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[SF Kosmo]

What is Akka Arrh?​

Akka Arrh is the lastest collaboration between Atari and Jeff Minter, following the success of Tempest 4000. At least in concept, Akka Arrh is a loose continuation of an obscure, unreleased Atari game from the early 80s that was cancelled after failing location tests, and survives only through emulation and a handful of original prototype cabinets. That original arcade game was "officially" released for the first time in the recent Atari 50 collection.

So it's a remake of a game no one played?

Kiiiinda, but not really. Akka Arrh borrows the name, visual identity, and a few broad concepts of the original game for the sake of intrigue, but very little in terms of actual gameplay. The original Akka Arrh was not finished and not very good, but no one played it anyway, so who cares?

So, like, what is it really, then?
It's a psychedelic, abstract retro-arcade game, that combines aspects of 360 degree shooters, with a focus on zone management and chaining. You can shoot enemies, or bomb them to set off Missile Command-like chains of explosions. You're reqarded for precision, and get bonuses for using as few shots as possible. The game starts simple, but descends into pure chaos soon enough. Compared to Minter's other games, this one leans a little more on scoring depth and strategy compared to pure twitch, but still requires a bit of the latter as you get into higher stages.

Who's this Jeff Minter guy?
For the last 42 years, Jeff Minter has been releasing arcade-inspired computer games under the name Llamasoft. In that time, Llamasoft's dev team has grown by only a single person, Minter's partner Ivan Zorzin. The self-proclaimed "last of the bedroom coders," the two continue to develop their games from scratch in their own engine, with little to no outside support.

Minter is best known for creating foundational titles in the "trance shooter" genre, beginning with Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar, a title which exposed him to a wider audience for the first time, as well as the Gridrunner series and Space Giraffe. Trance shooters aim to produce drug-like or psychedelic effects on players through dense, abstract visuals, electronic music, and reflex-based gameplay designed to put players "in the zone."

Where can I play it?
Akka Arrh is out now on the following platforms:
Steam
Switch
PlayStation 4
Xbox One/Series X|S
Atari VCS

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[Punished Miku]

Cool thread. I'll put this on the radar

 

[Agent X]

There was a great interview with Jeff Minter about Akka Arrh on the PlayStation.Blog a few days ago. You can read it by going to the following link:

Jeff Minter interview: the legendary game designer on his upcoming PS4 & PS5 arcade title Akka Arrh

The story behind his reinterpretation of a rare unreleased prototype arcade game, launching next week.

blog.playstation.com

 

[MadchesterManc]

Finally a must have game for 2023 Be interesting to see how it compares to the prototype on Atari50

 

[SF Kosmo]

Finally a must have game for 2023 Be interesting to see how it compares to the prototype on Atari50

Quite different! It doesn't seem like the goal here was to remake or finish the original, so much as to use the broad ideas as a jumping off point to make something new.

I do find it hilarious that Atari essentially opened their IP catalog to Minter, and he picks probably the most obscure game he possibly could. I swear the man is allergic to money.

 

[shoplifter]

One of the few people I'll spend money on out of pure faith

 

[SF Kosmo]

One of the few people I'll spend money on out of pure faith

Especially lately, I think he's really having a moment. Not commercially, but games like Polybius, Moose Life, and Minotaur Arcade are some of his best to date.

Done with work for today and got the chance to dig into Akka Arrh a bit. It's very unique, hard to compare directly to much else, but there's obviously a bit of Star Castle in there, and some Missile Command, plus some new ideas. I think it's gonna be a fun one to fight for score table supremacy.

Gonna have to try it with some botanical supplements later tonight.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Eurogamer gave it an Essential rating:
https://www.eurogamer.net/akka-arrh-review-llamasoft-returns-with-intrigue-and-delight


Currently banging my way toward the end of the third octave, but there are a couple big difficulty spikes so I'm not quite there.

 

[Agent X]

Limited Run Games is producing physical copies of Akka Arrh for Switch, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. Each version will sell for $34.99, or you can get a Deluxe Edition package for $64.99. Preorders begin tomorrow at 10:00 AM Eastern time, and will be available until April 9, 2023.

More information can be found at the following link:

Akka Arrh

Akka Arrh Only Available Until April 9, 2023 Chain together combos, and go for a high score! A modern take on a scrapped game from the 1980s, Akka Arrh is a fast-paced, addictive, arcade shooter experience!

limitedrungames.com

 

[SF Kosmo]

Limited Run Games is producing physical copies of Akka Arrh for Switch, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. Each version will sell for $34.99, or you can get a Deluxe Edition package for $64.99. Preorders begin tomorrow at 10:00 AM Eastern time, and will be available until April 9, 2023.

More information can be found at the following link:

http://[URL]https://limitedrungames.com/collections/akka-arrh

[/URL]

That box art on the deluxe version is amazing. Not $70 amazing, but still.

 

[calistan]

I buy everything Minter makes, because a world without Llamasoft games would be kind of sad, but sometimes I think I like the idea of Llamasoft games better than the reality of actually playing them. My typical experience is to zone out for an hour or three, hit a massive difficulty spike, and never get any further.

Recently Polybius, Moose Life and Tempest 4K, now this one. I only got to level 9 and I can feel the spike super early. Everything was smooth sailing before that, but level 9 has tiny walled-off areas that stop the explosions, relentless assault from flying enemies that require multiple hits (the spidery things), and I lose track of which ones are for bombing and which are for shooting.

What's the best control method? I started with a joypad, then went to mouse, but mouse seems no more precise, and how do you "go downstairs" with the mouse? I love that this game exists, and I only wish I was any good at playing it. Arrh!

 

[TheGreatMusashi]

I’ve been playing nonstop since release.

Everyday, I spend as much time as I can playing.

Encapsulating the original vision, Jeff Minter perfected it.

While still early, I could see this being one of my favorite games of all time.

What an awesome project. This is the kind of thing that makes me romanticize video games.

 

[John Bilbo]

Llamasoft

Now there's a name I haven't read in a long time

 

[gunstarhero]

My only complaint is how many tutorial levels are in Pure Mode. Yeah, you can skip them, but that’s just leaving points on the table if you’re playing for high score.

Outside of that, this game is fucking amazing. Took me a couple of plays to figure out how enemies get below and when i need to jump downstairs, but once i figured that out, I was in the ZONE

This game not getting PSVR2 support is mind boggling.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Now there's a name I haven't read in a long time

You got some catching up to do then, they've been on a roll. Recent games like Polybius, Moose Life, and Minotaur Arcade Vol. 1 are some of their best.

 

[John Bilbo]

You got some catching up to do then, they've been on a roll. Recent games like Polybius, Moose Life, and Minotaur Arcade Vol. 1 are some of their best.

After posting the previous message I checked their Steam page and also found out about their own web page which contains their classics from way back.

I downloaded Llamatron 2112, but have not yet figured out a way to boot the .PRG file.

But yeah, I will most definitely check their newer games out!

 

[SmokedMeat]

Looks interesting. I love that we have someone in the industry that’s still making the types of games I grew up with.