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First, it was the book, allowing people to imagine new worlds and people. Then, it was the comic, giving its readers faces and scenes to the names and words. Next, it was the motion picture, letting its audience be absorbed into the reality onscreen. Video games are the next evolution in entertainment. They will soon allow us to step into the shoes of the protagonist and truly enter their worlds and make a difference."
--Walt Disney, from his famous May 1976 speech, "The Next Step"
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News Anchor: Tonight, at Disney's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, something big was unveiled. Touted for months as the "next step in entertainment," the Walt Disney Company's latest foray has been one into the new world of video games. We take you to Amy Fitzpatrick on the scene.
*Brief footage is shown of a large crowd in Tomorrowland is shown, milling about a new building next to Space Port.*
Reporter: A few short hours ago, Walt Disney revealed just
what his famed movie studio has been working on for the past year: a video game named
Breakdown. Taking the concept of the massively-popular
Pong and quite literally turning it on its head--
*Gameplay of
Breakdown is shown. It's in blinding full color, with a white ball launching from a white platform into rainbow-colored blocks arranged in a Mickey Mouse head on the top of the screen. The gameplay is nearly identical to that of OTL's
Breakout.*
Reporter: --the game has drawn in the quarters of young and old alike.
Teenaged Boy: It's like nothing I've ever seen! Way better than
Pong!
Mother: Usually I don't "game," but this machine's just about the most fun I've had today. And I'm in
Disney World!
Reporter: Roaming with the guests is Walt himself, uncharacteristically signing as many pieces of paper fans and park guests can get in his line of sight. He's challenged them to beat his high score, with a grand prize of four tickets to the EPCOT Center, set to open in July. The winner, a girl from California named Deborah Stone, pulled it off just a few minutes ago.
Stone: It took me a while. I'd been playing it since the instant the doors opened, Mom was yelling at me because I was wasting too many quarters, but, you know, I managed to do it! A lot of guys in there were pretty shocked a girl had done it, but I sure showed them!
Reporter:
Breakdown is sure to have current industry leader Atari sweating bullets, as the company has as of late been coasting on their
Pong sensation.
*Gameplay of
Pong is shown side-by-side with that of
Breakdown, the former appearing in archaic black and white and moving much, much slower.*
Reporter: Only time will tell if they can stay on top with a juggernaut like Disney snapping at their heels. For WFTV News, I'm Amy Fitzpatrick.
Anchor: And of course we've been told that starting tomorrow, the House of Mouse's newest innovation will be found nationwide in arcades anywhere. So go scrounge around for some change! It's sure to be a great experience.
Co-Anchor: Oh man, my kids are going to be dragging me across town to play this, aren't they?
--A WFTV news report from the evening of May 7, 1976
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Breakdown is fondly remembered as one of Disney's defining moments ITTL, up there with Mickey Mouse,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, and Disneyland. It's the company's first step into the ocean of video games, a sea that even Walt himself would have trouble in taming.
The game was programmed and designed solely by Rolly Crump and Tony Baxter, two of the younger Disney Imagineers. This is long before Disney actually set up their own game development studio, and mostly, Walt would just delegate people to projects that he felt would do the best with the medium. Crump would become their go-to guy to program during the early days, with the creative minds of Walt, George Lucas, Don Bluth, Tony Baxter, and others helping in designing the game itself.
Gameplay-wise,
Breakdown plays identically to OTL's
Breakout. The goal is to destroy all the blocks at the top of the screen, arranged and colored differently in each level. The first few levels are pretty easy, but the game speeds up swiftly to eat up quarters, and with only three lives, that goal is easily met.
Breakdown is notoriously difficult, inciting the creation of the phrase of "Disney-hard," used by teenagers and young adults to describe any video game that is considered grueling. However, if a player is skillful enough, the game is a cakewalk, and it becomes a frequent sight in arcades to see a crowd watching someone proficient in the arts of
Breakdown.
The new game provided a much-needed jolt to the system of companies like Atari and the arcade business as a whole. Their people scrambled in a frenzy to try and cope with Disney's entry onto the gaming battleground, as
Pong Mania turned into the
Breakdown Virus. By the year's end, it was common to see new, sleek Disney machines next to old
Pong games wherever video games where found, be it a dedicated building or the back corner of a bar.
