| Arkanoid 1987, Taito, NES/Famicom |
Arkanoid is an Arcade "Ball and Paddle" game in the same vein as Atari's Breakout and Super Breakout - almost an evolution actually. After the arcade release, there was a release for the NES and Famicom. Actually, there were TWO releases of Arkanoid on the NES. The Initial release came with a special Paddle Controller (similiar to the Atari 2600 paddle controllers) for NES to play the game like in the arcade. Later on, Taito re-released Arkanoid without this feature, using the D-Pad to move the paddle back and fourth. They also released it for PC at the same time. Actually, it was ported to many platforms.
Arkanoid takes Super Breakout/Breakout and combines it with some kind of weirdo storyline to give it a plot. You control a "paddle-like craft called a Vaus" to clear blocks at the top of the screen and destroy enemies that deploy for various gates up top. The main villan in the series is called the "Doh" (facilitating the title for the sequel Arkanoid II: The Revenge of Doh' Arkanoid spawned the aforementioned sequel and a number of spin-offs over the year as a b-list Arcade and NES title. It falls into a category somewhere with Tetris, and is basically jus a clone of Breakout. The version on the Sup' 400-in-1 is the D-pad release (obviously).It's Grown On Me - My Experiences Arkanoid is one of those types of games I HATED as a kid. Because the coordination involved was something I just was not patient/good-enough in motor skills to perform just yet. I seriously have theories that my learning to play the Guitar had a huge part in my strangely high level video game abilities - ie hand-eye coordination got a lot better with learning the guitar. At one point I had this one for NES as well in cartridge format. I never really played it much. TBH, the home version I like best, is the DOS version, played with a mouse! Particularly on my Tandy 1000A with the Tandy Deluxe Mouse. The home version for the NES is a little fast for D-pad use. If I could find the elusive NES cartridge or Famicom cartridge release with the paddle controller, mayde I'd like it better. Not sure. Either way this shows up a lot more on my tandy 1000 these days, though it should be interesting once the video of this from the Sup 400-in-1 is up.Videos Other Stuff |
