☆ The A To Z Of Atari - Q is For ☆ #Retrogaming #GamersUnite

Q is for.......

sword QUEST

After much deliberation and thought, the A-Z of Atari gets to Q.........with Q standing for...........

Sword QUEST!

Okay so I cheated a little to get this one into the A-Z but I think it's a story that needs to be told.....

Sword Quest is a remarkable story of a video game that had an awesome idea behind that never quite came to fruition.

This game was a victim of the video game crash of 1983 but it had a grand idea that I think would still be a winner nowadays.

Swordquest is an unfinished series of video games produced by Atari  in the 1980's as part of a wider contest which consisted of three finished games and a planned but never released fourth game. Alongside the games there was a comic book that was bundled with the game that detailed the plot. The comic book also contained part of the solution to a puzzle that required to be solved to enter into the central Sword Quest competition (sounds great doesn't it!?)

The competition consisted of a series of prizes that were worth around $150,000. Each prize was issued to the winner of each challenge and it was supposed to culminate in a grand final However, the series was unable to hold the remaining couple of contests along with the finale as well as the release of the final video game in the series due to Atari's financial problems and the video game crash of 1983.

Did You Know?
"The series was a possible sequel to Atari's 1979 video game, Adventure"
(Wikipedia)

The four planned interrelated Swordquest games were to be based on earth, fire, water, and air.

Atari had intended that playing all four video games would be necessary to have a chance of winning the grand finale.

Each game had similar game play which consisted of logic puzzle adventure gaming cut with arcade style action gaming.

The character travels through each screen whilst collecting the required items items. Then if the correct items are placed in a room a clue is revealed which directs the player to a page and panel in the comic book included with the game.

From there, the player would find a word that was hidden in that comic book panel. If the player found all correct clues, amongst they could then send the sentence to Atari which would give them a chance to compete in the grand finals to ultimately win a prize.

There was a playoff which ran on special versions of the games. The winner was the person who managed to find the most clues within 90 minutes and the winners of the four game contests would go on to a final competition where they would compete for a sword which was valued at around $50,000.

Unfortunately only two of the grand finale competitions took place before Atari cancelled the contest in 1983.

Did You Know?
"Sounds from Swordquest: Earthworld were used in the 2002 film Solaris directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney. The sounds are used to represent the spaceship breaking up."

There were 5,000 entries into the first overall competition BUT only eight people managed to find all five of the correct clues. The first prize was called  "Talisman of Penultimate Truth." And was made of 18K solid gold, with 12 diamonds and the birthstones of the twelve Zodiac signs embedded in it! Back then the Talisman was valued at $25,000.

In the second competition the "Chalice of Light" was won was made of gold and platinum and was adorned with diamonds, green jade, pearls, rubies, and sapphires. The Chalice of Light had a value of $25,000 also

The winner of the third contest was supposed to receive the "Crown of Life," which was made of gold and encrusted with aquamarines, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. It was valued at $25,000 when the game came out. As the contest was never held, mysteriously it is not known what became of the crown......

The winner of the fourth contest was to receive a Philosopher's Stone encrusted with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, and like its counterparts the piece was valued at $25,000.

Whoever won the the overall contest for the grand prize was to be presented with a sword with a gold handle encrusted with jewels and a blade made of pure silver. 

The sword was called the "Sword of Ultimate Sorcery" and was valued at a whopping $50,000 back in 1983!

Did You Know?
"After the contest, the remaining three prizes (the crown, philosopher's stone, and sword) were assumed to have been in the possession of Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore International who purchased the remnants of Atari after the video game crash"

Sword Quest was a great idea that was a victim of the 1983 video games crash.........

Did You ever Play Sword Quest?

Let Me Know in The comments Box below...