Software:Solaris (video game)

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Short description: 1986 video game
Solaris
Solaris-Atari-2600-cover.jpg
Developer(s)Atari[1]
Publisher(s)Atari[1]
Programmer(s)Doug Neubauer
Platform(s)Atari 2600
ReleaseNovember 1986
Genre(s)Space combat simulator[2]
Mode(s)Single-player

Solaris is a space combat video game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari Corporation. The game involves the player controlling a starship to find the planet Solaris. The player must navigate galactic scanner to explore quadrants in space to either battle enemy Zylons in space or on their occupied planets, visit federation planets to refuel.

The game was programmed by Doug Neubauer, who had previously made various film tie-in games for the Atari 2600 such as Alien for Fox Video Games. Neubauer pitched Solaris to Atari in 1984 who were going to make it a tie in to the film The Last Starfighter. Following the new re-arrangements with management with Atari, the game was only completed and released in 1986.

Contemporary and retrospective reviews of the game have had critics from AllGame, Computer Entertainer and Retro Gamer praise it as having some of the best graphics on the Atari 2600. Reviews in Retro Gamer went as far to proclaim it as one of the best games on the system.

Gameplay

In Solaris, the player pilots a starship through the universe exploring space and visiting alien worlds.[3] The goal of the game is to survive the enemy aliens called the Zylons and to reach Solaris.[4]

The game is split into different parts that link together. The first is the Galactic Scanner map screen which represents the galaxy where the player can move a cross-hair to choose a sector to warp to.[3][4] If the player chooses an enemy sector, the player must destroy the Zylon ships until they all of them are defeated, and then can return to the map.[4] Other areas feature star clusters, enemy ships, mine fields and worm holes to other quadrants. They are a total of 16 quadrants, with 48 sectors each.[4]

An alarm will go off when the Zylons are attacking a federation planet within the quadrant. The player then has 40 seconds to save the planet. If the player has not succeeded in this, the quadrant will turn red.[4]

If the player chose to warp to a planet, the player controls the surface of the planet shooting aliens and rescuing humans and dock at refueling stations.[3] Federation planets appear with docking stations to refuel the spaceship. If they are invaded by aliens, the player must shoot all the Zylons on the planet to rescue it. If they miss any of them, they will have to retry.[4] Zylon planets feature stranded space cadets which can be rescued for bonus points. They also feature corridors protected by guardians. Once inside, the player must fly over a key to ensure safe passage through it, leading for the Zylon planet to explode for further points.[3][4]

Production

In 1986, Atari released a budget-priced revision of the Atari 2600 (pictured), and began releasing new games such as Solaris.

Prior to working on Solaris, Neubauer worked as independent contractor making film tie-in games for 20th Century Fox's new game division making Alien and Mega Force and M*A*S*H. Neubauer had hoped that making several video game adaptations would lead to making a film license like Star Wars, finding that "just because a company makes a movie doesn't mean they have the rights to make a video of the movie, Case in point, Star Wars. They didn't have the rights to it."[5]

Douglas Neubauer pitched the game to Atari in 1984 who were going to turn it into a tie-in game for the film The Last Starfighter (1984). Atari flew Neubauer to Los Angeles for a screening of the film and then shortly found after that Jack Tramiel had bought the company and had most of the staff laid off. In 1986, Atari contacted Neubauer to revive the game. He was working at Imagen at the time doing chip and systems design.[6] The Atari 2600 was experiencing what video game historian Brett Weiss described as "a resurgence of sorts" after Nintendo had success in the marketplace with the Nintendo Entertainment System.[7] Atari had just re-released the system a smaller budget-priced revision in 1986.[8]

Mike Bevan wrote in Retro Gamer that fans of Neubauer's game Star Raiders sometimes considered Solaris to be the "true successor" to the original game.[9] Neubauer responded that it was not a sequel.[9] Solaris was made with 16K of bank-switching RAM and 256 bytes of RAM.[5][10] Neubauer had his cousin Randy Emberlin help him with the graphics for the game, who was a professional comic artist.[5] Neubauer stated that he "handed everything over to Atari [including] the 'master EPROM' of the game and my engineering notes. [...] Little did I suspect that they would take my engineering notes, almost verbatim, and make a manual out of it, including the primitive little sketches I did. Apparently Atari was cash-strapped at the time, but so strapped they couldn't afford a graphics artist?"[6] Solaris was completed by October 1986.[11]

Release

Solaris was released for the Atari 2600 in November 1986.[12] By June 1, 1989 Solaris was one of the top selling available games for either the Atari 2600 or Atari 7800 in the United States.[13]

The game was included as part of the Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration (2022) compilation for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam, and Xbox One.[14]

Reception and legacy

From contemporary reviews, The Video Game Update gave the game their highest rating of four stars for both graphics and gameplay.[10] 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."[10] A reviewer in the German magazine PowerPlay stated that Solaris really surprised them and while they did not find the gameplay original, the game had beautiful graphics and varied graphics finding it superior to other similar Atari 2600 games like Starmaster.[15]

From retrospective reviews, an anonymous reviewer in Retro Gamer stated in issue 176 of that "the real feature of Solaris that will make your jaw drop is the visuals. You would have never thought it was possible for the 2600 to display high-res graphics in so many colours." and that the game was "widely regarded as the console's most technically impressive commercial release."[16] Kieren Hawken, also of Retro Gamer, praised the sound, graphics and dpeth in gameplay, stating that "quite simply, Solaris is quite simply the best game for the 2600 bar none."[17] In the magazines list of the top 25 Atari 2600 games, Stuart Hunt and Darran Jones listed Solaris in at their 16th spot. The writers declared that the game "can be heralded as one of the finest pieces of code written for the 2600."[18] writing that it had graphics that rarely flicker or dissolve that were "some staggering visuals" while noting that the gameplay will take some used to.[18] Weiss wrote in his book The 100 Greatest Console Video Games 1977-1987 that it was one of the more ambitious games in the Atari 2600 library in terms of graphics and gameplay, specifically noting the multi-colored enemies, beautifully illustrated planets and a variety of sound effects.[1] Jonathan Sutyak writing for the online game database Allgame found the graphics were "the Atari 2600 at its best" while finding that the shooting gameplay was not enjoyable. He continued that it should have been simplified to make it fun and that "trying to make sense of everything is not worth your time or effort."[2]

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 NES that was never published, stating 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."[5] Neubauer reflected on his games stating "the best games I did were the ones I did for fun rather than money. Probably a lesson there."[5][16] When comparing the game to Star Raiders, Neubauer thought that Star Raiders had better game play and he preferred that games' explosion graphics but that he preferred the pure cockpit view of Star Raiders.[9]

See also

  • List of Atari 2600 games

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Weiss 2007, p. 107.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sutyak.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Hawken, p. 44.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Atari 1986.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Video Games' First Space Opera: Exploring Atari's Star Raiders". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on February 27, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080227111707/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1890/video_games_first_space_opera_.php?page=3. Retrieved June 16, 2023. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Oxford 2012.
  7. ↑ Weiss 2014, p. 119.
  8. ↑ 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." 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Bevan, p. 65.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Critically Speaking...Atari 2600 Compatible". The Video Game Updates: 12. January 1987. 
  11. ↑ Pappas 1986, p. 90.
  12. ↑ "Availability Update". The Video Game Update 5 (9): 14. December 1986. 
  13. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly 1989.
  14. ↑ Machkovech 2022.
  15. ↑ Martin 1987, p. 104.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Retro Gamer, p. 52.
  17. ↑ Hawken, pp. 44-45.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Jones & Hunt.

Sources

External links



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