''Solaris'' is a space combat game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari Corporation. It was developed by Doug Neubauer, who owns the

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

and the ''Solaris''

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. The game is a sequel to Neubauer's

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

game ''

Star Raiders ''Star Raiders'' is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in March 1980. The game is considered the platform's kille ...

'' from 1979. Both games feature an enemy race known as Zylons, but ''Star Raiders'' uses a first-person perspective while ''Solaris'' is in third-person. ''Solaris'' was at one point going to be based on '' The Last Starfighter'', while the Atari 8-bit version of ''The Last Starfighter'' was renamed ''

Star Raiders 2 ''Star Raiders II'' is a video game released in 1986 for the Atari 8-bit family as a sequel to 1979's '' Star Raiders'', which was the killer app for the Atari computers. The game was originally developed as part of a tie-in with the movie ''The ...

''.

Gameplay

The galaxy of ''Solaris'' is made up of 16 quadrants, each containing 48 sectors. The player uses a tactical map to choose a sector to

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to, during which they must attempt to keep their ship "in focus" to lower their fuel consumption rate. Fuel must be carefully managed, as an empty tank results in loss of one of the player lives. Space battle ensues whenever the player navigates into a hostile battlegroup via the tactical map. Space enemies include pirate ships, mechanoid ships, and aggressive "cobra" ships. Each battlegroup has at least one enemy flagship, which shoots out fuel-sapping drones. The player may also descend to one of 3 types of planets: # Friendly federation planets, which provide for refueling, but may also harbor a planet defense mission if they are under attack. If players allow a friendly planet in a quadrant to be destroyed, that quadrant becomes a "red zone" where joystick controls are reversed and booming sounds are overheard. # Enemy Zylon planets, in which the player must rescue all cadets, gaining an extra ship when all cadets are rescued. # Enemy corridor planets, in which the player must traverse through a fast-paced corridor. There are 4 kinds of ground enemies found on planets: stationary guardians, gliders, targeters and raiders. The ultimate goal of ''Solaris'' is to reach the planet Solaris and rescue its colonists, at which point the game ends in victory.

References

External links

''Solaris''
at Atari Mania

at AtariAge
Interview
with Doug Neubauer
Doug Neubauer on the ''Solaris'' manual
1986 video games Atari games Atari 2600 games Atari 2600-only games Rail shooters Space combat simulators Video games developed in the United States Video games set in outer space Video games set on fictional planets {{atari-console-stub

Gameplay

See also

References

External links