Off the Wall

Far away in the Mysterious East on the other side of the world, there lived an adventurous lad named Kung Fu Lu. Lu’s grand longing was to crush the ancient, evil wall that plagued his friendly neighbors.

Guarding the wall was a mystical dragon and a cunning blackbird. The dragon would cast balls at brave Lu. If Lu successfully deflected them with his staff, he gained good fortune and special powers. If he missed a ball, it cost him one of his five lives he was granted as a child. The frightful blackbird tried to prevent Kung Fu Lu from destroying the wall, but Lu remained undaunted and continued on until he smashed the last remaining brick.

About the Game

Off the Wall was the first of a handful of games developed for the Atari 2600 by Axlon, a company started by Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell had returned to Atari in 1988 after being absent from the company since his exit in 1978. He promised—and delivered—new releases for the 2600 in a home gaming market that had recovered from the disastrous mid-1980s.

Despite more than a decade passing since the Atari 2600 was first released, Off the Wall demonstrated there was a bit more life left in the system. The inclusion of random power-ups, including one with a random effect, added an additional layer to the traditional Breakout-style game experience.

Object of the Game

The objective in Off The Wall is to score the highest number of points. Play against another player or try to beat your best score.

How to Play

Position Lu in the path of the falling ball; use his staff to deflect the ball back to the brick wall to break out bricks. If Lu misses a ball, he loses a life.

Score points by using the ball to knock bricks out of the wall, hitting the dragon beyond the bricks or catching the Mystery Token. Some Mystery Token effects do not involve points.

In each game, you start with five lives. The number of lives remaining appears in the upper-left corner of the screen, with one square for each remaining life. If you break out all the bricks, or hit the dragon six times, the wave finishes and you receive another life.

Each time you hit the dragon, the background behind the

bricks becomes lighter. Clearing four waves automatically advances you to the next skill level: Peasant to Student, or Student to Master.

Difficulty Options

Change the difficulty button to increase (position A) or decrease (position B) Kung Fu Lu’s speed.

Game Options

There are three different skill levels to select at the start of a game: Peasant, Student, and Master. Each of these levels has four different waves of playing action. Each skill level and each wave is more difficult than its predecessor.

Two-Player Game

In a two-player game, each player takes a turn. Player one breaks bricks until he or she misses the ball and loses a life. The second player continues with the same brick field. The game continues, moving into higher skill levels, until each player runs out of lives.

Game Feature: Blackbird

A Blackbird appears after the first wave on the Peasant level. It appears immediately on the Student and Master levels. The bird tries to fly between the bricks and the ball. If the ball hits the bird, the bird deflects the ball back in the direction from which it came.

Game Feature: Special Power Tokens

After you hit the ball the first time, different tokens begin dropping at random. Catch a token to receive special powers. Each token has its own special power. You keep these special powers until you miss a ball or the token timer (a bar graph in the upper-right corner) runs out.

Zig Zag

This token makes the ball travel in a zigzag pattern after being hit by Lu. On the way down, the ball travels in a normal, straight path.

Mystery Token

This token has one of four effects; three are helpful, while one is a disadvantage. The token’s positive effects are granting an additional life, adding bonus points (based on the current skill level), or stopping the Blackbird. The token may also speed up the ball, making it harder to hit.

Magnetic Paddle

With this token, Lu’s staff becomes a magnet that draws the ball to Lu’s location. After hitting the ball, moving Lu to the left moves the ball in the same direction. Because this token is so powerful, its timer runs down at twice the normal speed.

Nuke Ball

This token causes the ball to break out a much larger chunk of bricks when it hits the wall.

Mega Paddle

This token enlarges Lu’s staff. The larger staff makes it easier to hit the ball.

Scoring