Definitive version of Arkanoid?

[pcb_revival]

Master your Kill Ball with Vol1, Vol2 or three.



The blue/green - green/blue colourway was pot luck to which was packed with Puchi Carat.

[BrianC]

My fave is Arkanoid R 2000 on the Playstation (the updated home version of Returns), partly because Yack's soundtrack epitomises the stylistic boldness and dynamism that draws me to late 90s arcade games in general (and Taito's work in particular), but also because most of the stages are brisk, fun and interesting, which hadn't always been the case. The game goes easy on the levels full of indestructible gold blocks which plague many other versions of Arkanoid, including ones that came after this. You really want the paddle controller from the Limited Edition version of Puchi Carat (or Namco's rarer "volume controller") in order to get the most out of it, though. This was easy enough to get hold of until a couple of years ago, but it might take a while to secure one now...

Doh It Again is another contender for best-in-series. Its slightly chunkier blocks are incredibly satisfying to clear, and I like that it understands that there was an oddly calming, meditative quality to the original game, which it tries to preserve with its lack of music and its spartan sound effects. It's another one that tends to keep the annoying block types and formations to a minimum, too, IIRC. I highly recommend plugging in a SNES mouse if you have one - it replicates the smooth motions of the arcade spinner quite nicely.

I was surprised with how much Arkanoid R (2000) took from Doh it Again. Power ups, enemy types, and bosses are similar. I miss being able to power up twice, though. It even has some of Doh it Again's levels. R 2000's big addition isn't the dual shock support, but the new extra mode with 100 new levels and falling blocks that have to be avoided. It even has the favorite level of the Fonz (a giant letter A).

I'm glad I bought the JP Namco Museum 2, which has paddle games instead of Super Pac-Man (though I also like Super Pac-Man quite a bit). They also play surprisingly well with the neGcon, unlike Arkanoid R (2000), though the auto centering still isn't ideal.