Tag Archives: bat and ball

Breakout, Atari 2600

Brad Stewart‘s 1978 Atari 2600 conversion of the pioneering 1976 arcade game, Breakout, is a software-based cartridge version that most people who’ve played the game will be familiar with. Mainly because – as far as I know – the original arcade version of Breakout is currently un-emulatable, because it utilizes mechanical components that prevent it from being played as a ROM file in something like MAME.

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Devilish: Ball Bounder, Nintendo DS

Devilish: Ball Bounder (aka Classic Action: Devilish in North America; aka Devilish in Europe) is the third game in the Devilish series and was released thirteen years after its predecessor, Devilish: The Next Possession for the Megadrive/Genesis. It was developed by Starfish Kaihatsu and released for the Nintendo DS in 2005 in Japan and Europe, and 2007 in North America.

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Devilish: The Next Possession, Megadrive/Genesis

Devilish: The Next Possession (known in Japan as Bad Omen) is the Megadrive/Genesis sequel to the 1991 Game Gear game, Devilish. It was developed by Genki and first released in 1992.

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Devilish, Game Gear

Developed by Opera House and published by Genki in Japan, Sage’s Creation in North America, Sega in Europe, and Tec Toy in Brazil in 1991, Devilish is an excellent Breakout/Arkanoid variant where the aim is to bounce a ball to the end of a scrolling level within a strict time limit.

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Fireball II, Archimedes

Fireball II is a garish but playable Arkanoid clone for the Acorn Archimedes, written by Simon Heather and published by Cambridge International Software in 1990.

Although the graphics look a bit amateurish, Fireball II does have a number of surprises under the hood, which make it fun to play.

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Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh, Arcade

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.

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Arkanoid, Arcade

Taito‘s Arkanoid was released into arcades in 1986 and did for bat and ball games (often referred to as Breakout clones) what Mario did for platform games. That is: revitalise them with new ideas and features.

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