Klax (video game)

1990 video game

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1990 video game

Klax

North American arcade flyer

Developer(s)| Atari Games
Publisher(s)|

* NA: Atari Games
* JP: Namco

* Game Gear, Master System, PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16
Tengen
NES/Famicom

* NA: Atari Games
* JP: Hudson Soft

Genesis/Mega Drive

* NA: Tengen
* JP: Namco

2600, Lynx
Atari Corporation
BBC Micro, C64, CPC, ZX Spectrum
Domark Limited
Game Boy Color
Midway

Designer(s)|

* Dave Akers
* Mark Stephen Pierce

Programmer(s)| Dave Akers
Artist(s)| Mark Stephen Pierce
Composer(s)|

Brad Fuller

* NES
LX Rudis
Dave O'Riva
Amiga, CPC, ST, C64, ZX Spectrum
Matt Furniss

Platform(s)|

Arcade

* Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DOS, FM Towns, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, Master System, MSX, NES/Famicom, PC-88, PC-98, SAM Coupé, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine, X68000, ZX Spectrum

Release|

February 1990

* Arcade

* NA: February 1990[2][3]
* JP: March 1990[1]

NES/Famicom

* NA: June 4, 1990[5]
* JP: December 14, 1990[4]

2600

* UK: Mid-1990

TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine

* JP: August 1990
* NA: September 1990[6]

Genesis/Mega Drive

* JP: September 7, 1990[7]
* NA: 1990
* EU: November 1991[8]

Lynx

* NA: October 1990
* JP: 1990

Game Boy

* JP: December 14, 1990
* NA: August 1991[9]

X68000

* JP: December 14, 1990[10]

PC-88, PC-90

* JP: December 1990

Amiga, BBC Micro, C64, CPC, DOS, ZX Spectrum

* UK: 1990

Atari ST

* EU: 1990

Master System

* EU: November 1991[11]

Game Gear

* NA: 1991
* EU: 1992

Game Boy Color

* NA: April 1999[12]

Game Boy Advance

* NA: 2005

Genre(s)| Puzzle
Mode(s)| Single-player, multiplayer

Klax is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Atari Games for arcades; in Japan, it was distributed by Namco. It was designed and animated by Mark Stephen Pierce, with the software engineering done by Dave Akers. The object is to catch colored blocks tumbling down a machine and arrange them in colored rows and patterns to make them disappear. Klax was originally published as a coin-op follow-up to Tetris, about which Atari Games was in a legal dispute at the time.

The Atari 2600 version, released in mid-1990, and Fatal Run, are the final releases for the console which was discontinued in early 1992.[13]

## Gameplay

[edit]

Arcade screenshot

Controls consist of a four-position joystick and a button. The player controls a small paddle at the lower end of a constantly running conveyor belt. Using the joystick, the player can move the paddle left or right to catch tiles in various colors as they advance down the conveyor. Below the paddle is a well that can hold up to 25 tiles in five columns of five; pressing the button causes the topmost tile on the paddle to fall directly downward and into the well, as long as that column is not full. The goal is to form "Klaxs", or unbroken horizontal/vertical/diagonal lines containing three tiles of the same color. Doing so awards points and causes those tiles to disappear, allowing any tiles above them to fall toward the bottom of the well. Bonus points are awarded for completing multiple Klaxs with a single tile (including lines of four or five matching tiles) and for Klaxs formed by the falling of already-placed tiles.

The paddle can hold up to five tiles at any given moment. The player is penalized with one "drop" whenever a tile falls off the conveyor without being caught or while the paddle is full. Pushing up on the joystick will flip the topmost tile on the paddle a short distance up the conveyor, while pulling down accelerates the motion of the tiles.

The game consists of 100 waves, presented as 20 groups of five waves each. At the start of the game and after every fifth wave, the drop meter is cleared and the player is presented with three options of which wave to play next; choosing a later wave awards bonus points and allows more drops. Each wave has an objective that must be reached, such as making a set number of Klaxs, scoring a certain number of points, or surviving a set number of tiles. At the end of a wave, bonus points are awarded for each tile still on the conveyor and paddle and for each empty space in the well. The game ends when the player either exhausts the available drops, completely fills the well, or finishes all 100 waves.

## Development and release

[edit]

Akers programmed Klax in just a few weeks using AmigaBASIC, then ported each line to C. In a 1990 interview, he said he wanted to "produce something playable, compact and relatively quick to develop". His influences were Tetris and tic-tac-toe.[14] He chose the name from the sound that tiles make rolling across the screen.[15]

Atari Games released Klax in February 1990, with Namco releasing the game in Japan a few months later,[5] and soon called it a "major arcade hit".[16] It quickly released several home versions under the Tengen brand. Akers created the Nintendo Entertainment System and Genesis editions.[17] Some 16-bit conversions feature improved graphics.[citation needed] Klax received the Parents' Choice Foundation's seal of approval in 1990, and won Best Mind Game at the 1991 European Computer Leisure Awards. Dennis Lynch of the Chicago Tribune named Klax the Best Cartridge of 1990.[18] Klax is the first game with versions for all three of the leading 1990s consoles: the NES, the Genesis, and the TurboGrafx-16.[19] After the arcade version, Klax was converted to most contemporary home computers and video game systems of the 1990s, including the Atari Lynx, Amstrad GX4000, and the Atari 2600 as its final official Atari-licensed release exclusively in Europe.[citation needed] The Atari 7800 version was programmed by David Dentt, who also worked on Ninja Golf for the same console.[20]

Midway Games gained the rights to Klax upon purchasing Atari Games in 1996. A 1999 press release called it Midway's "tic-tac tile puzzle game".[citation needed] Mike Mika, who worked on the Game Boy Color version of the game, placed a hidden wedding proposal inside it. It took his then girlfriend three years to uncover the proposal. Mike Mika also inserted a hidden Snake-like game and a mini-adventure game as easter eggs.[21]

Klax has since been re-released in video game compilations for modern consoles. The game was included in Arcade Party Pak for the PlayStation. It was reissued in Midway Arcade Treasures, a 2003 compilation for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. It appears in Lego Dimensions.[citation needed]

## Reception

[edit]

Reception

AwardPublication| Award

|

Crash| Smash[22]

In Japan, Game Machine listed Klax as the seventh most successful table arcade unit of March 1990.[23]

On release, Famicom Tsūshin awarded the PC Engine version 30 out of 40.[24] Klax was ranked the 26th best game of all time by Amiga Power in 1991.[25] The NES version is ranked 44 in IGN's Top 100 NES Games.[26]

In a capsule review of the Lynx version for STart, Clayton Walnum commended the game in aspects of gameplay, graphics, music, sound effects and speech.[27] Julian Rignall reviewed the Atari Lynx version for CVG Magazine in January 1991, saying "the game is simple, but very, very addictive" and giving a rating of 93 out of 100.[28]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 52\. ISBN 978-4990251215.
2. ^ "Cash Box Magazine, Feb. 3rd 1990". Internet Archive. Cash Box (New York). 3 February 1990. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
3. ^ "Production Numbers" (PDF). Atari. 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2013.
4. ^ "All Famicom games sorted from the latest release to the earliest". Famitsu. Archived from the original on October 15, 2023.
5. ^ a b "Tengen sets arcade titles for NES, PCs; video games", HFD-The Weekly Home Furnishings Newspaper, June 4, 1990
6. ^ "ProView" (PDF). GamePro. No. 14\. International Data Group. September 1990. p. 82.
7. ^ "Software List (Software Licensee Release)". Sega Hard Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Sega Corporation.
8. ^ "Klax \- MegaDrive Review" (PDF). Mean Machines. No. 14\. November 1991. pp. 102–103\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-03.
9. ^ "Game Boy (original) Games" (PDF). Nintendo of America. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2016.
10. ^ "X68000のソフトとか". tkhr000.s601.xrea.com (in Japanese). 2019. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019.
11. ^ "Power Previews: The Shape of Things to Come" (PDF). Sega Power. Future plc. p. 11.
12. ^ "Game Boy Color Games" (PDF). Nintendo of America. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 10, 2004.
13. ^ Lapetino, Tim (November 2017). Art Of Atari. DK Games. pp. 290–291\. ISBN 9780744018868. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
14. ^ "AEX - The most comprehensive exploration of Atari online". April 10, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-04-10.
15. ^ The A-Z of Sega Mega Drive Games: Volume 1 ISBN 978-1-785-38720-3 p. 72
16. ^ "Tengen sales increase to more than $41 million", press release dated May 23, 1990.
17. ^ "Classic Gaming Expo". September 29, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-09-29.
18. ^ "COMPUTING 1990'S BEST AND WORST - Chicago Tribune". Chicago Tribune. 25 January 1991.
19. ^ "They're hot, they're new, they're fun", by Dennis Lynch, Chicago Tribune, November 23, 1990.
20. ^ Hawkin, Kieren (September 2014). "Atari 7800 ProSystem". Retro Gamer. No. 132\. Imagine Publishing. p. 27\. ISSN 1742-3155.
21. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (July 30, 2013). "Man hid wedding proposal in commercial Game Boy Colour game". Eurogamer.
22. ^ Game review, Crash magazine, Newsfield Publications, issue 77, June 1990
23. ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 377\. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 April 1990. p. 25.
24. ^ 30 Point Plus: KLAX. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.335. Pg.30. 12–19 May 1995.
25. ^ Amiga Power magazine issue 0, Future Publishing, May 1991
26. ^ "Top 100 NES Games - IGN.com" - via www.ign.com.
27. ^ Walnum, Clayton (December 1990). "The Lynx Collection". STart. No. 39\. Antic Publishing. pp. 70–71.
28. ^ Rignall, Julian (January 1991). "Latest Lynx Lowndown". CVG Magazine. No. 110\. p. 136. Retrieved 24 March 2018.

## External links

[edit]

* Klax at the Killer List of Videogames
* Klax at MobyGames
* Klax at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
* The MS-DOS version of Klax can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive

* v
* t
* e

Atari Games

Games|

| Developed|

| 1980s|

* Marble Madness
* Paperboy
* Peter Pack Rat
* Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
* Gauntlet
* Super Sprint
* Road Runner
* Gauntlet II
* Championship Sprint
* 720°
* RoadBlasters
* APB
* Xybots
* Blasteroids
* Vindicators
* Toobin'
* Cyberball
* Hard Drivin'
* Tetris
* Vindicators Part II
* Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters
* Tournament Cyberball 2072
* S.T.U.N. Runner
* Skull & Crossbones

|

1990s|

* Badlands
* Klax
* Hydra
* ThunderJaws
* Pit-Fighter
* Race Drivin'
* Rampart
* Batman
* Race Drivin' Panorama
* Road Riot 4WD
* Steel Talons
* Off the Wall
* Relief Pitcher
* Guardians of the 'Hood
* Space Lords
* T-MEK
* Primal Rage
* Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey
* San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing
* Mace: The Dark Age
* San Francisco Rush the Rock: Alcatraz Edition
* California Speed
* Gauntlet Legends
* Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA
* War Final Assault
* Road Burners
* San Francisco Rush 2049

Cancelled|

* Marble Man: Marble Madness II
* Beavis and Butt-Head
* Primal Rage II

Published|

| 1980s|

* Rolling Thunder
* Dragon Spirit
* R.B.I. Baseball
* Pac-Mania
* Galaga '88
* Final Lap
* Assault
* Splatterhouse
* Four Trax

|

1990s|

* Mad Dog McCree
* Knuckle Bash
* World Rally
* Cops
* Area 51
* Maximum Force
* Radikal Bikers
* Area 51: Site 4

People|

* Mark Cerny
* Brad Fuller
* Ed Logg
* Dave Theurer
* Dave Akers
* Richard Marriott
* Pete Kleinow
* Steve Ritchie

See also|

* Warner Communications
* Namco
* Tengen
* Time Warner Interactive
* Midway Games
* Atari Games Corp. v. Oman
* Atari Games Corp. v. Nintendo of America Inc.

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