Atari is planning to replace Missile Command: Recharged with...uh...Missile Command: Recharged. The studio says it's planning a full 2.0 rework for the game, which launched its Atari Recharged series last year, but you'll still have to pay for the new game, even if you bought the old one.
With its 50th anniversary celebrations underway (including an NFT collection, hooray), Atari looks to be in a reflective mood right now. The company is re-releasing Missile Command: Recharged as a "brand new title" in the Recharged series, which consists of modern reworks of classic Atari titles like Yars' Revenge.
According to Atari, this "full 2.0 rework" will add brand new challenge levels, extra enemies, and a climactic final boss to Missile Command. That seems like a somewhat strange choice on Atari's part; futility is arguably a strong theme in the original Missile Command, as you'll eventually become overwhelmed no matter how hard you try, so adding a big final boss seems a touch incongruous. Still, that cultural context seems to have been lost to time, so maybe I'm just being nostalgic.
This new version of Missile Command: Recharged is also getting a complete overhaul for the visuals and full co-op support across all game modes. Composer Megan McDuffee, whose name you might recognize from River City Girls, is also on board with a totally new soundtrack for the game.
Atari says that it's learned a lot since launching the Recharged series. Given that every other Recharged series game has "more content and features" than Missile Command: Recharged, Atari wants to redress the balance. As you might expect, that's going to cost you; this isn't a free update.
The original Missile Command: Recharged cost $2.99, and if you purchased that version, Atari says you'll still have access to it, and you'll get a 30% discount on the new version, which will cost $9.99. That's effectively Atari knocking off the price of the original version; that 30% discount drops $3 off the price, after all.
Missile Command: Recharged arrives on PC and consoles, including Atari VCS, on November 1st. It joins (or, more accurately, rejoins) other Recharged games like the aforementioned Yars' Revenge, as well as Asteroids, Black Widow, Breakout, and Centipede. We'll let you know what else Atari has up its sleeve for Recharged as soon as we get it.
