelisk), the body is a large piece of pure white jade, wrapped in 18K gold, inlaid with topaz, Rubies, diamonds.
According to Atari's advertising, the value of each prize is 25,000 US dollars, but this is not the end. At the end of the four competitions, the four winners will have a final battle.
The only and final winner will get the ultimate prize, a sword. The hilt is made of 18K pure gold, and the blade is made of sterling silver, embellished with diamonds, topaz, sapphire and ruby, and is worth up to $50,000.
So, the total price of all the prizes is a full $150,000! Don't forget that it was 1982-1983. Even if the prizes themselves no longer appreciate in value, let's just calculate the value of the dollar at that time, what a fortune! Can you sit at home now and imagine playing video games to get all of this
We may sometimes envy those "professional gamers" who can support themselves by playing games. But this! This is the largest treasure hunt I have heard of since the Middle Ages! This is real adventure!
However, all this has not yielded results so far, instead it has become the tears of the times...
Soon after, "Fire World" was released. The basic decryption concept is the same as "Earth World", except that the arrangement of the rooms this time is based on the Kabbalah tree of life graphics.
This game seems to be easier than the world, because more than 50 high-level players got the answer this time, so Atari made a play-off - write down what you love about this game. Do you know what I will write? I would write "two hundred and five" followed by two zeros.
Anyway, they got the winner Michael Rideout from the fifty hot-blooded teenagers, and the Holy Grail has found its owner.
The third "Water World" brought the whole game to its climax, but the infamous Atari shock incident in 1983 had an impact on the game, so this game was only sold in limited quantities and became an extremely rare limited edition. version of the game.
The concept is similar, this time it is based on the "seven realms of the world" and decrypts in seven rooms. However, the final of "Water World" could not be held, Atari was acquired due to financial setbacks, and the "Sword Hunting" activity came to an end.
The fourth "Air World", as its name suggests, became air, and although there were rumors that some prototypes of the game leaked out, the game was never released.
This is the ending, and this is often the case with BADEND in the real world.
Originally, this game would become the most influential legendary event in the history of the game, not one of them. Ancient myths and legends, the four elements of the universe, puzzles in the secret room, comic books, game instructions, and real prizes, no, it should be said to be "treasures". The combination of all these will undoubtedly become immortal, but it just like this, disappeared in the wind...
The legend stopped, but a bigger mystery remained, that is, the whereabouts of the treasure. Where did the remaining three treasures go
Some well-informed sources once revealed that Jack Tramiel, who bought Atari, got them, and described vividly that he saw the "sword" in the living room of his home, but there were no photos or other credible evidence to prove it. Prove those rumors.
But if, just if, the sword was with him, then he must also have the crown and the Philosopher's Stone.
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Vincent narrated these in conjunction with the ever-changing big screen, and finally the picture was frozen on the four-panel animation poster again. Now everyone present understands that it should be the posters of the four games of the Sword-seeking series.
Vincent cleared his throat, and said again: "Those treasures belong to the players. Every player who inserts the game card into the Atari has a chance to win them. This is a dream." He shrugged helplessly. Shrugged: "It's a pity that this dream has been thrown into the toilet."
Master Cat sighed deeply: "Hey! Then what do you want now?"
"What do you want?" Wang Xu and Li Yadi stared back at Master Cat with their eyes wide open, and said in unison, "You don't understand what he said so clearly?!"
"Even after thirty years!"
"This game must continue!"
"The four elements cannot be without air!"
"The balance of the universe must be restored!"
"We must find the true ruler of the sword!"
The two of them cooperated seamlessly with each other, and at the end they yelled together: "The stability of the Otaku Kingdom depends on this sword!!"