Breakout (Breakaway IV): Atari Archive Episode 16

[@Zoyx]

Breakout: Recharged is really good. It introduces some really clever ideas. Released in 2022.

[@Pikachu132]

There were a couple Pong clones that included single player modes, the most common being to have a Handball-style wall with a hole in it on the left side of the screen, then a stationary paddle positioned slightly in front of this hole, meaning that to score against the computer "opponent", you needed to ricochet the ball around their stationary paddle and into the hole behind it. It was a serviceable way of doing it. A LOT of Pong clones also advertised themselves as being "for 1-4 players", with the single player "mode" just being a two player game where one player controls both paddles and sees how long he's able to keep a volley going, but I doubt many people ever actually bothered playing these games like this.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

Probably my favorite paddle game and my second favorite VCS game overall. Excellent video for an excellent game.

[@garrickgreathouse]

Great job as always! I'm glad that we're finally getting around to the more entertaining and memorable games for the VCS. Keep it up!

[@PhantomHarlock78]

Very nice working. Is much more interesting learning the context which the game was made.

[@dpgreene]

Awesome and informative video. Keep up the good work!

[@Atari2600_Dude]

Another great episode :)

[@yee7690]

Great video! Always enjoy these! Also, for your basketball video, could you try to figure out why 1 player and 2 player modes are switched?

[@MattWalshs]

I was super interested in your video as I've thought about just how fundamental Breakout is to video game history. It was the first 'breakout' potentially infinite man vs. machine, 3-lives game that I can think of. Every game before it was timed / 2-player more like real world sports. Space Invaders gets credit for ushering in the golden age of arcade games, but it seems to be a Breakout evolution - moving bricks and shots vs. a ball. In terms of Breakout predecessors I'd call attention to Atari's Pin Pong (1974). It's a game folks I've asked from Atari don't remember, yet I think it's Atari's first "infinite man vs. machine" game. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZ2bmGCqgMlgpNk

[@AtariArchive]

Pin Pong (and Breakout) are definitely getting a mention in the Video Pinball piece that I should be getting to at some point this year!

[@Phediuk]

Excellent work.

[@kaosj666]

If you wanna check out a good Breakout clone, i highly recommend the 1996 PC game DX-Ball by Seumas McNally! It's a great game with gorgeous graphics, fun bg music, and a ramped up Breakout-style gameplay that'll satisfyany ball & brick game fan. I've been playing it for years and, somehow, it still runs on my modern era laptop!

[@sandal_thong8631]

Green and Blue Atari Logbook challenge: clear two screens on game 1 with difficulty B to score 864. Pro (Determined): use all 5 balls, Master (Masterful): use 3 balls, Wizard (Incredible): use 1 ball. I remember picking out two games for my birthday, Canyon Bomber for sure, and possibly Breakout. I almost mastered this, but I don't think clearing 2 screens was a sure thing without help from steering or catch modes. I remember being disappointed the game ended after "only" two screens. I forgot that it had 3 and 4-player versions. I remember the paddles got jittery after 2-3 years, so we bought 3rd-party paddles and the same happened. A couple years ago I read how to clean my paddles with nail polish remover, but didn't do very well as there's still some jitter. I didn't write down my scores before getting the logbook in 1982, so I probably made Wizard as a kid. But I finally did it again in 2020. I loved it, but still think Breakout should have been retired when they released Super Breakout. I like the mini-game in Tron that looks like Breakout, but you're shooting moving bricks that you have to get past, so it's more like Squeeze Box.

[@mavrick45]

DX-Ball is probably one of the better clones out there

[@Hyreia]

>Win the game with a max possible of 864 points I hear Todd Rogers got 4000 (I'm joking.)

[@edonoho]

There’s a whole interview with Steve Wozniak, where he talks about how he was so sad about jobs doing that to him . why do you make a podcast and you don’t even know your information I just don’t get it well have fun with that

[@AtariArchive]

It wasn't included because I didn't consider it particularly important to the creation of Breakout for the VCS at the time I made the video. Since Jobs and Woz's version of Breakout wasn't actually used by Atari for the released arcade game, it's more of a footnote.