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Bionic Breakthrough

Unreleased Atari 2600 cart. published 40 years ago by Atari, Inc.

Listed in MAME

Bionic Breakthrough screenshot

Bionic Breakthrough © 1984 Atari, Incorporated.

This is Super Breakout with a new title screen.

TECHNICAL

This prototype is unplayable without the Mindlink controller, a headband that the player wore on his head and plugged into the joystick port. The idea was that the MindLink's sensors would pick up any facial movements or muscle twitches the player would make. The problem was that the MindLink didn't work very well in initial test runs, and even when it did worked players would complain of headaches and dizziness from twitching their face.

TRIVIA

It's unknown if this was just supposed to be a demo to show what the MindLink could do, or if it was actually a standalone product. Before the game starts there is a screen where the word MindLink slowly scrolls to the bottom, this is for callibration. On this screen the player can move the text block left and right to make sure the Mindlink is working properly.

Telepathy was the other game that could be played with the Mindlink controller. Telepathy however could aslo be played with the joystick which means Bionic Breakthrough is the only game written specifically for the Mindlink.

STAFF

Programmer: Paul Donaldson

SOURCES

Game's ROM.