Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh (history and reception)

Akagi Masumi's list of arcade games dates Taito's arcade Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh to June 1987 in Japan, and in its overseas part to July 1987, a Taito game released in North America through Romstar. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/arcade-dates

Read in the OCR text only; the page images haven't been checked. The list gives year and month only and names no source for its dates.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Taito's Japanese flyer for the arcade game describes 34 rounds, 30 of which have an L and an R side that the player chooses between, 64 rounds in all. Nine kinds of enemy come out of two hatches at the top. In round 17 a giant object takes the top of the screen, cleared by 255 hits or by a ball sent into its open mouth, and in round 34, the last, Doh appears; after 16 hits it crumbles and a final boss appears. Romstar's American manual gives the same choice of left and right in 30 of the 34 rounds, made by the side of the screen the Vaus is on when the last block is destroyed. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/arcade-rounds

The flyer's text after the final boss appears is garbled in the OCR, and no page image has been read.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Romstar's manual for the arcade game, licensed from Taito America and titled "Arkanoid 2" in its DIP-switch table, sells it as a kit that turns an operator's old game into a new one: the operator provides the cabinet with its power supply and monitor. The kit included an Arkanoid control assembly, four player-button assemblies, a marquee and a control-panel overlay. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/arcade-romstar-kit

The manual's cover gives "All Rights Reserved" with the year 1987 (the OCR reads "Ail ffignts Reserved 4 1987"). Its item title on the Internet Archive is "Arkanoid - Revenge Of Doh Instruction Manual".

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Famicom Tsūshin's issue of 30 October 1987 reported that Taito would release Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh for the Famicom the next year, with a VS mode and an edit mode, and that it was planned to go on sale with its own controller. The same issue's list of titles without a release date or price included it, as Arkanoid II: Return of DOH. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-announcement

Read on the page images. Image 107 (printed p. 107), in the 謎のゲーム未確認情報 column: "●タイトーさんから来年発売される 『アルカノイドII/リベンジオブDOH』は、VSモード、エディットモードが入って専用コントローラー付きで発売の予定!!". Image 108 (no printed number), 発売日スケジュール表, under 発売日未定のソフト: "○アルカノイドII リターンオブDOH〈タイトー〉"; the news item says Revenge (リベンジ), the list Return (リターン).

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Famicom Tsūshin's release schedule put the Famicom cartridge in February 1988 with its price not yet set (27 November 1987), then in late February 1988, price not yet set, with its own controller (25 December 1987). arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-schedule

Read in the text layers only. Famicom Tsūshin 39's index (data/contents/famitsu-0039.yaml) puts the schedule table on printed p. 124, image 122. Issue 37's index maps image 120 to printed p. 122, so its image 122 is p. 124 too: the page itself prints no number, but images 121 and 123 print 123 and 125. On the page image, issue 37's entry reads "○リベンジオブDOH アルカノイドII〈タイトー〉" and "2月／価格未定".

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

A retrospective catalogue of Famicom cartridges, the Natsukashi Famicom Perfect Guide, lists Arkanoid II from Taito on 8 March 1988, no. 318 in its order of release. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-release

A secondary record of uncertain origin: the book names no source for its dates, and its publisher and year aren't in the scan. Its date is later than Famicom Tsūshin's last schedule read (late February, famicom-schedule); no period source for the release day has been read. The page image (image n123) reads "318 1988/03/08『アルカノイドII』タイトー".

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom cartridge's booklet calls it Taito's Family Computer cassette Arkanoid II, credits its illustrations to Panic Tabata, and prints "© TAITO CORP. 1988" with the product code TFC-AN II 5900. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-booklet

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom booklet's story: Doh, the dimension fortress, has revived and come down into space across the dimensions, nesting in the giant ship XORG; the Arkanoid-type giant ship MIXTEC launches the spacecraft VAUS II toward XORG. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-premise

The text layer garbles the line that names XORG ("葉般「XORG(ソーグ)」に巣険い") and the one that calls MIXTEC an Arkanoid-type ship ("アルカノイド型臣船"). The page image (p. 5) reads "巨船「XORG(ゾーグ)」に巣喰い" and "アルカノイド型巨船「MIXTEC(ミシュテカ)」は先制スペースクラフト「VAUSⅡ(バウスⅡ)」を「XORG」に向け発進させた". Imagine's advertisement for the computer versions (Crash 50, image 9) tells the same story, read on the page image: "Dimension-controlling force 'DOH' has come back to life, and occupying the huge space-craft ZARG, has entered our Universe", the space-fighter MIXTEC finds the answer, and "'VAUS 2' is launched".

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The booklet calls the Famicom game a sequel to Arkanoid with three ways to play: the main game, Revenge of Doh; an edit mode in which players design screens and play them; and a VS game for two. In the main game, clearing every wall clears a round, and clearing 35 rounds ends the game. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-modes

The 35 rounds are rounds 0 to 34 (famicom-round-zero, famicom-bosses).

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

With the standard controller, the Famicom game's +Control Pad moves the Vaus left and right (up and down in the VS mode) and the cursor in the edit mode, and B moves the Vaus at high speed. With the dedicated controller, the knob moves the Vaus and the push switch starts the game, launches the ball and fires the laser. A game started with the Start button is played on the standard controller from then on. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-controls

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom game begins in round 0 with the Moai from the last round of the first Arkanoid: the player returns the ball while dodging the shots from its mouth, and seven hits clear it. Hatches then open at the bottom left and right of the screen, and moving the Vaus to either leads, after a demo, to round 1. Each round cleared opens hatches at the left and right of the screen again, and moving the Vaus to one or the other chooses the L or R side of the next round. Rounds 17 and 34 are boss rounds that follow the round before automatically. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-round-zero

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom booklet lists five kinds of wall: normal walls, which one hit removes; silver hard walls, which take several hits; gold immortality walls, which only the Mega Ball destroys; silver revival walls, which come back after they vanish; and moving walls, which move left and right when the ball hits them. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-walls

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom booklet lists twelve power-up items, sometimes hidden in the space walls: speed down, catch, laser, break (escape through an exit on the side to clear the round), player extend (an extra Vaus), expand, disruption (the ball splits into eight), new disruption (three balls kept on screen at all times), twin (two Vauses), illusion (the Vaus's afterimage also returns the ball), reduction (the Vaus shrinks and scores double meanwhile), and mega ball (the ball breaks through every wall). Taking another item cancels the one before. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-items

The item letters were read on the page images (pp. 10-11): S speed down, C catch, L laser, B break, P player extend, E expand, D disruption, N new disruption, T twin, I illusion, R reduction, M mega ball.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom booklet's boss guide: in round 17, 255 hits with the energy ball, or a ball sent into the boss's open mouth, clears it; in round 34, 16 hits, as in round 0, clear the first form, and a final form, with five tentacles that turn into shots at the Vaus when the ball hits them, then needs 8 hits on its body to clear the game. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-bosses

The text layer garbles the final form's lines; they were read on the page image (p. 12). Taito's arcade flyer gives the same counts for rounds 17 and 34 (arcade-rounds).

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom game's VS mode is a game of its own: against the computer for one player, or against a friend for two. Each player returns the ball with a Vaus; a miss lets the ball hit a score block behind the Vaus, which disappears, and a ball that leaves the screen loses the round. A match is five rounds, won by the first to take three. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-vs

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom game's edit mode lets players lay out blocks freely and play the result, choosing one of six item patterns. Edited screens can be saved and loaded with the Famicom's data recorder and keyboard; otherwise the edit screen is kept until the power is switched off. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-edit

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom booklet invited players to photograph their best edit-mode screen and post it to Taito's Arkanoid II Edit desk. Taito would choose the best entries and give a special cartridge with the winning screens programmed into it, Uranaid II, to 300 people: the makers of the 33 best screens and 267 more by lottery, announcing the result in the magazines. Entries closed on 30 April 1988, and the rights in the screens sent passed to Taito. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-edit-contest

Read on the page image (PDF p. 23): the cartridge's name, 特別カセット「ウラナイドII」, and the deadline, "63年4月30日(消印有効)" (30 April, Shōwa 63, i.e. 1988, by postmark). No source read reports the contest's result.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

The Famicom booklet says the VS game is best played with two dedicated controllers, the first Arkanoid's and a NEW controller or two NEW controllers. A NEW controller could be ordered by paying the set sum at a post office with the enclosed transfer form; the sum included the transfer fee, packing and postage. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/famicom-controller

The booklet doesn't give the sum, and doesn't say whether the cartridge came with a controller. Famicom Tsūshin's schedule listed it with one (famicom-schedule).

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

No NES release of Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh or Arkanoid II has been found. Nintendo of America's list of NES games has Arkanoid, the first game, and no sequel: the next title is Arkista's Ring. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/nes-no-release

An absence in one list, not proof. The Famicom cartridge (famicom-booklet, famicom-release) is the only Nintendo console version a source read here shows; the page's platform list still names the NES from the catalog. No Nintendo Power, EGM or Computer Entertainer item read mentions an NES version.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Crash's February 1988 news said Ocean should be ready by the end of February with Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh, another Breakout clone from the arcade machine. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/spectrum-preview

Read on the page image (p. 110, "110 CRASH February 1988"), a box headed "ARKANOID SEQUEL": "By the end of February Ocean should be ready with Arkanoid – Revenge Of Doh, another (!) Breakout clone from the arcade machine". The item names Ocean; the advertisements and reviews give Imagine, Ocean's label for arcade conversions.

Imagine's advertisement of April 1988 offered the game at £7.95 on Spectrum cassette, £8.95 on Commodore cassette, £14.95 on Spectrum +3 disk and £12.95 on Commodore 64 disk, "Licensed from Taito Corp., 1986", promising exit choices that greatly increase the screens, many extra Vaus effects, multiple shots and a secret extra alien. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/computer-ads

Read on the page image (image 17): "SPECTRUM CASS £7.95 AMSTRAD CASS £8.95 COMMODORE CASS £8.95 / SPEC + 3 £14.95 C64 DISK £12.95 AMS DISK £14.95"; the OCR reads the +3 price "5PEC + 3C149S". Imagine's address on the advertisement is 6 Central Street, Manchester. The same advertisement ran in Crash 50 (image 9, read on the page image: Spectrum £7.95, Commodore and Amstrad £8.95, no disk prices) and Crash 52 (p. 19), whose OCR is unreadable.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Crash reviewed the ZX Spectrum version in April 1988 (Imagine, £7.95 on cassette, £14.95 on disk, programmed by Mike Lamb, the facts box's Author) and gave it 80%. Kati found the play smooth, without the random changes of speed of the original Arkanoid, and the collision detection accurate, and Mike called it by far the better of the month's two Breakout games. All three lost the bat at times: Mike on the paler screens, Kati and Nick against backgrounds of its own colour. Nick called it just another run-of-the-mill bat-and-ball game. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/spectrum-crash-review

Read on the page image (image 106): the ratings box (Presentation 78%, Graphics 85%, Playability 80%, Addictive qualities 83%, OVERALL 80%; the OCR reads "OVERALL I") and the reviewers, Kati, Mike and Nick, who give no marks of their own; each name stands above its comment. Crash 60's compilation table lists the game as "51/80%" (spectrum-compilation).

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Your Sinclair's Marcus gave the Spectrum version (Imagine, £7.95) 9 out of 10 in April 1988, calling it a remarkably true conversion of the brand-new coin-op. He counted 33 levels with a choice of two screens at each after the first and before the last, 64 in all, and listed the new capsules: R reduces the bat, G gives it a ghost, T gives twin bats, M three balls, and SC, a Spectrum addition not in the coin-op, scrolls the background. The 48K version was identical to the 128K one except for the music, and he found it a touch easier than the original. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/spectrum-ys-review

The review also describes moving and reappearing blocks, and a random capsule shaped like a fireball. The Clapometer's TOTAL is clean in the OCR; its graphics and playability bars aren't.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Commodore User reviewed the Commodore 64/128 version (Imagine, £8.95 on cassette, £12.95 on disk) in its April 1988 issue. Gary Penn gave it a CU Rating of 7, counted 66 screens, of which a game plays 33, and closed that there was "plenty of good, clean fun to be had here – if you haven't yet tired of the genre". Ocean's Gary Bracey told him it was not Arkanoid II, which was still to come. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/c64-cu-review

Everything but the heading was read on the page image (image 33), as the text layer lacks the review: "£8.95/cass, £12.95/disk"; the byline "Gary Penn"; the CU rating box, 7; "there are 66 screens to play (although you only get to play 33 in one go)"; "I'm assured by Ocean's Gary Bracey that this isn't Arkanoid II – that's yet to come"; and the verdict quoted in the statement.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Crash's compilations roundup of January 1989 listed Imagine's Taito Coin-Op Hits (£12.95 on cassette, £17.95 on disk) with Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh among its games. The table gives each game's Crash issue and score: "51/80%" for this title, the April 1988 review in issue 51. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/spectrum-compilation

Read on the page image (image 94, printed p. 93), where the OCR runs two compilations' columns together: the block is "TAITO COIN-OP HITS, £12.95c, £17.95d, Imagine", with Rastan 51/85%, Flying Shark 49/85%, Slap Fight 43/72%, Arkanoid 39/59%, Arkanoid – Revenge Of Doh 51/80%, Renegade 44/89%, Bubble Bobble 45/90% and Legend Of Kage 37/50%. The OCR's "46/68%" is Trantor's, in the next column.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Crash reviewed The Hit Squad's £2.99 re-release for the Spectrum in June 1991 and gave it 82%. The reviewer, who signs as Nick, found it simple at first and maddening on later levels, called it the best Breakout game ever, and said no Spectrum software collection was complete without it. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/spectrum-hit-squad-crash

Read on the page image (image 47, "CRASH JUNE 47"): "The Hit Squad ■ £2.99 ■ Rerelease", Overall 82%, "The first few screens are quite simple to complete", and "Arkanoid – The Revenge Of Doh is the best Break Out game ever – it can't be bettered". The page prints no surname for Nick.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Your Sinclair's Rich reviewed The Hit Squad's £2.99 re-release in June 1991 and gave it 90°, calling it the best of the Breakout clones and "brilliant", and noting that the next screen depends on the side the player leaves by, which doubles the number of screens. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/spectrum-hit-squad-ys

The score, 90° in a burst, was read on the page image (image 75, "YOUR SINCLAIR June 1991 75"); the OCR doesn't hold it.

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

At the Summer Consumer Electronics Show of 1989, Taito showed Arkanoid II: The Revenge of Doh for home computers, "with 67 new levels and a construction set (MS-DOS and Apple IIGS versions only)"; the report doesn't make clear whether "only" covers the levels too. Computer Entertainer listed it as available or planned for the Commodore 64/128 and Atari ST at $29.95, the Apple IIGS at $34.95, and MS-DOS at $34.95, or $37.95 as a dual pack. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/us-ces-1989

The prices are given for both Taito conversions in the item, Qix and Arkanoid II. The report's p. 6 also names Taito's "wildly colorful and musical ARKANOID II", which "has the added bonus of a construction set".

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh

Computer Entertainer reviewed the Apple IIGS version in October 1989, rated it three and a half stars in both of its ratings, and recommended it: "an outstandingly colorful and musical version" of Taito's sequel, with 67 new levels, more Power Capsules than the original, and mouse control of the Vaus. The IIGS and MS-DOS versions both had a construction set for editing or building screens. It listed the IIGS at $34.95 and versions for MS-DOS, the Commodore 64/128 and the Atari ST. arkanoid-revenge-of-doh-history/apple-iigs-ce-review

The ratings were read on the page image (p. 9): "(★★★1/2/★★★1/2)"; the OCR reads them "xx x1/2/xx x1/2". Which quality each rating scores hasn't been checked in the magazine's key. The review lists "One or two players; Mouse; Pause".

Cited by: Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh