Manufacturer: Taito
Year: 1986

It's breakout with bells and whistles attached! Set in space, with a ficticious storyline about alien spaceships and a mission to save the universe, Arkanoid basically pits your moving ship at the bottom of the screen bouncing a ball to destroy all the bricks on a screen to advance to the next level.

The game follows the basic principles of Breakout. Your ship can move left and right and you must deflect the ball(s) back up the screen by making contact with it/them. When the ball hits a brick it is destroyed or weakened and at random intervals bonus items roll down the screen which can be collected to increase or decrease your ship's powers or abilities.

There are also alien ships on each screen to hamper your progress. You can destroy these by making direct contact with them or by hitting them with the ball. Note that they deflect the ball when they are hit.

Some screens have indestructible bricks positioned to make your route to clear the level more difficult, and occasionally there is only one path through which you can deflect the ball to reach the normal bricks.


Scoring:

Points are scored for destroying bricks and killings aliens.


Bonus Items:

This gives your ship the ability to catch the ball and hold it until the fire button is pressed.

Causes two extra balls to be released on screen.

Extends your ship to double its normal width, making it easier to hit the ball.

Gives your ship powerful twin lasers which can be fired to destroy bricks.

This slows down the balls on screen.

There is also a 'B' powerup which opens a door at the right side of the screen. Pass through it to advance a level.

There is also a 'X' powerup which gives you an extra life.


Clones Supported

US version.

Bootleg.

BETA bootleg.

Taito bootleg, not using the 68705 microcontroller.


Game Dipswitch options

o Game continue after all lives are lost can be set to yes or no (default is yes).

o Game difficulty can be set to easy or hard (default is easy).

o Starting lives can be set to 2 or 3 (default is 3).

o Extra lives can be set to 20,000 only or 20,000 and 60,000 (default is 20,000 and 60,000).


Playing hints/tips

o The laser powerup cancels all other active abilities.

o If the you collect the laser, do not collect other powerups as they will cancel it. Use the lasers to destroy as many bricks as quickly as possible.

o You can choose to ignore a doorway to the next level if you decide to complete the current screen normally.

o Ignore the alien ships where possible, as they pose no threat, and are merely a distraction.

o If you hit the ball at the edge of your ship it will be deflected at a low angle and will speed up. Collect a 'S' to slow it back down if possible.

o Always try to get the extra life powerup. It does not matter if you miss the ball but collect the powerup as you will simply be no worse off.

o The Extend and Catch powers can be used in unison to provide a larger ship with catch ability.


Back to the games page

Back to the RETROCADE games page