0.30 [Brad Oliver]
Artwork available
Bugs:
- arkgcbl arkgcbla: [possible] there is small square during intro on big ship exhaust. haynor (ID 04814)
WIP:
- 0.183: Added detailed memory map and proper mirroring of various memory mapped areas. Documented and mapped the joystick ports which, while present and fully functional on the pcb, are unused by the game code [Lord Nightmare].
- 0.182: Moved 68705 timer logic out of Arkanoid driver and into 68705 core [David Haywood]. Converted Arkanoid 68705 interface to device. Arkanoid bootlegs use P3 MCUs. Moved stuff Arkanoid have in common with other games to new abstract base class [Vas Crabb]. Confirm MCU reset also resets semaphore flags [Lord Nightmare, Vas Crabb]. Fixed watchdog to match PCB tracing and updated some comments [Lord Nightmare]. Replaced M68705 CPU2 with 'MC68705P5'.
- 0.177: Clean up comments and fix obsolete set names in comments which have long since changed. Clean up and update notes about which MCUs are used [Lord Nightmare].
- 0.176: Updated notes, added mention of the secret (disabled?) credits scene found by tcrf.net and who is listed in it [Lord Nightmare, tcrf.net].
- 0.171: Fixed F3 soft-reset on Arkanoid sets with MCU. Made anonymous timer non-anonymous and fixed savestates for the sets using the original Taito MCU code. Documentation cleanup/updates [Lord Nightmare].
- 0.170: Lord Nightmare and brizzo added emulation of the 68705 timer and timer interrupts. Fixed bugs with MCU port c ddr handling, latches and edge detection, added missing interrupt on Z80 write to MCU, and removed a boost interleave hack which was made unnecessary by these fixes. Switched the Arkanoid (older) sets to use original Taito A75 06 MCU code as opposed to the bootleg MCU code used until now. The 3 (newer) and 1 Tournament sets still use hand-hacked bootleg MCU code until original MCU chips can be dumped and/or decapped. All 9 of the dumped Arkanoid MCU code roms now work, if hooked up to the appropriate drivers. Hooked the now-working 'deprotected Taito' MCU dump up to arkanoidjbl. Added an alternate gfx rom dumped from an original 'older' US board. Minor comment fixes. Set YM2149 emulation to mix channels the same way the real PCB mixes them, by directly tying them together with no mixing resistors. This introduces some distortion, but is more accurate to actual PCB audio [Lord Nightmare]. Added note about the number of optical quadrature slots (24) the arkanoid 1:20 geared spinner's quadrature wheel [brizzo]. Changed parent description to 'Arkanoid (World, older)' and clones (US) to 'Arkanoid (US, newer)', (US, oldest rev) to 'Arkanoid (US, older)', (Japan) to 'Arkanoid (Japan, newer)', (Japan, older rev) to 'Arkanoid (Japan, newer w/level select)' and (Japan, oldest rev) to 'Arkanoid (Japan, older)'. Changed YM2149 clock speed to 3MHz.
- 0.164: brizzo and Lord Nightmare added rom numbering list, added more info and more correct rom labels for clone Arkanoid (US, oldest rev) from PCB pics.
- 0.155: ShouTime added clone Arkanoid (Japan). David Haywood added handcrafted MCU rom with corrected level table pointer data for the new set to make it work. Changed parent description to 'Arkanoid (World, oldest rev)' and clones (US, older) to 'Arkanoid (US, oldest rev)', (Japan) to 'Arkanoid (Japan, older rev)' and (Japan, older) to 'Arkanoid (Japan, oldest rev)'. Renamed (arkanoidj) to (arkanoidja), (arkanoidjb) to (arkanoidjbl), (arkanoidjb2) to (arkanoidjbl2) and (arkanoidjo) to (arkanoidjb).
- 12th September 2014: Smitdogg - ShouTime got the final revision of Arkanoid. It's super rare. The last time we saw it on Yahoo Japan it sold for $400 (Japan is the only country where people understand the importance of revisions).
- 0.146u2: Smitdogg and The Dumping Union added clone Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, set 2). Changed description of clone (bootleg with MCU) to 'Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, set 1)'.
- 0.143u2: Added clone Arkanoid (Japan, older). Marked MCU rom as bad dump in Arkanoid (World) and clone (US, older). Renamed (arkmcubl) to (arkanoidjb).
- 0.138u4: Brian Troha added or corrected the PCB location for the genuine Arkanoid rom sets and documented the MCU Taito ID number. Arkanoid now load (but don't yet use) the decapped MCUs (arkanoid1_68705p3.ic14, arkanoid_mcu.ic14 and arkanoid_68705p5.ic14) [Dr. Decapitator]. I think the MCU dump we're using with the original sets is actually from a bootleg? It's similar to the ones dumped from other bootlegs and the 2/3 of the decapped MCUs appear to be very different. Another bootleg had a dump very similar to the fresh decaps instead. This needs sorting out properly. The hookups for the different types of MCU is not identical.
- 10th July 2010: Smitdogg - We're working on a "for sure" legit Taito Arkanoid MCU (for the ones we already have, it's hard to tell if they are all from bootlegs or not; bootleggers made their own MCUs for this game).
- 25th June 2010: Guru - The 68705P3 and 2x 68705P5 MCUs for Arkanoid have now been successfully processed (decap, de-protect & read).
- 0.138u1: Changed description of clone (S.P.A. CO. bootleg) to 'Block 2 (S.P.A. Co. bootleg)'.
- 0.136u1: Corrado Tomaselli changed Arkanoid to use YM2149.
- 0.136: David Haywood added clone Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 3).
- 0.135u4: Fabio Priuli fixed memory leak in debug mode in clone Block 2 (S.P.A. CO. bootleg).
- 0.135u3: f205v and ANY added clone Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware, set 2). Changed description of clone (bootleg on Block hardware) to 'Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware, set 1)'.
- 0.135u1: Fabio Priuli added driver data struct to Arkanoid driver.
- 16th November 2009: ANY dumped Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware, set 2).
- 0.134u3: Andy Welburn and Stephane Humbert added clone Block 2 (S.P.A. CO. bootleg).
- 4th October 2009: Smitdogg - Another cool dump from Andrew Welburn has been added (Block II), the emulation is preliminary at the moment but coming right along as you can see below. It's a bootleg of Arkanoid.
- 0.133u1: Renamed (arknoidu) to (arkanoidu), (arknoiuo) to (arkanoiduo) and (arknoidj) to (arkanoidj).
- 0.129u3: Fabio Priuli fixed paddle input for clones arkbloc2, arkgcbl and paddle2.
- 0.128u7: Roberto Zandona added PAL to clone Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware).
- 0.128u6: Roberto Zandona added correct proms to clone Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware).
- 30th July 2008: Guru - Arkanoid chips arrived to be decapped, thanks to Dox.
- 0.123u4: Corrado Tomaselli changed/verified clocks in Arkanoid.
- 0.123u2: RansAckeR improved some dipswitches, added some DIP locations and simplified some control definitions in Arkanoid driver.
- 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 clones Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, harder), Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2) and Arkanoid (Tayto bootleg). Added many more notes/info to the Arkanoid driver. Changed description of clone (Game Corporation bootleg) to 'Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg, set 1)'. Renamed (arkatayt) to (arktayt2).
- 0.108u3: 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. Changed description of clones (Japanese bootleg Set 2) to 'Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU)', (Japanese bootleg Set 3) to 'Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware)', 'Block (Game Corporation bootleg)' to 'Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 1)' and 'Block (bootleg, Japanese)' to 'Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2)'. Renamed (arkbl2) to (arkmcubl), (arkbl3) to (arkgcbl), (arkbloc2) to (arkblock) and (arkblock) to (arkbloc2).
- 3rd September 2006: Mr. Do - Added instruction cards for Arkanoid.
- 0.106u3: Fixed rom names in clone (Tayto bootleg, Japanese).
- 0.105u4: Fixed rom names.
- 19th March 2006: f205v dumped Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware).
- 0.104u4: Adam Bousley added save states to the Arkanoid driver.
- 29th September 2005: f205v dumped Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, harder). It's a bootleg of "Arkanoid (Japan)", with notice screen eliminated (it only shows a black screen with a red WAIT) and a fix (no dips selection) 1 ball x game and NO starting level selection.
- 0.82u2: Curt Coder merged memory maps in the Arkanoid driver. Moved Paddle 2 (bootleg) trickery to machine\arkanoid.c.
- 0.70u2: Angelo Salese added preliminary MCU simulation to Paddle 2, but it still has some issues.
- 0.69a: A number of changes to the timer system [Aaron Giles]: All the CPU scheduling has moved into cpuexec.c and been taken out of timer.c. A number of bugs relating to time tracking for suspended CPUs have been fixed. A side effect of all this is a change in the behavior of the CPU scheduling. For the most part, games are fine with this. However, there were a few exceptions: The timing of the MCU communication in the Arkanoid driver is broken.
- 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).
- 0.37b15: Frotz fixed Arkanoid "instant death in final round" bug.
- 0.36b4: Highwayman added clone Block (Game Corporation bootleg). Added TESTDRIVER Block (bootleg 1986, Japanese) and Block (Game Corporation bootleg 1986).
- 0.35: Added clones Arkanoid (Japan) and Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg). Nicola Salmoria fixed later levels in clone (US). Changed description of clone (USA) to 'Arkanoid (US)'.
- 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: Added (Testdrivers) Arkanoid (Japanese bootleg Set 3) and Block (bootleg, Japanese). Changed parent description to 'Arkanoid (World)' and clones (Romstar) to 'Arkanoid (USA)', (bootleg) to 'Arkanoid (Japanese bootleg Set 2)' and (Tayto bootleg) to 'Arkanoid (Tayto bootleg, Japanese)'.
- 0.33b7: Removed Arkanoid (BETA bootleg) from MAME. Added color proms ($0, 200, 400). Changed description to 'Arkanoid (Taito)' and clones (U.S. Romstar) to 'Arkanoid (Romstar)' and (Bootleg) to 'Arkanoid (bootleg)'.
- 0.33b3: Known issues: There might also be protection related problems in clone Arkanoid (U.S. Romstar) (later levels corrupted).
- 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. 6805 emulator, needed by Arkanoid [Aaron Giles]. Known issues: 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. Added MCU rom arkanoid.uc (8k) to Arkanoid and clone Arkanoid (U.S. Romstar).
- 0.30: Brad Oliver added 'Arkanoid' (Taito 1986) and clone (U.S. Romstar). Not playable.
LEVELS: 33
Other Emulators:
* CottAGE
* FB Alpha
* HiVE
* JAE
* Raine
* Retrocade
* Sparcade
Recommended Games (Breakout):
Clean Sweep
Meadows 4 in 1 (Knockout & Knockout Doubles)
Breakout
Super Breakout
T.T. Block
Gee Bee
Tournament Table (Breakout)
Bomb Bee
Cutie Q
Field Goal
Monkey Magic
Straight Flush
Zun Zun Block
Time Attacker
Cluster Buster (DECO Cassette)
Wall Crash
Cannon Ball (Pac-Man Hardware)
Flying Ball (DECO Cassette)
Wink
Arkanoid
Tournament Arkanoid
Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH
Arkanoid Returns
Gigas
Gigas Mark II
Omega
Riddle of Pythagoras
Block Gal
Free Kick
Super Free Kick
Goindol
Mahjong Block Jongbou
Quester
Reaktor
Drop Rock Hora Hora (Tourvision PCE bootleg)
Thunder & Lightning
Block Carnival / Thunder & Lightning 2
Block Block
Ghox
Off the Wall
Twin Squash
Brick Zone
Play Girls
Peek-a-Boo!
Street Games (Brick Buster)
Street Games II (Brick Buster)
Blocken
Wiggie Waggie
Cuby Bop
Zip & Zap
Bal Cube
Domino Block
Pop 'n Bounce
Puchi Carat
Puzzle Break
VS Block Breaker
Bestri
Galaxy Games StarPak 2 (Battle Bricks)
Galaxy Games StarPak 3 (Battle Bricks)
Mad Ball
Jumping Break
The Block Kuzushi
Puzzle Club (Mad Ball)
Gunbarich
Arcade Video game published 33 years ago:
Arkanoid (c) 1986 Taito Corp.
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 : Zilog Z80 (@ 6 Mhz), Motorola M68705 (@ 500 Khz)
Sound Chips : General Instrument AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz)
Players: 2 (alternative)
Control: Paddle
Buttons: 1
=> Fire - Used to launch the energy ball at the start of each new round and each new life, to relaunch the energy ball after it is caught by the vaus when the C (Catch) pill is in effect, and to fire lasers when the L (Laser) pill is in effect.
- TRIVIA -
Arkanoid was released in July 1986 in Japan.
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 (four stages in all) dedicated to the game, including DOH as the level boss.
Nick Mollison holds the official record for this game on extremely hard settings with 1,156,930 points on September 7, 2008.
Zack Hample holds the official record for this game on normal settings with 1,658,110 points on March 13, 2000.
An Arkanoid unit appears on the sitcom 'Married... With Children'; Season 6, Episode 4 (Cheese, Cues and Blood).
Official releases:
Taito's Arkanoid
Taito America's Arkanoid
Taito's Tournament Arkanoid
Bootleg/Hack releases:
Tayto's Arkanoid
Game Corporation's Arkanoid
Game Corporation's Block
Beta's Arkanoid
Two-Bits Score's Arkanoid Plus
SPA Co.'s Block II
Paddle 2
- UPDATES -
The Japanese version supports cocktail mode whereas the others don't.
- SCORING -
Points are scored for destroying bricks and killings aliens.
Bricks:
White brick: 50 points.
Orange brick: 60 points.
Cyan brick: 70 points.
Green brick: 90 points.
Red brick: 100 points.
Blue brick: 110 points.
Violet brick: 120 points.
Yellow brick: 50 points.
Silver brick: Worth 50X the stage number you are on.
- 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.
* Bricks:
White brick: One shot to destroy.
Orange brick: One shot to destroy.
Cyan brick: One shot to destroy.
Green brick: One shot to destroy.
Red brick: One shot to destroy.
Blue brick: One shot to destroy.
Violet brick: One shot to destroy.
Yellow brick: One shot to destroy.
Silver brick: The number of hits it takes to destroy them increases by one every eight stages.
Gold brick: Cannot be destroyed.
* Power-up Rarity: The power pills are completely random except that the extra life and warp pills are twice as unlikely to occur. Only one extra life pill is possible per Vaus. If the pill randomizer selects a duplicate pill based on the last pill dropped, a multi-ball pill is substituted. Thus, the multi-ball pill is the only one you can get twice in a row. The randomizer uses player score as the seed, so it is possible to control which pill is dispensed by purposely breaking pill dispensing blocks with specific scores displayed.
* Ball Speed: 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.
3) 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).
* Multiple Balls: As only one pill can fall at a time, multiple balls can reduce your potential score quite drastically. Every pill is worth 1,000 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 six or seven ships.
* DOH: In the final level, where you face DOH himself, you should get 15 hits (1,000 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, Arcade)
2. Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH (1987, Arcade)
3. Arkanoid - Doh It Again [Model SHVC-A6] (1997, Super Famicom)
4. Arkanoid Returns (1997, Arcade)
5. Arkanoid DS (2007, Nintendo DS)
- STAFF -
Game designed by: Akira Fujita (AKR)
Programmed by: Yasumasa Sasabe (SSB)
Director of hardware & co-programme : 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 (A. Iwai)
Software analyzer: Hidegons
Mechanical Engineer: H. Yamaguchi
Publicity Supervisor: Varis. I
- PORTS -
* CONSOLES:
Nintendo BS [JP] "BS Arkanoid" [might be a prototype]
[JP] Nintendo Famicom (dec.26, 1986) "Arkanoid [Model TFC-AN-5400]"
* COMPUTERS:
NEC PC-8801 [JP] by Cary Lab
[JP] NEC PC-9801 (1986) "Arkanoid"
[EU] Atari ST (1986)
PC [MS-DOS] [EU] (1986)
[JP] MSX (1987)
MSX [EU] (1988) by Hit Squad)
BBC B [EU] (1987) by Imagine
Thomson TO7 [EU] (1987)
[EU] Commodore C64 (1987)
[EU] Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1987)
Atari 800 [EU] (1987)
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1987) by Imagine
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1988) by Ocean
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1988) "Les Défis de Taito"
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1988) "Taito Coin-Op Hits"
Thomson M05 [EU]
Thomson TO8 [EU]
BK11M [EU]
[EU] Acorn Archimedes
- CONTRIBUTE -
Edit this entry: https://www.arcade-history.com/?&page=detail&id=106&o=2
