Yar's Revenge

[Rimbo]

Last night, while munching on a Big Mac, it occurred to me that I couldn't fathom how the designer of Yar's Revenge came up with such a bizarre concept, and made it so good.

For review:

You are a Yar, a flying insectoid creature. On the right side of the screen, covered by a red shield, is the Qotile base. You destroy the shield by eating it, bit by bit, or spitting at it. A cruise missile follows you around. In the middle of the screen is a neutral zone, where the cruise missile can't hurt you, but you can't shoot back.

The Qotile base periodically transforms into a spiral that shoots at you. You, in turn, touch the left side of the screen to bring up your big Cannon, to shoot the Qotile. Both of these will kill you if you get in the way, even in the neutral zone.

I spent a lot of time playing this game as a kid.

[Anaxagoras]

Let's be honest. Almost all of those early games were LSD inspired. I think the culmination of that trend was Super Mario Bros, where the drug references became explicit.

[Rywill]

I used to love Yar's Revenge.

[Nathan Phoenix]

Remember, Yar's Revenge was made by the same guy who wrote the E.T. game :)

[olaf]

I liked that game a lot too.

olaf

[Dave Long]

I know that the "garbage" that was the safe zone in the middle of the screen was some kind of actual garbage that he like accidentally stumbled on while programming and then made it into that barrier. I forget how it goes exactly but it was a pretty cool bit of info.

--Dave

[Nathan]

Wasn't Yar's Revenge derived from the coin-op Star Castle? In both you fly around and shoot pieces off a moving barrier to get to the gooey center. I don't know if it was originally supposed to be an actual port of Star Castle or if it was just inspired by it, but I'm sure I read about a connection somewhere.

[Rimbo]

That would make sense, Nathan. That would put Yar's Revenge in the Asteroids family tree, which makes sense to me.

It's still such a bizarre twist on the idea.

[Jonathan Blow]

I liked Yar's Revenge but I seem to recall it being easy enough, even on the hardest setting, that I could basically play forever (once I got the hang of it). Empire Strikes Back was like that too.

Now, Reactor on the other hand...

[Squirrel Killer]

I know that the "garbage" that was the safe zone in the middle of the screen was some kind of actual garbage that he like accidentally stumbled on while programming and then made it into that barrier. I forget how it goes exactly but it was a pretty cool bit of info.

The neutral zone graphics were the game's code passed through a "visualiztion." Atari's lawyers almost nixed the game because they though that might harm their IP rights to the game. HSW told them that if anyone was able to derive the code from the graphics, they deserved to have it.

[Dave Long]

That's it! Thanks!

--Dave

[Kevin J Baird]

I think Yar's Revenge was actually supposed to be Tempest, but it was decided that they couldn't do it or it didn't work out right, so they created Yar out of it.

You can also buy one of those Atari Joystick games from Jaks Pacific (Walmart $18), and it comes with Yar's Revenge, complete with original Atari stick.

K

[Ch. Hasslbauer]

Complete with original stick? Those went bust about every third time you touched them. Atari even specially sold a repair kit for them. No wonder why these game sticks are so cheap.

[Donald L.]

Remember, Yar's Revenge was made by the same guy who wrote the E.T. game :)

I think they had something like five weeks to create the game.

[Nathan Phoenix]

Most of the games of that era were turned around in short timeframes like that. They didn't really have to deal with the creation of pesky art assets. :P

[John Many Jars]

I know that the "garbage" that was the safe zone in the middle of the screen was some kind of actual garbage that he like accidentally stumbled on while programming and then made it into that barrier. I forget how it goes exactly but it was a pretty cool bit of info.

The neutral zone graphics were the game's code passed through a "visualiztion." Atari's lawyers almost nixed the game because they though that might harm their IP rights to the game. HSW told them that if anyone was able to derive the code from the graphics, they deserved to have it.

There's at least one other game that used a visualization of its own code: Mountain King, a very strange (and fun) quasi-platformer for the 2600 and some 8-bit computers.

There was a special way to jump that would let you sail on upwards until you hit something, and if you sustained such a jump from a certain place you would reach a zone, far above the game world, that was constructed of random-looking ladder and platform pieces. It was very difficult to move around in without falling; in the 2600 version I never got out of a small area near the spot where you landed.

In the Atari computer version, you could climb down into this zone from the bottom level of the game world, which made it less mysterious but more dangerous, since a fast giant spider lived down there and you had no way to kill it.

Mountain King (like Yar's Revenge) was a great game. That wasn't supposed to be a base in Yar's Revenge, by the way; it was the Quotile itself.

[Jakub]

Actually, isn't Yar's Revenge pretty much impossible to beat? The seeking missile just gets faster and faster, eventually being as fast as you - and while the game is beatable at that setting, the level after that when the missile is actually faster, you're pretty much screwed.

[John Many Jars]

Remember, Yar's Revenge was made by the same guy who wrote the E.T. game :)

This reminded me --- under certain conditions in E.T., when you fall into a pit and revive a flower, the flower will turn into a Yar and fly away.

There's also a way in Yar's Revenge to get the author's initials. After you shoot the fireball in midair, a dark band appears across the screen during the explosion and then starts to narrow; fly into it just before it disappears and the initials appear, ending the game.

[Nathan Phoenix]

Actually, isn't Yar's Revenge pretty much impossible to beat? The seeking missile just gets faster and faster, eventually being as fast as you - and while the game is beatable at that setting, the level after that when the missile is actually faster, you're pretty much screwed.

well, you can constantly scroll off the top or bottom of the screen to warp around to the opposite side, and the seeker missile cant. You can use that to get away while you slowly pickaway at the barrier. Actually hitting the thing with your ubahmissile is kinda hard at that point though.

[Nathan]

Since there are a number of ways to emulate Yar's Revenge, including the Atari: 80 Classic Games compilation, should we do an impromptu high-score competition? See who has the best score by next Friday?

[simoniker]

Just wanted to point out that someone should definitely write a magazine/website article about a pirate game (possibly Sid Meier's Pirates!, even) and name it 'Yarrrrrrrrrr's Revenge'.

[Nathan Phoenix]

Since there are a number of ways to emulate Yar's Revenge, including the Atari: 80 Classic Games compilation, should we do an impromptu high-score competition? See who has the best score by next Friday?

I recommend Stella for Dreamcast :)

[Squirrel Killer]

Actually, isn't Yar's Revenge pretty much impossible to beat? The seeking missile just gets faster and faster, eventually being as fast as you - and while the game is beatable at that setting, the level after that when the missile is actually faster, you're pretty much screwed.

Like most earlier action games, there is no end, ever. If you're good enough, you can keep playing, and playing, and playing. The post that described the "red" shield" struck me as funny, because I although I remember the red version, I more vividly playing into the pink shield, purple shield, and invisible shield levels.

The Quotile launches at you, on a fixed course early on, and tracking you later, your missle flies in a straight horizontal line from where you launch it. Regardless of how fast the Quotile flies, you can always launch your missle, then manouver around it, drawing the Quotile into it's path. It get hard, but it is doable. I can't remember if the Quotile's change from fixed course to tracking is mentioned in the manual, but I do remember it being an "OH SHIT!" moment the first time I saw it happen.

[Rimbo]

Like most earlier action games, there is no end, ever. If you're good enough, you can keep playing, and playing, and playing. The post that described the "red" shield" struck me as funny, because I although I remember the red version, I more vividly playing into the pink shield, purple shield, and invisible shield levels.

The Quotile launches at you, on a fixed course early on, and tracking you later, your missle flies in a straight horizontal line from where you launch it. Regardless of how fast the Quotile flies, you can always launch your missle, then manouver around it, drawing the Quotile into it's path. It get hard, but it is doable. I can't remember if the Quotile's change from fixed course to tracking is mentioned in the manual, but I do remember it being an "OH SHIT!" moment the first time I saw it happen.

Yeah, I remember that. And when the Qotile starts coming after you three times as often, launching when the color cycles to blue and yellow as well as red.

Which just means you can tag it three times as often. :)

I always played on the level where you had to eat a few cells or touch the Qotile to get those invisible points, and then had to touch the left screen to bring up the cannon. And if you hit the shield, it would bounce back, and you could catch the return shot. :)

[Jakub]

Like most earlier action games, there is no end, ever. If you're good enough, you can keep playing, and playing, and playing. The post that described the "red" shield" struck me as funny, because I although I remember the red version, I more vividly playing into the pink shield, purple shield, and invisible shield levels.

The Quotile launches at you, on a fixed course early on, and tracking you later, your missle flies in a straight horizontal line from where you launch it. Regardless of how fast the Quotile flies, you can always launch your missle, then manouver around it, drawing the Quotile into it's path. It get hard, but it is doable. I can't remember if the Quotile's change from fixed course to tracking is mentioned in the manual, but I do remember it being an "OH SHIT!" moment the first time I saw it happen.
Invisible shield? I think I got as far as purple (is that the one where the swirl fires and then changes direction in mid-flight?) Or was that pink...

[Squirrel Killer]

Invisible shield? I think I got as far as purple (is that the one where the swirl fires and then changes direction in mid-flight?) Or was that pink...

Yes, invisible shield. I rule! :D

Hey, if we have a high score contest, can I submit my old high scores? I used to keep a GeoFile database of all my high scores, I think I have a printout of it somewhere... Keep in mind, we've probably got nothing on these guys (http://www.twingalaxies.com/cgi-perl/search_scores_game.pl?&orig=game&game_id=1136&track_id=3038&Platform=Atari%202600&game_title=Yar's%20Revenge&track_name=default%20settings&game_titleField=yar's%20revenge&track_nameField=&platformSelect=).

[Rimbo]

No you don't. I got to the invisible shield, too. And I suck.

;)

Actually it wasn't that the fireball would track you so much as it would change directions in mid-flight, and only once. So you just had to dodge it twice, rather than once.

And wasn't there a point where the neutral zone disappeared as well?