Boss battles are a core part of why we love video games. Whether it’s a last gasp win, a hard earned victory after hours of grinding, or a stylish stomping handed out to prove your greatness, they act as benchmarks for your skills. But sometimes they also have the power to surprise you, and that’s exactly what happened with my exclusive sneak peek at the upcoming Yars Rising from WayForward and Atari.
Yars Rising was one of my biggest surprises of Summer Game Fest two months ago, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I booked in to see it again at Gamescom just a few weeks before launch. In the end, I was the only person (at least as of my session late on Thursday) to be shown one of the game’s most unique bosses.
Yars Rising Is A Love Letter To Atari
The same developer led journos through both sets of demos, so thanks to their similarity, I instead got bounced around to his favourite parts of the game, including a weird and wonderful boss battle against a man named Phillip Ong – see if you can figure it out before I get there.
I’d previously fought two bosses at SGF, one a mech that fired missiles and left ground hazards, and the other a spider who attacked with webs and venom. Interesting, but pretty standard combat. So when I fought Ong, who comes later in the game, I expected to have a similar but more challenging experience. Not so.
Instead, I plugged into a hacking terminal and fought Mr. P. Ong in a game of Pong. Controlling one paddle, I had to score five points against him before he scored five against me. Though I eventually lost 5-4 (blame it on overaggressive use of the speed boost), it was a tense match up that reminded me of a youth playing Pong. Yes, I am that old.
Pong Is Still One Of The Best Gaming Experiences Around
The trick with Pong is not just to hit the block, but to slam up or down into it, or slide just as it hits you to move it at angles much harder to defend against. The way it bounced off the paddle felt instantly familiar, and that was no accident. It wasn’t just a game that looked like Pong, it was Pong, with the entire physics engine recreated within Yars Rising itself. It’s such a creative way to do a boss battle that completely upends the power-heavy combat of the rest of the game, and makes for an excellent surprise.
This tour through the game featured other flourishes that weren’t meant to be in the demo but were revealed to me as one of the world’s few Yars Rising veterans who doesn’t work for WayForward or Atari. New outfits for protagonist Emi, a New Game Plus mode, some details on how the game links to 1982’s Yars’ Revenge, and another boss battle I could actually win to bring my career record up to 2-2 all featured.
But by far the most interesting part was the Phillip Ong battle, and I hope people check it out when the game launches on September 10. A love letter to all things Atari, the P.Ong battle encapsulates the creativity and passion for new ways to explore retro gaming at the heart of Yars Rising’s charm.
Yars Rising is a throwback to the classic game of the 80s Atari era, brought into the present by Shantae developer WayForward. An adventure platformer, you’ll guide hacker Emi Kimura through a range of challenges as she breaks into the nefarious QoTech Corp.
- Released
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June 9, 2024
- Developer(s)
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WayForward Technologies