game
icon
title Arkanoid (US, older)
set name arknoiuo
manufacturer Taito America Corporation (Romstar license)
year 1986
genre Breakout (hof)
category Breakout (hof)
driver status good
driver source arkanoid.c
snapshots MW: in game | parent / CT: in game | title | parent / Mr. Do: parent / EJ: parent / PS: in game | title | parent
zoom
rating

66.1% after 21 votes
 
parent Arkanoid (World)
other clones Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware)
Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU)
Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, harder)
Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg, set 1)
Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2)
Arkanoid (Japan)
Arkanoid (Tayto bootleg)
Arkanoid (Tayto bootleg, harder)
Arkanoid (US)
Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 1)
Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2)
Paddle 2 (bootleg on Block hardware)
Tournament Arkanoid (US)
display
colour emulation good
palette 512
display type raster
orientation vertical
resolution 224x256
frequency 60.000000Hz
sound
sound emulation good
channels mono
controls
players 2
nplayers 2P alt
controls dial
buttons 1
coin slots 2
hardware
cpu Z80 @ 6MHz
cpu M68705 @ 3MHz
audio AY-3-8910A @ 1.5MHz
data
version added .069
last change(s) .105u4
roms
name size crc set flags sha1
a75-01-1.rom  32768  5bcda3b0  arkanoid    52cadd38b5f8e8856f007a9c602d6b508f30be65 
a75-10.rom  32768  a1769e15  arknoiuo    fbb45731246a098b29eb08de5d63074b496aaaba 
arkanoid.uc  2048  515d77b6  arkanoid    a302937683d11f663abd56a2fd7c174374e4d7fb 
a75-03.rom  32768  038b74ba  arkanoid    ac053cc4908b4075f918748b89570e07a0ba5116 
a75-04.rom  32768  71fae199  arkanoid    5d253c46ccf4cd2976a5fb8b8713f0f345443d06 
a75-05.rom  32768  c76374e2  arkanoid    7520dd48de20db60a2038f134dcaa454988e7874 
a75-07.bpr  512  0af8b289  arkanoid    6bc589e8a609b4cf450aebedc8ce02d5d45c970f 
a75-08.bpr  512  abb002fb  arkanoid    c14f56b8ef103600862e7930709d293b0aa97a73 
a75-09.bpr  512  a7c6c277  arkanoid    adaa003dcd981576ea1cc5f697d709b2d6b2ea29 
cabinet art
additional information
info 0.34b8 [?]

0.30 [Brad Oliver]

WIP:
  • 0.127u4: Dazzer added correct colour PROMS to clone Tournament Arkanoid (US) and fixed rom names.
  • 30th July 2008: Guru - Arkanoid chips arrived to be decapped, thanks to Dox.
  • 0.123u4: Corrado Tomaselli changed/verified clocks in Arkanoid.
  • 0.123u1: Stephane Humbert fixed some Arkanoid clones INPUT_PORTS definitions that were curiously using PORT_START_TAG("DSW") instead of PORT_MODIFY("DSW").
  • 0.122u6: Changed M68705 CPU2 clock speed to 3MHz.
  • 0.122u4: Bryan McPhail fixed MCU emulation (arkanoid061gre). Bit 7 is suspected to be MCU reset, the evidence for this is that the games tilt mode reset sequence shows the main CPU must be able to directly control the reset line of the MCU, else the game will crash leaving the tilt screen (as the MCU is now out of sync with main CPU which resets itself). This bit is the likely candidate as it is flipped early in bootup just prior to accessing the MCU for the first time.
  • 0.115: Aaron Giles updated 68705 clocks to take into account the internal divide by 4. Added constant so that it is clear why this is being done. Changed M68705 CPU4 clock speed to 750000 Hz.
  • 0.114u4: Tormod Tjaberg updated clocks in Arkanoid based on measurements from a real PCB.
  • 0.108u4: Stephane Humbert added many more notes/info to the Arkanoid driver and added clones Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, harder), Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2) and Arkanoid (Tayto bootleg). Renamed (arkatayt) to (arktayt2).
  • 0.108u3: Renamed (arkbl2) to (arkmcubl), (arkbl3) to (arkgcbl), (arkbloc2) to (arkblock) and (arkblock) to (arkbloc2). Big update to the Arkanoid driver which improves emulation of some bootlegs [Steph]: Interverted 'arkblock' and 'arkbloc2' sets for better comparaison. Renamed sets. Changed some games descriptions. Removed flags from the following sets: arkbloc2, arkgcbl and paddle2.
  • 0.106u3: Fixed rom names in clone (Tayto bootleg, Japanese).
  • 0.105u4: Fixed rom names in Arkanoid.
  • 0.104u4: Adam Bousley added save states to the Arkanoid driver.
  • 0.82u2: Curt Coder merged memory maps in the Arkanoid driver. Moved paddle2 trickery to machine/arkanoid.c.
  • 17th June 2003: Angelo Salese added preliminary MCU simulation to Paddle 2, but it still has some issues.
  • 0.69: Stephane Humbert added clone Arkanoid (US, older).
  • 15th July 2002: Stephane Humbert added another version of Arkanoid.
  • 7th July 2002: Smitdogg and Dave Widel fixed the sprite placement in Dig Dug and added a clone of Arkanoid.
  • 0.60: Added clones Arkanoid (Japan bootleg Set 3), Block (bootleg, Japan) and Paddle 2 (bootleg 1986).
  • 20th April 2001: Stefan Jokisch fixed a bug in the Arkanoid driver that caused instant deaths in the last level.
  • 0.37b5: Added clone Tournament Arkanoid (US).
  • 12th June 2000: Kieron Wilkinson added the Tournament Arkanoid romset to the Arkanoid driver.
  • 1st April 2000: Guru - Dumped Tournament Arkanoid (Taito 1987, Romstar License).
  • 0.36b4: Highwayman added clone Block (Game Corporation bootleg). Added TESTDRIVER Block (bootleg 1986, Japanese) and Block (Game Corporation bootleg 1986).
  • 0.35: Nicola Salmoria fixed later levels in Arkanoid (US). Added clones Arkanoid (Japan) and Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg). Fixed cpu2 rom ($0) length from 1920 to 2048.
  • 24th June 1999: Nicola added made-up 68705 roms to Arkanoid's US and Japan versions, which fixes the later levels.
  • 24th April 1999: Roberto Fresca added an Arkanoid version with round selector.
  • 0.35b6: Replaced M6805 CPU2 with M68705.
  • 0.34b8: Changed description from 'Arkanoid (Taito)' to 'Arkanoid (World)' and 'Arkanoid (Romstar)' to 'Arkanoid (USA). Added clones Arkanoid (Japanese bootleg Set 3) (Testdriver) and Block (bootleg, Japanese) (Testdriver).
  • 0.33b7: Removed Arkanoid (BETA bootleg) from MAME.
  • 0.31: Thierry Lescot added clones Arkanoid (BETA bootleg) and (Tayto bootleg). Aaron Giles added clone Arkanoid (Bootleg). Due to a missing image for the 68705 microcontroller, the BETA bootleg doesn't work. Due to features of the 68705 not emulated yet, the "arkbl2" bootleg set doesn't work. Since it doesn't have to emulate the 68705, the Tayto bootleg is faster than the other versions. Dual paddle in cocktail mode is not supported.
  • 0.30: Brad Oliver added Arkanoid (Taito 1986) and clone (U.S. Romstar). Not playable.
LEVELS: 33

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Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH

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Romset: 164 kb / 9 files / 67.8 zip
history Arkanoid (c) 1986 Taito.


After a sudden alien assault, the Arkanoid spaceship has been destroyed and the only survivor, the small 'Vaus' space vessel, has been mysteriously trapped in another dimension by an unknown enemy. The player is charged with helping the 'Vaus' overcome the security systems, as well as the many enemies that guard them, before finally finding and destroying 'DOH', the alien responsible for the attack.


Arkanoid is an update of the early ball and paddle video games - and specifically of Atari's 1978 classic, "Super Breakout" - in which the player takes control of a paddle at the bottom of the screen and must use it to deflect a ball into rows of bricks at the top of the screen, thus destroying them and, eventually, clearing the screen to progress to the next level.


As well as impressive and colourful graphics, Arkanoid introduced a number of new elements to the classic bat 'n' ball gameplay. Certain bricks, when destroyed, would release a power-up - in the form of a falling capsule. the player had to catch the capsule to retrieve the power-up. Among the many enhancements the power-ups provided were an increased 'bat' size, multiple balls, 'sticky' ball (which would stick to the bat and could be released when the player chose) and even a laser, which allowed the player to shoot the bricks.


- TECHNICAL -


Prom Stickers : A75


Main CPU : Z80 (@ 6 Mhz), M68705 (@ 500 Khz)

Sound Chips : AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz)


Screen orientation : Vertical

Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz

Palette colors : 512


Players : 2

Control : paddle

Buttons : 1


- TRIVIA -


Licensed to Romstar for US distribution (December 1986).


Arkanoid has remained a popular game and is commonly cloned by aspiring game developers in freeware and shareware titles. Many companies have also regularly cloned the game in arcades.


Arkanoid's popularity led to it being featured in "Rainbow Islands - The Story of Bubble Bobble 2", which has a whole level (4 stages in all) dedicated to the game, including DOH as the level boss.


Donald Hayes holds the official record for this game on extremely hard settings with 1,065,440 points on June 2, 2008.

Zack Hample holds the official record for this game on normal settings with 1,658,110 points on March 13, 2000.


2 bootlegs of this game are known as "Block" and "Paddle 2". There is a hack made by Two-Bits score known as "Arkanoid Plus".


- UPDATES -


Bootlegs version don't use the M68705 @ 500 Khz :-)


The Japanese version supports cocktail mode whereas the others don't.


- SCORING -


Points are scored for destroying bricks and killings aliens.


- TIPS AND TRICKS -


* Pill descriptions :

S - Slow : slows down the energy ball.

L - Laser : enables the vaus to fire laser beams.

C - Catch : catches the energy ball and shoots it when you want it.

B - Break : allow player to move to next playfield.

E - Expand : expands the vaus.

P - Player : gains an additional vaus.

D - Disrupt : splits the energy ball into three particles.


* The power pills are not quite random. There are essentially two types of games. One has lots of light blue multi-ball pills and the pink warp pills - this is a low scoring game. The high scoring game gives you more of the other pills.


* On each level, the ball will not speed up completely until it hits the back wall, so :

1) Try to remove bricks from the bottom up, or punch a hole through thicker areas of bricks rather than go straight through (e.g. take out the left side of level 2 rather than the single block at the right as you will catch far more pills).

2) If you have collected a lot of S pills and the ball has been in play for a bit of time, be prepared for a sudden speedup.


* Also, the D token speeds up the balls and is pretty useless on most levels (the one with the enclosed diamond is the only good example I can think of).


* As only one pill can fall at a time, multiple balls can reduce your potential score quite drastically. Every pill is worth 1000 points. For the first few levels, get every pill you can, but do not use the special powers. You will get a lot of extra ships and should get a gray P or two - thereby starting early with 6 or 7 ships.


* In the final level, where you face DOH himself, you should get 15 hits (1000 points per hit) on DOH/per man until you defeat DOH with the 16th hit on your last man to end the game.


- SERIES -
  1. Arkanoid (1986)
  2. Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh (1987)
  3. Arkanoid - Doh It Again (1997, Nintendo Super NES)
  4. Arkanoid Returns (1997)
  5. - STAFF -
    • Game designed by : Akira Fujita (AKR)
    • Programmed by : Yasumasa Sasabe (SSB)
    • Director of hardware & co-programmer : Toshiyuki Sanada (SND)
    • Assistant programmer : Toru T. (TOR)
    • Graphic designer : Onijust H. (ONJ)
    • Sound composer : Hisayoshi Ogura
    • Sound effects : Tadashi Kimijima
    • Pattern designer : Akira Iwai
    • - PORTS -
    • * Consoles :
    • Nintendo BS ("BS Arkanoid") [might be a prototype]
    • Nintendo Famicom (1986) : include its own controller in the package, a smaller version of the spinner used in the arcade version.
    • Nintendo Super Famicom (1997)
    • Nintendo DS (2007, "Arkanoid DS" included a paddle like GBA cartridge it will plug into DS Slot 2)
    • * Computers :
    • PC9801 (1986 - Taito)
    • PC [MS-DOS] (1986)
    • MSX (1986)
    • BBC B (1987, "Arkanoid" - Imagine)
    • Thomson TO7 (1987)
    • Tandy (1987)
    • Commodore C64 (1987)
    • Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1987)
    • Apple II (1987)
    • Atari 800 (1987)
    • Atari ST (1987)
    • Commodore Amiga (1987)
    • Amstrad CPC (1987)
    • Thomson M05
    • Thomson TO8
    • - SOURCES -
    • Game's rom.
    • Machine's picture.
    • Edit this entry at Arcade-History.com: http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=arkanoid&page=detail&id=106&o=2
resource links view in MAWS
view in CAESAR
view high score and replay at MARP
view in Progetto EMMA (Italian)
view in arcade-history.com
view in arcade-history.com
view in GameFAQs
view in GameFAQs
view in KLOV
view in MamEnd
view in System16
view in System16
view in The Arcade Flyer Archive
view in The Arcade Flyer Archive
view in The Arcade Flyer Archive
view in VGMuseum Game Endings
view in VGMuseum Game Endings
view in VGMuseum Gamepics
view in VGMuseum Gamepics
cheats
cheats
code comments
00000000:C432:00000009:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Credits
00000000:ED72:00000020:FFFFFFFF  Go to Last Level
00000000:EF62:00000000:FFFFFFFF  Don't die when ball is out
00000010:C4A5:000000E2:000000E4  Always Keep One Ball in Play
00000000:C4CE:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Warp door always open
00000000:C4CE:00000000:FFFFFFFF  Warp door never open
00000001:C4CE:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Open Warp door Now!
00000001:C4CE:00000000:FFFFFFFF  Shut Warp door Now!
00000001:ED83:00000000:FFFFFFFF  Finish this Level Now!
00000001:EF62:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Lose a Life Now!
  L (Red) = Laser
  E (Blue) = Enlarged Bat
  C (Green) = Catcher Bat
  S (Orange) = Slower Ball
  B (Pink) = Warp Door
  D (Cyan) = Multiballs
  P (Grey) = Extra Life
00000000:C658:00000080:FFFFFFFF  No pills can fall
00000001:C658:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Drop Red Pill Now!
00000001:C658:00000002:FFFFFFFF  Drop Blue Pill Now!
00000001:C658:00000003:FFFFFFFF  Drop Green Pill Now!
00000001:C658:00000004:FFFFFFFF  Drop Orange Pill Now!
00000001:C658:00000005:FFFFFFFF  Drop Purple Pill Now!
00000001:C658:00000006:FFFFFFFF  Drop Cyan Pill Now!
00000001:C658:00000007:FFFFFFFF  Drop Black Pill Now!
000000A0:C658:00000001:FFFFFFFF  Drop Red Pill every 5 s
000000A0:C658:00000002:FFFFFFFF  Drop Blue Pill every 5 s
000000A0:C658:00000003:FFFFFFFF  Drop Green Pill every 5 s
000000A0:C658:00000004:FFFFFFFF  Drop Orange Pill every 5 s
000000A0:C658:00000005:FFFFFFFF  Drop Purple Pill every 5 s
000000A0:C658:00000006:FFFFFFFF  Drop Cyan Pill every 5 s
000000A0:C658:00000007:FFFFFFFF  Drop Black Pill every 5 s
00000001:C658:00000081:FFFFFFFF  Change Pill to Red Now!
00000001:C658:00000082:FFFFFFFF  Change Pill to Blue Now!
00000001:C658:00000083:FFFFFFFF  Change Pill to Green Now!
00000001:C658:00000084:FFFFFFFF  Change Pill to Orange Now!
00000001:C658:00000085:FFFFFFFF  Change Pill to Purple Now!
00000001:C658:00000086:FFFFFFFF  Change Pill to Cyan Now!
00000001:C658:00000087:FFFFFFFF  Change Pill to Black Now!
60000000:0000:00000000:00000000 
00000000:ED76:00000006:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Lives PL1
00000000:ED7B:00000006:FFFFFFFF  Infinite Lives PL2
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