Lunar Lander Beyond (by Atari) - (in VCS Store)

[scifidude79]

4 hours ago, zzip said:

I don't know if you were here during the VCS prerelease days, but there was a lot of hatred towards it.   It was based around a few different things:

1) creator of VCS was behind Coleco Chameleon and considered to be a scammer, and therefore the VCS was obviously a scam and would never be released.

2) some people around here had bad run-ins with previous Atari management and held a grudge

3) some argued that present day Atari isn't the "real Atari"

4) There was the Amico thing going on at the same time and rumors of VCS FUD coming from that camp.

 

After Wade Rosen took over Atari,  the company became more focused on its legacy and heritage and there was more involvement with the community and you started to see Atari employees posting here and over at Discord.  That helped shift some attitudes to be more positive towards present day Atari and the VCS, but some people still intensely dislike the VCS.

I wasn't here when the VCS was in prerelease. I lurked on this site but I never created an account and posted until I experienced the zip code error on the VCS. I saw most of that stuff you described on YouTube, though.

 

I think Wade Rosen is exactly what Atari needed. They need someone who will appreciate Atari's heritage and give us Atari fans what we want.

 

On the subject of Lunar Lander Beyond, I'll pick it up when it drops on Steam. I'd love to have it on the VCS, but if it isn't to be, then that's that. I game a lot on Steam anyway, so it's a no brainer for me to pick it up on there.

Edited January 29 by scifidude79

[MrBeefy]

Man still have mixed feelings. Sometimes I like the look of it and other moments not so much.

Can't tell if it is hard to control or if the person is just not that good. Either way doesn't help.

 

[RadiATIon]

I just took the time this weekend to test the demo of the game via Steam under W10 on my VCS boosted to 16Gb of ram including 4 allocated to the GPU. The game works perfectly! So there's no reason why the game shouldn't run on AtariOS as long as you have 16gb of ram and enough space on the emmc or an external drive...My impressions of the demo: the game is beautiful, with slick graphics.The music that accompanies the various game screens is also well suited. In terms of handling, I put here 10/10! If I have to compare it to Gravitic Mines on a Jaguar, Lunar Lander is much more manoeuvrable! I was able to finish all the missions in the demo without too much trouble, and for good reason, what helps here is the ability to activate thrusters that stabilize us! In my opinion this is sorely lacking in Gravitic Mines.

What's also very good is that there's a storyline as it's really great because it adds a depth to the game that the games in the Recharged series don't have.

Edited February 6 by RadiATIon

[+CyranoJ]

35 minutes ago, RadiATIon said:

I just took the time this weekend to test the demo of the game via Steam under W10 on my VCS boosted to 16Gb of ram including 4 allocated to the GPU. The game works perfectly! So there's no reason why the game shouldn't run on AtariOS as long as you have 16gb of ram and enough space on the emmc or an external drive...My impressions of the demo: the game is beautiful, with slick graphics.The music that accompanies the various game screens is also well suited. In terms of handling, I put here 10/10! If I have to compare it to Gravitic Mines on a Jaguar, Lunar Lander is much more manoeuvrable! I was able to finish all the missions in the demo without too much trouble, and for good reason, what helps here is the ability to activate thrusters that stabilize us! In my opinion this is sorely lacking in Gravitic Mines.

What's also very good is that there's a storyline as it's really great because it adds a depth to the game that the games in the Recharged series don't have.

 

Gravitic Mines has an auto-rotation button, side stabilizer thrusters, and a story.  What it didn't have was hundreds of thousands of dollars pumped into its development, but yet still didn't manage to expect someone to have a space bar on their joypad.

 

I'm sure Lunar Lander is a fun game, though.

[agradeneu]

1 hour ago, RadiATIon said:

I just took the time this weekend to test the demo of the game via Steam under W10 on my VCS boosted to 16Gb of ram including 4 allocated to the GPU. The game works perfectly! So there's no reason why the game shouldn't run on AtariOS as long as you have 16gb of ram and enough space on the emmc or an external drive...My impressions of the demo: the game is beautiful, with slick graphics.The music that accompanies the various game screens is also well suited. In terms of handling, I put here 10/10! If I have to compare it to Gravitic Mines on a Jaguar, Lunar Lander is much more manoeuvrable! I was able to finish all the missions in the demo without too much trouble, and for good reason, what helps here is the ability to activate thrusters that stabilize us! In my opinion this is sorely lacking in Gravitic Mines.

What's also very good is that there's a storyline as it's really great because it adds a depth to the game that the games in the Recharged series don't have.

There are enough gravity games on VCS to complain about, "lacking" that feature.

IMO you are comparing Apples to oranges 

Cheers!

[agradeneu]

I tried the demo. Well, what can I say, I am not really impressed. I always compare new cave flyers to "Gravity Crash" and that one is still much more fun to play.

 

The ship in LL is really very heavy and lumbering in a slow pace. Rotating is painfully slow and you can't really control the ship by rotating and thrusting. The stabilizer is a cheap way to stop the ship from going out of control, and there is no way to navigate corners swiftly. Kinda lame. 

 

So I disagree that any Gravity Flyer was "lacking" that feature. In my view it just compensates the unresponsive and sluggish handling of the ship. 

 

 

 

 

[RadiATIon]

11 hours ago, agradeneu said:

There are enough gravity games on VCS to complain about, "lacking" that feature.

IMO you are comparing Apples to oranges 

Cheers!

I understand your opinion. And yes, there are already plenty of games of the same style on the VCS, except that I don't have them, so I compare with what I have, in this case the demo of each of the two games and I have to admit that I quickly passed my turn on GM while LL suits me better. Here I try to explain why I prefer the maneuverability of one over the other. This is just my opinion based on my experience. I don't pretend to be a mega super player who is always right and everyone has to agree with me. So I'm not trying to generalize the comparison on other points, it wouldn't make any sense. The 2 examples are to illustrate the difference that makes for me more fun playing one compared to the other.

[Bill Loguidice]

13 hours ago, RadiATIon said:

I just took the time this weekend to test the demo of the game via Steam under W10 on my VCS boosted to 16Gb of ram including 4 allocated to the GPU. The game works perfectly! So there's no reason why the game shouldn't run on AtariOS as long as you have 16gb of ram and enough space on the emmc or an external drive...My impressions of the demo: the game is beautiful, with slick graphics.The music that accompanies the various game screens is also well suited. In terms of handling, I put here 10/10! If I have to compare it to Gravitic Mines on a Jaguar, Lunar Lander is much more manoeuvrable! I was able to finish all the missions in the demo without too much trouble, and for good reason, what helps here is the ability to activate thrusters that stabilize us! In my opinion this is sorely lacking in Gravitic Mines.

What's also very good is that there's a storyline as it's really great because it adds a depth to the game that the games in the Recharged series don't have.

I think when it comes to VCS support, if it's not for the base configuration and a reasonable installation size, there's no reason to provide a build for it. I doubt the vast majority of VCS owners, even if they're of the more committed variety, have upgraded their hardware. Even with the highest expectations of the previous Atari regime, it's been pushed primarily as a console, not an expandable computer.

Anyway, I personally do like the look of the game and would love to own it one day (looks great for handheld gaming PC play in particular), but only on sale. 

[agradeneu]

16 hours ago, RadiATIon said:

I understand your opinion. And yes, there are already plenty of games of the same style on the VCS, except that I don't have them, so I compare with what I have, in this case the demo of each of the two games and I have to admit that I quickly passed my turn on GM while LL suits me better. Here I try to explain why I prefer the maneuverability of one over the other. This is just my opinion based on my experience.

So did I. Since you complained about GM controls and a feature "sorely lacking", I address this issue in reasonable fashion. Sorry, that your complaints sound a bit generalizing to me, huh?

As I pointed out, there is no gravity flyer I know missing that feature as they control perfectly without it. I played plenty of them.

 

I also pointed out that that feature is overpowered and bypasses the appeal of gravity games almost 100%, probably to acommodate casual players who don't want to put much effort into the game. It also compensates the lack of control in the game, as rotating and counter thrusting, an essential game mechanic, is almost completely botched.

 

IMO, that ruins the appeal of the original Lunar Lander altogether. If I have an advice, play the original arcade game instead, its challenging and rewarding!

 

And we did not even talk about long term appeal. The missions design is simple but also by the numbers and becomes boring quickly. Landing, unlike in the original arcade game,  reqires no skill at all, just press on the stabilizer and it stops the ship almost immediately! The landing zones are huge, so that even my cat can't miss them.

 

I hope you understand that making general demands like you did provokes some kind of response from my side.  Iam totally ok that GM is not your cup of tea. Its a different game for a different audience. Cheers!

 

Edited February 7 by agradeneu

[zzip]

On 2/6/2024 at 12:59 AM, RadiATIon said:

I just took the time this weekend to test the demo of the game via Steam under W10 on my VCS boosted to 16Gb of ram including 4 allocated to the GPU. The game works perfectly!

Does it run poorly if you don't allocate more RAM to the GPU?

[MrBeefy]

The stabilizer feature is perfect only if it's on the VCS. If its not on the VCS then it's a horrible feature that they did a bad job amd I will not buy....

 

On a serious note, I did think the stabilizers seemed like a cheap thing made to remove any difficulty. I think that could be okay if they evolve the game enough if it isn't going to focus on landing, yet they still want to pay homage to where the game started. Guess I'm going to download the demo amd find out. 🤔

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Looks like Lunar Lander Beyond is now officially coming to the Atari VCS 800, according to what I've just read on Discord, so I'm guessing ill be buying the game now on the Atari VCS 800 and giving it a chance 🙂. I really hope it has Classic Joystick support. 

[+jeremiahjt]

4 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

Looks like Lunar Lander Beyond is now officially coming to the Atari VCS 800, according to what I've just read on Discord, so I'm guessing ill be buying the game now on the Atari VCS 800 and giving it a chance 🙂. I really hope it has Classic Joystick support. 

I am curious how some people will turn this into a negative, because we know they will.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

14 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

I am curious how some people will turn this into a negative, because we know they will.

I'm kinda curious to 😂 This news is certainly going to annoy a few people that's just a fact! The Atari VCS 800 just keeps getting better and i know Lunar Lander Beyond will be a very welcome release on the system. I have also heard that the Classic Joystick will have support so that's going to take the game to another level in my opinion and I'm extremely excited for the game now. I love how the Atari VCS 800 just keeps delivering, for a so called dead console it just keeps coming back with a new game or two to haunt and torment it's haters. It's great we're getting this game and i always knew that if the game could run on the Nintendo Switch well there was just no excuse for it not to be on the Atari VCS 800.

[RollOut]

1 hour ago, jeremiahjt said:

I am curious how some people will turn this into a negative, because we know they will.

Hahaha. With time, all things are possible. 

 

Seriously though, this is great news. If they get classic controller support done right, the VCS could be the definitive way to play this game. Kudos again Atari.

Edited March 12 by RollOut
Typo

[roots.genoa]

Well, I can't speak for the others but I was always confident that it would release on the VCS eventually. I even said this:

On 1/20/2024 at 1:04 PM, roots.genoa said:

Has an Atari game ever skipped the VCS until now anyway?

Actually, I was instead amused you guys would criticize the game just because it wasn't confirmed for the VCS yet. So you are the ones that changed your minds, while I'm not sure any of the so-called haters consider the VCS differently now. While the VCS got a new game, other systems got dozens, even hundreds of them (and yes, I know you don't care).

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I've still not changed my mind fully after playing the demo in terms of how the game looks visually and play's but I'll simply support the game now that they care enough to bring it to the Atari VCS 800 and with Classic Joystick support which could take this game to new levels if done properly. I might hate Lunar Lander Beyond after purchasing it or i might love the game after spending time with it but that remains to be seen. I have went ahead this morning and pre ordered the game for the Nintendo Switch to own a physical copy of the game, again just to show some more love and support to Atari for listening and getting this over to the Atari VCS. The VCS might not get as much new games as other systems, but is it competing with any other systems? No, the console is its own thing and considering it's locked to being sold in the US only you wouldn't expect it to get the same amount of games as other consoles lol, its quality of quantity and the Atari VCS 800 certainly has some quality indie/homebrew games on the store and many many more games on the way. I'm always finding new indie developer's and decent games on the Atari VCS 800 and then i often go on to purchase the games on other system to support the dev for showing the VCS some love, so anyway thanks to the VCS not being overly crowded with junk I'm finding good games 🙂.

[RollOut]

4 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

(and yes, I know you don't care)

True.

 

I'm glad we found some common ground.

[zzip]

18 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

Looks like Lunar Lander Beyond is now officially coming to the Atari VCS 800, according to what I've just read on Discord, so I'm guessing ill be buying the game now on the Atari VCS 800 and giving it a chance 🙂. I really hope it has Classic Joystick support. 

That's cool, but I'm still not sure I'm sold on the game, what is it, "DoorDash in Space" or something like that?

[+jeremiahjt]

7 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Well, I can't speak for the others but I was always confident that it would release on the VCS eventually. I even said this:

Actually, I was instead amused you guys would criticize the game just because it wasn't confirmed for the VCS yet. So you are the ones that changed your minds, while I'm not sure any of the so-called haters consider the VCS differently now. While the VCS got a new game, other systems got dozens, even hundreds of them (and yes, I know you don't care).

I do not remember ever "criticizing" Lunar Lander Beyond, could you please pull up my post or posts where I was criticizing the game.

[roots.genoa]

5 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

I do not remember ever "criticizing" Lunar Lander Beyond, could you please pull up my post or posts where I was criticizing the game.

Then it was not you, the guy that doesn't like Tetris. 😉

[+swlovinist]

Looking forward to the release.  

[davpa]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:30 AM, zzip said:

That's cool, but I'm still not sure I'm sold on the game, what is it, "DoorDash in Space" or something like that?

The story is about you (and other characters) piloting a ship that makes cargo deliveries and other dangerous missions for a company that does not care about them.  The computer AI has some of the best lines of corporate "you-are-disposable-but-have-a-nice-day" in the game.  I wouldn't call the story narrative "DoorDash in Space," but it is funny.  Along those lines, Death Stranding could be called Apocolypse UPS Man.

[RollOut]

On 3/12/2024 at 11:30 AM, zzip said:

That's cool, but I'm still not sure I'm sold on the game, what is it, "DoorDash in Space" or something like that?

Paperboy, Crazy Taxi, even the VCS' own Doodle Taxi. I guess I just like games where I make deliveries. This sounds right up my alley.

[hasnopants]

Official Atari Podcast announced the release date for this today as April 23, and its coming to the VCS.