Atari 2600 logo
Atari 2600 Logo

Bionic Breakthrough by Paul Donaldson on the Atari 2600

Bionic Breakthrough was one of only two games written to be used with the Mindlink controller.

General Information

Developer - Paul Donaldson

Publisher - Atari

Release - 1984

Platform(s) - Atari 2600

Number of Players - 1

Genre - Arcade - Breakout / Pong / Circus

Bionic Breakthrough was one of only two games written to be used with the MindLink controller, a headband that the player wore on his head and plugged into the joystick port. The idea was that the MindLink's sensors would pick up any facial movements or muscle twitches the player would make.

The problem was that the MindLink didn't work very well in initial test runs, and even when it did worked players would complain of headaches and dizziness from twitching their face. Bionic Breakthrough is really just Super Breakout with a title screen. It's unknown if this was just supposed to be a demo to show what the MindLink could do, or if it was actually a standalone product. Before the game starts there is a screen where the word MindLink slowly scrolls to the bottom, this is for callibration. On this screen the player can move the text block left and right to make sure the Mindlink is working properly. Bionic Breakthrough was never released.

VIEW ATARI GAMES BY

Recent Atari Game Additions

VIEW ATARI GAMES BY