Yars Rising, Atari's Metroid Dread moment!

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Just now, CharlesEChuck said:

My first reply to you surely wasn't meant as an attack. I'm sorry if it came through as such! Your response confirms my initial impression of you from the Asteroids thread. I hope you also take my word that your initial impression of me may have been a bit off. I really like Atari and don't think I need an agenda or stamp to support what I like. There's really no sense in shilling Atari on AtariAge, where most people have a deeper connection and longer history with the brand than the company itself. I started on the wrong foot with you and agree there's no need to blow it up from here. I wish you the best with your Arcade and look forward to more fun discussions 

[zzip]

On 4/19/2024 at 10:26 PM, Giles N said:

Did this game make big money in the Arcades…? Or was is mostly a 2600-home video-game with 300 page manual, that made it iconic?

It started out as a port of the arcade game 'Star Castle',  but Howard Scott Warshaw didn't feel that the 2600 could do that game justice, so he presented the 'Yar's Revenge' concept instead.

[Giles N]

On 4/20/2024 at 5:38 PM, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Not that this is a huge deal or anything as we're arguing over a 40+ year old game's lore.  Again, so far this feels like WayForward is interjecting the YR story into something else they had been working on. Perhaps not and I'm wrong. That's just the impression  so far.

I don’t believe it would be a top priority for Atari and WayForward to make sure the lore hangs ‘tightly and logically together’, contra just making a game that may have broad appeal, yet still make new gamers aware of the Atari heritage.

 

The Atari YouTube video has 16K views and the NintendoLife video has 54k views.

 

This in quite short time.

 

I’m unsure any other recent (2020+) new-game release, has gotten that much attention in so short time.

 

I do hope they’ll stick to story-elements found within classic gaming, but whether or not this will be a obvious Yars’ spin-off game to get younger gamers interested in older, famous Atari IP, isn’t that important to me at least, as the game being quality.

 

Of course I too have my many-layered preferences for how to deal with story-elements in video-games and ‘what they have to do there’, but it’s a least interesting they go for a more modern-type genre and use some anime-style in visuals (as they’ve chosen to do in Lunar Lander Beyond too).

 

I don’t think faux-retro neon-vector graphics are wrong at all in gameworlds that are associated with or embedded in Tron-like or Matrix-like plots, but for many of the older IPs, rudimentary vector-graphics were the stuff they could use at all, - the only graphics available at this early time - for certain types of gameplay.

That has shifted alot over the years, 

as almost all modern games are partly or fully using cpu-power to calculate some graphics from different angles etc, - just that everbody expects it to fully use massive numbers of polygons with textures with light and shading-effects and whatnot as the default standard.

 

Ok, so Yars’ Revenge was 2600 ‘sprite’-based action-game with a series of single-screen objectives to perform in the correct order, while not being shot down.

 

The renewed (and in my view highly improved) take on that, is Yars:Recharged.

 

This does use more ‘minimalistic’ stylized graphics to show the action.

Perhaps more on the functional rather than spectacular side of spectrum of graphics, but gameplay is top-notch and needs only a few parameters to be slightly changed to work in an Arcade Cabinet (but the some stuff may have to be done with the graphics too in order for it to shine ‘n sparkle a bit more as to attract bypassers).

 

Now, Yars Rising seems to ‘want’ to be a different cake or take altogether, and yes, I think the difference in gameplay/genre under the same IP is deliberate.

 

Meaning that it’s probably meant primarily for gamers who will never open or read a 2600-game comic book, but remember and associate  the name ‘Yars’ with something they find fun.

 

- - -

 

I will readily admit I’m not the guy in the universe holding the strongest felt emotions to the originals plot-line.

 

Back in 1990-1991(2?) - after Turrican for the Amiga had been introduced on the loading screen with sampled voice booming ‘Welcome to Turrican’ as the box and manual said it was the land of Turrican, me and my brother only laughed at the ‘subtle change’ in Turrican 2 - when it became the name for the robo-armor and thus the hero.

Who cares…?  Even if it was a epic game, one of the best for Amiga 500, it was after all just a stupid game after all.

 

Ok, ok, - I hear someone saying ‘you wouldn’t like that very much-would-you- if the story revealed that The Machine was Turricans father… in Turrican 2…??!!’

 

And it would be a strange take in a video game, yet, something about it rings familiar…

 

I think then that a return of the Turrican-suited hero, in the 3rd epis..  installment of the Sag… of the video-game franchise, would’ve have to take other turns to make the story’s circle complete.

 

 

When that is said, if the 8th Yars game begins to feel like a Twilight-movie, just with humans and insectoids in Space… I’m gone…

   (I’ll buzz off)

… and we may end up seeing 50000 Atari-fans signing a petition to make an alternative 8th installment…

 

Edited April 24 by Giles N

[Shaggy the Atarian]

I am interested in playing Lunar Lander Beyond, and don't mind that they've expanded on that. It looks like it's a creative, interesting way to take something, although it's not like LL had much "lore" to begin with  

 

In the case of YR, like I said, I'm not big on retconning stuff as that more often sucks than ends up as better or more compelling, but maybe it'll be great and there's no reason for me to care. We'll see.

[Giles N]

5 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

In the case of YR, like I said, I'm not big on retconning stuff as that more often sucks than ends up as better or more compelling,

… and I can only have my general sense a d opinion of what story-elements really brings to the table, and will respect that others may find new elements completely off-putting.
 

My general view here, is that if you add elements that are close to inverting the story, - or twisting it beyond reasonble hinting in the outset -,  or make the first parts meaningless or arbitrary, it usually wrecks the story-part.

 

For a movie of book-franchise that’s a little (selfmade) doomsday right there, but for games you’ll have those who never cared (even half-a-dot) about the story.

[+x=usr(1536)]

29 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

In the case of YR, like I said, I'm not big on retconning stuff as that more often sucks than ends up as better or more compelling, but maybe it'll be great and there's no reason for me to care. We'll see.

 

This is more or less where it's sitting with me.  Caveat: I am a bit of a sucker for backstory, but it absolutely needs to not feel forced or hokey, and being outright ignorant of established storyline is an instant noose around its neck for me.

 

Given that the original storyline involved mutant houseflies from outer space as a central plot point, it'll be interesting to see how or if that gets worked in.  I did catch the Qotech T-shirt that our protagonist wore, and that she went by 'Yar' online.  OK, there's a couple of hints, but nothing concrete enough to go on - and, quite honestly, between that and the preview, it's not hooking me in a big way.  It's very much wait and see, and I hope that my concerns about the final product are misfounded.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

1 hour ago, Giles N said:

… and I can only have my general sense a d opinion of what story-elements really brings to the table, and will respect that others may find new elements completely off-putting.
 

My general view here, is that if you add elements that are close to inverting the story, - or twisting it beyond reasonble hinting in the outset -,  or make the first parts meaningless or arbitrary, it usually wrecks the story-part.

 

For a movie of book-franchise that’s a little (selfmade) doomsday right there, but for games you’ll have those who never cared (even half-a-dot) about the story.

Sure, and you'll never make everyone happy. 

 

I mentioned in the debate the last page, one other little thing that bugs me is how it seems to use some of the usual tropes of another evil corporation story. Perhaps with the hacker angle and Yar being the avatar it'll be interesting and entertaining. But, just seems like a missed opportunity to build on something that isn't a trope, since I can't think of any other pre-made stories like YR where its about mutant flies capable of interstellar travel dealing with a mortal enemy  

Edited April 24 by Shaggy the Atarian

[RGC]

So this is still supposed to be released late 2024? looks interesting. I'm looking forward to it

Edited June 30 by RGC

[PowerDubs]

48 minutes ago, RGC said:

So this is still supposed to be released late 2024? looks interesting. I'm looking forward to it

Sept 10

[Austin]

I’m definitely… not looking forward to it. Pointless entry in a redundant series, in an already oversaturated genre.

[+Zeptari]

I don't play many metriod-castlevania type games, so I'll give a try. Even games that are done to death (roguelikes) I like trying different spins on them. 

[Hawkangel]

I’ll give this a go as I like Metroid Dread and love Yars’ Revenge. I’m cautiously optimistic because the last Atari current console game I bought was the Haunted House remake from October last year -  I found that game super difficult to play. Virtually unplayable. 

Edited July 3 by Hawkangel

[MikeM_]

I commented in the VCS channel about this so I’ll link my review, but elaborate more here since I think this is an interesting topic. 
 

2D Metroidvanias are my favorite style modern game so I went into this with high hopes. It’s not a perfect game by any stretch, and going full Anime for the style of the story was a divisive choice IMO (especially since Anime doesn’t appeal to me directly, and feels pretty juvenile at times).
 

All that said, it’s a decent, if slightly underwhelming game. 
 

To have been on par with Metroid Dread, it would have needed to be much longer and way more expansive. It feels like the introductory chapter of a much larger story that isn’t yet told, and some of the story beats feel rushed and not fleshed out enough. I really believe it needed to be much larger. Twice, maybe even three or four times longer with significantly more depth. 
 

I think they went with a safe conservative effort here instead of trying to create something that truly stands out in the genre the way Hollow Knight did. 
 

Even though Anime isn’t my thing, it at least sets this game apart from other major Metroidvanias of the last few years and is unique enough that I think its concept has potential. I just don’t think they fully realized that potential. 
 

I would like to see them make a sequel, and in doing so, really expand on everything and give us a more epic game. The bones are there, they just need to be brave enough to try and hit a home run instead of just a base hit. 

 

 

 

[+Zeptari]

1 hour ago, MikeM_ said:

To have been on par with Metroid Dread, it would have needed to be much longer and way more expansive.

Thanks for the mini review. Sounds like I should grab it when it goes on sale.

[Giles N]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:42 PM, Lord Mushroom said:

Wouldn´t have interested me at all without the Yar title. The only positive is that the character has more mascot potential than a fly.

I don’t like to think formyself anymore, just have distributions of Algorithms be ‘out there’ to spoonfeed my mind - open as a box - with whatever it - thinks best for me. 

[jerseystyle]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:38 PM, JPF997 said:

Man this game literally came out of nowhere and has already grabbed my attention, beautiful anime/cyberpunk aesthetics ( guess I've been vindicated once again regarding which aesthetics/themes fit Atari's games and culture 😎), great metroidvania gameplay, the animations specifically the  character movements is what  they need to focus on improving right now, they just need a little more work put into them and they'll be just right,  the main character is charismatic enough, looking forward to learning how exactly she's connect to the Yars Alien Race (I just hope she matures quickly and loses that cringy valley girl accent).

Overall from what I've seen so far I think it has the potential to be an 8 out of 10 game if not even higher.

 

 

I agree with you and am pumped about this game. Haven’t played yet but this, Lunar Lander, and Fatal Run 2089 look like good times.