Beyond the Black Hole

Beyond the Black Hole places an orb between two side paddles and a group of targets suspended in the center. The sphere crosses the field from one side to the other. You have to keep it inside the area and use its passage past the objects to hit the central plane. Each hit changes the shape you are trying to clear and raises your score.

The Software Toolworks released the game in 1989. The DOS copy on this page identifies itself as version 1.05 CD and shows the 1989–1990 copyright in its credits. Its intro draws the title in large letters over a field of stars. Then the first mission begins, with white paddles, yellow and white targets and a fuel gauge along the bottom.

Tracking the orb

The paddles sit on both sides of the screen. Vertical mouse movement changes their position. Before attempting a hit, place them near the height at which the sphere is going to arrive. The bounces keep the action going and give you another chance to send the orb toward the targets.

The left button changes the orb's trajectory and lets you drive it into the central plane. Watch its position when you press it. A click made as it passes close to a figure can cause a hit, while a press at another point of its path changes the movement without eliminating that target.

The sphere changes size and appearance as it moves in depth. Those differences are part of the path you have to learn to read. Start with short mouse movements and several passes through the central area. The first mission lets you get to know the paddles and the objects before you face more complicated layouts.

Score, fuel and mission

The top strip shows Score, Bonus, High and Level. Score goes up when you hit the targets. The gallery preserves one game with 100 points and another with 300, both earned with clicks while the orb passed through the center. The figures that have been hit leave recognizable gaps in the initial group.

At the bottom you will find the fuel gauge, marked with E and F. Keep an eye on it while you correct the bounces. The mission-end screen then shows a Fuel level percentage, along with the level and the points you had. That information lets you tell how the run ended.

It pays to follow the orb all the way to the edge before looking at the next target. If you concentrate too long on the central figures, you can miss the moment to adjust the paddles. The ClaBa Player pause stops the whole emulation and lets you resume at the same moment later.

Quitting and starting over

Esc ends the current mission and takes you to the closing screens. Hall of Fame appears and, when you continue with Enter, Orb Power Down Storage Checklist. The program asks whether you want to save the mission data with Y or N. To repeat the run from the beginning, choose N.

The next question is Play again. Y starts another game. That sequence lets you return to the first mission and practice the bounces without sitting through the whole intro again. The player's Restart button gives you the complete startup of the copy prepared for the browser.

Preparing the DOS files

The online game uses the 123 files in the original ZIP. The copy keeps the executable, the configuration and the original data, and gathers the resources in the BH_STUFF folder that the program requests. That organization allows the font and graphics of the 1.05 CD edition to load.

The download keeps the original ZIP. To prepare it in a DOS emulator, create a BH_STUFF folder next to BH.EXE and copy the files with ART, FNT and SET extensions into it. Keep BH.EXE and BH.CFG in the main folder. The collection's README.TXT file explains the graphics and controls configuration.

The first letter of BH.CFG picks CGA, EGA or Tandy through C, E or T. The second picks joystick, keyboard or mouse with J, K or M. The preserved configuration is EM, which corresponds to EGA and mouse. The screenshots and instructions on this page come from that combination.