Ryzen

A render of the Ryzen in LittleBigPlanet 2.

The Ryzen is a console by Kowan011 released in 19th February 2019 (alongside Ryzen Sonus and Bermuda), and is a part of the Ryzen Masterpieces. The Ryzen Masterpieces hub was moderated the day after its 1st Anniversary, but was made available again after its 2nd, although by September it also ended support for LBP2, as did the LBP servers.

## History

### Development

In 2017, Kowan011, still under the influence of Zolton's Moon, was initially going to make a larger LBP3 console than the ZM Propane named the Propane LBP3 Edition (in fact the dimensions for the screen are exactly the same as the Ryzen's but was more than 2 layers), but due to profile corruption, decided to rebrand the ZM Propane as the Ryzen before it officially launched and made its screen larger. The very first alpha looked like a Propane XL with a Neon Bevel screen rim, the console had no Fatal Error screens, and the menu system was basically just a recentred version of Propane's Waterfall. The logo was the same as the Propane's but red instead of blue, and the R was green and the Z was green, likely because it was made by Zolton's Moon, and the Player Seats used yellow to aqua frequency colours as opposed to the blue to red.

Later on, the Blue to Red frequency colours were used and Tappables support was integrated into the console (with potential Read/Write Tappables planned to be added early on but not actually being implemented until v1.2), and alongside it a complete revamp of the menu (that also implemented many of the features that were found in Ryzen like the Firmware Chips or the Digital Application Library). The 60 second Idle-Shutdown was axed, and along with it the fading logos that would appear if you were idle on the menu for 12 seconds. Going from a single column of icons, the revamped Waterfall Menu had 2 columns of 6 icons on the main screen alone - all of which took design cues from the icons in the Settings menu - and a bar on the bottom of all Waterfall menu screens telling you the controls that would hide themselves when a Console Subtitle is present. The Settings menu not only had enlargened icons, but also allowed you to toggle two new options and see the console's info in addition to changing the console's Play Styles, volume and screen brightness, and was split into four tabs - Toggles, Sliders, Play Styles, and Info - each of which could be accessed by pressing L1 and R1 to switch between them and were displayed at the top of the screen. It was also at that point the Next and Previous System Shortcuts were in place. When Kowan showed it to Zolton, he hated it seeing as the Plasma Core (which was developed by Zolton himself) also had Firmware Chips and Digital Media, saying it looks like a Propane XL and that 'the only best part of the console was the menu'. He also wanted the error screens to be devoid of faces since they looked too similar to the Plasma Core's error screens. Memory Cards with TriMem™ technology were planned to be introduced into the Ryzen, with 12 Save Points and 24 Save Slots and 24 Achievement Slots in each Save Point, but due to how laggy it was that ended up being scrapped and ended up being a Ryzen Hub Easter egg up until v1.4.

But at some point Kowan completely quit the Zolton's Moon, and set to work on the Ryzen by himself, removing all references to Zolton and Zolton's Moon (including the logo, which now had white text). Pause was added, Digital Games were promoted to Digital Applications (which did more than just games), and eventually a rounding of the top corners of the console, a change of the shade of blue, and new On/Off icons along with a separate 'Skip Intro/Outro Sequences' icon (before that the chip was coloured a darker shade of blue than the console itself) to push the console even further beyond looking like a larger Propane.

### Initial Hub

The original Ryzen Hub had an introductory sequence that helped users settle in with the System Shortcuts (it wouldn't play again after the user accomplished the action) and only then could the player get any of the prizes. The level badge displayed the console itself displaying the console's logo, and the text located such that it read 'The Ryzen Masterpieces' from top to bottom. Before the guide the console would be switched off when the level was entered, and after it the console would be switched on. There was a hidden wall jump portion between the spawn point and the Ryzen itself where the player can find an entryway into the RGames Propane Hub through a Level Link (back when Propane was at v1.2) and also get an insight into how Ryzen units were packaged (before that Kowan planned to have a moving background throughout the whole hub but wasn't able to). There was also a tin can that would normally have hidden a pink cartridge but instead actually displayed the truth about the contents of the bin. The cartridge inserted into the Ryzen contained 12 tracks.

After the Console was the Pipe Complex, a series of pipes with a screen that linked the other floors of the Hub. The upper floors had entry pipes located on the backmost player layer that could be entered or exited through, with a separate red Exit pipe at the opposite end of the floor. A display was mounted on the Pipe Complex to display what floor each pipe would lead the players into. The Bermuda section hid a prize for the System Restore Cartridge which could be collected by grabbing the only grabbable part of the floor (to the right of the exit pipe). The bottom-left pipe would change the floor counting system once entered, and there was initially no Archives or Propane Deluxe floor; both floors would display a prohibitory symbol. Question Blocks next to some of the prizes provided helpful information about the item when grabbed, and an RGames Logo Evolution was only accessible to those with a second controller since it was beyond the scoreboard (which was also lined with a neon frame).

Version 1.1 added in a Propane Deluxe floor, and an Archives section (which still showed a prohibitory sign and denied entry until the pipe was entered three times and only then was a v1.0 Ryzen displayed flickering between black and white with glitching text). Once in the Archives floor, the player is hurled into a junkyard with steel crates containing older versions of the content in the Hub that must be grabbed to obtain the prize, and if you climb upwards to the left you'll find a completely butchered Edge console. The original hub ended up being the Ryzen Archives section from the v1.4 Hub forward, albeit in ruins.

### v1.4 Hub and Later

The Hub was completely revamped since Kowan got the Cross-Controller DLC and was launched alongside Ryzen v1.4. In the background was a series of conveyors moving the boxed Ryzen, Ryzen Sonus and Ryzen Move Seats units, something that was initially made for the original hub. Initially the conveyor belts were 3 layers wide in the v1.4 hub but were changed to two layers in v1.5 while keeping the console boxes central. The level badge displayed only the console's logo this time, and players were bounced into the hub with part of the floor retracting rather than having an exposed checkpoint in the level. There was going to be an RGames Mobile easter egg at the start of the level, but that got canned when the console's Game Camera no longer put it in focus.

The hub kept the System Shortcut guide albeit with different cutscenes, but after the console itself was not a Pipe Complex like the earlier Hub, but rather a pipe leading to the room for the Atlas Wormhole, a single wormhole that led to all the other floors in the Hub with a Ryzen Aero selecting the destination. There were four floors accessible - in v1.4 it was Bermuda, Propane Deluxe and Tappables and from v1.5 onward it was Ryzen Unity, Content, and Tappables - and the fourth floor (which was named Floor uhh... meow? or Area Zolton but was really the Archives and bore a prohibitory symbol) was initially accessible by doing the Contra Code with very few delay between inputs, but since v1.6 it was now accessible normally. One of the floors had a lever that would turn itself off.

In v1.4 Area Zolton hid a T-Series logo and had some rocks covering part of the RGames Logo Evolution entrance, which also hides one of the steps to obtaining the System Restore cartridge (initially you had to grab a blue circle). Rather than displaying an obvious version number before the scoreboard in the main Hub itself I displayed an image related to the console update itself (in v1.4 it was the console logo). 'New' text was displayed above the prize pedestals for items that were updated or added. The console itself had a cartridge that held 4 tracks. v1.03-v1.31 Archives were removed.

When the update launched there was a floor for players to get one of the three Ryzen Xmas skins 'Ryzen Santa', 'Bermuda Elf' and 'Propane Deluxe Snowman', but those were removed the week after.

From v1.5 onwards the Hub went through a massive change. The Content floor of the Hub had a Ryzen Sonus with a 10-track Cartridge inserted into it, and the Ryzen had Auto-On enabled with Waterfall menus also enabled rather than disabled once the now-Console Command guide was removed, and the cartridge inserted into it contained 3 games, one of which is currently exclusive to the Hub. No Digital Applications, Modifiers, Memory Cards or Firmware Chips were installed into the Ryzen in the hub.

### First Anniversary Moderation and Relaunch

On the 19th February 2020 (during development of v1.5), Kowan decided to relaunch Ryzen v1.0 along with its original Hub. This was initially going to be up for 1 week, but then the moderation came crashing down the day after, moderating the Self Destruct icon (which at the time looked like a bomb), the Fearful Harmony Fatal Error tune, and (in the case of pre-v1.4 Ryzen the Subtitles), and two stickers of text saying 'GAMES IMAGES AND MUSIC' and 'SOFTWARE'. When they moderated the Ryzen Hub it brought the Propane Hub down with it, since both consoles shared some stickers.

The worst thing was the fact that it all happened during the development of v1.5, which meant that Kowan ended up breaking all compatibility with older versions not only by changing all the tags from using the 'Ryzen - ' prefix to the 'Ryzen::' one but he ended up simplifying the Digital Application installation and even went so far as to change the console's exterior design to change the cartridge system when it became clear Flare Console compatibility would be added and the earlier cartridges were unreliable, along with the cancellation of an updated Bermuda with the new cartridge system (which would've also meant the NeXT Player would be built in) and the removal of Propane Deluxe from the line. The tag change also affected the Tappables.

The Ryzen Masterpieces wouldn't return until the 19th of February, 2021, just 7 days after the Flare Console and Flare Console II was discontinued. For the first time content was made for it, including a port of Flare Console's Flash to the Ryzen via a Firmware Chip, Kowan's pet project Minesweeper, and even some software by RGames themselves.

## Features

### Backwards Compatibility

Since v1.5, Ryzen can play folders made for its predecessor, the Flare Console, through an engine named Flarium. In fact, Ryzen's Auto-Insert is better at inserting Flare Console folders than the Flare Console itself, since the Ryzen was designed for both LBP2 and LBP3.

### Customisation Features

The Ryzen was built with customisation in mind, so it has features like custom Firmware Chips that allows users to swap out the existing Waterfall menu for one that they brewed up themselves or was made by someone else. AI Chips allowed players to make their own console sentient, especially with the likes of RAMA (Ryzen Automatic Manual Assistant). The AI chips can speak and do console-related stuff that can vary depending on whether the console is on or off.

### Tappables

Since the very first version, Ryzen supported a line of NFC figurines called Tappables, which were operated by tapping the figurine near the bottom centre of the console. Initially Applications can only read data related to what the Tappable is, but since v1.2, the figures were updated to store extra data that Applications can read. Only a Ryzen and Ryzen Aero can write Tappable data.