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Venture Atari 7800 First Impressions


7800 Pro Gamer

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I got my copy of Venture in the mail and thought I would give my first impressions for anybody on the fence about purchasing it.  Again, I was only able to spend about an hour and a half with it last night, but I thought it would be nice to start a discussion on this new homebrew.

Packaging: it came well packaged in a large box with plenty of packing materials. The instructions are a single laminated sheet and you get the cartridge in a white half size style box with the art and screenshots attached to the front and back respectively.  I like the fonts and the color of blue used on the cartridge and packaging, but I do wish the manual could be stored in the box with the game. You could do it, but your going to crease and ruin the laminated sheet. But overall the packaging and shipping experience is good. 

Cartridge: I like the labels and the cartridge seem to be in the style of ataris 7800 and 2600 games. You have a top label with the name of the game and the front label with the box art and relevant information. I really like the design and it feels like a good quality product similar to any "official" release from the 80s. 

Gameplay: I played the 2600 game in preparation and this is a vast improvement. You have 3 game modes (arcade and 2 challenger modes), a choice of control styles and number of players. The graphics are true to venture and while I don't think anybody would call them revolutionary,  they do look good!  The sound effects are punchy and have impact, and I like the tunes that plays. 

The gameplay feel much tighter than the 2600 version and I see little reason to go back to that one after trying this one. I will post a full review in a week or two but I'll continue to put my thoughts here until then. I'll post more in depth thoughts about gameplay tonight after work as I've only tried one mode so far.  If you have any questions please ask. 

Oh and thank you to everybody at video61 for putting this game out!  

 :pole_position_blimp: Watch 7800 Pro Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAtariNetwork

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So after dinner while I let the pans soak I  gave venture 7800 a go.  Needless to say my pans are soaked and untouched a few hours later. If you like Venture at all, then I think this is worth your money. 

UPDATES

Cartridge: when I got home a bit of the top label was lifting off the cartridge. It's really no big deal but I just thought I'd mention it. I patted it back down and it seems fine. 

Gameplay: The first game mode is arcade and it plays like the 2600 version, with 3 maps and 12 rooms I think. All the enemies look good and the challenge increases as you clear the maps and loop through them. Overall a fun mode, great for purists, but I recommend...

XL XE challenger mode!  Here they've added a new map with I believe 4 more rooms for a total of 4 maps and 16 rooms. There are some challenging trap rooms along with a reaper room that varies gameplay and increases the challenge greatly. A fantastic addition and would be my recommended mode except there's...

7800 Challenger with yet another map and 4 more rooms for a total of 5 maps and 20 rooms!  And not only do the enemies become faster and more numerous in the challenger modes, but you'll also encounter booby traps in the monster rooms!   

The new monster rooms add some nice challenge, force new strategy, and help keep the gameplay more varied than in say, the 2600 version.  You can also choose between directional shooting where you can freely move and shoot, and hold and shoot, where for as long as your facing a direction with the fire button held down you continuously shoot in that direction. Once you let off the fire button you can spin and shoot in a different direction. 

So is there any negatives in gameplay?  Well I have one complaint and one opinion that I'll share at the end here. In some rooms, and it seems to happen more often in the newly added rooms, you start almost directly on an enemy. If it moves slightly towards you then you lose a life immediately.  This feels cheap and takes away from what is otherwise a fantastic game.  It also seems to happen more and more on later loops. I wish the placement would've been adjusted a bit in those scenarios. 

My other observation is that, while I think the monster sprites in the added 7800 mode look the best, the map just doesn't compare to the one added in the XL XE challenger mode.  I think that map is top tier and maybe even better than the originals, where the new 7800 map feels like it's less dynamic in comparison. But that's just an opinion.

Well that's all I have for first impressions. My next post about venture will be a review. If your on the fence about venture 7800, I'm here to tell you, GET IT!  Yes, it's damn good I think!

Let me know what you all think if you've tried this one!  Thanks guys. Oh and my pans are still soaking, I better get to those. 

 :pole_position_blimp: Watch 7800 Pro Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAtariNetwork

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