Solaris (video game)

Solaris
Solaris cover art by Terry Hoff[1]
Developer(s)	Atari[2]
Publisher(s)	Atari[2]
Programmer(s)	Doug Neubauer
Platform(s)	Atari 2600
Release	November 1986
Genre(s)	Space combat simulator[3]
Mode(s)	Single-player

Solaris is a space combat video game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari. The game involves a player seeking out the planet Solaris via their starship. To accomplish this, the player must navigate the galactic scanner to explore quadrants of a map. Doing so allows them to explore Federation planets to refuel their ship, and engage in combat with hostile aliens known as the Zylons.

The game was programmed by Doug Neubauer, who had previously made Star Raiders (1980) for Atari and various film tie-in games for the Atari 2600 for Fox Video Games. Neubauer pitched this game to Atari in 1984, who planned to make it a tie-in to the film The Last Starfighter (1984). Following Jack Tramiel's purchase of Atari in 1984, Atari's production of console games was halted. Neubauer was only contacted in 1986 to complete his work on Solaris following the release of a new remodeled Atari 2600.

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