https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/190159206140/rjmacready1982-breakout
Released in 1976 by Atari, Breakout was among the earliest arcade games. Like many early arcade games, it defined its own genre though Breakout itself was heavily influenced by Pong before it. The success of the arcade version of breakout led to its release as one of the early games on the Atari 2600 (Atari VCS).
Gameplay, like in most early games, was fairly simple. The player controlled a “paddle” at the bottom of the screen which could be moved left and right to deflect a bouncing ball. The goal was to break all of the bricks at the top of the screen. In both the arcade and Atari 2600 versions the player could use paddle controllers which consisted of a dial that could be rotated left and right, sort of like a mini steering wheel. The vast majority of Atari 2600 games supported jostick controls and not the paddle controllers but Breakout and other games like it were popular enough for those controllers to be included with the Atari 2600.
Breakout spawned a huge number of imitators. There was of course the sequel, Super Breakout, which was really just a modestly enhanced version of the original. Then there is my favorite contemporary imitator, Circus Atari which changed things up slightly by having two clowns bounce on a seesaw to pop baloons overhead. However, my personal all time favorite version and the version that I still think is best to this day is Arkanoid. In addition to a storyline that matters very little to the actual game play, various power-ups and obstacles are added to provide quite a bit more variety thant he original. It didn’t hurt that it had better graphics too.
Breakout is definitely a game you should try if you never have. You may get bored with it fast but it does have a sort of addictive quality to it. Fortunately, original copies for the Atari 2600 are easy to find and it is definitely best to play this game or any like it with a paddle controller.
Pictured at the top is the box/label/manual art for the Atari 2600 version of Breakout. It appears to feature someone playing tennis. Atari’s early artwork was awesome but it frequenly only obliquely referenced what the actual game play was all about. Screen shots are from the Atari 2600 version of Breakout.
