Strike Ball 2 Deluxe

Strike Ball 2 Deluxe is a 3D version of Breakout. The aim is to destroy all bricks in a level by bouncing a ball with a player-controlled paddle to aim at and hit all bricks in the level. Once all bricks are gone, the same process is repeated in a new level.

The 3D is for the perspective, which is rotatable horizontally and vertically, but it also relates to the level structure, which is multi-layered. The game always starts at the ground layer, but as soon as the bricks above are destroyed, any brick of a higher layer will fall down.

Due to the 3D layout, the levels resemble little scenes like a train station or a castle. There are also levels that look like a boss fight in which the player has to destroy a giant, three-headed dragon or a similar creature. To create these visuals, the game uses invisible bricks, that cover the area between the bottom of the level and the next colored brick.

There are a lot of power-ups in the game, ranging from very good to very bad. For example: paddle shrinker and expander, slow ball & fast ball, magnetic paddle, multiball, fireball (ignites adjacent bricks), the power ball (rolls through every brick as if they are not there), many different weapons for the paddle (gun, rockets, chemical rockets, etc.) and many more.

The weapon power-ups do not only wear off when another power-up is collected, but they also come with a limited amount of ammunition. The conventional rockets have an ammunition of 3 rockets for instance, so they cannot be used to clear an entire level at once. All power-ups are either released by destroyed bricks or are dropped down by a plane that flies over the map in regular intervals.

The deluxe edition mainly features an additional 100 levels and a few new power-ups like a B-52 Bomber that flies over the map and drops some bombs.