Arkanoid

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Arkanoid appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Commodore 64 title music

The Commodore 64 port of the game features an exclusive title soundtrack, with crude digitized beat sounds that play simultaneously with the tune. Martin Galway used the same music that he composed for the ZX Spectrum version of Cobra, but slightly polished it in on the C64.

Firebird Version

Firebird Software were producing a C64 conversion of the game by Lynnsoft. At the time Atari were suing Taito about how the game was a rip-off of Breakout. Atari looked like they were going to win so Firebird approached them with the game and Atari agreed. Taito won the lawsuit and so Firebird and Lynnesoft lost the rights to complete and release the game.

Game Art Beyond

In 2018, Arkanoid was selected as one of the biggest classics on the Commodore 64 by the creators of the C64 graphics collection Game Art Beyond. Arkanoid was honoured with a high resolution title picture (based on artwork for the SNES title Arkanoid Doh it again) in a special C64 graphics format called NUFLI, along with a new C64 SID interpretation of the Arkanoid title theme.

NES controller

The NES version of Arkanoid includes its own controller in the package (a smaller version of the spinner used in the arcade version). The game can also be played with the regular Nintendo controllers, but it is much harder this way since the paddle can't be moved as fast as with the spinner controller.

Other platforms

In the 1990's a series of ARGO TV system console variants were produced each containing multiple games. Arkanoid is part of the 84-in-1 game set. See here for pictures.

Regional differences

The Japanese NES version has three less levels than the US version. Also level 3 in the US version was made easier by switching out the unbreakable blocks with breakable ones.

Awards

• Commodore Force
  • December 1993 (Issue 13) – #96 “Readers' Top 100”* Commodore Format
  • July 1993 (Issue 34) - Modern Classics: Oddities
  • March 1994 (Issue 42) – Heaven: Music of the Gods
• Electronic Gaming Monthly
  • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #41 (Best 100 Games of All Time) (NES version)
• Game Informer
  • August 2001 (Issue 100) - #57 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll