Arkanoid is an arcade game developed by Taito in 1986. It is a simplified clone of Sega's earlier arcade game Gigas and Gigas Mark 2 which were in turn based upon Atari's Breakout games of the 1970s. The player controls a small pad, known as the "vaus" space vessel, which prevents a ball from falling from the playing field, attempting to bounce it against a number of bricks. The ball striking a brick causes the brick to disappear. When all the bricks are gone, the player goes to the next level, where another pattern of bricks appear. There are a number of variations (bricks that have to be hit multiple times, flying enemy ships, etc.) and power-up capsules to enhance the vaus (expand your vaus, multiply the number of balls, equip a laser cannon, break directly to the next level), but the main gameplay remains the same.