Featuring a similar premise to Breakout, the player must destroy a layer of brick lines by repeatedly bouncing a ball spawned off a paddle into them and keep it in play.

He later approached Atari staffer J. Patton, who recommended Mario working with the Jaguar hardware and loaned him a development kit for the system.

[1][4][5][6][7] As with previous arcade remakes and updates on the Atari Jaguar such as Tempest 2000, Missile Command 3D, and Defender 2000, the game modifies and builds upon the gameplay of its original counterpart, introducing a third-person perspective behind the paddle in a pseudo-3D playfield, power-ups, enemies, varying level designs, and multiplayer.

[4][6] These power-ups assist the player, ranging from speed increasers, multiplying the number of balls on-screen, equip the paddle with a plasma cannon, among others.

[8][9][10][11][12] The company had previously worked on productivity software for PC like DynaCaDD for Ditek International as well as WalZ, a Breakout-style game for Atari ST based on Arkanoid (1986).

[4][16][17] Mario Perdue, who previously worked on WalZ and projects for the ST and Atari TT030 computers, acted as lead programmer with Richard Degler providing additional programming.

[4][14][15] Mario originally programmed a Windows 3.1x version of WalZ, which was never released due to its similarity with Breakout and fear of lawsuit from Atari.

[13][15] He had health issues in the early 1990s but later recovered and approached Atari staffer J. Patton, who recommended Mario to work with the Jaguar hardware and loaned him a development kit for the system.

[14] Mario said he wished he could have made better decisions early in the design to make the gameplay smoother, but expressed his satisfaction with Breakout 2000 and has since considered it one of the most enjoyable experiences of his career.

Abramson also noted the multiplayer component for its originality but difficult in getting used to it due to the playfield's perspective, and lamented the lack of game save support.

[2] Red of German publication ST-Computer concurred with Abramson regarding the two-player mode, while commenting that the game's perspective was reminiscent of Klax.

Red ultimately considered it a fun game, commending the gameplay, smooth animation, and controls, but felt that its audio "leaves a lot to be desired".

[1] GamePro's Dan Amrich echoed a similar opinion in regards to the graphics and controls, but found the power-ups difficult to distinguish before grabbing them and criticized the audio department.

[42] Author Andy Slaven agreed with Iida, writing that the Jaguar's pad cannot emulate the precise movement of a paddle, while also commenting that the pseudo-3D visuals failed to impress.