Yars' Revenge
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''Yars' Revenge'' is a 1982
fixed shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by Howard Scott Warshaw and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS). Set in the Razak solar system, it focuses on the conflict between the Yars, a fly-like humanoid alien race, and the Qotile, who have destroyed their habitable planets. The player controls a Yar tasked with destroying the Qotile's energy shield, and finishing off the enemy with the Zorlon cannon. Initially tasked with developing a port of the arcade game ''
Star Castle ''Star Castle'' is a vector graphics multidirectional shooter released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. The display is black and wh ...
'', Warshaw developed it at first focusing on graphics and taking in feedback from co-workers to develop its gameplay. He was also responsible for the backstory of the game, which was adapted as a comic book that was included with the game. The game received positive retrospective reviews from publications such as ''
Flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...
'',
AllGame RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...
, and ''
Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering Retrogaming, retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' ...
''. It has since been re-released on various Atari-themed video game compilations, and received several follow-ups and remakes, including '' Yar's Revenge'' (2011), '' Yars: Recharged'', and '' Yars Rising''.


Plot

The
backstory A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's prepara ...
of the game features the Yars, a fly-like humanoid alien race that descended from the common
housefly The housefly (''Musca domestica'') is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. It possibly originated in the Middle East, and Cosmopolitan distribution, spread around the world as a commensal of humans. Adults are gray to black, with four dark, lo ...
. After a space ship containing these flies crashes into the Razak solar system, radioactive dust transformed them into Yars. They gained powers that let them devour any substance and convert energy into powerful projectiles able to vaporize solid rock. The Yars discover they can fly through space and began peacefully populating planets throughout Razak. To protect their new homes, the Yars began creating the Zorlon Cannon, but were attacked before they were able to complete it. This left them open to attack from the Qotile, who dissolved one of their planets, Planet IV, leaving it to a place now known as the neutral zone. To avenge their planet, the Yars developed a plan to use the incomplete Zorlon Cannon. The Qotile hide behind an energy shield, where they can attack with missiles and objects called "swirls". The Yars become outfitted as warriors where they can break through the Qotile shield and call upon the Zorlon Cannon. The new task is for the Yars to call upon the cannon by devouring the cells that the energy shield is made of or touching the Qotile to have it fire and destroy their enemy.


Gameplay

''Yars' Revenge'' is part of the subgenre of
shooter game Shooter video games, or shooters, are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is on the defeat of the character's enemies using ranged weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range weapons, a ...
s called either the fixed or single-screen shooter. ''Yars' Revenge'' differs from many other similar popular games from that era such as ''
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...
'' (1978), ''
Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of alien ...
'' (1979), or '' Gorf'' (1981) as it's gameplay has the main axis of conflict oriented horizontally rather than vertically. The player controls Yar, a fly-like object which can be moved in any direction on the screen. The screen wraps vertically. The primary goal in ''Yars' Revenge'' is to break a path through the energy shield and destroy the Qotile with a hit from the Zorlon cannon. The shield is the object on the right side of the screen shaped like an arch or a shifting rectangle. It is made up of cells. To do this, the player can fire energy missiles shot from Yar which can destroy the cells in the shield or by directly coming into contact with them allowing Yar to devour them. Once a clear path to the Qotile behind the shield is open, the cannon can be readied by either eating a cell or moving Yar over the Qotile. Each player starts with four
lives Lives may refer to: * The plural form of a ''life'' * Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * The number of lives in a video game * ''Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous m ...
. When Yar is hit by items fired by the Qotile such as guided missiles called destroyer missiles and the swirling pinwheels called swirls, the player loses a life. The destroyer missiles are continuously on the screen, while the swirl is something the Qotile transforms itself into and can be destroyed by the Zorlon cannon. The cannon appears on the left side of the screen and moves with a direct line with Yar, putting the player in the line of fire. The player must aim it at the Qotile and dodge out of the way as having Yar hit by it makes them lose a life. A colorful band down the center of the playfieid is the neutral zone. When the player maneuvers their Yar within it they are protected from destroyer missiles, but cannot fire their weapon. The secondary task is to gain a high score from earning points in the game. Points are collected by destroying an energy cell, Qotile or a swirl. High scores are indicated by changes in gameplay: the swirl activates more frequently when the player reaches 70,000 and 230,000 points and the enemy shield changes colors from blue to grey to pink when certain points thresholds are met. There are several variations of the game that player can set by adjusting the A and B switches on the console. Variations of the game include have the game adjust the speed of both the destroyer missile and the swirl, the frequency of how often the swirl appears and a mode called Ultimate Yars. In this version, the zorlon cannon bounces back shots from the shield if it hits it, and Yar must collect units of energy called trons to summon the cannon. They are collected by eating a cell, touching the Qotile and catching a zorlon cannon shot after it bounces off the shield.


Development

''Yars' Revenge'' was the first game designed by Howard Scott Warshaw for Atari, Inc. Prior to working at Atari, Warshaw worked for
Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
(HP) working in their networking software department. He found the work environment dull, and heard about Atari from a co-worker, understanding it as a place "where the kind of crazy stuff that arshawwould do at HP would be a common occurrence". Initially, Warshaw was also more interested in the company for its available technology than for developing video games as he was not that involved in gaming prior, as he was excited by the idea of Atari doing real-time control programming. After interviewing and receiving a job at the company, he opted to work on what he described their most primitive technology and was tasked to work on a port of the arcade game ''
Star Castle ''Star Castle'' is a vector graphics multidirectional shooter released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. The display is black and wh ...
'' (1980) by
Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game video game developer, developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster graphics, raster displays, early ...
for the
Atari VCS The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...
. Warshaw told his supervisor Dennis Koble that the arcade game could not be made properly for the system, and suggested to make a game that would rearrange the basic gameplay and dynamics of ''Star Castle''. This led to Warshaw making ''Yars' Revenge'' which eventually was developed under the name ''Time Freeze''. The game took nine months to develop. Warshaw focused on the project's graphics and animation, wanting every object in the game to be animated. The first thing he created for the game was an animated character. This character had elements like arms flickering back and forth, making the playable character resemble a fly. He also made several graphics symmetrical to save space on the cartridge. Warshaw had a love of film, and particularly enjoyed
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...
s and said that that led him to also focus on how sound effects could affect gameplay. He said, "Most games had bleeps. The occasional event would happen and you would get some audio feedback. I wanted sound to create mood, foreshadow events and build tension," and tried to use sound to give the game a bigger impression. The Ion Zone was initially designed as a visual effect, but then incorporated into gameplay. The visuals of the zone are generated by randomized data pulled from grabbing bytes of code and displayed on the screen creating the glittering colorful effect. After achieving what he wanted from the visuals, he found it unsatisfactory as a game and began taking feedback from others leading him to make a game that he described as "suddenly, really good". ''Yars' Revenge'' went through months of playtesting. Atari's Director of Game Development, Steven Wright had it play tested alongside '' Missile Command'' (1981) for the Atari VCS. These play tests consisted of having over a hundred people playing the game and rating it afterwards. According to Warshaw, Wright said the game had "long-term playability concerns" and was continuously relisted for play testing. Warshaw responded that he was upset that the game was continuously retested, noting it received positive reviews, particularly from women gamers.


Promotion and release

Warshaw discussed with a project manager naming the game and said he would give them a name the next day. He felt coming up with a name difficult. He felt an action word would be appropriate for an action game and opted for "Revenge". This was followed by a character name, and he chose the CEO of Atari
Ray Kassar Raymond Edward Kassar (January 2, 1928 – December 10, 2017) was president, and later CEO, of Atari Inc. from 1978 to 1983. He had previously been executive vice-president of Burlington Industries, the world's largest textile company at th ...
and spelled his name backwards feeling "Yar" was an appropriate science fiction styled name. He then wrote a 10-page story called ''The Yarian Revenge of Razak IV''. A comic titled ''Yars' Revenge: The Qotile Ultimatum'' was included with the game based on Warshaw's story treatment. Within the comic release, Warshaw was credited as the game's programmer, making him the first Atari programmer to have his name publicly credited and printed within a release. The game's cover art was designed by Hiro Kimura. Kimura was recruited by Atari art directors James Kelly and Steve Hendricks right after graduating the
ArtCenter College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...
in Los Angeles. It was Kimura's first package illustration after having completed several manual illustrations for the company. Kimura designed the fly on the cover as a chrome-plated insect and recalled struggling with it, saying that it was the first time they used an air-brush "almost exclusively" for the first time. Kimura played every game he illustrated for the company, saying he tried to capture their "uniqueness and excitement". With the release of Atari's console version of ''
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...
'' (1980), along with their popular arcade games ''
Asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
'' (1979), '' Missile Command'' (1980) and '' Battlezone'' (1980) would move Atari to a growth of $512.7 million for 1980. Atari would be even larger by 1981 where their total sales earned them $1.1 billion. ''Yars' Revenge'' was released in May 1982 and published by Atari. ''Yars' Revenge'' promotion included commercials promoting the game in film theatres. ''Yars' Revenge'' has since been re-released in various Atari-themed compilations, such as the ''Atari 80 in One'' for Windows in 2003, on the first release of the Atari Flashback series of
dedicated console A dedicated console is a video game console that is limited to one or more built-in video game or games, and is not equipped for additional games that are Digital distribution in video games, distributed via ROM cartridges, Compact disc, discs, d ...
s and the compilations releases '' Atari Anthology'' in 2004 and '' Atari 50'' in 2022. It was also released to portable game systems such as a compilation for the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
in 2005, ''Atari Classics Evolved'' (2007) for the
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
and digitally through
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.


Reception

From contemporary reviews, Bill Kunkel and Arnie Katz of ''
Electronic Games ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...
'' noted that the sound in the game was excellent and the graphics were "quite acceptable" but found that the game was not exciting with an objective that was repeated indefinitely, stating that "Yar is far too static" and that modern audiences would want more variety in gameplay and graphics. The review also commented on the comic book's inclusion, praising it as a high quality comic that gave context to the game. In a review in the next month's issue of the magazine, the editors briefly described the game as being "mediocre". A reviewer in the magazine ''Video Games'' had similar comments, noting fine graphics and sound effects but found the game suffered due to the repetition of the two cycles of levels. In the Brazilian magazine ''Micro & Video'', the player found the game to have low-quality graphics and "good enough" sound effectsstating it had "too much imagination for too little game." Lou Hudson of the ''
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'' stated that despite the game sounding "boringly simple" that it was "an intriguing game", predicting it to be a sleeper hit for Atari. In Ken Uston's book '' Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games'' (1982), the author praised the game for its "superior graphics" and its addictive nature. Olivier Chazoule of the French video game magazine '' Tilt'' also commented on the games addictive qualities, and found ''Yars' Revenge'' as combining both familiar and "a pinch of revolutionary gameplay concepts" to make it a very interesting game.


Retrospective

Brett Alan Weiss praised the game for its high level of originality, and that elements like the neutral zone gave the game a graphical flair, while finding the audio to be annoying and would grate people's ears. Weiss included the game in his book ''The 100 Greatest Console Video Games, 1977-1987'' (2014), praising it as a game that required more strategy and planning than most games in its genre during the period. In his book ''The Video Games Guide'', Matt Fox conversely described the game as "surprisingly well remembered" attributing this to the cover art rather than the game play, stating the game was a "diabolical old Atari VCS game". In 1995, the editors of ''
Flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...
'' magazine ranked ''Yars' Revenge'' as number 90 on their list of "Top 100 Video Games". Darran Jones and Stuart Hunt of ''
Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering Retrogaming, retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' ...
'' listed the game at fifth place in their Top Atari 2600 games in 2008 article. They praised it for being a highly addictive and "fantastically atmospheric shoot-'em-up".


Legacy

Howard Scott Warshaw went on to program other high-profile games based on films for the Atari 2600: ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Set in 1936, the film stars Harrison Ford as Indiana ...
'' (1982) and ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film, science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott Taylor, Elliott, a boy w ...
'' (1982). Warshaw has included Yars aliens as a secret in both games. Warshaw was developing a sequel to the game in 1983 titled ''Saboteur'' which was converted into a video game based on ''
The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...
'' to fulfill a licensing obligation. Warshaw left Atari in 1984. He did not return to the video game industry until 1999, working at
The 3DO Company The 3DO Company was an American video game company based in Redwood City, California. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins in a partnership with seven other companies to develop the 3DO standard of video gaming hardware ...
as the director on games like '' BattleTanx: Global Assault'' (1999) and '' WarJetz'' (2001) and has worked various other jobs, including as a photographer, a real estate banker, a film director since. Following the release of the comic in ''Yars' Revenge'' other Atari works had comics included with their respective games such as the '' Swordquest'' series and the Atari 2600 version of '' Defender'' (1982). ''Defender'' and several other comics that followed in Atari console games like ''
Star Raiders ''Star Raiders'' is a space combat simulator video game created by Doug Neubauer and published in 1980 by Atari, Inc. Originally released for the Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 400/800 computers, ''Star Raiders'' was later ported to the Atari 2 ...
'' (1982) and '' Phoenix'' (1983) which would be developed by Warner Bros subsidiary
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
. These comics featured original characters called The Atari Force who were later included within the arcade game '' Liberator'' (1982). Warshaw said that the most exciting part of the game for him later was making a significant debut, making a game that was good enough that he enjoyed playing it, and that if he had to pick favorite thing about the game, was that the game had "scored highest among adult women, the single hardest market segment to reach". He suggested in 2006 that the appeal towards women was due to what he described as "the
oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or ora ...
component ..like ''
Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...
'', you nibble and you run away. The more you eat, the closer you get to danger..."


Follow-ups and remakes

Warshaw said that Atari programmer Dave Theurer was interested in making an arcade conversion of the game, which never went into development. Warshaw also created his own sequel to the game which remains unreleased. The game was described as being set on Yars' training grounds and saw the players acquiring the skills to defeat the Qotile. Atari initially had an agreement with Warshaw to the game, with the company putting the project on hold as they were not at a position do development at the time. Warshaw has since tried to get the game developed through another developer and said in 2024 that "a design exists" and he was "ready to begin implementation when they are". Several remakes and sequels of the game have been released years after the release of the original game. A
Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...
remake of ''Yars' Revenge'' was released in September 1999. This version of the game features differences from the original game, such as a scrolling screen, a secret bonus level with a where the player maneuvers Yar left and right to avoid asteroids and to touch the Ghost of Yar for extra points, intermission screens with graphics and a password-based continue system. This version was developed in the mid-1990s by Mike Mika. Warshaw met with Mika during the game's development and described him as a "committed and talented game maker. We became friends, and our paths have run parallel ever since." Mika would later make ''Yars' Revenge Reimagined'' on the '' Atari 50'' (2022) game, which reuses the code of Warshaw's ''Yars' Revenge''. Other sequels and remakes include ''Yars' Return'' developed by Curt Vendel, which was included on the
Atari Flashback 2 The Atari Flashback is a line of dedicated video game consoles produced since 2004, currently designed, produced, published and marketed by AtGames under license from Atari SA. The Flashback consoles are " plug-and-play" versions of the 1970s ...
console in 2005. After the initial release, Dennis Debro worked at Vendel's direction to make some improvements and enhancements, and that revised version was included in later releases of the Flashback. Atari announced a new game developed by Killspace Entertainment titled '' Yar's Revenge'' in 2010. The game was in the
rail shooter Rail shooter, also known as on-rails shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video game. Beginning with arcade games such as the 1985 '' Space Harrier'', the gameplay locks the player character into a set path, only allowing for limited or no di ...
genre and borrows elements from the original such as the neutral zone and a drone that automatically locks onto and fires at enemies. It was the company's only game and released in 2011 for the
Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...
following the studio formally closing in 2012. Warshaw commented on the game in 2016, saying that its genre gave the game a predetermined course which made it lack the freedom of movement of the original, stating that he was "very disappointed in 'Yar's Revenge'' In the 2020s, '' Yars: Recharged'' (2022) was released. The game was part of Atari's partnership between the developers Adamvision and Sneakybox which created new versions of popular Atari games under the Atari Recharged banner. '' Yars Rising'' was announced at an Indie World
Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentations or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began ...
for release on September 10, 2024. The game was developed by
WayForward WayForward Technologies, Inc. is an American independent video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Valencia, California. Founded in March 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, WayForward started by developing games ...
and is a
side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...
action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...
and features mini-games that resemble the original game. Warshaw had no involvement in the 2024 game.


See also

*
List of Atari 2600 games The Atari 2600 is a home video game console released in September 1977. Sears licensed the console and many games from Atari, Inc., selling them under different names. Three cartridges were Sears exclusives. The list contains games, divided in ...
* List of Atari, Inc. games (1972–1984) * List of best-selling Atari 2600 video games * List of Game Boy Color games


References


Notes


Sources

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External links


Howard Scott Warshaw Discussing Game Development at Atari
at Classic Game Fest via
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*
Yars' Revenge
' at
Telegames Telegames, Inc. is an American video game company based in Mabank, Texas, with a sister operation based in England. Telegames was known for supporting not just modern game systems but also classic game systems, after they had been abandoned by ...
website {{Yars series 1982 video games Atari 2600 games Multidirectional shooters Game Boy Color games Video games about extraterrestrial life Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games Atari games Video games about insects Video games adapted into comics Video games designed by Howard Scott Warshaw