Off the Wall

Atari 2600 · 1989 · US

Also known as: Off The Wall

Atari Atari Action

Publisher: Atari · Developer: Atari · Genre: Action

Off The Wall is an arcade action game with Breakout style gameplay. You control Kung Fu Lu, whose mission is to destroy a mysterious, evil wall by reflecting a bouncing ball into the bricks that make up the wall. When the bricks are hit by the ball, they are destroyed. On the top of the screen is a mystical dragon which guards the wall. Each level can be completed by either destroying all of the bricks in the wall, or hitting the dragon six times with the ball. Once the first level is completed, a blackbird will also appear on screen just below the wall. The blackbird will deflect the ball, and tries to get in the way to make your mission more difficult. From time to time, a magic token will fall downward which gives you special powers if caught. These can make the ball magnetic and follow your player, give you a larger paddle, or make the ball explosive and take out larger chunks of bricks. You start the game at a skill level of Peasant, and advance in rank every time four waves of bricks are cleared. You lose a life every time the ball falls off the bottoms of the screen, and the game ends when you lose all five of your lives.