Secret Quest


Secret Quest is an action-adventure game developed by Axlon for the Atari 2600 and published by Atari Corporation in 1989. The player controls a humanoid character that fights monsters and gathers items on a series of space stations.

Development

The game was originally inspired by Nintendo's The Legend Of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System, with the final space-themed concept developed and programmed by Steve DeFrisco. Chris DeFrisco was hired to complete the artwork. A save game mechanic was incorporated due to the design concept of having lots of locations in an adventure style format. The development team faced data size issues when trying to fit the game onto the cartridge ROM.
According to Vintage Games, the game was created as a final attempt to prove the 1977 console could compete with more modern hardware. The cartridge is expanded with 256 bytes of RAM and 16 kilobytes of ROM.

Plot

The player controls a hero trying to stop several alien space station attacks. He is dressed in a space suit fighting aliens released from the space stations. He is trying to defuse a bomb set by the aliens, and detonate bombs in the space stations using codes.

Release

Though some sources deem it the last game released on the Atari 2600, Old School Gamer magazine claims that the last game was Klax.
Secret Quest has been featured on every version of the Atari FlashBack series of consoles since the Atari FlashBack 2. However, the game hasn't been re-released on any other Atari compilations and was also excluded from the Atari FlashBack 4.

Reception

NexGam believed the graphics were simple yet respectable. The A.V. Club thought the title was surprising and abstract in the wake of the Atari 2600's final days. Classic Home Video Games called the game ambitious, almost to a fault. Classic Videogame Hardware Genius Guide described it as a "final swan-song" and a way of squeezing the last money out of the console.