UPDATE (4/12/2018 - 10:50PM PT): The Easter Egg speed run has been updated to reflect an extra bit of trivia about the creator of the track, Mr. Marc “Marcade” Cohen. ~TG Editorial

(This article was a collaborative effort between TJ Denzer & Nicholas Barth)

Ready Player One is the recently released movie based on the novel of the same name that focuses on a dystopian future where the majority of humanity escape the struggles of the real world by escaping into the virtual world of the Oasis. Players eventually discover a hidden game called Anorak's Quest inside of the program that was made by the creator of the Oasis, James Halliday. Whoever is able to complete the quest is promised complete control of the virtual world. Competitors are tasked with finding three keys in order to complete the quest.

(Warning: Movie Spoliers Ahead)

The challenge that involves discovering the final key of the quest deals with the stroried Atari 2600 game Adventure. The main character of the movie, Wade Watts, is tasked not with beating the game, but with finding the Easter Egg that the developer of Adventure hid in a secret room. This Easter Egg is based in complete reality, as Warren Robinett, the developer of Adventure, wanted to sign his creation. However, Atari believed that programmers would get poached if their names were publicized. Not wanting to concede, Robinette hid his name in the game's code where players are still able to find the hidden room with the text "Created by Warren Robinett" on the wall. 

Twin Galaxies has its own fine collection of star players who have not only conquered Adventure, but also achieved the fastest speedruns for all three of the games that make up the classic Atari 2600 title. In this special Scoreboard Spotlight, we have compiled the top runs for the Atari 2600 title that Twin Galaxies has recorded and verified. Each and every one of these players has a place in the pantheon of high score gaming here at Twin Galaxies and could probably give ol' Wade a run for his money in snagging that final key. 

NTSC - Game 1, Difficulty B [Fastest Completion]

Game 1, Difficulty B isn't the hardest format for Adventure. The objects required to beat the game are in a set location and two of the enemies don't appear. The mastery in this particular mode is in the sheer speed of completion. The players have know exactly where to go, when to go, and how to traverse every screen in perfect sequence to get the items necessary to complete the quest. Greg "GregDeg" Degeneffe was the first to set the current record with his stellar run up above and you can see the sheer precision that gets him there in play throughout. John McCallister and Marc Cohen would go on to rise to Degeneffe's level just a couple weeks later with 32 second marks of their own.

1. Greg Degeneffe - 3/20/2017 - 32.0 seconds

1. John P. McAllister - 4/4/2017 - 32.0 Seconds

1. Marc Cohen - 4/4/2017 - 32.0 Seconds

4. Mike Morrow - 11/17/2001 - 33.0 Seconds

4. Rudy J. Ferretti - 3/14/2017 - 33.0 Seconds

NTSC - Game 2, Difficulty B [Fastest Completion]

Mr. Degeneffe stands alone in this one. Game 2 of Adventure is a trickier endeavor to say the least. Not only do players have to contend with an extra dragon and a bat that will move items around, but the maze is bigger and there is far more room for error. Nonetheless, Degeneffe rolls through this dungeon with gusto, navigating even the parts of the maze where you cannot see past a small radius of your character. McCalister comes up just shy on this particular run, one second behind Degeneffe, but the two of them stand head and tow over records that were set back in the early 2000s to command championship of this particular set of boards.

1. Greg Degeneffe - 5/15/2017 - 1:18.0

2. John P. McAllister - 4/17/2017 - 1:19.0

3. Jason Dyer - 5/9/2001 - 2:27.0

4. Stephen Knox - 5/9/2001 - 2:35.0

5. Robert T Mruczek - 5/9/2001 - 2:57.0

NTSC - Game 3, Difficulty B [Fastest Completion]

This particular challenge is a daunting one. Game 3 of Adventure is similar to Game 2 in maze layout with one daunting challenge. All of the item locations are randomized. That means you're at the mercy of random number generation to hope that the game puts everything in the right way for your best run. For this one, John "redelf" McCallister holds the crown, having found himself a very specific pattern (starting at 13:41 in the video above) in the game that fit right into an utterly perfect run. Degeneffe would come up just one second behind him a little later, but McCallister figured out what he claims to be a "max-out" (the best possible) time in this particular game set. In skill, adapability, and remembering which layouts are which, this just might be the grail of Adventure runs and mastery.

1. John P. McAllister - 4/18/2017 - 25.0 Seconds

2. Greg Degeneffe - 4/28/2017 - 26.0 Seconds

3. Jonathan Ewing - 11/2/2002 - 40.0 Seconds

4. Jason Dyer - 5/9/2001 - 49.0 Seconds

5. Stephen Knox - 5/3/2017 - 50.0 Seconds

NTSC - Game 3, Difficulty B [Fastest Completion of the Easter Egg]

Of course we can't go without talking about the runs that pertain to the infamous Adventure Easter Egg that started this whole article. The Easter Egg in Adventure is widely considered to be the very first video game Easter Egg of all time and getting to it is no easy task. It includes tracking down a practically invisible item in a secret place and bringing it to an entirely other castle to use. This particular track was created as a special record criteria by Marc “Marcade” Cohen, reflecting years of dedicated research he did with other players and Adventure enthusiasts in a time where was no internet compendium of knowledge available to easily track this obscure feature down! Degeneffe and McAllister jumped on board with Cohen’s special challenge, tracking down the objective and bringing it where it needs to be to activate the Easter Egg in stellar fashion. McCallister's run sits only a second behind Degeneffe's, but the skill of both finding the secret developer screen in almost half of any other records is a sight to be seen for accuracy and speed.

1. Greg Degeneffe - 4/22/2017 - 52.0 Seconds

2. John P. McAllister - 4/5/2017 - 53.0 Seconds

3. Marc Cohen - 6/27/2016 - 1:46.0

4. Steve Germershausen - 6/15/2017 - 3:55.0

Emulator - Game 1, Difficulty B [Fastest Completion]

It may be emulation, but that doesn't mean it's not legit. In 2017, Matthew "Starcrytas" Felix took his own run at an emulated version of Game 1 in Adventure to find his own way to Degeneffe's impressive 32 second record. Felix shows the same precision of his console-playing counterparts in his impressive run, followed only by Rodrigo "Siliconian" Lopes, who found his own success in emulated Adventure back in 2005. Lopes also holds records in both Game 2 and 3, though they don't quite hold up to the lofty standards set by Degeneffe and McCallister in 2017.

1. Matthew Felix - 6/10/2017 - 32.0 Seconds

2. Rodrigo Lopes - 4/8/2005 - 33.0 Seconds

PAL - Game 1, Difficulty B [Fastest Completion]

Lucianna "LuluMee" Mee may not have quite the time of Felix, McCallister, and Degeneffe, but the PAL cartridge must be considered. It's a slower game, making for longer times, and though it may be considered by some to be easier, Mee still cuts through the game to make an admirable time for the styles of software she chose to use. Despite a few extra turns, her style is impressive and puts her solely on the board of the PAL category.

1. Lucianna M Mee - 11/20/2015 - 1:00.0

It is safe to say that if any of these talented speedrunners were competing in Anorak's Quest inside of the Oasis, they would have accomplished the final challenge of Halliday's in record time. If our future becomes anything like the world of Ready Player One, it would be very wise to make sure that one of these players was on your team to take on any Atari-related feats.

That said, these aren't the only scoresetting power players in Twin Galaxies. Check out our previous speed-centered Scoreboard Spotlight in which players mastered the tracks to put up the fastest times possible in classic and contemporary games!