Batty (video game)
Encyclopedia
Batty is a bat-and-ball, Breakout clone
-style video game, published by Elite in 1987
and available for the ZX Spectrum
, Commodore 64
and Amstrad CPC
. The game was initially given away free with "Your Sinclair
" magazine, before reaching cult status and receiving a market release in its own right, albeit a budget one.
Some blocks, when struck, contained special power-ups which would fall and could be collected by the player's bat to give certain abilities.
The special power-ups available included:
The game allowed three modes of play, one and two player "turn-taking" and a two-player simultaneous play by allowing each player's bat to only move in "their half" of the screen, which required co-operation between the two players to keep the ball going, especially if Aliens were present as then even the idle player (the one who does not have the ball on their side) had to avoid any dropped bombs and the aliens themselves.
Different levels presented different obstacles through which the ball had to be navigated to destroy all the breakable blocks, and some incorporated a "gravity" device which altered the path of a ball if it strayed near while it was activated.
Breakout clone
A Breakout clone is a sub-class of the "bat-and-ball" genre introduced with the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis and Atari's Pong...
-style video game, published by Elite in 1987
1987 in video gaming
-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
and available for the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
. The game was initially given away free with "Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair
Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
" magazine, before reaching cult status and receiving a market release in its own right, albeit a budget one.
Summary
The basic premise is the same as that of Arkanoid and similar games: destroying square blocks by hitting them with a ball, which is controlled by deflecting it with a player-controlled bat. The process is made harder by "Aliens" in the shape of a UFO or a bird which hover over the screen, dropping bombs. Although the aliens can be dispatched by striking them with the ball or even, if they work their way down the screen, by running them over with the bat, they can deflect the ball and present an extra challenge for the player who has to dodge their bombs while trying to keep the ball going.Some blocks, when struck, contained special power-ups which would fall and could be collected by the player's bat to give certain abilities.
The special power-ups available included:
- The Hand - which makes the ball stick to the bat until the player chooses to fire it again
- "Kill All Aliens" - which stops the aliens from appearing until another power-up is collected or a life is lost.
- Extra life
- 5000 points
- Smash shot - which makes the ball smash through blocks rather than bounce off the first one it strikes
- Long bat - which enlarges the bat to make hitting the ball easier.
- Triple-ball - which splits the on-screen ball into three
- Warp - which warps the player to the next level.
- Laser - which allows the player to shoot the blocks with a laser mounted on the bat.
The game allowed three modes of play, one and two player "turn-taking" and a two-player simultaneous play by allowing each player's bat to only move in "their half" of the screen, which required co-operation between the two players to keep the ball going, especially if Aliens were present as then even the idle player (the one who does not have the ball on their side) had to avoid any dropped bombs and the aliens themselves.
Different levels presented different obstacles through which the ball had to be navigated to destroy all the breakable blocks, and some incorporated a "gravity" device which altered the path of a ball if it strayed near while it was activated.