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Block-breakers: Breakout Clones & Arkanoid Clones


Block-breaker Home Computer Games



This is an alphabetical index of some notable 8- and 16-bit block-breaker computer games aka Breakout clones and Arkanoid clones that I have currently covered in overviews and reviews. Only block-breakers that appeared on Western home computer game machines are indexed.

The object of block-breakers is to hit a ball into destructible blocks using a bat. Players move the bat on the playing field in order to intercept the ball. For aiming purposes, the trajectory of the ball is subject to the bat; that is, the bat is used to aim the ball at the blocks, which are displayed in varying formations. This is the purest and most universal description of block-breaker gameplay. Any expansion on this description requires ponderous qualifying statements due to the nuances of the block-breakers enumerated below.

The origin of the block-breaker is Atari's Breakout coinop of 1976, and the origin of Breakout is Atari's Pong of 1973, which is a bat-and-ball game with no blocks. Breakout influenced Taito's Space Invaders of 1978.

Taito's Arkanoid is the greatest Breakout clone of all-time, and Amiga Arkanoid is the best block-breaker to ever appear on a Western home computer game machine as well as one of the best coinop ports of all-time.

In the specific sphere of Western home computer games the best block-breakers came out in 1987 and 1988.

Thus far, I have covered 11 block-breakers.


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