Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh (aka Arkanoid 2) is the sequel to Taito‘s hit game Arkanoid and was released into arcades in 1987.

It takes the ‘bat and ball’ genre (aka the ‘Breakout‘ genre) to previously unheard of levels of both playability and difficulty, and it also managed to influence a lot of other games in the process.

Differences to Arkanoid include: Warp Gates which allow you to choose a direction to branch off in, after completing a level (left or right); new power-ups and enemy types; two new brick types; a mid-game mini boss; 64 levels in total, of which 32 are playable in any single game, before a boss battle with mighty Doh himself at the end (if you were wondering who the hell “Doh” was – he’s the end boss).

Revenge of Doh – like its parent – is devilishly difficult, but very compelling. To play the game properly you really need an analogue controller – otherwise you’re going to struggle to reach the ball with your bat in time. Get it set up right, and Arkanoid 2 is a challenge still worth undertaking today.

This game came out around the same time the 16-bit home computer revolution was happening, so was converted to most home systems. The Atari ST conversion is particularly good.

More: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh on Wikipedia