The reference brick breaker, served up in 16 bit. Nothing reinvented, but efficient and hypnotic for short sessions.
Your verdict
Category
Arcade1 player3+
Description
Classic Taito brick-breaker with bonuses and additional levels on Super Nintendo. Published by Taito, released in Europe in 1997. Paddle at the bottom of the screen to bounce the ball against bricks, falling power-up capsules including multi-balls and enlarged paddle, dozens of levels. Late port of Taito's cult Arkanoid arcade game on Super Nintendo.
Arkanoid review
3/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Polished"
3/5
Music
★★★★★
"Memorable"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Bouncing the ball back to smash walls of bricks remains one of gaming's purest, most hypnotic loops, and this entry enriches it with clever power-ups and tricky levels. The satisfaction of clearing everything off a perfect angle never fades. The two-player mode doubles the fun. Simple, snappy and fiercely addictive, a brick-breaker built for scoring.
Late port of Taito's block-breaker, here in its 1997 PAL edition, one of the very last SNES titles released in Europe as the console wound down. This twilight release date, on a market already turned to 32-bit, gives it a small distribution that interests collectors of PAL catalogue tail-ends. Complete box and multilingual manual add value. Desirability owes more to the release timing and late-PAL status than to the game itself, efficient but unsurprising.
Is Arkanoid still worth playing in 2026?
An adaptation of Taito's famous brick breaker, this version carries over the pure Vaus mechanic of bouncing the ball to break walls, with its iconic power-ups and addictive rhythm. Precise control stays essential and the immediate fun still works, even if the pad struggles to replace the arcade dial. The timeless concept keeps all its appeal in short sessions. A genre classic for fans of brick breakers and high scores, despite a modest 16 bit production.
