History
The history of the action-adventure genre began with the text-based Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), which was the first adventure game ever created. First written for the PDP-10, it was later ported to countless other platforms, including the Atari 2600 video game console, on which it was renamed to Adventure (1979) and contained action and graphical elements. A programmer for Atari, Warren Robinett, was given the task of transferring Colossal Cave Adventure to the Atari 2600. With the new iteration, Atari planned to allow the player to fight in combat like in an action game, thus leading to the first action-adventure game. Later, Silas Warner arrived at Muse Software, where he developed Castle Wolfenstein, an action-adventure game that would inspire id Software to create the first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D. According to Roe R. Adams (who worked on the Wizardry series of RPGs), early action-adventures "were basically arcade games done in a fantasy setting," pointing to Castlevania, Trojan and Wizards & Warriors as examples.
The action-adventure later became an established genre with Shigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda (1986), which became a success due to how it combined elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration, transport puzzles, adventure-style inventory puzzles, an action component, a monetary system, and simplified RPG-style level building without the experience points. The game was also an early example of open world, nonlinear gameplay, and introduced innovations like saving on battery backup. It became one of the most influential games of the 8-bit era, inspiring action-adventures like Metroid and RPGs like Final Fantasy. Zelda has since remained the most prolific action-adventure game series through to the present day. Metroid, which featured a side-scrolling platformer format, itself created the Metroidvania platform-adventure sub-genre. Similarly, Metal Gear (1987) laid the foundations for the stealth game sub-genre, which would later be popularized by Metal Gear Solid (1998).
The cinematic platformer Prince of Persia (1989) featured action-adventure elements, inspiring games such as Another World (1991) and Flashback (1992). Alone in the Dark (1992) featured the use of 3D graphics, which would later be popularized by Resident Evil (1996) and Tomb Raider (1996). Resident Evil in particular created the survival horror sub-genre, inspiring titles such as Silent Hill (1999) and Fatal Frame (2001). The action-adventure game genre has gone on to become more popular than the pure adventure games and pure platform action games that influenced them.
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