Super Breakout

Super Breakout © 1978 Atari.

Super Breakout allows the player(s) to select any one of three different action-packed Super Breakout games by turning the game select knob on the control panel to the desired game. The three available Super Breakout modes are the following:

* Double Breakout: before serving the ball, the Double Breakout playfield contains 52 orange bricks (4x13) at the top of the screen and 52 green bricks (4x13) immediately below the orange brick wall.
Two paddles are displayed at the bottom end of the screen. When the Serve pushbutton is pressed, two balls are served. If the first ball served is missed, it counts as a missed serve and goes against the player's allotted serves per game. Otherwise the second ball is served. If the second ball served is missed after striking the first served ball, the player may continue with the first ball.

* Cavity Breakout: before serving the ball, the Cavity Breakout playfield contains 44 orange bricks and 52 (4x13) green bricks located immediately below the orange brick wall. At approximately 3 columns in and 2 rows down into the orange brick wall, from both the left and the right side of the wall, two cavities appear. These two cavities occupy the space of 4 bricks (a 2x2 brick area).
One paddle is provided in this game, and only one ball is served, unlike in Double Breakout. When enough bricks are removed to release a captive ball from its cavity, the score doubles for each brick removed by any of the two balls in the playfield (as long as the served ball and the freed ball both remain active in the playfield). If the third ball is freed and all three balls are played in the playfield, the score triples. If any one of the balls is missed and lost, the score returns to double points. If the second ball is missed and only one ball remains in the playfield, points are then scored as normal.

* Progressive Breakout: before serving the ball, the Progressive Breakout playfield contains 4x13 brick walls (one blue and the other green). The blue brick wall, which consists of 52 bricks, is at the top. Then occurs a space equivalent to this wall. In the middle of the screen is a green brick wall consisting of 52 bricks.
The brick walls move or 'scroll' toward the paddle at a rate determined by the number of hits on the ball. As the bricks are knocked out and the walls progressively creep up on the player's paddle, new bricks enter the playfield at a progressively faster rate. Four rows of bricks are always separated by four rows of blanks.
As the brick walls scroll down, their colors change, indicating a new point score for that brick at that instant of time.