This is a freeware game. It was released in 1996. The latest version is 1.09 (1998). The game is based on the Commodore Amiga classic Megaball (1991) by Ed and Al Mackey. It can be traced back to games such as Pong (1972), Breakout (1976) and Arkanoid (1986). I did not use any cheats or save states.

Apparently, this version has a high score bug, when you actually complete the game. A solution would be to leave one brick up at board 50 and then commit suicide, in order to achieve and save the highest possible score in your personal high score list.

FireBall and Thru Brick are both very powerful power-ups. When you have both, the game will not only be easy; you will also score more points compared to the combo of Shooting Paddle and Thru Brick. At this point, you can grab Falling Bricks for easier aiming and Fast Ball for higher point count per brick.

Super Shrink and Shrink Paddle (can easily be confused with Expand Paddle) should be avoided at all times. You should expand your paddle once but not twice. Using Expand Paddle more than once is dangerous, because it increases the likelihood that you, reluctantly, will be grabbing a Kill Paddle. If you are hit by Super Shrink or too many Shrink Paddle, it will almost certainly lead to losing a paddle, unless you get lucky (luck requires skill in this case).

Multiply Exploding always seems to come too late, when appropriate; or maybe I simply grabbed one of the plentiful Set-Off Exploding “power-up”s too early.

Extra Life is obviously the best and most important power-up, if you are trying to complete the game. You should always try to catch any Extra Life, even if there’s a high risk of losing your current life. If the Extra Life and the DX-Ball go down at exactly the same time, you should go for the DX-Ball, because losing a life also means the loss of your current power-ups. Sometimes, this can be difficult to estimate, because the power-ups and the DX-Ball often travel at different speeds and angles. The most legitimate way of completing the game, however, would be a game in which you do not lose any lives at all; or a game in which you manage to complete it with your initial 3 lives.

Split Ball can be used at your own risk but be warned; it requires multitasking. My conclusion after this, is that singletasking is more accurate and reliable when it comes to aiming, unless you consider multitasking a proces of switching between single tasks at the appropriate time and then use singletasking.

Level Warp can be used at the expense of the value of the remaining bricks. I don’t use it, because it can sometimes ruin my focus and rhythm; when I enter an even more difficult board having no power-ups. There is no easy way to do this. You might as well destroy all the bricks, unless you are in a very dangerous situation (Fast Ball + Super Shrink + Falling Bricks.without Thru Brick, Grab Paddle, FireBall or Shooting Paddle).

Board 45 was tricky due to all the invisible bricks which obviously make the DX-Ball bounce back down at an unexpected time and angle. An early Zap Bricks or Thru Brick will immidiately counter these hidden traps.

Shrink Ball would be interesting when you need to aim at narrow openings that your normal DX-Ball has trouble entering unless you hit the opening almost perpendicularly. This would be in the case of a board with bricks surrounded by indestructible bricks; except an opening at one the sides with a height of 1 brick.

Grab Paddle is nice to have, because it allows you to have a ball that travels at maximum speed (max. point per brick) and, at the same time, to be able to slow down or change position at will; in order to aim more efficiently.

Programming:
– Michael P. Welch

Graphics:
– Seumas McNally (1979-2000)

Board Design:
– Sarah Welch

Game Development Page:
– …

Level Editor Code:
– Ctrl-F1 at the Title Screen

Cheat Codes:
– Ctrl-F1 Reset paddle
– Ctrl-F2 Grab paddle
– Ctrl-F3 Shooting paddle
– Ctrl-F4 Expand paddle

Hints & Tips:
– Hit the ‘p’ key during the game to pause
– F5 toggles through in-game MIDI music
– F6 turns off in-game music
– The faster the ball goes, the more points you get for bricks
– Grab all the extra power-up you can, they’re worth points

#dxball #dx-ball #dx-ball1.07