Arkanoid 2 Amiga 1988 Imagine Software Peter Johnson

Arkanoid 2 Amiga 1988

Peter Johnson of Imagine Software ported Taito's legendary Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh aka Arkanoid 2 coinop of 1987 to the Amiga in 1988. The Arkanoid 2 coinop was designed by Kei Shimizu and programmed by Yasumasa Sasabe.

Arkanoid 2 of 1987 is the direct sequel to Arkanoid of 1986. Amiga Arkanoid and Amiga Arkanoid 2 were both released in 1988.

Please refer to my Arkanoid article for the basics on Arkanoid mechanics.

Arkanoid 2 expands on its predecessor by adding extra features such as regenerating blocks, moving blocks, a round-17 sub-boss, five power-up capsules and one "power-down" or penalizing capsule [1]. 

In addition, simultaneous on-screen aliens have been increased from 3 to 7, there is an indestructible alien, and the sequel's rounds tend to be more reinforced with hardened or indestructible blocks than the rounds in the original. However, the fortress-like round layouts are balanced by an armor-piercing power-up. [2]

As with its predecessor Arkanoid 2 consists of 33 rounds culminating in the boss fight against DOH. However, players can warp through the left or right portals of the rounds, thereby accessing different versions of the rounds.

And while the sequel lacks some of the elegance of its predecessor, Arkanoid 2 still stands as one of the greatest coinop conversions to a 16-bit machine; it is a brilliant conversion.

Atari ST and Amiga versions of Arkanoid were programmed by Peter Johnson. Graphics and audio were also converted to the 16-bit micros by Peter Johnson, who also converted the original Arkanoid to Atari ST.

Arkanoid 2 Capsules

Bolded capsules are Arkanoid 2 additions.

• B: Break: Purple (Opens a door to the next round: warp)
• C: Catch: Green (Allows you to catch the energy ball, move and refire)
• D: Disruption: Light Blue (Splits the energy ball into eight balls, not 3)
• E: Expand: Dark Blue (Increases the length of the Vaus)
• I: Ghosts the Vaus with a trail that can also deflect the ball
• L: Laser: Red (Enables the Vaus to fire laser beams)
• M: Allows the energy ball (or balls) to break through bricks and aliens like hot-knife-butter -- without deflecting (aka armor-piercing). CAN destroy otherwise indestructible blocks. CANNOT destroy indestructible aliens. [2]
• P: Paddle: Grey (1-up aka extra life)
• N: Splits the energy ball into three; the balls regenerate when lost
• R: Reduce: Decreases the length of the Vaus; the opposite to Expand [1]
• S: Slow: Orange (Decreases the speed of the energy ball)
• T: Twin: 2x Vauses that doubles the current effect. But there is a gap between the two Vauses...

Imagine getting the eight-ball disruption capsule followed by the armor-piercing capsule... impressive.

The twin-laser's rate of fire (RoF) was greatly increased in Arkanoid 2. In addition, there is a super-laser capsule that fires even faster -- and automatically (pictured in the above infographic).

Arkanoid 2 was distributed on 1x 3.5" 880 kB diskette.

God-tier game.

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