Solaris (video game)
Solaris | |
---|---|
Space combat simulator[3] | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Solaris is a
The game was programmed by Doug Neubauer, who had previously made Star Raiders (1980) for Atari and various film tie-in games for the Atari 2600 for Fox Video Games. Neubauer pitched this game to Atari in 1984, who planned to make it a tie-in to the film The Last Starfighter (1984). Following Jack Tramiel's purchase of Atari in 1984, Atari's production of console games was halted. Neubauer was only contacted in 1986 to complete his work on Solaris following the release of a new remodeled Atari 2600.
Contemporary and retrospective reviews of Solaris have seen critics from
Gameplay
In Solaris, the goal of the game is to survive battles with enemy aliens called Zylons as they seek out the planet Solaris.[4] The player pilots a starship exploring outer space and visiting the surface of planets.[5] The game contains a map of 16 total quadrants with 48 sectors. It is navigated via the Galactic Scanner map screen, which represents where the player is located within the galaxy.[4][5] The player can utilize the map to identify sectors they would like to travel to.[4][5] If the player picks a Zylon-infested sector, they must destroy all the enemy ships, allowing them to return to the map. Other areas feature star clusters, mine fields and traversable wormholes that lead to other quadrants.[4] If the player chooses to travel to a planet, they navigate its surface, allowing them to attack aliens, rescue humans, and dock at refueling stations.[5]
Federation planets appear with docking stations to refuel the spaceship. If a Federation planet is invaded by Zylons, the player must use their ship to shoot all the aliens and rescue the occupied planet.[4] When Zylons attack a federation planet within the current quadrant, the player has 40 seconds to defend the planet before the aliens successfully occupy it. If the player fails to do so, the Galactic Scanner quadrant will become red.[4] Zylon planets feature stranded space cadets, which can be rescued for bonus points. They also feature corridors protected by Zylon guardians. Once inside a corridor, the player must fly over a key to ensure safe passage through, which will result in the destruction of the planet and additional points.[4][5]
Production
Prior to working on Solaris,
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Randy_Emberlin_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg/220px-Randy_Emberlin_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg)
Douglas Neubauer pitched Solaris to Atari in 1984. The company suggested making it into a video game tie-in for the film The Last Starfighter (1984). Atari flew Neubauer to Los Angeles for a screening of the film, but he soon found out that Jack Tramiel had bought the company and most of the staff was laid off. Neubauer described these lay offs as appearing like "the end of video games for Atari."[8] Upon Tramiel's acquisition of the Atari consumer division and launch of the Atari ST computer line, Tramiel began focusing on reviving the Atari 2600. He hired Michael Katz from Epyx in November 1985 to take on the role of president for Atari's new Entertainment Electronics Division.[9] The Atari 2600 was experiencing what video game historian Brett Weiss described as "a resurgence of sorts" following the video game company Nintendo's financial success with their Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console.[10] Atari would respond with re-releasing the Atari 2600 as a smaller, budget-priced revision in January 1986.[9][11] In the same year, Atari would reconnect with Neubauer to revive his game, now titled Solaris.[8]
Mike Bevan wrote in
Release
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Atari-2600-Jr-Console-01.jpg/220px-Atari-2600-Jr-Console-01.jpg)
At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1986, Atari's promotion booth included console games for both the Atari 7800 and Atari 2600 consoles.[15][16] Three games (Midnight Magic, Pac-Man Jr. and Solaris) were showcased in playable form at the event and were set to be available to consumers before the end of the 1986.[15] Solaris was released for the Atari 2600 in November 1986.[17] In June 1989, Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that it was the top-selling available game for either the Atari 2600 or Atari 7800 in the United States during that month.[18]
Solaris was re-released in various Atari-themed compilations years later. These included being on the first release of the Atari Flashback series of dedicated consoles in November 2004.[19][20] It was later released to other devices and software such as the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam services as part of Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration (2022).[21]
Reception and legacy
From contemporary reviews, a reviewer in The Video Game Update gave Solaris their highest rating of four stars for both graphics and gameplay.[13] The review proclaimed the game was "strong enough to hold its own in an era of game systems far greater capabilities than the modest 2600" and that "Without question Solaris is the best space game ever done for this system."[13] A reviewer in the German magazine PowerPlay wrote that Solaris surprised them, and while they did not find the gameplay original, they complimented the beautiful and varied graphics, finding it superior to the similarly themed Atari 2600 game Starmaster (1982).[22]
From retrospective reviews, several reviewers complimented the graphics as being among the best for the Atari 2600.
Following its release, Neubauer went on to make other Atari 2600 games, including Super Football and Radar Lock. He had attempted to make a space-oriented game for the NES that was never published, saying that "the days of one programmer doing a complete game were over, and by the time I got the game done, the NES was obsolete."[7] When comparing the game to Star Raiders, Neubauer thought the original Star Raiders had better game play and preferred its cockpit point of view over Solaris.[12] He later summarized his career in video games development, concluding that "the best games I did were the ones I did for fun rather than money. Probably a lesson there."[7][25]
See also
References
- ^ a b Lapetino 2016, pp. 192–193.
- ^ a b c d Weiss 2007, p. 107.
- ^ a b c Sutyak.
- ^ a b c d e f g Atari 1986.
- ^ a b c d e Hawken 2016, p. 44.
- ^ Bevan 2010, p. 64.
- ^ a b c d e f Fleming 2007.
- ^ a b c d Oxford 2012.
- ^ a b Hawken 2016, p. 43.
- ^ Weiss 2014, p. 119.
- ^ Digital Eclipse 2022.
- ^ a b c Bevan 2010, p. 65.
- ^ a b c The Video Game Update 1987, p. 12.
- ^ Pappas 1986, p. 90.
- ^ a b Computer Entertainer 1986, p. 12.
- ^ Popular Computing Weekly 1986.
- ^ The Video Game Update 1986, p. 14.
- ^ Electronic Gaming Monthly 1989.
- ^ Harris 2004.
- ^ Falcone 2017.
- ^ Machkovech 2022.
- ^ Martin 1987, p. 104.
- ^ Pangburn 2014.
- ^ a b Jones & Hunt.
- ^ a b Retro Gamer 2017, p. 52.
- ^ Hawken 2016, pp. 44–45.
Sources
- Solaris: Atari 2600 Game Manual. Atari. 1986. CO19741-136/A Rev. A.
- "They're Here!". Computer Entertainer. Vol. 5, no. 4. July 1986.
- "Electronic Gaming Top Ten". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 3. Sendai. 1989. p. 80.
- "Games are Big at CES Show". Popular Computing Weekly. Vol. 5, no. 23. June 5, 1986. p. 5.
- "Pushing the Limits - Solaris". ISSN 1742-3155.
- "Availability Update". The Video Game Update. Vol. 5, no. 9. December 1986.
- "Critically Speaking...Atari 2600 Compatible". The Video Game Update. Vol. 5, no. 10. January 1987.
- Barton, Matt; Loguidice, Bill (September 8, 2009). "The History of Star Raiders: Taking Command". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 12, 2009.
- Bevan, Mike (2010). "The Making Of... Star Raiders". ISSN 1742-3155.
- Digital Eclipse (November 11, 2022). Atari 50 (Nintendo Switch). Atari.
Highs and Lows: The 2600 "Jr.": In addition to the 7800, Atari also rolled out a smaller, budget-priced revision of the 2600. Retailing for just $49.99, it was a very affordable alternative, and Atari began to put more 2600 games on the shelves.
- Falcone, John (July 17, 2017). "Flashback 8 Gold is Atari Fans' SNES Classic Alternative". CNET. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- Fleming, Jeffrey (September 20, 2007). "Video Games' First Space Opera: Exploring Atari's Star Raiders". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on February 27, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- Harris, Craig (September 7, 2004). "Atari Flashback". IGN. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- Hawken, Kieren (2016). "Minority Report". Retro Gamer. No. 163. Future Publishing. ISSN 1742-3155.
- Hawken, Kieren (2016). "Atari 2600 Jr". Retro Gamer. No. 161. Imagine Publishing. ISSN 1742-3155.
- Jones, Darran; Hunt, Stuart. "Top 25 Atari 2600 Games". Retro Gamer. No. 46. p. 27.
- Lapetino, Tim (2016). Art of Atari. ISBN 978-1-5241-0103-9.
- Machkovech, Sam (September 12, 2022). "The 103 Classic Games That Did, and Didn't, Make the Atari 50 Anniversary Cut — Retailer Leak Suggests Games from Arcade to Jaguar; Surprises Apparently Still Await". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
- Martin (November 1987). "Solaris". PowerPlay (in German). No. 1.
- Oxford, Nadia (September 24, 2012). "Solaris: The Last (Atari 2600) Starfighter". 1up.com. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- Pangburn, DJ (January 1, 2014). "5 Groundbreaking Atari Games That You Can Now Play Online for Free". Vice. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
- Pappas, Lee H. (October 1986). "An Interview with Doug Neubauer". ANALOG Computing. No. 47.
- Sutyak, Jonathan. "Solaris". AllGame. Archived from the originalon November 14, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- Weiss, Brett (2007). Classic Home Video Games 1972-1984. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3226-4.
- Weiss, Brett (2014). The 100 Greatest Console Video Games 1977-1987. ISBN 978-0-7643-4618-7.
External links
- Solaris at Atari Mania
- Solaris at AtariAge
- Interview with Doug Neubauer
- Doug Neubauer on the Solaris manual