Arkanoid

Arkanoid

Game No.	26
Voting	8.14 points, 65 votes
Developer	David A. Collier
Company	Imagine
Publisher	Taito
Musician	Martin Galway
HVSC-File	/MUSICIANS/G/Galway_Martin/ Arkanoid.sid
Release	1987
Platform	C64 Amiga PC (Java)
Genre	Arcade - Breakout/Pong
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (in turns)
Operation
Media
Language
Information	successor: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh Arkanoid: Doh It Again

Description[edit | edit source]

Story[edit | edit source]

"The era and time of this story is unknown. After the mothership "Arkanoid" was destroyed, a spacecraft "Vaus" scrambled away from it, but only to be trapped in space by someone..."

Game principle[edit | edit source]

Arkanoid is one of the most well-known (partly very fast) Breakout variant, which can demand everything even from good players. The 32 levels consist of many rectangular blocks, that need to be destroyed by an energy ball. The Vaus capsule forms a barrier with which you hurl the ball onto the blocks. If you lose a ball, also the Vaus capsule will lose one of its 5 lives. Behind some blocks hides one of seven different extras. If the block is destroyed, an extra capsule sinks to the ground. If you catch it with the Vaus capsule, you will receive - next to points - an additional fitting, such as a wider bat or a laser. After the 32nd level follows the fight with a terminal endboss ("Dimension Changer") as level 33. It needs to be destroyed, to "revive" the destroyed mothership through a time travel.

Design[edit | edit source]

The direction of playing is vertical on a static game area. The spaceship (the bat) can only be moved horizontally and the rebound angle of the energy beam (the ball) depends on the hitting point of the ship. The extras can be distinguished by the colours and letters, the aliens are properly animated.

... an animation from level 1 ...

... an image from level 32 ...

Hints[edit | edit source]

Controls[edit | edit source]

There are various options for the operation: paddles, NEOS mouse, joystick and keyboard. With the mouse and the paddles the bat is distinctly better to control than with the keyboard or the joystick.

With the emulator VICE you should use the CBM mouse emulation, which unfortunately is not supported by the Remember version.
(The original version of Arkanoid only supports the NEOS mouse for the C64. Until now only the "alternative" version by Gamebase64 is known, which supports the CBM mouse and can be recognized by the Taito logo in the title screen and the copyright reference to "Taito Armerica Corporation 1987". )

With emulators with paddle emulation the mouse can be used as a paddle substitute (and you can also enjoy the advantages and bugfixes of the Remember version). With this you can steer very precise and fast. (Settings for CCS64: "Options" / "Input": Control Port 1 = Paddles, Mode = PC Mouse + PC Mouse. Settings for VICE (from v2.2): "Settings" / "Mouse Settings" / Mouse Type = Paddle).

In the main menu:

The main menu offers the following possibilities:

N		NEOS mouse (see above)
J		Joystick
K		Keyboard (shift-left = left / shift-right = right /space = fire
P		Paddles (if you own paddles you should take the opportunity!!)
D		1/2 input devices (joysticks, paddles, mouse)
1		1 player
2		2 players
Space		start the game - before that a short note is shown, then you see a short sequence, which shows how the Vaus capsule retrieves itself from the spaceship and then the real game starts.

In the game:

Joy/mouse/paddle-left/right		to steer the bat into the desired direction
Fire		to shot the ball (at the beginning or when having the stick-bonus)

Blocks[edit | edit source]

The following blocks are destroyed with the first hit of the ball:

white	= 10 points	green	= 90 points
red	= 30 points	dark blue	= 110 points
light blue	= 50 points	yellow	= 130 points
violett	= 70 points	black	= ?? points

The following blocks have a special function:

light blue with white border = 150 points at destruction (this block must be hit 2-8 times)

dark blue with white border = 0 points (this block cannot be destroyed - border, wall)

Extras[edit | edit source]

In every block (except for the dark blue ones with white border) extras can be hidden, that fall down after destroying the block and take effect when they are collected with the bat.

S = slows the ball down
C = ball sticks to the bat
E = bat gets big
D = three balls at the same time
L = laser on the bat
B = backdoor to the next level
P = extra life

every 20.000 points there is also an extra life

Enemies[edit | edit source]

Usually, all enemies can be shot with the ball or destroyed with the bat, this gives you bonus points. The enemies basicly only have the task to irritate you and deflect the ball.

Solution[edit | edit source]

In Level 33, the end level, you need to face the boss DOH. It has to be hit about 25 times. In this level no extras can be earned any more, i.e. you need to come out with the extra lives you have collected before. When DOH has been destroyed, the following message appears:

"DIMENSION-CONTROLLING FORT DOH HAS NOW BEEN DEMOLISHED, AND TIME STARTED FLOWING BACKWARDS. VAUS MANAGED TO ESCAPE FROM THE DISTORTED SPACE. BUT THE REAL VOYAGE OF ARKANOID IN THE GALAXY HAS ONLY NOW STARTED......"

Cheats[edit | edit source]

When you enter "Itsmybirthday" into the highscore list after finishing a game, you have unlimited lives in the next game.
Settings: 2 players, 1 joystick, 1 device. The first player has now a normal game. The second player, however, is now in the trainer mode as soon as he has reached 20.000 points. He then gets an extra life with every collision.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
8.14 points at 65 votes (rank 82). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
ASM	8/12	Edition 5/87
C64.com	8	21st July 2013 - 26832 downs
C64Games	9	23rd May 2010 - "top" 17341 downs
Commodore Force	66%	Issue 7 7/93
Commodore Force	68%	Issue 9 9/93
Commodore User	8/10	Issue 42 3/87
Happy Computer	85%	Game special 3/86
Kultboy.com	8.39	21st July 2013 - 54 votes
Lemon64	7.80	21st July 2013 - 165 votes
Ready64	8.05	21st July 2013 - 21 votes
Zzap!	80%	Issue 24 4/87
Zzap!	80%	Issue 59 3/90

Reviews[edit | edit source]

FXXS: "The classic per se, you should know this one. Graphics are good, sound is ok, but in the long run a bit monotonous. 8 points."

Shmendric: "The bad joystick controls (much to slow) reduced me to despair at that time. You could control the game by a Commodore mouse, then it was perfect. Graphics and sound were less in my interest with this simple but great game principle."

Robotron2084: "Crystal clear graphics and sound effects, perfect gameplay (provided mouse control) and a title song that goes to the brain like a hammer drill: the essential, perfect Breakout on the C64. Miles better than the slightly pulpy successor or Krakout. 8 out of 10 points."

Sandy: "I loved this game and played it for weeks. I listened to the title song over and over again. I have listened to the title tune over and over again. Oh, wonderful C64 time: 10 out of 10 points!!"