GOING BATTY
JASON BENHAM ON HIS POPULAR ARKANOID CLONE
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND
BATTY
, JASON?
The history is that I independently made an Arkanoid clone for the Commodore 64. Living in a small seaside town – Redcar – I had access to all the latest games in the arcades, and I could get right through to the end of Arkanoid with maybe a couple of continues. I wanted to make a game that could do everything Arkanoid could do and more, hence the enemies firing shots that stun you, the extra power-ups, the bricks you can only destroy from the top, metal walls and so on. From what I remember, Batty took around three or four months to create while working at home.