Nintendo is Great is a Substack devoted to exploring the world of Nintendo - their games, their consoles, their merchandise - in mostly chronological order, starting with the NES and continuing to the upcoming Switch 2.
Arkanoid
PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Taito
RELEASE DATE: Dec. 26th, 1986 (JP), Aug. 1987 (US)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Atari (8-bit, ST), Amiga, Apple II, Arcade, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Tandy Color Computer, Amstrad CPC, iOS, Macintosh, Mobile, MSX, PC, NEC (PC-88, PC-98), ZX81/Spectrum
Arkanoid is an evil beast that doesn’t care how you feel about it. You’ll be lucky to get past the third stage without multiple game overs. “Oh, but games were just harder back then.” Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean we need to suffer the game’s excessive difficulty now.
You control Vaus, a spaceship that looks suspiciously like a paddle. You’re tasked with “breaking” your way out of 30+ rooms, each featuring multi-colored blocks that need destroying. Armed only with an energy ball, you use Vaus to hit each of the blocks in your way with the ball and move onto the next stage. Unfortunately, Vaus’ movements are limited to the bottom of the screen. Lose the ball in the pit below Vaus, and he crumbles into space dust.
Some blocks, once hit, release colored pellets that give Vaus extra powers. The colors dictate Vaus’ new abilities, so dark blue extends the ship’s length, while red gives Vaus the ability to shoot lasers and destroy the bricks on his own, orange slows the energy ball down, etc.
Each Arkanoid arcade cabinet came equipped with a circular dial to steer Vaus, while the original NES release came with a “Vaus” controller that provides a control knob to steer Vaus, along with a fire button. Arkanoid is compatible with a standard NES controller, but if you want to survive into the more advanced stages, the Vaus controller’s sensitivity is required.
When you’re in a particularly cramped stage and you capture a light blue pellet so your ball splits into three, watching three kinetic balls eliminating blocks left and right is a pure endorphin rush. Unfortunately, it never lasts. Unless you’re a Breakout master who can see several moves ahead, deaths and game overs are all too common – and ego-deflating. Enjoyable in short bursts, nothing more.
*image courtesy of PriceCharting
Straight From the Arcade
*images from Arcade Marquee, eBay, the Arcade Flyer Archive, Moby Games
Other Versions
Amstrad CPC
BBC Micro
Macintosh
Tandy Color Computer
*all images courtesy of Moby Games
Athena
PUBLISHER: SNK
DEVELOPER: SNK (port by Micronics)
RELEASE DATE: Jun. 5th, 1987 (JP), Aug. 1987 (US)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Arcade, Commodore 64, Switch (via Arcade Archives), PlayStation 4 (via Arcade Archives), PSP, ZX81/Spectrum
Athena is supposed to be the goddess of wisdom, but how wise can you be to start a dangerous adventure in your underpants?
In Athena, you play the titular character who’s grown bored of her role as the goddess of wisdom. Not sure how that works. Seems like if you had all the wisdom available in creation, you’d be more than satisfied. At any rate, her boredom leads her to seek other realms beyond her castle.
Athena’s scantily clad and ill-prepared. A hearty kick is her initial weapon, although she does eventually obtain swords, hammers, billy clubs, bow and arrows, and other instruments of destruction. Thankfully, she can also find armor pieces to protect her body, although they fall off if she’s touched by an enemy. Armor is more commonly found in blocks that Athena can break with her weapons.
Wonder what Athena did to piss off all of creation? For reasons unknown, the creatures in these realms – horsemen, serpent witches, face huggers, among other mythological horrors – really have it out for her. Her attacks get the job done, but the creatures regenerate continuously, so you must be on your guard. If Athena doesn’t have armor equipped and an enemy touches her, she’ll die in a couple hits, despite a long life bar. A time limit also counts down quickly, adding to the stress of merely existing in this world.
Athena is pure jank, plain and simple. Enemies use attacks to juggle Athena to death without any way for her to escape. Levels have multiple routes, but without the right armor or weaponry equipped, some of these routes are unusable. At times, enemies are so prevalent, it’s impossible to get through them without succumbing to mortal wounds. Athena’s life might be boring, but this adventure is a mistake.
Straight From the Arcade
Athena only came out in the arcade in Japan, so I couldn’t find a marquee or cabinet picture.
Most (all?) of Japan’s non-gacha arcade games are sit-down, plastic color-coated pods, not the upright wooden cabinets with custom art that we’re used to seeing here.
Thus, Athena wouldn’t have her own specialized cabinet anyway.
I did find this cute arcade flyer of Athena looking out of place with a full set of armor on.
And this arcade image of Athena fighting a weird wooden/mud blob thing.
*images courtesy of The Arcade Flyer Archive and Moby Games
Other Versions
Commodore 64
ZX Spectrum
I never knew Arkanoid was so hard, nor did I know about that controller. I suppose I never really played it. I was introduced to this genre via Alleyway for Game Boy. Then later it was a minigame in Legend of the Mystical Ninja.
But funny story about Athena: this was one of the first game rentals I was ever exposed to. Maybe one of my first 10 NES games that I played. A friend rented it from a local rental store that my family never went to. I remember having a lot of fun playing it with him. To this day, I don't know *how* I had so much fun. But in the years since, I never encountered Athena to rent or buy.
In the early days of NES emulation, I remembered this game that I hadn't played for 10+ years at that point and loaded it up excitedly. Hidden gem! And then I learned it was Not Good. Big disappointment. The opposite of a Solomon's Key or Adventures of Lolo: games I played as a kid and thought they were bad, only to learn as an adult that they're actually good.
I don't know that SNK ever really made a good platformer. Athena doesn't seem like the prototype of anything better. I'm not counting Metal Slug as a platformer here, which I'd call more of a run and gun game.