Created by designers expanded on the concept established in Atari's Breakout, a successful game in its own right that was met with a large wave of similar clone games from other manufacturers. It was part of a contest, where two teams of designers had to complete a block breaker game and determine which one was superior to the other. The film Tron served as inspiration for the game's futuristic, neon aesthetic. Level designs were sketched on paper before being programmed and tested to make sure they were fun to play. The enemy and power-up designs were 3D models converted into sprite art.
Early location tests surpassed initial expectations. It became a major commercial success in arcades, becoming the highest-grossing table arcade cabinet of 1987 in Japan and the year's highest-grossing conversion kit in the United States. The game was commended by critics for its gameplay, simplicity, addictive nature, and improvements over the original Breakout concept. The game revitalized the genre and set the groundwork for many games to follow. Ported to many home video game platforms, including the Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, ZX Spectrum, and (years later) mobile phones, and it spawned a long series of sequels and updates over the course of two decades.
Block breaker video game. Its plot involves the starship being attacked by a mysterious entity from space named DOH. A small paddle-shaped craft is ejected from the player's paddle-shaped craft named the Vaus along the bottom of the screen.
The player controls the space vessel that acts as the game's "paddle" which prevents a ball from falling from the playing field and attempts to bounce the ball against a number of bricks. The ball striking a brick causes the brick to disappear. When all the bricks are gone, the player advances to the next level, where another pattern of bricks appears. There are game variations (bricks that have to be hit multiple times, flying enemy ships, etc.) and power-up capsules to assist the player (Number of balls, equip a laser cannon, break directly to the next level, extra, etc.), but the gameplay remains the same.[6]
On the final stage (33 on most versions, but 36 on the), the player takes on the game's boss, "DOH". Once this point is reached, the player no longer has the option to continue after running out of lives, making this segment more difficult. The game is over regardless of the outcome.
Conversions[edit]
ported to the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, BBC Micro, Atari 8-bit family, Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, Apple, and IBM PC. A Macintosh version was released in 1987 and a port was released for the Color Computer 3 in 1989. Computer conversions were published by Imagine. The port was packaged with a custom controller.
Legacy[edit]
A number of direct and indirect sequels.[43] was released in 1987 exclusively in the United States by Romstar. Developed by America rather than Japan, it has the same gameplay but adds new levels. Revenge, a true sequel with new gameplay mechanics, was released in arcades in 1987. It Again and Returns was published in 1997, followed by DS in 2007.[44]
Live! May 6, for Xbox Live Arcade.[45] The game Plus! Japan on May 26, PAL regions on August 21, 2009, and North America on September 28, 2009.[46] A version for iOS was in 2009.[47]
The mashup was in 2017 for iOS and Android.
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