Yars' Revenge

Yars' Revenge
Picture label cover art
Developer(s)	Atari, Inc
Publisher(s)	Atari, Inc.
Designer(s)	Howard Scott Warshaw
Platform(s)	Atari 2600
Release date(s)	May 1982
Genre(s)	Fixed shooter
Mode(s)	Single player

Yars' Revenge is a video game released for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It was created by Howard Scott Warshaw, who also wrote the 2600 titles Raiders of the Lost Ark and the much-derided E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Yars' Revenge was Atari's best selling original title for the 2600.

Details

The game began as a licensed port of the Cinematronics arcade game Star Castle. In Warshaw's original design attempt, a powerful cannon is protected by three layers of counter-rotating shields. The player must shoot holes in these shields in order to destroy the cannon inside. But once these holes are made, the cannon can also shoot out at the player. If the outermost layer is completely destroyed, new layers of shields are grown. Harassing the player are three free roaming mines that hunt out the player's ship.^[1]

As the Atari version grew, change after change was introduced until the final product had very little resemblance to the original. In this game, the hero is an insect-like creature called a Yar who must nibble or shoot through a barrier in order to fire his Zorlon Cannon into the breach. The objective is to destroy the evil Qotile, which exists on the other side of the barrier. The Qotile can shoot at the Yar even if the barrier is undamaged, by turning into the Swirl. The player is warned before the shot is fired, and he can retreat to a safe distance to dodge the enemy's energy blast. The neutral zone is a field in the center of the screen where the Yar can hide from the pursuing enemy torpedo, but where the Yar cannot shoot. The Swirl can kill the Yar anywhere, even inside the Neutral Zone.^[2]

Gameplay screenshot

Each level ends with the destruction of the Qotile or Swirl. Odd-numbered levels will have a stationary shield protecting the Qotile, even-numbered levels will have a rotating shield protecting the Qotile. The destroyer missile will follow the player faster as levels progress.

Scoring and Levels of Difficulty

Shooting a block of the Qotile's shield - 69 points

Eating a block of the Qotile's shield - 169 points

Shooting the Qotile with the Zorlon Cannon - 1000 points

Shooting the Swirl with the Zorlon Cannon before it fires - 2000 points

Shooting the Swirl in mid-air with the Zorlon Cannon - 6000 points plus an extra life (maximum of 9 lives stored)

At 70,000 points, the Qotile's shield turns blue and the swirl's firing frequency triples, sometimes firing instantly.

At 150,000 points, the Qotile's shield turns gray and the swirl returns to normal firing frequency, but will begin acting as a guided missile.

At 230,000 points, the Qotile's shield turns pink and the swirl's firing frequency triples again, sometimes firing instantly and still acting as a guided missile.

The Yar race and their planet Razak were named after Ray Kassar, CEO of Atari at the time.

Package

As with several other video games for the 2600 system, a miniature comic book was included in the game package of Yars' Revenge to illustrate the story behind the game.^[3] The comic book explained the "revenge" of the game's title in terms of the Yars avenging the destruction of one of their worlds, Razak IV.

Atari also released an album, under the label Kid Stuff Records, which contained a theme song and a radio drama-style reading of an expansion of the story in the comic book. A different, 7" recording explained the tragedy that revealed that a Yar could use himself to target the Zorlon Cannon rather than eating from the barrier. Both recordings were produced by John Braden.

Easter egg

A screenshot of the Easter Egg

The game has an Easter egg. After killing the Swirl in mid-air, a black vertical line will appear on the screen across the spot where the Swirl was shot (the line is referred to in the manual as the "Ghost of Yars" and warns the player to stay off its "mean streak"). If the player moves vertically along that line and is slightly below the middle of the screen when the explosion closes, the game will end and go into the Game Select screen with programmer's initials, HSW, shown both forwards and backwards in place of the word Select. In game 6 or 7, JOV appears when this trick is performed, under the creator's initials.

Remakes

In 1999, a Game Boy Color version was developed by Vatical Entertainment and released by Telegames. A version was created in 2005 for the Atari Flashback 2 system.^[4] There was also a 3-in-1 cartridge released for the Game Boy Advance in 2005, published by DSI Games. This title also featured Pong and Asteroids.^[5] The game was made available through Xbox's Game Room in 2010.^[6]

A reimagining (titled Yar's Revenge, rather than Yars' Revenge) was released as a downloadable title on April 12th, 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade and on April 28, 2011 for Microsoft Windows. It is still pending release for the PlayStation 3. It was developed by Killspace Entertainment and published by Atari. In this version, the titular Yar has been reimagined as a humanoid female in mechanized power armor.^[7]

Another remake, a prequel to the original, Yars' Revenge: First War was released as a part of the Atari GO initiative on April 8th, 2011 on Facebook. It was developed by Baboom Games and published by Atari. This version is an arcade social game reminiscent of the original Atari 2600 game. This version has been acclaimed by remaining faithful to the original and still offering new innovative content.^{[8] [9] [10]}

Another reimagining, playable for free on web browsers supporting HTML5, has been released on Atari.com along with a number of other classic Atari games.^[11]

Sequel

In 2005, a sequel to the original Yars' Revenge, titled Yars' Return, was released on the Atari Flashback 2.^[12]

References

Notes

External links

• Official Version of "Yars' Revenge" at Atari Arcade
• AtariAge entry for Yars' Revenge
• Yars' Revenge at MobyGames
• Yars' Revenge at TheAlmightyGuru
• Yars' Revenge original TV commercial
• Yars' Revenge: The First War Facebook App

v t e Atari 2600 Games 1977 launch titles Air-Sea Battle Basic Math Blackjack Combat Indy 500 Star Ship Street Racer Surround Video Olympics Best-selling games Pac-Man Pitfall! Asteroids Missile Command Space Invaders Demon Attack Atlantis Adventure River Raid Kaboom! Game lists List of Atari 2600 games List of Atari 2600 prototype games Atari 2600 games List of cancelled Atari 2600 games Game developers Atari, Inc. Activision Imagic Coleco Data Age M Network Parker Brothers Sega Xonox Hardware and emulation Atari 2600 hardware Television Interface Adaptor Atari Flashback Coleco Gemini GameLine Starpath Supercharger Cuttle Cart Stella z26 PC Atari Emulator Related articles Atari 2600 homebrew Atari 2500 Atari 2800 Atari Age Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System Category