How to play Secret Quest online
- Move: arrow keys (up and down also change letters and codes on entry screens)
- Use the active weapon or key, confirm a code: Space bar
- Change the active weapon or key: press Space until the one you want appears
- Show or hide the status screen: F2 (the console’s TV Type switch)
- Enter a re-entry code: F11 (Select), on the status screen
- Back to the title screen: F12 (Reset)
Gameplay
Eight alien space stations threaten humanity, and you have to destroy them all. You begin by entering two initials. Each station has several levels linked by stairs, and some stairways hide behind sonic doors that open only with a single-use sonic key.
Every level holds one code symbol. Collect them all, then find the room with the flashing horizontal bar: the self-destruct mechanism. Enter the symbols in the right order, press fire and run for the teleporter before the countdown ends.
You have three weapons: the cheap but weak energy sword, the stronger sonic blaster and the powerful, energy-hungry particle beam. Energy pods refill your energy; if it runs out, you can go on but cannot use weapons. Oxygen is more serious. It drains steadily, and when it is gone the game is over, so grab every oxygen bottle. The thirteen kinds of enemies all take several hits and are worth from 50 points for a bear trap to 750 for a dragon.
To continue later, write down the re-entry code shown on the status screen. Next time, enter the same initials, open the status screen, press Select and set the code with the joystick. This works only from the first room of Station 1.
Tips
- Draw a map. The stations are big and many rooms look alike, and wandering wastes oxygen.
- Match the weapon to the enemy. The particle beam costs four times the energy of the sword, so save it for tough monsters.
- Write down each code symbol as soon as you find it, with the level it came from.
- Use save states too. Ctrl + 0–9 saves the emulator state and Alt + 0–9 loads it.
The story behind Secret Quest
The game was conceived as an answer to Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda, moving that kind of exploration into space. Steve DeFrisco wrote the program and Chris DeFrisco drew the graphics. The cartridge holds 16 kilobytes of ROM plus 256 extra bytes of RAM, which is unusual for the 2600.
The box says “By Nolan Bushnell” and shows his photo front and back. Bushnell is credited with the concept, but DeFrisco has said Atari mainly hoped his name would sell more 2600 cartridges. Secret Quest is often listed as the last new 2600 game released in the United States. It was later included on several Atari Flashback consoles and in the 2022 collection Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration.
Similar games to play next
- Adventure – the original room-by-room quest on the 2600
- Dark Chambers – another late Atari release about fighting through rooms of monsters
- Venture – explore rooms, fight monsters and grab treasure
- Solaris – a large late-era space adventure for the 2600