Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

Games for Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, Apple ][ and the rest of the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. Pleas for help, puzzles, bug reports etc.

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Juan
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Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#1 Post by Juan » Fri Apr 03, 2009 4:57 pm

Has anyone around here played this game released by Adventure International?:

http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.p ... ON_ID=6960

There is also a TRS-80 version:

http://www.wurb.com/if/game/287

I have solved most of it, but I am stuck close to what seems to be the end of your objective (viz. to escape Vietnam), at the place where the game with the cobra is being played. Winning the game to get the money is the obvious goal here (so that you can bribe the soldier guarding the pavilion further on), but I keep getting thrown out of the place by "a burly Oriental".

Looking inside the game itself, there appears to be only one item that I have not been able to find as far as I have gotten in the game: the Viet Cong map. This map seems to be the one that's in the hands of the Viet Cong party that you see in the ravine, before the entrance to the tunnels that take you to Saigon. But how do you get the map from them? They shoot you if you go to the part of the ravine where they have their camp. And coming back later when they are gone does not seem to work either, as the map does not seem to be there. I have no idea if this item is necessary to be able to finish the game (it might be what is keeping me stuck, one never knows with these games where some situations make little sense.)

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Moitcho
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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#2 Post by Moitcho » Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:51 pm

i have completed the game recently for making walkthrough videos of Other Venture series.
but its graphic version and sounds very different from your description. (ATARI 400/800 renewal version, released in 1983)
since there was no map thing found in my through nor needed.

as to getting kicked out from Arena, it needs a specific item to bring "Another" match. if this was applied, i think your saying map isn't necessary after all.

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#3 Post by Gunness » Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:03 pm

I just added your solution for the game - thanks :thumb:
Is this really a part of the Other Ventures series? I don't see any mention of it on the disc or in the manual: https://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=saigon

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#4 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:18 pm

That manual https://www.mocagh.org/ai/jyympearsonpack-manual.pdf does have 'Other Venture Series Loading Instructions" in it. (But I can see it explicitly stated anywhere. Some sites give Saigon as Other Venture #1 which is obviously incorrect, as that is contradicted by AI advertising and box art!)

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#5 Post by Gunness » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:08 pm

Yes.... I just wonder why MoCAGH hasn't placed it with the other Other Ventures games?

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#6 Post by Garry » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:37 pm

It's most definitely one of the Other Venture series. I bought it for the Atari 400/800 back in the day (and solved it). From memory, it was also available for the Apple II. Not sure about other platforms. I must dig out my notes and map.

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#7 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:40 pm

Gunness wrote:
Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:08 pm
Yes.... I just wonder why MoCAGH hasn't placed it with the other Other Ventures games?
Looking through various AI catalogues, where Saigon is listed, and doing a magazine search, I can't find a single instance where it is listed in the Other Ventures series. At the point where it was released, it seems more regularly to be grouped and advertised as a 'Jyym Pearson' game, rather than an 'Other Ventures'... which they seem to have stopped using by then.

I think you're right to not group it with that series.

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#8 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:50 pm

Garry wrote:
Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:37 pm
It's most definitely one of the Other Venture series. I bought it for the Atari 400/800 back in the day (and solved it). From memory, it was also available for the Apple II. Not sure about other platforms. I must dig out my notes and map.
CoCo and TRS-80 too according to the catalogue listings where it's grouped with Jyym's other games rather than described as "Other Ventures".

https://archive.org/details/vgmuseum_ai ... ational%22

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#9 Post by Garry » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:53 pm

You're not searching hard enough. It's Other Venture #5. It is listed in the Other Ventures tri-pack manual, along with Curse of Crowley Manor, Earthquake - San Francisco 1906 and Escape from Traam. On pages 5-8, it has loading instructions for Apple II disk, Atari 16k tape, Atari disk, TRS-80 Models I and II disk, TRS-80 Models I and II tape and TRS-80 Color Computer. Copyright date in the manual is 1983.

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Strident
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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#10 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:56 pm

But "Other Venture #5" was Dog Star Adventure, as seen by this box art...
https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/images/40364

We've already referenced that manual earlier in this thread, by the way. We're looking for other references aside from that. Which I can't yet find. Not saying it's not part of that series, but we're trying to find a primary source rather than just the many secondary ones (that contradict each other).

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#11 Post by Strident » Wed Nov 13, 2019 3:00 pm

And that "Tri-pack" entry is odd... because the box lists three games, as you'd expect... which are "other ventures" ones... but that manual on the page has four games!

And the title of the pack makes reference to Jyym rather than other ventures too.

https://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?get ... earsonpack

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#12 Post by Garry » Wed Nov 13, 2019 3:01 pm

That doesn't surprise me. Adventure International could never get their act together. Dog Star Adventure was published elsewhere before AI got a hold of it.

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#13 Post by Gunness » Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:33 am

In summary, for now the game remains outside the Other Ventures. I'll be happy to update the entry if more conclusive evidence arrives.

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#14 Post by Moitcho » Sat Nov 16, 2019 1:11 am

my memory about detail is a bit obscure, but as Garry said, it sure is a part of Other Venture series.

i should have seen such ads on some magazine. or i wouldn't have even known it's existence since i have only Apple ][ those days.
though i couldn't have gotten Saigon Apple][ version (the series was kinda renowned as 108 colors hi-res adventure). i had only 3 of 5. #3 Escape from Traam, #2 Crowley Manor, then #4 Earthquake in getting order.
(in case of Apple][ version, #1 Classic Adventure and #5 Saigon are the left.)

that's why i still remembered this series and some of my senior friend asked me to make dedicated walkthrough videos for the whole series (at least within the range of Jyym Pearson's titles). since me and them share the same memory.
sadly, there are no Apple ][ version seen around, so i had to go to ATARI's equivalent (Graphic+Text version of 1983) to make the last part of my videos.

as AI's internal confusion/strategy/whatever as for treating each platform (TRS, Apple][, ATARI and C64) goes, and considering how their early products are listed/updated in rather different way, if someone who actually haven't had real experience with real materials of the days, its easily going to wrong thought.
this title might look outside of Other Venture series. Its not only actually was, but also originally planned and advertised as such. later promotion looks having changed the "List" thing, but it should be an afterward tale for AI's convenience.
Last edited by Moitcho on Sat Nov 16, 2019 5:53 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Saigon: The Final Days (Atari 400/800 & TRS-80)

#15 Post by Garry » Sat Nov 16, 2019 5:18 am

Adventure International changed the packaging and box art for their adventures around this time and the 'Other Venture' title was removed from 'The Curse of Crowley Manor' and 'Saigon: The Final Days'. I'm not sure about the others. Nevertheless, the instructions still referred to these as the 'Other Venture' series. 'Other Venture' was a marketing term. It does not appear in the games themselves. I've been referring to Saigon as Other Venture #5 for over 35 years, and I'm not about to stop now.

Incidentally, this is no different to a lot of other games that CASA has lumped together into a series, even though the publishers never referred to them as such.

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