I think every pre-1985 VIC 20 owner that could write a BASIC program made a BREAKOUT clone of some type or another. Surely, we all painted rows of colored reverse bars on our screen as a mock display.
I could not locate my original game clone from the 1980s cassette tape library, so I presumed it to be lost forever. Anyhow, I decided to write another version in ML and with the software sprite stack.
The game claims to require a paddle, but it auto-detects the use of a joystick too. If you press P1 paddle button, it starts in one-player mode; pressing P2 paddle button, it starts in two-player mode. The same with the joystick: push LEFT (or FIRE) for one-player; push RIGHT for two player.
In two player mode, you start each ball with a fresh level. If you lose a ball or complete a level, I swap to the other player to have a chance to play (if he has any balls remaining). Player one is white paddle & ball with a black score; player two is reversed. Each paddle button launches the player's respective ball -- although the C= key was put in as an override. Press STOP anytime to reset game or RESTORE to reset to BASIC.
That's it. Fairly simple, but still was fun to do. I don't recall programming a complete game using paddles. Fortunately, I have a new pair of C= branded game paddles (jitter-free!) and the game plays slick on real hardware. VICE with paddle emulation is ok, but it is just not the same.
Download ZIP archive or the PRG binary only. Requires at least 8k RAM expansion.
