Arcade Archives: Arkanoid

[tepidsnake]

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Arkanoid (Taito, 1986)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

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Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

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Only the Japanese ROM is included, and while it's missing the manual level select of the later revised Japanese version (as explained on The Cutting Room Floor), Preference Settings allow you to select a starting round before you begin (up to Round 32). Preference Settings also let players speed up the hardware check that appears when you boot up the game or reset it, and you have a few control options to simulate the original paddle, including analogue support, USB mouse support and, on Switch 2, JoyCon 2 mouse mode support. This version of the game is edited the same as the one on the Taito Egret II Mini- Rounds 1, 3 and 14 have been changed so they no longer resemble Atari's Breakout. This is, presumably, something to do with the time that Atari sued Taito and Romstar (the US distributor) over the similarities between the two games, although from my limited understanding this may have been settled out of court and the results were never made public.

This game is also included in Taito Milestones 4 for the Switch and is the same as this version.

The era and time of this story is unknown. The Mothership, ARKANOID, has been destroyed, with only a single escape vessel, VAUS, scrambling away from it in the nick of time. However, the tiny ship has found itself trapped in a warped part of space... Who is responsible for this? Right now, the crew of the VAUS does not know, but these are the machinations of DOH, a gigantic Moai head and his HARMFUL ARMY of strange space creatures. This warped and twisted space zone is covered in giant bricks blocking the path of the VAUS. Only by using the ball can the bricks be destroyed, one by one. Perhaps, hiding in the bricks, the VAUS can uncover useful items such as round skips, lasers, multi-ball, size increases and more, but this is indeed a disturbing part of the universe. Maybe the answers lie at the end of Round 33, but who can say for sure...?

If you're a block-breaker fan, you must be absolutely thriving right now, there's been so many paddle games on Arcade Archives lately! Not a complaint, mind you, it's nice to see games with specialised control schemes like this get proper home releases with a few different ways to simulate the paddle. Arkanoid is a classic of the genre, with it adding lots of different patterns to clear out and, probably most importantly, a multitude of items to help you out in a few different ways. The presentation is also very stark but neat, with the ball making different pinging noises depending on what it hits and the little jingle that starts every life or round getting you ready for a bit of bat and ball action. Unfortunately... I am uniquely terrible at Arkanoid. Like, almost unbelievably bad. Once the ball bounces off a few things (especially once it hits the ceiling) it gets way, way too fast for me to keep up, even when playing on the Egret II Mini with the proper paddle and even on a real cabinet with original controls! So, I'm absolutely the last person you should ask about for this game, but it's a Taito classic that spawned a lot of sequels across the years, so it definitely deserves a place on modern consoles. I think I prefer Plump Pop, but that's just me!