Arkanoid
Manufacturer: Taito, 1986
Game designed by: Akira Fujita (AKR)
Programmed by: Yasumasa Sasabe (SSB)
Director of hardware & co-programmer: Toshiyuki Sanada (SND)
Assistant programmer: Toru T. (TOR)
Graphic designer: Onijust H. (ONJ)
Sound composer: Hisayoshi Ogura
Sound effects: Tadashi Kimijima
Pattern designer: Akira Iwai
Description:
Inspired by Atari's Breakout, Arkanoid tells the story of the space
vessel Arkanoid, which is destroyed by an alien assault. A smaller
spaceship called Vaus manages to escape from the wreckage, but is
trapped in a space warp caused by a being called "Doh". From this
point, the ship, serving as a paddle for the ball, must battle its
way through a whole bunch of block-based scenarios where certain
bricks need to be cleared, until you get to Doh and try to defeat
him. Adding to the points you can gather are various orb-like
objects that emerge from special doors at the top of the screen, and
can be busted by the balls. Some bricks you clear will yield special
icons that provide you with powers like magnetism, or laser fire,
which then makes it possible to use the button provided for more
than just simply launching, and even splitting the ball into three
units!
The game was so popular that it led to plenty more imitations and
freeware/shareware products. One such that I played was a
French-made game called Popcorn. Arkanoid was also featured as the
background for a whole level in Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble
Bobble 2, with Doh serving in that game as the level boss!
Tips on how to play:
* Power ball/icon descriptions :
S - Slow : slows down the power ball.
L - Laser : enables the Vaus to fire laser beams.
C - Catch : catches the power ball via magnetism and shoots it when
you want it (so you can move the Vaus this way or that before
launching it again).
B - Break : allow player to move to next playfield (opens a special
door you can move out through).
E - Expand : expands the Vaus.
P - Player : gains an additional Vaus.
D - Disrupt : splits the power ball into three balls.
* The power pills are not quite random. There are essentially two
types of games. One has lots of light blue multi-ball pills and the
pink warp pills - this is a low scoring game. The high scoring game
gives you more of the other pills.
* On each level, the ball will not speed up completely until it hits
the back wall, so :
1) Try to remove bricks from the bottom up, or punch a hole through
thicker areas of bricks rather than go straight through (e.g. take
out the left side of level 2 rather than the single block at the
right as you will catch far more pills).
2) If you have collected a lot of S pills and the ball has been in
play for a bit of time, be prepared for a sudden speedup.
* Also, the D token speeds up the balls and is pretty useless on
most levels (the one with the enclosed diamond is the only good
example I can think of).
* As only one pill can fall at a time, multiple balls can reduce
your potential score quite drastically. Every pill is worth 1000
points. For the first few levels, get every pill you can, but do not
use the special powers. You will get a lot of extra ships and should
get a gray P or two - thereby starting early with 6 or 7 ships.
* In the final level, where you face DOH himself, you should get 15
hits (1000 points per hit) on DOH/per man until you defeat DOH with
the 16th hit on your last man to end the game.
Video link: click
here.
Tournament
Arkanoid
Manufacturer: Taito, 1987
Description:
This was a special version of the first game released shortly
afterwards.
Video link: click
here.
Arkanoid
- Revenge of Doh
Manufacturer: Taito, 1987
Directed & Programmed by: Yasumasa Sasabe
Assistant programmers: Toshiaki Tsukano, Hideki Hashimoto
Graphic designers: Tetsuro Kitagawa, Kohzoh Igarashi, Genya Kuriki
Sound designer: Hisayoshi Ogura
Publicity supervisor: Hisayasu Nakane
Mechanical engineer: Yasunori Hatsuda
Game designed by: Kei. S
Description:
Some time after the defeat of Doh in the first game, the mysterious
villain returns to cause more problems for the Vaus crew, getting
them stuck in another crazy dimension that they need to find their
way out of by navigating the various rooms and clearing the
neccesary bricks. The game also features at least two new features
for bricks. Notched silver bricks, like normal silver bricks, take
several hits to destroy. However, after a short period of time after
destruction, they regenerate at full strength. Fortunately, clearing
a level does not require that any notched bricks need to be
destroyed. Also, some bricks move from side to side as long as their
left and/or right sides are not obstructed by other bricks.
There's also a mini-boss in the form of a giant brain, which can
help you practice and prepare for the eventual showdown with Doh.
Tips on how to play:
* Power ball/icon descriptions :
S (Orange) - Slow : Temporarily slows down the speed of the power
ball. The power ball will speed up upon hitting the ceiling of the
chamber, making this icon unhelpful in some levels. On the other
hand, the power ball speeds up much more quickly and rapidly in this
game, making it helpful to extend a normal playing speed.
L (Red) - Laser : Enables the Vaus to fire laser beams that destroy
most bricks.
C (Light Green) - Catch : Enables the Vaus to catch the power ball,
move to another position, and relaunch it by pressing the fire
button. If you hesitate too long, the Vaus will release the ball on
its own.
B (Pink) - Break : Opens the Warp Gates, allowing you to bypass the
level even when it is unfinished.
E (Medium Blue) - Expansion : Expands the Vaus to double its size.
P (Dark Grey) - Player : Gives you an additional Vaus.
D (Light Blue) - Disruption : Splits the energy ball into eight
particles (unlike in the original game, where this pill split the
energy ball into 3 particles).
* Revenge of DOH also features these additional pills :
M (Purple) - Mega : Turns a normal energy ball into a red "mega
energy ball", which can destroy even indestructible bricks and will
only bounce back after hitting the sides or ceiling of the chamber.
R (Black) - Reduce : Shrinks the Vaus to half its width, but every
block you destroy doubles in point value. Unless you're really a
good player, this makes it very difficult to play.
T (Dark Blue) - Twin : Gives you two Vauses instead of one. Not a
particularly helpful one, as it limits your maneuverability and the
energy ball tends to fall between the Vauses.
I (Dark Green) - Illusion : Creates a transparent grey shadow at the
bottom of the screen that follows the Vaus around. It will deflect
energy balls (though with no control of the rebound direction),
greatly expanding the functional area of the Vaus.
N (Light Grey) - New : Continually splits the energy ball into three
particles until the Vaus catches another pill. This is very helpful
on some levels.
Flashing pill : This special pill will reward you randomly with one
of the following four powers : 1. 40 energy balls; 2. 25 mega energy
balls; 3. 8 regenerating energy balls; 4. Continuous laser fire. On
most levels, the first three powers are enough to clear the entire
board. The fourth, however, can make it extremely difficult to see
what's going on and won't help on levels with lots of indestructible
blocks. Finally, instead of yielding one of the aforementioned
powers, a flashing capsule will occasionally result in a
regenerating swarm of 15 floating enemies passing through the
portals in the ceiling and flooding the screen. While these enemies
are worth 100 points apiece if destroyed by the energy ball, having
to battle so many at once is usually more of survival challenge than
a scoring opportunity.
Video link: click
here.
Arkanoid:
Doh it Again
Manufacturer: Taito, 1997
Description:
A special version made for the Super Nintendo system.
Video links: one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen.
Arkanoid
Returns
Manufacturer: Taito, 1997
Planners: Atsushi Taniguchi, Yuji Koga
Programmed by: I.T.L.
Program support: Shunsuke Ono
Character designers: Chiho Maeda, Mari Fukusaki, Tomohiro Kagawa
Sound: Yasuhisa Watanabe (YACK), Ishikawa Babio (BABI)
Designer: Kumi Mizobe
Description:
The third official installment in this famous series, it even
includes the possibility of two players being able to work
simultaneously. While the game has 50 new levels added, it remains
otherwise unaltered from the gameplay of the previous installments.
The PSX version, released in 1999 as Arkanoid R-2000, has an "extra
mode" available with many more exciting levels and a few additional
challenges like bricks that fade in and out, making it trickier to
get at them, as well as special sub-bosses in the form of space
centipedes.
Video link: click
here.
