I played this in the past a little bit on the simpler difficulties without really knowing what I was doing, but now that I sat down and figured out what this game is actually all about I can see why it's such a well-regarded atari game that's easy to pick up and play but has really deep and engaging gameplay thanks to various really smart design choices.

The game is a pretty typical single-screen shooter at first glance. There's you and the big bad guy, and you've gotta shoot out the bad guys shields to create an opening where you can deal the final blow with a cannon from across the screen. There's a pellet that wanders the screen homing into you constantly that you must outmaneuver, though there is a safe space in the middle of the screen where the pellet can't kill you at the cost of not being able to attack while inside. The bad guy occasionally turns into a vortex that shoots at you, and that can kill you regardless of whether or not you are inside the safe space. Hitting yourself with your own cannonfire also kills you, which makes firing the cannon from the left side of the screen more dangerous than shooting from the right.

Everything starts simple enough as the pellet initially moves really slowly, but as the levels keep going the pellet moves faster and faster to the point where there's a pretty calculated push-and-pull with how best to approach the bad guy. There's no way to cheese the game, as even tricks like using the vertically looping nature of the screen to juke out a fast-moving death pellet will inevitably prevent you from getting to the center of the screen, where you need to be in order to properly aim a cannon shot. There's also the ULTIMATE YARS difficulty option, where cannonfire can only be earned by doing specific things, and only activated by touching the far left side of the screen, which is also the most dangerous place to shoot the cannon. It's like shockingly well thought-out and designed compared to the typical space invaders and galaga clones that compose its peers, and it's always super engaging because of it. Just a really good example of good early 80's game design at play, definitely give it a go and try getting to the faster difficulties.

Yars Revenge is an interesting historical oddity that is definitely worth a bit of time. This might be one of the most visually stunning games on the Atari 2600. On a system where characters are often just a square, and other items are blocky, Yars' Revenge feels abstract in a way that evokes surreality. The central color pillar is a flowing rainbow of color shifting through hues. I don't entirely know what it is supposed to be, but it looks very cool. Likewise, when the base explodes, the screen becomes awash in triumphant color.

Yars' Revenge certainly feels unintuitive. I can pick up and play many shmups and generally get how it works very fast, this is a game that took awhile to figure out. Flying into enemies is usually death in games, but maybe back in 1982 that wasn't as ingrained in players. Perhaps in that regard this game has been hurt by the passing of time.

Even if you know how the game works, Yars has problems. There are two levels the game cycles through, and while these add variety, the levels don't feel nearly as varied as modern offerings, or even games that would come out a few years later. The game does get harder over time because the chaser missile gets faster, but that's the main difficulty spike. Perhaps it is unfair to compare Yars to later games in that department because it is on such limited hardware, but other space shooters get harder by throwing in more obstacles and enemies, or harder enemies, and it lets those games feel much better paced.

Yars' Revenge is a graphically impressive game for its system, and even separated from its limitation and taken purely on its own merits it still looks great. It's easy to see why this game made such a strong impression, because nothing looked quite like it. Even the MOMA recognized this game's value today and included it in its collection. It's worth a play, if only because it's short and you can get the gist quickly, and its historically important and visually iconic.

Playing Through My Evercade Collection Part 5: Atari Vol 2

Finally at the end of the Atari Evercade series and my god its been tough. Thankfully I'm ending on a high note as Yar's Revenge happens to be one of the better titles on the system, even if some of the mechanics really take some digging into properly to understand. I'm always confused why Atari never actually capitalised properly on this game doing well... Maybe they were always concerned that it was an original property on the Atari 2600 and didn't want to focus on anything that wasn't an 'Arcade' based hit. Who knows, Atari was dumb like that sometimes.

There's something oddly mesmerizing about Yars' Revenge. Trying to describe what makes it appealing in words alone can't really do it justice, though thankfully, due to the advent of better technology, you can play an emulated version of this game in your browser window, making it very easy to access these days.

The Atari 2600 has a hell of a lot of jank, but Yars' Revenge shows what the best Atari games do have - an appealing level of simplicity, and the creation of a strong level of investment in those funky shapes on your (hypothetical) TV screen.

Yars' Revenge is probably the best Atari 2600 game I've played. The gameplay itself might be a bit too simplistic for some, focusing on a singular boss surrounded by a destructible barricade, but it all shines for me with the comic and whole backstory created for this game. Had I not known the Yar feed on materials to power their cannons, I probably wouldn't have known to eat the surrounding barrier instead of shoot it.

The only thing that bums me out a bit is that this never got "reverse-ported" over to arcades. If Tron (which happened to also come out the same year) could have a similar section involving destroying a barrier to reach a boss, then I think Yars' Revenge deserves to be presented with arcade board flair. It's a shame this IP never really went further.

I don't understand the love for this game. For one, I think it looks hideous. The force field strip is yet another example of developers of this time period getting access to color, and then vomiting it out on the screen instead of doing anything coherent with it. The gameplay itself is slightly obtuse yet so simplistic as to not be very entertaining beyond the constant threat of the homing missile.

Edit 1/16/24: I found out recently that the force field is actually the game's source code. Adding half a point to my review for that just being straight up cool. More info here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HSjJU562e8

One of the Atari’s best, and arguably what helped make hori shmups gain popularity; it makes sense that this was the best selling game on the Atari 2600 EVER.

Warshaw took what Space Invaders made popular and completely flipped the top-down angle we were used to at the time. Yars’ Revenge, in addition to being pretty unique, is also just a buttload of fun. Instead of trying to dodge an enemy shooting at you, the player has to attack the enemy head on, learning how to balance when to attack and when to pull back and defend.

The game also ended up having a very large female audience which is interesting considering most space shooters were popular with boys at this point. It’s not a fact that makes the game itself better or worse, but I still think it’s neat to point out!

(played as part of ATARI 50)

Definitely a much different take on the arcade-y space shooter thing that was happening around this time, and it is cool, although I'm not sure I consider it quite the system-defining classic that some do. Looks great and has a very original gameplay loop that has juuuuust the right amount of stuff going on where it feels like there's almost too much but not quite. It takes a second to get it, but it's not rocket science. If the flying and shooting weren't tight, it would all be moot, but they're quite good for the most part, although I really dislike how you strike the final blow on the enemy - feels satisfying when you get it but I'm just an idiot when it comes to timing like that, so that particular aspect is more frustrating than fun, to me. I feel like the extra modes don't really add much, so I didn't find a whole lot of replay value. It's nice to look at and appreciate, but I couldn't see myself playing it over and over. Worthwhile to check out, though.

Yars’ Revenge was Atari’s best selling original title on the 2600, moving about a million copies. The “original title” parenthetical may make it sound like a qualified success, but if anything, it makes the accomplishment that much more impressive. To sell that many copies without the backing of a known brand, it really had to be exceptional, and this becomes apparent when looking at its “best selling original title” contemporaries from some Nintendo consoles:

NES: The Legend of Zelda
SNES: Star Fox
N64: Banjo Kazooie
GameCube: Animal Crossing
Wii: Wii Sports

These are some legendary and influential games, and Yars’ Revenge may even stand out among them, given how it had to compete in an era before games media was established enough to help level the field against popular licenses. So, now that the stage is set, go play Yars’ Revenge. I’m serious, you can find it online in about two seconds; if you search “Yars' revenge online” the first link will get you there.

If you’re anything like me, your first thought was “is this really the best the 2600 had to offer?”, and the second was “why am I not dealing any damage?”. A quick trip to the manual explains that the process of destroying the enemy base is much more involved than one might expect. First, you need to break down the barrier using your standard shots, while avoiding the missile that’s chasing you. Then, you have to touch the base itself to charge up your cannon, which shoots from the far left of the screen instead of from your actual character, and can destroy you or the base itself. So, what starts as mindless shooting quickly develops a surprising amount of strategy. Each mechanic was constructed with an advantage and a disadvantage, a purpose and a twist: you can shoot anytime, but you can’t destroy the enemy base that way. Your cannon actually can destroy the base, but hurts you as well. The neutral zone protects you from the missile, but not from the spirals the base shoots at you, and you can't shoot while inside it. Touching the base gives you a shot with the cannon, but approaching it is risky since it may start launching a spiral. The cannon shots fire from the left side of the screen, so even each side of the neutral zone has its own unique advantages, with the left side letting you dodge more easily, but reducing the safety of shooting the cannon, forcing you to switch sides to focus on offense or defense.

What I find beautiful about this design is how it’s a perfect model of what makes action games interesting, even forty years later. The genre is at its best when taking simple ideas and letting players discover the potential for combinations, like how red, green, and blue are all that’s needed to display sixteen million different colors on your screen. Yars’ revenge may only have about three things going on, but… that’s enough. It looks entirely unimpressive at first, but once you get a feel for how it plays, the quality that made it such a success shines though. I would easily say it earns its spot next to the likes of Star Fox, not just as a grandfather, but as an equal pioneer.

Addendum: Thanks to user Jamep for recommending this one on my dedicated list, I never would have found this game had you not recommended it.