You'd better believe it! A number of years ago, I came across another review for Atari's Haunted House game and the poster spent more time spewing filthy language than he did describing the game. He couldn't even play the game right to save his life! I posted a message criticizing his classless mouth and he responded with the usual attitude. Then someone else responded and had the audacity to defend the poster's bad mouth. Fortunately, I don't believe that review is still on UA-cam. Long live our no swear gamer.
Great review! This is, without a doubt, one of the best games EVER MADE on any system in any generation! Can't wait to do my top games list! This one WILL BE THERE FOR SURE!
Bought my first ever Atari in 2012 along with 25 games. This was among them and I play it to this day. Great game. Would be nice to find more Atariage homebrews that takes inspiration from its gameplay. Any recommendations on that front?
A classic of the 2600! One of the first games we had for our system growing up and it was kind of addictive. The random locations of the items and ability to increase the difficulty meant that while there were some techniques you could master, you couldn't memorize levels to beat enemies and obstacles, which many other games later relied on. A simple, clever, fun little game. I still have my Atari 2600 and my copy of HH. I should hook it up and play it!
I remember this game and the different levels. Basically each level is like the last but something gets added to the game. Here are all the levels and challenges: 1. Beginning level with lighted walls to help you see. No doors. You have one bat, one tarantula and one ghost chasing you. 2. House is dark but all doors are unlocked. 3. Some doors are locked but master key is in the very first room you are in. 4. Master key moves around to different locations each time you start play. 5. Two more tarantulas are chasing you, bringing creature count to 5. 6. All creatures can chase you from room to room but only the ghost can pass through locked doors. 7. Being touched by the bat not only causes you to lose a life, but if you are caring an object, it is dropped and moved to another room in the mansion. 8. All creatures move faster and the ghost is no longer affected by the scepter, meaning you just have to avoid it. 9. Ultimate challenge. Floorplan is slightly different and all five creatures can now chase you from room to room even through the locked doors.
Game 8 may be harder than 9 to get a good score. Since the bat and spiders don't go through locked doors, they can chase you to dead ends. There's also a misprint in my manual and those online in the layout of the doors on the first floor for games 3-8.
Gol durnit! I hate when my chalices break during earthquakes. I mean, talk about inconvenient, wandering around looking for those stupid 3 pieces. I bought this game the day it came out in 1981. This game required your imagination to take care of the graphics and the chills. And somehow, it managed to do just that.
A really fun game. Playing it as an 8 year old, in the dark, after everyone had gone to bed was pretty scary. I played it again the other day and still enjoyed it a whole lot. Your review was great- as always
Nice review Phil! I picked up a copy of this one locally last week. Interestingly it's one of the earliest games in the survival horror game genre. Will be including a recommendation, and a link to your video on my channel's review video Wednesday.
I was looking through retro gaming videos and came across yours. I like checking out games i may or may not of even known about if it wasn't for UA-cam videos. . I'm a fan of yours!! Keep up the great work!!
Atari's blue logbook challenge: play (and win) game 9, difficulty B, having the most lives remaining and using fewest matches. Pro (Unflappable) 3+ Lives remaining, ≤ 25 Matches, Master (Nerves of Steel) 4+ Lives, ≤ 38 Matches, and Wizard (Champion Ghost Chaser) 7+ Lives, ≤ 20 Matches. My best is 9 Lives, 5 Matches. Good game, but I haven't been interested in playing it since then. I got Atari's blue logbook in Summer 1982, as I have some dates for beating challenges then. It looks like I beat all three levels for Haunted House on the same day, February 23, 1983, probably when I got my Atari back from the repair shop.
@@michaelricketson1365 I missed the first green one from the 1970s, but somehow we learned about the blue one in 1982. Maybe the Atari Club magazine had an ad or coupon to send away for it? Both were the size of the catalog of the time.
@@sandal_thong8631 Ha ha, if I’d had the log books, I wouldn’t have had much to record! I was awful at the games, in spite of my enjoyment of them. 😛 Especially Breakout and Atari Football, I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the family with those!
@@michaelricketson1365 If you can win 2 rounds of Breakout (that's all there are), then depending on what ball you're on, you're "Determined" (Pro) on 5th, "Masterful" (Master) on 3rd, and "Incredible" (Wizard) on 1st. I had to clean my paddles to do it in one ball in 2020. I think I might have been better at the game in 1980-1 when I only had 12 carts than after I got the Logbook in 1982 and had 20+ games. I still haven't scored 3000 on Super Breakout game 5, difficulty A for the basic, pro challenge. It's just too small a bar and twitchy. It's funny to see my dates in the logbook: 1982 & 1983 (I think it came back from repair in Feb. 1983), 2006, 2008, 2017 and 2020. I played Atari other years, like when I got carts for $1 at the thrift store and borrowed someone's carts (Smurf and Battlezone) in the 1990s, but I didn't put the dates on because I thought it looked weird next to 1982-3.
My best is now 9 Lives, 2 Matches, which I don't think is beatable, because despite being random, you're not going to find the urn on the first 5 rooms! Game 8 is actually more difficult in getting a good score (best: 9 Lives, 6 Matches). Because spiders and the bat don't go through doors like they do in game 9, they will follow you to a dead end. Maybe if there were a couple more variations of locked doors on the hardest level where they do, it could have some more replayability. I read both Superman and Adventure used the same template for making their game. Adventure had 30 screens (not counting game select screen), and Superman had 26. So they could have done the same for Haunted House and had 24 screens with a separate screen for each room instead of 4 screens each with 6 rooms. I recently played some Scott Adams adventure text games online. I tried Mission Impossible (which wouldn't let me win even following the walkthrough), Adventureland (which was broken) and The Count (that made me get hints since it had a specific number of turns and no save-game function). I was able to win Voodoo Castle again on my own (I won it as a kid almost 40 years ago, along with Adventureland and Pirate Cove). I have to wonder why they didn't convert more games like these to the style of Atari's Adventure? Maybe it makes it too easy if you can just touch things without finding the right combination of VERB + NOUN? Someone said this is how they made a 20 minute game last for hours. My first Choose Your Own Adventure book was _The Mystery of Chimney Rock_ which I think they renamed for the reprinting. It involved you (and your friends) investigating a spooky house, and encountering the groundskeeper, black cat and a witch that can turn you into a mouse! I think that would have been a good video adventure game.
I played this somewhere, but I can't remember for the life of me where. I don't know if I owned it, borrowed from someone, or played it at a store, or watched someone else play it. The the eyeballs and footsteps in the dark, exploring different levels with creatures chasing you is very intriguing. The eyes remind me of V.I.N.CENT from The Black Hole. The game has an endearing quality because, like Adventure, there is no score, just a goal. But the surrounding subjects provide an intriguing experience.
Well it does have a score. You need to win it without losing a life and using the fewest matches. Last October I was able to beat game 9 with 9 lives left and only using 2 matches! I don't think it's possible to do any better.
Flashing warning! Please watch in a room with the lights on and move your eyes a little further away from your screen if you have seizures. This was before photosensitive epilepsy was understood to be effected by some video games! When my friend made footage of the game for a friend to use for a nursing class in her presentation on epilepsy. I slowed down the flashing effects because I was afraid someone in her class might be effected. This was for her section on electronic screens and seizures (television, movies, computers, videos games ETC).
7:03 - I think the game has random pattern SETS. I have picked up the same 3 pieces in the same 3 rooms on the first floor at least a dozen times. I wonder how many sets there are?
I played this on a borrowed 2600 (didn't have the $300 to buy one) and it scared the hell out of me a few times!!! Lolerz. Simpler times. Surprised it's 1982, I've remembered being a lot younger than I must have been.
I always wanted a sequel to this game with the option of having larger floorplans. Maybe have the map scroll horizontally as well as vertically and have more objects to find. I also discovered that you can drop the pieces of the urn inside the walls, making the game unwinnable. :) Of course it would also be nice to have an updated version with (slightly) better graphics but keeping the same general format. I know there was a homebrew sequel on the 5200, but the screenshots and gameplay videos make it look weird. I wouldn't know personally as I'm not about to pay a small fortune for it and it's apparently forbidden to ever post a copy of the ROM.
It's too bad they didn't do it with a screen for every room (24), like Adventure (30) and Superman (26). Then they could have made each room distinctive and had more for you to do.
Hi Just heard you mentioned on Fergs Atari gamebygame podcast on his Haunted House/Yars episode , great vid by the way and I understand the flicker record problem as I have tried to get just a snapshot of this game and you either get the eyes or match light but never both so they obviously must flicker in turn. This is my second fav 2600 game after Raiders Of The Lost Ark and last year I sat down with Haunted House and over four nights completed all 9 levels, levels 1-6,8 and 9 in two evenings but game 7 did take a third and fourth night to crack due to bad variance i expect :/. Anybody who has not played this should give it a try.
Funner than Castle of Illusion? Funner than Aladdin? I don't know... looks kind of boring in comparison to me, but I guess I would have to play it myself to decide. Ha but you have your opinion and I have mine! XD
I feel like this game is pretty mediocre, even considering the limitations of the 2600, and it could have been greatly improved with just a few simple adjustments. The game designer/developer clearly did not have a working understanding of horror. 1.) It would have been much more effective to have slowed down the action. Having 9 lives and being chased around frantically from room to room is silly. There are too many monsters, and they're too hard to avoid. Fewer monsters that are easier to avoid but slowly stalk you through the mansion would have been much more effective. There would have been much more at stake with only one life, which would necessitate caution to avoid losing it. 2.) It would have been a lot scarier and more realistic if the spiders had been stationary, but only visible within the radius of the match. This would have created an added necessity to exercise caution during exploration. This, combined with being slowly stalked would have greatly intensified the horror. 3.) The ghost should have been invisible, except when within the radius of the match, and except by the flash of the lightning. Imagine knowing that the ghost is near, but the wind keeps blowing out your match. Suddenly the lightning flashes! The ghost is mere steps away!!! RUN!!!!! 4.) You should be able to hear the opening and closing of doors as the ghost enters the room from an adjacent room, even if the ghost is not visible. Sound is incredibly important in horror. Knowing the ghost is near, but not being able to see him would increase the sense of urgency to get away. 5.) The bat should come after you only after being revealed by the light of the match. Lightning can also reveal the bat without awakening it so that it can be avoided. The bat should be the fastest enemy, and it should only pursue you until you leave the room. It should then settle in another room of the mansion to be encountered yet again. 6.) The key should be required to solve the mansion (at least on some game variations). Not being able to carry any other items while carrying the key means that the game has to be solvable without even using the key. Sadly, this renders the key as virtually useless. I can see not being able to carry both the key and scepter at the same time, but you should be able to carry the key along with the urn. Maybe the scepter isn't even necessary in this version of the game? 7.) The death sound should be blood curdling and unpleasant. It should be something that startles the player and is to be avoided at all costs. A great example would be the sound of being shot by Medusa in The Adventures of Lolo on the NES. (I'm not sure the extent to which this is achievable on the 2600) 8.) Once you memorize the initial layout of the mansion, a lot of the challenge and interest of the game is lost. This game is greatly hampered by not having more floor layouts. It's really cool that there's a second floor layout available; it's a real drag that this layout is only available on the 9th game variation, which is not particularly enjoyable. 9.) A random layout generator would have been fantastic if there was enough memory to support it. The main challenge to this would have been to make sure that the key is accessible without having to unlock any doors. Warren Robinett achieved this (for the most part) in Adventure, and Entombed has a random dungeon generator that seems to guarantee solvability. 10.) One option on higher difficulty levels should be that you can't carry the completed urn and a lit match at the same time. You'd have to use lightning, auditory cues, and memory of the spider locations to make it back out of the mansion alive. Seriously though, this game could have been so much more awesome than it was, even if it required an extra RAM chip or two. I don't see the 2600 hardware as being the limitation here, but rather lack of imagination and lack of understanding of what scares people. Alright Atari 2600 hackers/homebrewers! Make it happen!!!
The player character looks like one of Pac Man's victims.
Yes he does! I have a theory that the two games are connected, which I may share someday ;)
I always told Meatwad to stop hanging around that haunted house, BUT HE NEVER LISTENED
Yeah, he’s all kinds of stubborn.
If you were a young kid when this game came out, it certainly was scary.
I can see when the ghost or something gets you. CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.
I like your game reviews because you don't say bad words. All the other reviewers have no class.
I didn't realize until another reviewer was cussing out the game because it was difficult and no fun to play!
You'd better believe it! A number of years ago, I came across another review for Atari's Haunted House game and the poster spent more time spewing filthy language than he did describing the game. He couldn't even play the game right to save his life!
I posted a message criticizing his classless mouth and he responded with the usual attitude. Then someone else responded and had the audacity to defend the poster's bad mouth.
Fortunately, I don't believe that review is still on UA-cam. Long live our no swear gamer.
Great review! This is, without a doubt, one of the best games EVER MADE on any system in any generation! Can't wait to do my top games list! This one WILL BE THERE FOR SURE!
Bought my first ever Atari in 2012 along with 25 games. This was among them and I play it to this day. Great game. Would be nice to find more Atariage homebrews that takes inspiration from its gameplay. Any recommendations on that front?
A classic of the 2600! One of the first games we had for our system growing up and it was kind of addictive. The random locations of the items and ability to increase the difficulty meant that while there were some techniques you could master, you couldn't memorize levels to beat enemies and obstacles, which many other games later relied on.
A simple, clever, fun little game. I still have my Atari 2600 and my copy of HH. I should hook it up and play it!
Wow, I wish I still had my Atari....
Was a favorite of mine. Thank goodness for Atari Anthology.
I remember this game and the different levels. Basically each level is like the last but something gets added to the game. Here are all the levels and challenges:
1. Beginning level with lighted walls to help you see. No doors. You have one bat, one tarantula and one ghost chasing you.
2. House is dark but all doors are unlocked.
3. Some doors are locked but master key is in the very first room you are in.
4. Master key moves around to different locations each time you start play.
5. Two more tarantulas are chasing you, bringing creature count to 5.
6. All creatures can chase you from room to room but only the ghost can pass through locked doors.
7. Being touched by the bat not only causes you to lose a life, but if you are caring an object, it is dropped and moved to another room in the mansion.
8. All creatures move faster and the ghost is no longer affected by the scepter, meaning you just have to avoid it.
9. Ultimate challenge. Floorplan is slightly different and all five creatures can now chase you from room to room even through the locked doors.
Game 8 may be harder than 9 to get a good score. Since the bat and spiders don't go through locked doors, they can chase you to dead ends. There's also a misprint in my manual and those online in the layout of the doors on the first floor for games 3-8.
Gol durnit! I hate when my chalices break during earthquakes. I mean, talk about inconvenient, wandering around looking for those stupid 3 pieces. I bought this game the day it came out in 1981. This game required your imagination to take care of the graphics and the chills. And somehow, it managed to do just that.
A really fun game. Playing it as an 8 year old, in the dark, after everyone had gone to bed was pretty scary. I played it again the other day and still enjoyed it a whole lot. Your review was great- as always
Nice review Phil! I picked up a copy of this one locally last week. Interestingly it's one of the earliest games in the survival horror game genre. Will be including a recommendation, and a link to your video on my channel's review video Wednesday.
I agree this is a can't miss 2600 game. I seen it at your #3 spot, but replay factor ranks high on games when I list them
Love this game. Absolutely love it. Took me a while to find way up in northern canada. Worth the search.
I both love and was afraid of this game as a kid lol The eyes going in every direction you move just really made it creepy to me.
I was looking through retro gaming videos and came across yours. I like checking out games i may or may not of even known about if it wasn't for UA-cam videos. . I'm a fan of yours!! Keep up the great work!!
Would it be so cool for this to be turned into a short film
Atari's blue logbook challenge: play (and win) game 9, difficulty B, having the most lives remaining and using fewest matches.
Pro (Unflappable) 3+ Lives remaining, ≤ 25 Matches,
Master (Nerves of Steel) 4+ Lives, ≤ 38 Matches, and
Wizard (Champion Ghost Chaser) 7+ Lives, ≤ 20 Matches.
My best is 9 Lives, 5 Matches. Good game, but I haven't been interested in playing it since then.
I got Atari's blue logbook in Summer 1982, as I have some dates for beating challenges then. It looks like I beat all three levels for Haunted House on the same day, February 23, 1983, probably when I got my Atari back from the repair shop.
Interesting. I didn’t know about the log books.
@@michaelricketson1365 I missed the first green one from the 1970s, but somehow we learned about the blue one in 1982. Maybe the Atari Club magazine had an ad or coupon to send away for it? Both were the size of the catalog of the time.
@@sandal_thong8631 Ha ha, if I’d had the log books, I wouldn’t have had much to record! I was awful at the games, in spite of my enjoyment of them. 😛 Especially Breakout and Atari Football, I couldn’t keep up with the rest of the family with those!
@@michaelricketson1365 If you can win 2 rounds of Breakout (that's all there are), then depending on what ball you're on, you're "Determined" (Pro) on 5th, "Masterful" (Master) on 3rd, and "Incredible" (Wizard) on 1st. I had to clean my paddles to do it in one ball in 2020. I think I might have been better at the game in 1980-1 when I only had 12 carts than after I got the Logbook in 1982 and had 20+ games.
I still haven't scored 3000 on Super Breakout game 5, difficulty A for the basic, pro challenge. It's just too small a bar and twitchy.
It's funny to see my dates in the logbook: 1982 & 1983 (I think it came back from repair in Feb. 1983), 2006, 2008, 2017 and 2020. I played Atari other years, like when I got carts for $1 at the thrift store and borrowed someone's carts (Smurf and Battlezone) in the 1990s, but I didn't put the dates on because I thought it looked weird next to 1982-3.
My best is now 9 Lives, 2 Matches, which I don't think is beatable, because despite being random, you're not going to find the urn on the first 5 rooms! Game 8 is actually more difficult in getting a good score (best: 9 Lives, 6 Matches). Because spiders and the bat don't go through doors like they do in game 9, they will follow you to a dead end. Maybe if there were a couple more variations of locked doors on the hardest level where they do, it could have some more replayability.
I read both Superman and Adventure used the same template for making their game. Adventure had 30 screens (not counting game select screen), and Superman had 26. So they could have done the same for Haunted House and had 24 screens with a separate screen for each room instead of 4 screens each with 6 rooms.
I recently played some Scott Adams adventure text games online. I tried Mission Impossible (which wouldn't let me win even following the walkthrough), Adventureland (which was broken) and The Count (that made me get hints since it had a specific number of turns and no save-game function). I was able to win Voodoo Castle again on my own (I won it as a kid almost 40 years ago, along with Adventureland and Pirate Cove). I have to wonder why they didn't convert more games like these to the style of Atari's Adventure? Maybe it makes it too easy if you can just touch things without finding the right combination of VERB + NOUN? Someone said this is how they made a 20 minute game last for hours.
My first Choose Your Own Adventure book was _The Mystery of Chimney Rock_ which I think they renamed for the reprinting. It involved you (and your friends) investigating a spooky house, and encountering the groundskeeper, black cat and a witch that can turn you into a mouse! I think that would have been a good video adventure game.
I love your reviews, even the old ones! They're so funny!
Thank you!
The No Swear Gamer no problem!
Just excellent Sir.
Submitted for your approval: a classic video game that somehow ripped off the theme music … of the Twilight Zone.
They all can't be based on Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. ua-cam.com/video/ho9rZjlsyYY/v-deo.html
I played this somewhere, but I can't remember for the life of me where. I don't know if I owned it, borrowed from someone, or played it at a store, or watched someone else play it. The the eyeballs and footsteps in the dark, exploring different levels with creatures chasing you is very intriguing. The eyes remind me of V.I.N.CENT from The Black Hole. The game has an endearing quality because, like Adventure, there is no score, just a goal. But the surrounding subjects provide an intriguing experience.
Well it does have a score. You need to win it without losing a life and using the fewest matches. Last October I was able to beat game 9 with 9 lives left and only using 2 matches! I don't think it's possible to do any better.
Loved this game. Still do. Thanks for giving it the treatment it deserves.
You're very welcome!
Flashing warning! Please watch in a room with the lights on and move your eyes a little further away from your screen if you have seizures. This was before photosensitive epilepsy was understood to be effected by some video games! When my friend made footage of the game for a friend to use for a nursing class in her presentation on epilepsy. I slowed down the flashing effects because I was afraid someone in her class might be effected. This was for her section on electronic screens and seizures (television, movies, computers, videos games ETC).
Loved this game! Good old ghost of Zachary graves!
I never understood this game. :)
It´s a basic version of Atic Atac. Nice game!
7:03 - I think the game has random pattern SETS. I have picked up the same 3 pieces in the same 3 rooms on the first floor at least a dozen times. I wonder how many sets there are?
I felt the same way when playing it recently. Perhaps you have to press game select to randomize it, not just reset?
For a real Scare...try Tax Avoiders
Is 15 seconds a world record? I'm glad busta move still holds the crown and you didn't let nostalgia defeat it lol
Tripcore Probably not. I could've got it faster if I didn't get hit!
The No Swear Gamer I'd say it'd worth checking.
I played this game way back in the day, I'm old, I played this back when it was new. I never realized until now that you played as meatwad.
Better than Castle of illusion.
👊
I played this on a borrowed 2600 (didn't have the $300 to buy one) and it scared the hell out of me a few times!!! Lolerz. Simpler times. Surprised it's 1982, I've remembered being a lot younger than I must have been.
How could anyone be scared of Meatwad? This game is great!
It couldn’t have been been made in 1982 or 1983 because mine says 1981
Fun considering what it is, but _NUMBER TWO_???
JW3HH
For me, yup! (Well, number #3 now). What can I say? I really enjoy it!
This is what games were always meant to be and that's what makes it so great.
It's since dropped to number 5/261 games reviewed.
@@sandal_thong8631I mean, to each their own I guess. We would all make the list differently I imagine.
I always wanted a sequel to this game with the option of having larger floorplans. Maybe have the map scroll horizontally as well as vertically and have more objects to find. I also discovered that you can drop the pieces of the urn inside the walls, making the game unwinnable. :)
Of course it would also be nice to have an updated version with (slightly) better graphics but keeping the same general format. I know there was a homebrew sequel on the 5200, but the screenshots and gameplay videos make it look weird. I wouldn't know personally as I'm not about to pay a small fortune for it and it's apparently forbidden to ever post a copy of the ROM.
It's too bad they didn't do it with a screen for every room (24), like Adventure (30) and Superman (26). Then they could have made each room distinctive and had more for you to do.
I never played this as a kid and I find it hard to get into.
Hi Just heard you mentioned on Fergs Atari gamebygame podcast on his Haunted House/Yars episode , great vid by the way and I understand the flicker record problem as I have tried to get just a snapshot of this game and you either get the eyes or match light but never both so they obviously must flicker in turn. This is my second fav 2600 game after Raiders Of The Lost Ark and last year I sat down with Haunted House and over four nights completed all 9 levels, levels 1-6,8 and 9 in two evenings but game 7 did take a third and fourth night to crack due to bad variance i expect :/.
Anybody who has not played this should give it a try.
I never understood how to play this game lol. I’d put it in the system and would take it out 5-10 minutes later and put in River Raid
the..... the episodes jumped fpom ep 9 to ep 25
James Barrett 9 todo 25? Only 9 levels
Boo!
Funner than Castle of Illusion? Funner than Aladdin? I don't know... looks kind of boring in comparison to me, but I guess I would have to play it myself to decide. Ha but you have your opinion and I have mine! XD
Looks aren't everything: Final Fantasy 13 looks drop dead gorgeous ...... ....... .........
BUT IT SUCKS
\_( '~')_/
I feel like this game is pretty mediocre, even considering the limitations of the 2600, and it could have been greatly improved with just a few simple adjustments. The game designer/developer clearly did not have a working understanding of horror.
1.) It would have been much more effective to have slowed down the action. Having 9 lives and being chased around frantically from room to room is silly. There are too many monsters, and they're too hard to avoid. Fewer monsters that are easier to avoid but slowly stalk you through the mansion would have been much more effective. There would have been much more at stake with only one life, which would necessitate caution to avoid losing it.
2.) It would have been a lot scarier and more realistic if the spiders had been stationary, but only visible within the radius of the match. This would have created an added necessity to exercise caution during exploration. This, combined with being slowly stalked would have greatly intensified the horror.
3.) The ghost should have been invisible, except when within the radius of the match, and except by the flash of the lightning. Imagine knowing that the ghost is near, but the wind keeps blowing out your match. Suddenly the lightning flashes! The ghost is mere steps away!!! RUN!!!!!
4.) You should be able to hear the opening and closing of doors as the ghost enters the room from an adjacent room, even if the ghost is not visible. Sound is incredibly important in horror. Knowing the ghost is near, but not being able to see him would increase the sense of urgency to get away.
5.) The bat should come after you only after being revealed by the light of the match. Lightning can also reveal the bat without awakening it so that it can be avoided. The bat should be the fastest enemy, and it should only pursue you until you leave the room. It should then settle in another room of the mansion to be encountered yet again.
6.) The key should be required to solve the mansion (at least on some game variations). Not being able to carry any other items while carrying the key means that the game has to be solvable without even using the key. Sadly, this renders the key as virtually useless. I can see not being able to carry both the key and scepter at the same time, but you should be able to carry the key along with the urn. Maybe the scepter isn't even necessary in this version of the game?
7.) The death sound should be blood curdling and unpleasant. It should be something that startles the player and is to be avoided at all costs. A great example would be the sound of being shot by Medusa in The Adventures of Lolo on the NES. (I'm not sure the extent to which this is achievable on the 2600)
8.) Once you memorize the initial layout of the mansion, a lot of the challenge and interest of the game is lost. This game is greatly hampered by not having more floor layouts. It's really cool that there's a second floor layout available; it's a real drag that this layout is only available on the 9th game variation, which is not particularly enjoyable.
9.) A random layout generator would have been fantastic if there was enough memory to support it. The main challenge to this would have been to make sure that the key is accessible without having to unlock any doors. Warren Robinett achieved this (for the most part) in Adventure, and Entombed has a random dungeon generator that seems to guarantee solvability.
10.) One option on higher difficulty levels should be that you can't carry the completed urn and a lit match at the same time. You'd have to use lightning, auditory cues, and memory of the spider locations to make it back out of the mansion alive.
Seriously though, this game could have been so much more awesome than it was, even if it required an extra RAM chip or two. I don't see the 2600 hardware as being the limitation here, but rather lack of imagination and lack of understanding of what scares people.
Alright Atari 2600 hackers/homebrewers! Make it happen!!!