Venture

Atari 2600
Released 1982

(I couldn't find a good photo of the Venture cover art, so I just took a cue from Isaac and made my own.)

Venture is another standout in my limited collection of Atari games. It wasn't unique, but I remember playing it fairly often because of its simplicity.

According to the manual, you play as a powerful barbarian/native american, armed with a bow and arrow. His name, obviously, is Winky. Note: Despite the cover art, Winky does not actually possess a knife (or a body for that matter).

When you first pop in the cartridge, you have a map screen composed of several boxes, several enemy heads floating around and a tiny dot. Winky is represented by the single dot. Your first goal is to avoid all the enemies and enter one of the boxes through a small gap. Simple enough.

Once you enter one of the rooms, you get a detailed view of the room, including new enemies, treasure, and your noble Indian warrior, obviously represented by the giant pink smiley face. Your new goal is to use your arrows (read: dots) to kill the various enemies in the room, get the treasure and escape before the invincible Hallmonster shows up and murders you (just like the evil Dr. Otto from Berzerk).

The goal of the entire game is to continue doing this until you die, die, die. Also worth noting is that you cannot touch an enemies dead body, or it will kill you. I imagine Winky feels dead bodies are super gross.

The game isn't bad. It's just mostly forgettable.
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Now playing: Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins - 05/02/2008 Our Crucial Pamplet
via FoxyTunes