Atari and Jeff Minter team on remake of classic arcade game I, RobotAtari and Jeff Minter team on remake of classic arcade game I, Robot

Game designer Jeff Minter and his studio Llamasoft are going back to the past with a remake of Atari's I, Robot.

For Minter and Llamasoft, I, Robot will be the latest in a legacy of remakes and retro-inspired adaptations, following 2018's Minotaur Arcade Vol 1. In the past, Minter has had a hand in remaking 8-bit classics Tempest and Defender, along with his own Atari ST/Amiga game Llamatron.

"Throughout his 45-year career, Jeff has retained the spirit of a true indie developer," reads a statement from Atari game VP Ethan Sterns. The remake, which is expected to release later this year for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, and Atari VCS was described by Sterns as "quintessential Minter."

The upcoming "reality-defying reinvention" of the 1984 arcade future will see players explore levels and turn red tiles to blue to escape. Changes to the original game come in reducing the level count from 126 to 55, adding in the modern magic of online leaderboards, and implementing procedural music that "builds as you excel."

A brief history of I, Robot

Designed by Missile Command and Tempest's Daid Theurer, I, Robot first released in June 1984 as an arcade game. At the time, it was famously the first commercially produced arcade game rendered entirely in real-time, 3D polygon graphics, and the first to feature camera control options. It's also one of Atari's final two arcade games (alongside Star Wars: Return of the Jedi that same year) before the company was split up and eventually formed into its current-day incarnation.

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Initially, the game was a financial flop and fewer than 1,000 units were created. Few are said to currently exist, and the game has since been regarded as a pioneer for its then-innovative graphics. When Atari's 50th anniversary game bundle released in 2022, I, Robot was included, marking the title's first-ever re-release for non-arcade game hardware.

If you're curious what a "quintessential Minter" reimagining of a game like I, Robot could look like, this 2024 interview with Minter offers an in-depth exploration of his game making ethos and a candid look at how--and why--he creates such distinctive games like Gridrunner, Polybius, and others mentioned above.

As Minter explained in that 2024 chat, he's not typically the type to create games that chase a wide audience or as many people as possible. "That's a different kind of motive than what drives me, really. I'm more interested in pursuing the ideas I have, and I don't really care that much if they're wildly successful or not."

"Oh, it'd be nice if they were. I'm not saying I would turn that down. But I'm not that bothered if they're not," said Minter. "As long as I can carry on doing what I'm doing, I'm happy, you know?”