Arkanoid (NES)

Arkanoid

Platform: NES Year: 1986 Developer: Taito Corporation Buy: Amazon

For other games in the series see Arkanoid.

Arkanoid is an ball-bouncing action game built on the theme originally designed by Atari's Breakout. You control a paddle (a spaceship named "Vaus") at the bottom of the screen which you must use to bounce a ball toward a wall of "bricks" at the top of the screen. Each hit breaks a brick, and when they're all broken, you move to the next stage. However, if you miss the ball with your paddle, you lose a life.

Taito innovated several new features to the Breakout theme which would later become staples of the genre including invincible gold bricks, monsters that roam around the screen, and capsules that grant power-ups like making your paddle bigger, breaking the ball into multiple balls, the ability to catch the ball, and so on.

This game was also bundled with a special paddle controller which could plug into the 2-player port. Playing with a standard NES controller is possible, but the game is considerably harder because the paddle controller offers more accurate and faster movement.

Screenshots

The game's title screen. The opening story. Round 1 introduces you to the game. Aim for the gap in Round 2. Things start to get awfully tough in round 3. Get used to this message.

Music

The game's music was composed by Hisayoshi Ogura for the original arcade game, but Tsukasa Masuko arranged it for NES audio. Most of the music is just short jingles, but there is a proper song for those few skilled players who are able to beat the game and see the ending. The unused music from the arcade release do not appear to have been ported into the NES ROM.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	Start Demo	Hisayoshi Ogura	Tsukasa Masuko	0:04		Download
02	Game Start	Hisayoshi Ogura	Tsukasa Masuko	0:02		Download
03	Extend	Hisayoshi Ogura	Tsukasa Masuko	0:01		Download
04	Dimensional Fortress Doh	Hisayoshi Ogura	Tsukasa Masuko	0:04		Download
05	Game Over	Hisayoshi Ogura	Tsukasa Masuko	0:01		Download
06	Name Entry	Hisayoshi Ogura	Tsukasa Masuko	0:34		Download

Credits

• Ripper: myu2203
• Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
• Game Credits:
  • Not Credited Composer: Hisayoshi Ogura
  • Not Credited Sound Effectss: Tadashi Kimijima
  • Not Credited Arranger: Tsukasa Masuko

(Source: Arcade version, verification from composer; Game lacks credits.)

Like most early games at the time, this game lacks credits. We have received verification from Tsukasa Masuko that he arranged the NES version's soundtrack.

The Arcade version has an unused credits scroll that can be reactivated if the game is modified to do so.

Albums

Taito Game Music 1987-01-25 Legend of Game Music 2: Platinum Box 2006-01-18

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

Ripping NES music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.

Audio Devices

Arkanoid uses the Nintendo's RP2A03 chip for music and sound effects.

Releases

Japan Title: アルカノイド (Arkanoid) Platform: Famicom Released: 1986-12-26 Publisher: Taito Corporation     USA Title: Arkanoid Platform: NES Released: 1987-08-?? Publisher: Taito America

Links

• mobygames.com/game/nes/arkanoid - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.com/nes/563383-arkanoid - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkanoid - Wikipedia.

View Arkanoid
Arkanoid	•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •
Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh	•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •
Arkanoid Returns	•  •  •  •  •
Arkanoid: Doh It Again
Arkanoid R 2000
Arkanoid DS
Arkanoid Live!
Arkanoid iOS
Notable Songs	Game Start
Notable Personnel	Hisayoshi Ogura • Katsuhisa Ishikawa • Yasuhisa Watanabe • Seiji Momoi • Hirokazu Koshio • Martin Galway
Notable Companies	Taito • Romstar