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Block Out (ブロックアウト)

Released in 1989

Developer: Tecmo
Manufacturer: Tecmo
Distributor: Tecmo

(1 total votes)

game marquee

Game Summary

A Tetris-type game of arranging falling "bricks", except it's 3D and you're looking top-down into the grid that is being filled.

Hardware Info

Controls: 1 Joystick / Button(s)
Horizontal-mounted Raster monitor
320 x 240 Resolution
Colors: 513 Color

Additional Hardware Info (from Mame)

68000 cpu @ 8 Mhz
Z80 cpu @ 3 Mhz
YM-2151a audio @ 3 Mhz
OKI6295 audio

Mame ROMs

blockout, Block Out (set 1)
blckout2, Block Out (set 2)

Game Details

Spin and move the bricks and drop them into place to complete levels which vanish allowing the upper bricks to fall.

An addictive game that requires more skill than mere 2D puzzles, Block Out puts you in control of blocks as they fall away from you to the bottom of a shaft. Having no pieces left over after you complete the last row gives you a "Block Out".

Controls are two buttons for rotation of the bricks and a third tiny thumb control on the top of the joystick for fast drop.

Between levels, a blue face fades in to mumble some taunts at you. The graphics are dull but the concept of the game is great. You're only stacking cubes so who needs frills? The X-Filesesque music warps your brain as you happily fritter away your quarters.

More challenging than Tetris in that:

The play grid changes every round (e.g. square, rectangle, cross)
The shapes block your view as you screw up. As you complete a horizontal level, holes in the levels below are covered and you must remember what's going on down there.

The game intensifies as the play gets faster and faster and the impending doom piles closer and closer to the player.

control panel

cabinet photo

title screen

gameplay screen

promotional flyer

Coinop.org Member Ratings / Comments

by richh. Comment: "10 times better than tetris, great game!" 2004-05-18 22:55:41Z

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This game page was created 8/3/1998 12:00:00 AM and last updated 1/8/2000 10:33:33 AM