Arkanoid on Amstrad CPC 6128 vintage home computer

[Xyphoe]

Great game! Probably the best 'Breakout' type game ever ... and a cracking version on the Amstrad - fab review as always :)

[CptNeeda]

KhAAAAAAn! KhAAAAAn!

This video got me thinking of the second Star Trek movie.

[TheBladeJunker]

You couldn't pick a worst game to play and comment on, that game needs at least 80% focus to play remotely well. Space Druids, yep I can see that. I concur on the Amstrad CPC being lesser than C64 but its a close second and the system color palette is quite vibrant. Nice to hear young SteveBenway again. :D

[ReplayRetro]

i love games like this, always good for a quick blast, but worryingly addictive, so that quick blast can end up being a day lost

maybe i'm a cretin (no maybe about it) but i didn't really notice a difference in your voice to be honest, so erm . . . . . yeah that's that really

[SteveBenway]

@ReplayRetro I'd never call you a cretin. Magnificently talented, more like.... and deaf ;)

[ReplayRetro]

@SteveBenway i don't think i've ever been referred to as magnificent in any way, i'm moved, but yeah as you'll discover in interghosts community video this xmas i'm very much tone deaf lol

[SteveBenway]

@ReplayRetro Well that makes two of us then :D

[niceandgames]

Excellent video, Mr. Kaaaaa 6abaaa! This looks like a really excellent version of Arkanoid! 

[SteveBenway]

@niceandgames Aww... you remembered my name :)

[slenkar]

the sound and graphics are 100x better than the speccy

[JakalairVG]

You look up a creek without a paddle.

It made me laugh :p

Great reminder of a great game and genre that really does not exist anymore.

[Aeduo]

This game seems very well done. Hardly the usual compromise a lot of these arcade ports are on older home systems. Seems like a reasonably arcade-perfect experience. Did the amstrad support any wheel/paddle type controllers, or a trackball maybe?

[lvpepe38]

Love this game

[prulcan]

That's true. I think that you can play Arkanoid with mouse on MAME.

[prulcan]

You can skip the level if you see that opening in down right corner at 0:5. And you said "what are those things". Those things can give you laser weapon for shooting blocks or you can have three balls or can give you even extra lives, very useful staff. But without 2600 paddle like controller is quite hard to play this game.

[SteveBenway]

@prulcan It would most definitely be easier with a paddle controller :)

[CholoCPC]

Pretty good version this one. You may have noticed that it is one of the rare games that uses Overscan .. aka it does something noughty with the screen hight (use the top and lower borders of the screen). This is why it feels so "high" and it definately makes the game much more playable than most other "ball N bat" amstrad games.

Indeed no mouse control here, so i usually use the keys as they feel more responsive.

[ninjastare]

Great Conversion!

[ccdm9]

Arkanoid is one of my favorite games ever. Spent way to much money at arcades! I know you mostly do games, but are there any trackers available for the Amstrad? I am loving these sounds!

[SteveBenway]

@ccdm9 My Amstrad knowledge is very limited, so if there is a tracker, it's not something I know about.

[ccdm9]

@SteveBenway Word, I will do some research! I will PM you with results if I find any.

[1simo93521]

Only one person I ever knew had an Amstrad. Most had speccy's or C64's. Were they any good?

[SteveBenway]

@1simo93521 I didn't have one back in the day, but I'm now finding they're quite impressive for an 8 bit system.

[Fawltykog]

I think the book you was referring too was 'Blood Music' been a long time since i read that!

[SteveBenway]

@Fawltykog Yes! That's the one :D I love his work.

[kingstonlj]

A really great conversion of a very tough game. I will buy an Amstrad6128 at some point.

[AtsumaKarin]

Wow...how on EARTH did you get so many warp power-ups, Steve? Is this a hacked version? :P

Seriously...any version of this game I've played, they're like gold dust, yet you seemed to get one on every level!

On the plus side, we got to see past the first level and not have to watch you struggle to get the last brick. :P

As I said on your last Arkanoid video, I like this game a lot! :D

Good SWILL! :D

[SteveBenway]

@AtsumaKarin Not hacked... it's an original 3" disk :)

[PURES3X]

This game was good, but the speed and dynamics of the bat was all wrong, and too skittish. The game 'Krackout had much better bat control.

[atarileaf]

Ah one of my favorites. This port looks really good, kind of reminds me of the Coco 3 port. :)

[musicmaniac1965]

Hello Steve. Those jiggly lines on the right you got soon into the game is for skipping the level. Just move the bat trough those lines if you want to do so. But this means you don't get the score of all the bricks you where supposed to break :-D

Maybe there is a option in the game to make the bat move less nervous, so you can be more precise to get the bal back into the bricks :-D. The aliens above the field will attack you as soon as you clear a path for them.

[willgraham13]

Great review! I love the "druids" bit, I never noticed how much they do, in fact, look like druids.....too funny mate!

[SteveBenway]

@willgraham13 No idea what they're meant to be, but they look like cartoon druids from some kind of old Warner Brothers cartoon to me :D

[wrestletube1]

Now a mouse was how these games were supposed to be played who would play this on a console with joypad?

[SteveBenway]

@wrestletube1 Someone who has a computer or console (like the Amstrad) that doesn't support a mouse?

[3styler1]

@wrestletube1 these games where out long before the mac and pc supported a mouse they can played easy on both just gotta get used to the controls

[mathowlett]

Splendid game. Hard as a vanadium church bell though. I always found Batty on the Speccy to be a little more forgiving somehow..... which is a good thing for a village idiot like myself when it comes to games playing.

There's something about the smingey-flangey-sludgey Amstrad music and effects that I really like.

[SteveBenway]

@mathowlett I'm still not entirely familiar with Amstrad sounds yet, but I've definitely heard a couple of interesting tunes from it recently. It's like they're trying to do a C64, without the benefit of a SID chip.

[mathowlett]

@SteveBenway Yeah.. it's got a really strange tinny quality that I actually quite like !! Maybe because it reminds me of spending days on end playing on my mates CPC464 back in the day.... still, it sounded better than my beloved Speccy. Bless it's little cotton interface port.

[3styler1]

@SteveBenway reminds me of krackout i think it was called on the spectrum spent alot of time on that back in the good old days of gaming

[Lachlant1984]

I've only ever played the NES version of this, on one of those shit NES clone things that looks like a Nintendo 64 controller, and I was horrible at this, absolutely horrible at it, the game on the NES speeds up really quickly really soon after the game starts. I understand the Amstrad 6128 computers didn't sell at all well due to the time they came out, I don't think you've reviewed the computer yet, have you. What issues are you having that you suspect are power supply related? 

[SteveBenway]

@Lachlant1984 I wonder if the version of the game on your NES clone was a rom hack, and speeded up unfairly.

I haven't reviewed the Amstrad yet, no. I will in the not too distant future though.

I'm having odd issues like keys appearing to be pressed when they aren't, but in a completely odd and inconsistent way. Also the disk drive is inconsistent. Sometimes it will load a game, other times it won't, and sometimes it says there's no disk at all. It's just a bit flakey all round.

[edt1138]

Playing Arkanoid with a joystick? You sir, are a hardcore gamer.

[SteveBenway]

@edt1138 Haha. I am a gamer without a choice. Digital joystick (or keyboard) is the only option on this system :D

[HiroGaems]

*ahem*

An Arkanoid player called Steve

Started up the old Amstrad one eve

With a bob of his head,

He said, "Bugger, I'm dead!

This is fast like you wouldn't believe!"

For some reason I associate Arkanoid with limericks. No idea why. This is possibly the tamest one I've ever come up with, but a suitably dirty mind could wring some filth out of it I'm sure. :D

[mathowlett]

@HiroGaems *ahem*

There was an old fellow called Mat,

Who once played a game with a bat,

His balls bounced about,

Whilst he drank irish stout,

Then he fell out of the window, the twat.

[SteveBenway]

@HiroGaems You are a talented man :D

[TeamRocketReviews]

@HiroGaems I always thought the Arkanoid loader music on the C64 version by Martin Galway would make a great rap.

[ScratchMasterWebbe]

I love this game, one of my favourite games of all time, I have this on the spectrum

[SteveBenway]

@ScratchMasterWebbe For a very long time I dismissed the game as nothing but a breakout ripoff... breakout being a game I didn't come across till after Space Invaders... so I didn't hold that in high regard at the time either. These days though, I see this for what it is. Great fun! :D

[Polaventris]

Great version of the game! Not the easiest games to play on a digital joystic, thats for sure.

[SteveBenway]

@Polaventris Yeah, a paddle or mouse would be much easier.

[DansGameCorner]

Looks great Steve, yet another reason for me to get into some of the old school computers. Any recommendations on console ports of Arkanoid?

Take it easy,

Dan.

[SteveBenway]

@DansGameCorner Amiga and NES versions are excellent :)

[w00dyblack]

aw - I had this game too - awesome ! used to love this game -ha, you had the laser power up but didnt use it - you couldve shot the blocks away - I think its space bar

[SteveBenway]

@w00dyblack It's the joystick fire button to fire. I didn't realise I had the laser. Thought I'd missed all the powerups. Typical me :D

[vincentx77]

Something about the Amstrad reminds me so much of the MSX. This is a great example of the kind of game at which it excelled. It has big, colorful graphics, great sound, and what looks to be faithful game play. In your video, this looks 'almost' as good as the amiga version, although I'm sure it's not quite as crisp in person. Great review!

[SteveBenway]

@vincentx77 It's actually a lot crisper in person than it appears in this video, with only the bat control being inferior to the Amiga version :)

[Tr3vor42532]

You sound slightly different on this video.

[SteveBenway]

@Tr3vor42532 That's the different camera, as I mentioned in the video.

[DrOrphious79]

Looks the same as what we had on electron, played that game to death.

Nice with the new camera, just fyi could do with your voice louder or the game quieter.:)

[SteveBenway]

@DrOrphious79 I've never come across this on the Electron. Will have to keep my eye open for that.

Yeah, getting the sound right is tricky, as I'm so used to where to sit and how loud to talk with my usual one.

[DrOrphious79]

@SteveBenway I guess i could have been wrong, might have been on the BBC.

Im sure u'll get the sound right, i dont mind the sound being loud on this one, classic noises! :)

[pocketmego]

Just played the PC version recently. The mouse was so nice to play it with. After so many time having to use a controller. You are way better than I am. This is a terrific looking version. I admire what I am seeing in these Amstrad machines. Never experienced them growing up, of course.

[SteveBenway]

@pocketmego Back in the day, I was aware of the Spectrum and C64 battle, and paid no notice of the Amstrad. Then Retro Gamer magazine (a publication who's opinion I don't entirely respect, it must be said) started raving about the Amstrad, and I found myself feeling quite scornful. But now I actually come to use the thing, it really is quite impressive. There's not much I agree with Retro Gamer on, but the Amstrad is now one of them :D

[pocketmego]

@SteveBenway

Yeah, Retrogamer and I have a love/hate relationship as well. I know EXACTLY what you mean.

[Martroid]

Mmm... pretty. ;-)

[SteveBenway]

@Martroid Very :)

[electricadventures]

What an excellent version, very good use of colour and sound. One of the better games you have shown on the Amstrad and shows what can be done, when someone actually programs it properly.

[SteveBenway]

@electricadventures Yes, I totally agree. This is a step up from your typical Amstrad game.

[EgoShredder]

@electricadventures

This was one of the first games I bought for the CPC in 1987, and is one of my most favourite. I tried it on my Atari STE but it seemed to only work with a mouse, so I prefer the CPC because I can use the keyboard and progess much further into the game; I have completed about 3/4 of the game without cheating, but it is REALLY TOUGH! I like the graphics, sound and music best on the CPC version too.

[Xyphoe]

@EgoShredder How many levels does it have do you know?

[EgoShredder]

@Xyphoe

I reached around level 23 or so, but I think it goes up to 33. I googled and found a page, which looks exactly the same as the CPC version; enter this search term 'Arkanoid levels map' and click on the sixth result 'Arkanoid — StrategyWiki, the video game walkthrough and strategy ...'

This game is really tough and I played this to death to get where I did. I often could reach level 20 say, but the next game would not get past level 3. Level 3 is one of the hardest!

[n2thepast]

This game, rocks so hard. I love it... I've played it on so many systems. And all of them seem to be pretty good, as far as I can remember. Don't be modest there Steve, you're a champ of all video games XD hehe. This game is sooo good wow!

[SteveBenway]

@n2thepast Champ of all video games... lol! :D

[FuyuAkiWorld]

blueeegheegadeeigadamnbadiggad­amndabieeboo. Listen to me, London! The world will end on 33/2/132777!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGRURRRGHAHAHAMMMMBUOOOM!

[gollumondrugs]

Haa, just watched this and instantly thought about what you said about how you sound to yourself in your head, you are completely right, you sound totally different!

[SteveBenway]

@gollumondrugs Yup... it's quite disturbing :S

[phreakindee]

Well now, a port of this game I've never seen. This is a red-letter day! Or at least a day where I'm introduced to another Arkanoid port. Such an awesome game, seems like a pretty decent port too, with some music I haven't heard in other versions.

[SteveBenway]

@phreakindee Given that it's running on an 8 bit system that can be a little on the clunky or wooden side, this version of the game impresses the hell out of me :D