How to play Aquaventure online
- Swim: arrow keys
- Fire the spear gun: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0ā9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0ā9 loads it
Gameplay
You control a diver who swims down through an undersea cavern to fetch a treasure (which looks more like a small house than a chest), then carries it back up to the first screen and touches the mermaid waiting there. Fish, sea horses and the jagged cavern walls stand in your way. Your spear gun removes a creature for a while and scores 500 points, but it comes back, faster and less predictable than before.
Air is shown by a turtle crawling across the top of the screen. If it reaches the āAirā sign before you finish the trip, you lose a life. Each successful return makes the cavern one screen deeper, up to five screens, and the water changes colour as you go deeper.
Tips
- Shoot only what blocks your path. Every creature you hit returns faster, so extra shots make the way back harder.
- Keep an eye on the turtle. The mission only counts once you are back at the mermaid, so start the return trip as soon as you have the treasure.
Why it was never released
Gary Shannon later recalled that he finished coding and testing the game before moving on to his next project, Mind Race. The most likely reason it stayed on the shelf is the freeze on game development that Atari CEO James Morgan ordered in September 1983 while every project was reviewed. The known prototype ROM is dated August 1983, and some ROM collections list it under the alternative name Sea Sentinel.
