best/worst arkanoid clones...?

edited February 2008 in Games
personally I always liked Krakout better than Arkanoid itself. really addictive, fun to play.

never really got the hype about Batty...decent conversion but too difficult IMO. screen being the same colour as the ball doesn't help. most people seem to think this is the best Arkanoid type game from what I've read.

there were a few awful ones though, like Impact!...

any others worth mentioning?
Post edited by def chris on
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Comments

  • edited June 2007
    Ballbreaker, which is a 3D variation of Breakout/Arkanoid. I've never really played it though so I can't tell you if it's any good. Might give it a go tomorrow actually.

    Necros.
  • edited June 2007
    I'll get it in early, Batty is better, and by the way aren't they Breakout clones rather than Arkanoid clones
  • edited June 2007
    Not fond of Arkanoid, but I liked the Breakout section from the Oink game, and yes indeed, Batty. I think the Speccy is still looking for the ultimate Breakout experience though, as I always plump for Super Breakout on the Atari 2600 for that sort of thing. Think I'd better play through all the suggestions that pop up on here though, just incase there's one that I've missed.
  • edited June 2007
    I never liked Arkanoid II since the backgrounds made it very difficult to see the ball at all. Strange combination of colours for the backgrounds did not make it easier.

    Regarding the worst clone I know must be my own game in basic, from around 1986. Never "released". :smile:

    Screenshot
  • edited June 2007
    Rickard wrote: »
    Regarding the worst clone I know must be my own game in basic, from around 1986. Never "released". :smile:

    Screenshot

    ...colour combination in your game is much better, than in Arkanoid-2 :)
  • edited June 2007
    When I first saw the title of this thread, I immediatly thought "Krakout", and then wasn't at all surprised to see it mentioned in the first post, it truly is a great game.

    Although I've only ever played the C64 version, which I got free on a cover tape some time ago.

    Here's an interesting clip for krakout fans, one of my favourites:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F04F4grZ9Mk
  • edited June 2007
    Krakout has easily the best loading screen, possibly of any speccy game.

    I agree with cichlasoma* that Thru The Wall is easily the best game in this genre;) It has all the right basic qualities.:-)









    *admittedly this is possibly not actually cichlasoma's view in that he has not as yet expressed it as such
  • edited June 2007
    Also, forgot to mention the speccy game Ricochet, that's another one of my long time favourites. I like the powerups, and the fact you can slowly cover the floor over by collecting them.
  • edited June 2007
    The simultaneous two-player version of Batty was an inspired feature.
  • edited June 2007
    NickH wrote: »
    The simultaneous two-player version of Batty was an inspired feature.

    Ever tried playing as both players yourself?
  • edited June 2007
    chop983 wrote: »
    Ever tried playing as both players yourself?

    Yep - rather fun!
  • edited June 2007
    cheers for suggestions, I'll check "ricochet" out later. had a go on the "Ballbreaker" 3D style one and cant get to grips with it at all, bit of a head mash to be honest. glad a couple of people liked krakout as well though.

    whoever said its technically Breakout clones, not Arkanoid, I was thinking it might be, wasnt sure...
  • edited June 2007
    "Titan" by Titus is an interesting (but frustrating) one. Set in a 2D multiscreen maze, but with the annoyance of "death bricks", so the ball would be sent down a corridor off-screen, then you'd appear to die for no apparent reason.
  • edited June 2007
    I used to really love Orbit, one of the free games on STOS. It was a really fun version of Breakout with a cool level editor built in.

    Actually, that reminds me of another one - Traz (Transformable Arcade Zone). Again, I've never really played it so I'm not sure if it's any good.

    Necros.
  • edited June 2007
    okay, I tried Titan. pretty good, it seems like they've merged the gameplay with an overhead-view football game or something...not bad.

    I had a go on Ricochet as well, thats quite good. I like the way you can move around the screen but it makes it complicated and I kept killing myself getting the ball trapped underneath the bat, lol.
  • edited June 2007
    Necros wrote: »
    Actually, that reminds me of another one - Traz (Transformable Arcade Zone). Again, I've never really played it so I'm not sure if it's any good.

    Necros.

    playing it now, its ridiculously hard. every screen seems different, like sometimes its horizontal then vertical, sometimes youve got 2 bats, then one. interesting the way they've done it, though.
  • edited June 2007
    Batty
    Arkanoid
    Arkanoid 2 (would have been great but had awful backgrounds)
    Hotshot

    in that order
  • edited June 2007
    Actually, thinking about it, The Light Corridor bears a kind of one step removed relationship to these games. It's a classy 3d bat and ball game in which you have to advance into the corridor keeping the ball projected ahead.
  • edited June 2007
    Actually, thinking about it, The Light Corridor bears a kind of one step removed relationship to these games. It's a classy 3d bat and ball game in which you have to advance into the corridor keeping the ball projected ahead.
    Not really. The Light Corridor has more in common with Room Ten (which is a fantastic little game by the way) than Breakout.

    Necros.
  • edited June 2007
    Yes, it does share more in common with Room 10 really. I like Room 10, a Pete Cooke special. I read that Room 10 bores when playing vs the CPU because it is easy to beat when you know how, but I didn't find it that easy to beat when I tried it out.
  • edited June 2007
    Ragnablock came out last year, and is quite good, though it has a couple of things that I'm not keen on, such as collision detection. Here's a review by some plonker on the net:
    http://www.oldschool-gaming.com/view_review.php?rev=spectrum_ragnablock
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  • edited June 2007
    def chris wrote: »
    I had a go on Ricochet as well, thats quite good. I like the way you can move around the screen but it makes it complicated and I kept killing myself getting the ball trapped underneath the bat, lol.

    Yes, that's a real killer, the more you play it, the more you learn to anticipate that problem, and (hopefully) try to avoid it, although sometimes it's almost impossible.

    A good tip for that game if you wan't to give yourself a better chance of seeing the higher levels is to always go right for the "-" powerup, and always avoid the "+" powerups, trying to only have no more than one ball in play at any time. I also try get all the other powerups as quickly as possible to build the "floor".

    Another good tip is to nearly fill the floor up, and then grab the "double bat" powerup, and move the bats over the remaining floor gaps at the edge of the screen. If you are lucky, you can then finish the level without having to even move your bats again.

    Also, the intro scroller is mildly amusing, if you can be bothered to read it all, and the intro "music" is absolutely bonkers!

    All around it's a unique game, that I often find myself loading up when I'm really bored. I still haven't completed it, although I've got really far, but I'll never allow myself to use snapshots.

    I only got into it because I once had a spectrum 48 with faulty RAM, and ricochet was one of the few games that didn't seem to use the affected area (most of my other games during that period either crashed, or had corrupted sprite data).
  • edited June 2007
    cool... thanks for the tips. Im stuck getting past level 4 on this. (tbh, Im fairly crap at most games though :( )
  • edited June 2007
    Arcamania Retro is a Breakout game for Windows, which features Spectrum graphics in the background of each screen.

    Necros.
  • edited June 2007
    Rickard wrote: »
    I never liked Arkanoid II since the backgrounds made it very difficult to see the ball at all. Strange combination of colours for the backgrounds did not make it easier.

    Regarding the worst clone I know must be my own game in basic, from around 1986. Never "released". :smile:

    Screenshot

    Your clone looks so much better than mine. (Invisible breakout) also not released! :D :D No screenshot mind, but as you can imagine, it was just a black screen with a white line and a ball. Boooorrring!
  • edited June 2007
    Spector wrote: »
    Ragnablock came out last year, and is quite good, though it has a couple of things that I'm not keen on, such as collision detection. Here's a review by some plonker on the net:
    http://www.oldschool-gaming.com/view_review.php?rev=spectrum_ragnablock

    LOL .. when I saw 'plonker on the net' I thought you meant me! heheheh. I liked it though I had a couple of reservations in my review [in TRB]

    1 - no power ups; by tradition most bat n ball games have had them and this one doesn't really have them
    2 - the skulls & collision detection issue.

    I gave it 84%. Rightly or wrongly - you decide ;-)
  • edited June 2007
    forgot to say - I have a soft spot for bat n ball games. I've played a lot of Arkanoid which I prefer over Ark 2, even tho the sequel is more sophisticated.

    Krakout is a good take on that genre, esp as I got it free on a YS tape. Hot Shot (mentioned earlier on) is another alternate take on the standard game, along with an unusual 2 player mode.

    Batty is another game I've reviewed & rated highly which shows I really like it. Not keen on the v.high difficulty level.

    I've also played a lot of the breakout element on Oink! It's got quite colourful and distinctive brick arrangements on the screen and it allows you to automatically fire a gun without needing to get a power-up first.

    For me, I'd put Arkanoid as my favourite / best bat n ball game. Not sure about the worst but Thro the Wall springs to mind.

    a little more than my 2p's worth ... (sorry)
  • edited June 2007
    def chris wrote: »
    personally I always liked Krakout better than Arkanoid itself. really addictive, fun to play.


    I'm glad that you started this thread. When I returned home to Speccyland I tried Arkanoid 2 and found it very compelling. I'd never played it before. Eventually I battered my way through it. It is quite a frenzied challenge.

    Last night I tried Krakout for the first time. I'd avoided it following the Crash review. It feels a lot slower, and I find it quite soothing. I can get to level 12 already without the anxiety rush that Arkanoid 2 brought about.

    I doubt the programmers were aiming for 'soothing' when they created the game, but it is a quality that makes it a very enjoyable game for me right now.

    I read that there are 100 levels to get through, which is good news for me - though on time alone that would make it impossible for me to play through at one sitting.
  • edited June 2007

    I read that there are 100 levels to get through, which is good news for me - though on time alone that would make it impossible for me to play through at one sitting.

    There are other games with this problem of having too many stages to complete in one go - I think it's against the spirit of 8-bit gaming, and I think arcade type games should be beatable in half an hour at most.
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  • edited July 2007
    That other Arkanoid thread has just reminded me to post about another cool bat n ball game, 'Pulsoids' Fab music too. I think its on the Mastertronic Plus label. Pulsoids is certainly my all-time favorite version, and I'm suprised it wasn't the first one that sprang to my mind.
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