Batty

Batty is an action game influenced by Arkanoid, built around the classic paddle-and-ball brick-breaking formula. Move the paddle left and right to deflect the ball into arrangements of bricks, using the side walls to guide its path. Some bricks require multiple hits, and clearing the destructible bricks advances play to the next level.

You begin with five lives, losing one whenever the ball is not kept in play. Destroyed bricks can release power-up tokens, including multi-ball, a larger paddle, and the ability to catch and relaunch the ball for more precise shots. Enemies may fly across the screen and drop bombs that temporarily make the paddle stick, while magnets in some levels make the ball’s movement more difficult to predict.

In two-player mode, each player controls half of the playfield, making cooperation necessary.

Game Information

• Release date: December 31, 1986
• Genre: Action
• Developers: Elite Systems Ltd.; Mark Crane
• Publishers: Encore; Encore Software, Inc.; Hit-Pak
• Platforms: Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Commodore C64/128/MAX, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, ZX Spectrum