Breakout clone

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Please improve this article if you can. (December 2007)

A Breakout clone (also known as a Breakout-style game[1][2]), is a sub-class of the "bat-and-ball" genre[3][4][5] introduced with the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis and Atari's Pong.[6][7][8][9] The genre gets its name by the games being based around the dynamics of a player controlled block, called a "bat" or a paddle, which hits a ball towards another player's bat or game specific object.

Breakout-style games are characterized by the addition of a wall of blocks or similar objects, that the player chips away at with the ball as part of the main gameplay.[1] Since the release of the original Breakout arcade game in 1976, there have been notable clones and updates for various platforms. The profusion and notability of such games has been sufficient enough for them to also be referred to by some as a genre in their own right.[1][2][10] However, since this is a fairly narrow definition of a genre, it is often not considered as such.

Breakout clones' status as a genre is slightly more established in Japan than in North America.[citation needed] Block kuzushi (ブロック崩し burokkukuzushi, literally block destruction) is the name given in Japan to these games. A number of block kuzushi games were released in Japan under the title Block Kuzushi, including members of D3 Publisher's Simple series and a Color TV Game system by Nintendo. However, this is a generic name referring to the genre (similar to a tennis game being called Tennis). The games titled Block Kuzushi are all distinct games and should not be considered as a series.

Contents

[edit] Notable Breakout clones

[edit] Arkanoid clones

 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (June 2007)

Arkanoid was a successful[12] clone of Breakout, that spawned many notable clones of its own.

[edit] 1987

[edit] 1988

  • Addicta Ball (MSX, Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum)
  • Ataroid (Atari 8-bit)
  • Ball-Blasta (Commodore 64)
  • Ball Raider II (Amiga)
  • Break Out II (Atari 8-bit)
  • Break It (Atari 8-bit)
  • Crack (Amiga)
  • Crillion (Commodore 64)
  • Crystal Hammer (Amiga)
  • Giganoid (Amiga)
  • Hallax (Commodore 64)
  • Meganoid (Amiga)
  • Ricochet (Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum)
  • Traz (Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum)
  • Virus: The Breakout Error (Commodore 64)

[edit] 1989

  • Alleyway (1989, Game Boy)
  • Bananoid (1989, IBM PC, freeware)
  • Breakthru' (1989, Atari 8-bit)
  • The Brick (1989, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum)
  • Crack-Up (1989, Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC, Atari 800, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum)
  • Exploding Wall (1989, Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum)
  • Hyperball (1989, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro)
  • Krypton Egg (1989, Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC)
  • Snoball in Hell (1989, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum)
  • Super Ball (1989, Atari 8-bit)
  • Titan (1989, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum)

[edit] 1990 and later

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Nelson, Mark. Breaking Down Breakout: System And Level Design For Breakout-style Games (HTML). Gamasutra. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
  2. ^ a b Durham, Joel (Aug. 2, 2005). Breakout-Style Games - Download This! - Issue #3 (HTML). GameSpy. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
  3. ^ Good Old fashioned Ball-Bashing Fun! (HTML). dooyoo. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  4. ^ Eidos Announce Nervous Brickdown (HTML). Kotaku (May 5th, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  5. ^ Pulsoids for the Oric (HTML). Oldschool Gaming. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  6. ^ Hawkins, Matthew (April 24, 2006). "The Father of Home Video Games": Ralph Baer (HTML). Gamasutra. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
  7. ^ 3d Ping Pong (HTML). Playracketsports.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  8. ^ Maddox, Chris. Ball Rush 2, Slowly moving towards mediocrity (HTML). Pocket Gamer. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  9. ^ What makes a true gaming classic? (HTML). Edge Online. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  10. ^ Balistrieri, Emily (May 25, 2007). Previews: Nervous Brickdown - We check out the latest "Breakout clone" on DS that isn't a clone. (HTML). 1UP.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
  11. ^ http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005244
  12. ^ Arkanoid. Retrieved on 2007-06-03.
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