That April Fools SuperGraphx proto thread reminded me of Marble Madness, so I got to searching and found this thread.
Hot damn! Popils and Peter Pack Rat too! What an unfortunate shame that Tengen couldn't get these to market.
"Off the Wall", I'd never even known of as an arcade game. It looks like a worthy multiplayer take on the tried and true block & paddle tradition. The music is particularly good, what great fitting compositions for the PC-Engine!
That Tengen crew were doing some eternally respectable arcade translations. Their Mega Drive output is a highlight of that platform's library. Come to think of it, iirc there is a Popils sidebar, interview maybe, in the back of the Road Blasters manual. I'd wondered if a Popils port was intended for the Mega Drive, what a surprise to now see that there was indeed a port in the works for PC-Engine. Now doing some other searching on the internet I see that
Off the Wall was also in the works for Game GearIt's almost haunting knowing these PC-Engine Atari arcade ports were so lovingly crafted and so far along and have yet to be played by the fans.