ABOUT ARKANOID

Arkanoid was one of the first "Breakout"-style games, to the best of my knowledge. It was very popular in the 80's, and I remember playing it when I was younger. The arcade game was pretty hard to play too, because you had to use a paddle to control the .. paddle.. or maybe it was just because I was around 6 years old at the time ;)

Some time in 1988 my family got an 8-MHz 8088 PC, and I got a copy of "Arkanoid: Revenge Of DOH" on a 5 1/4" floppy from a friend.. ah, the good old says of casual floppy-based file sharing. Anyways, needless to say I logged my fair share of time playing that game. It had all the features I remembered from the arcade game, and also included a level editor. When I started working on this DHTML rendition of Arkanoid, I remembered how cool the editor feature was and made a point of adding one in. One thing I do remember omitting is the ability to select which bricks hold power-ups (the PC version let you do this), but I figured it was minor enough that it wouldn't be missed if left out ;) Aside from that, almost everything else is there.

BASICS

HOW TO PLAY: Click to launch the ball, then keep it alive by bouncing it back at the bricks. Destroy bricks for points and power-ups. To pass the level, you must eliminate all "destroyable" bricks.

BRICK TYPES

Arkanoid has various types of bricks which make up the levels; each brick has an associated hit count and point value. These have been recreated from the original game as closely as possible. Some bricks have special behaviors associated with them (for example, the "not destroyable" condition - where the brick does not need to be destroyed in order to finish the level.) These behaviors are listed in the "special notes" section of the description.



GOLD

Hits: Unlimited

Point value: 500

SPECIAL NOTES

- Not counted as a "destroyable" brick

- Indestructible (with the exception of the Mega ball)

Hits: UnlimitedPoint value: 500- Not counted as a "destroyable" brick- Indestructible (with the exception of the Mega ball) FUNKY

Hits: 2

Point value: 50

SPECIAL NOTES

- Not counted as a "destroyable" brick

- Respawns 3 seconds after being destroyed

- Hit count increases to 3 at level 10, then to 4 at level 20

- I couldn't think of a very good name for this one, hence "Funky" :) Hits: 2Point value: 50- Not counted as a "destroyable" brick- Respawns 3 seconds after being destroyed- Hit count increases to 3 at level 10, then to 4 at level 20- I couldn't think of a very good name for this one, hence "Funky" :) GREY

Hits: 2

Point value: 50

SPECIAL NOTES

- Hit count increases to 3 at level 10, then to 4 at level 20 Hits: 2Point value: 50- Hit count increases to 3 at level 10, then to 4 at level 20

POWER-UPS

Note: The capsule styles are derived from the original game, but the names may be slightly different. (I had to guess what the full name was.) The "Frequency" rating is a percentage of how often you can expect to get that particular capsule. It is based on Math.random() however, so expect mixed results.

Power-ups are mutually exclusive, meaning that you can only have one power-up effect at a time - they cannot be combined.

BYPASS : Allows you to exit the current level without having to destroy all of the usual bricks. You can choose to keep playing also, and you won't die if all balls are lost.

Frequency: Low - 2% : Allows you to exit the current level without having to destroy all of the usual bricks. You can choose to keep playing also, and you won't die if all balls are lost. CATCH : Makes balls "stick" to the paddle on contact, and release (all at once) on the next mouse click.

Frequency: Average - 2% : Makes balls "stick" to the paddle on contact, and release (all at once) on the next mouse click. DISRUPT : Spawns eight additional balls. The spawn occurs from the highest ball on the screen at the time.

Frequency: Average - 10% : Spawns eight additional balls. The spawn occurs from the highest ball on the screen at the time. EXTEND : Extends the paddle by 50%, making it easier to hit balls. Unlike some versions of Arkanoid, Extend only works once (ie. getting an Extend 2 or more times in a row will not make the paddle larger)

Frequency: Average - 10% : Extends the paddle by 50%, making it easier to hit balls. Unlike some versions of Arkanoid, Extend only works once (ie. getting an Extend 2 or more times in a row will not make the paddle larger) INTELLIGENT SHADOW : Officially named T for "Tail" in the original, this was renamed to avoid confusion. This power-up creates a trailing "shadow" that follows the paddle, and can bounce balls just the same as the paddle. The refraction is different though, so beware!

Frequency: Average - 10% : Officially named T for "Tail" in the original, this was renamed to avoid confusion. This power-up creates a trailing "shadow" that follows the paddle, and can bounce balls just the same as the paddle. The refraction is different though, so beware! LASER : Gives the paddle laser-firing ability. Two "turrets" appear on the paddle with this power-up, and lasers are fired on every mouse click. A laser does the same amount of brick damage that a ball does, but you have the advantage of aim-and-fire with the lasers.

Frequency: Average - 10% : Gives the paddle laser-firing ability. Two "turrets" appear on the paddle with this power-up, and lasers are fired on every mouse click. A laser does the same amount of brick damage that a ball does, but you have the advantage of aim-and-fire with the lasers. MEGA : Transforms all active balls to blue "Mega" balls, which rip through any and all bricks without bouncing. They do speed up as through they bounced every time they hit a brick though, so be ready for some fast-moving balls if you get this power-up.

Frequency: Low - 3% : Transforms all active balls to blue "Mega" balls, which rip through any and all bricks without bouncing. They do speed up as through they bounced every time they hit a brick though, so be ready for some fast-moving balls if you get this power-up. NODE : Similar to Disrupt, but creates three respawning balls. That is, the highest ball respawns (creating "nodes") until there are three balls on the screen. Keep at least one alive, and it will spawn two more to bring the total back to three. Watch out for quick speeding up though, as the spawned balls inherit the speed of their parent!

Frequency: Average - 10% : Similar to Disrupt, but creates three respawning balls. That is, the highest ball respawns (creating "nodes") until there are three balls on the screen. Keep at least one alive, and it will spawn two more to bring the total back to three. Watch out for quick speeding up though, as the spawned balls inherit the speed of their parent! PLAYER : "Free life" by any other name. This power-up does not give the paddle any special powers, but as it is a power-up it will reset any other power-up effect - although a free life may be more important than a temporary power-up anyways, depending on how you play :)

Frequency: Low - 2% : "Free life" by any other name. This power-up does not give the paddle any special powers, but as it is a power-up it will reset any other power-up effect - although a free life may be more important than a temporary power-up anyways, depending on how you play :) RESTRICT : This power-up has both a good and a bad side to it. On the upside, any points you earn will be doubled before being added to your total score. On the downside, the paddle is reduced to 2/3 of its original size, making it harder to keep the ball going. (This power-up capsule is noticeably smaller as a reminder, also.) Definitely handy if you're going for a highscore, although you might not live as long!

Frequency: Average - 10% : This power-up has both a good and a bad side to it. On the upside, any points you earn will be doubled before being added to your total score. On the downside, the paddle is reduced to 2/3 of its original size, making it harder to keep the ball going. (This power-up capsule is noticeably smaller as a reminder, also.) Definitely handy if you're going for a highscore, although you might not live as long! SLOW : Slows down all active balls by 33% of their current speed or to a predefined minimum speed, whichever is higher.

Frequency: Average - 10% : Slows down all active balls by 33% of their current speed or to a predefined minimum speed, whichever is higher. TWIN : Splits the paddle into two slightly-smaller twin paddles - overall slightly larger than the Extend power-up, but there is a risk of losing the ball in the gap through the middle. The angle at which the twin paddles reflect is also slightly different than the others.

Frequency: Average - 10% : Splits the paddle into two slightly-smaller twin paddles - overall slightly larger than the Extend power-up, but there is a risk of losing the ball in the gap through the middle. The angle at which the twin paddles reflect is also slightly different than the others.

GAME CONTROLS

MOUSE: Paddle/game navigation control (Left-click for using some power-ups)

SPACE BAR: Game pause/resume shortcut (Applicable only when playing a game)

The primary game controls are icons located at the top left. They allow you to switch between arcade game, level browse and edit modes. Additionally, there are icons for showing the highscores list and this help page.

MISCELLANEOUS