Alleyway
| Alleyway | |
|---|---|
North American box art of Alleyway.
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| Developer(s) |
Nintendo Research & Development 1 Intelligent Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Gunpei Yokoi |
| Composer(s) | Kenji Yamamoto |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Breakout clone |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| AllGame |    |
| EGM | 5.75/10.00 |
| GamesRadar | 5.0/10.0 |
| Mean Machines | 33% |
| Power Play (DE) | 48% |
| Retro Gamer | 31% |
Alleyway (アレイウェイ?) is a video game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo as a global launch title for the Game Boy. It is a Breakout clone and one of the first four games developed and released for the system. The game was released first in Japan in 1989, in North America later that year, and in Europe in 1990. It was later re-released via online distribution for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on June 6, 2011.
The name Alleyway references the in-game gateway that the player's spaceship (represented as a paddle) must pass through. While Alleyway is a portable clone of Breakout, it adds several new features, including alternating stages, bonus rounds, and hazards for the player at later levels. While the game's original box art featured an unidentifiable protagonist, later international releases of the game replaced the character with Mario. Alleyway was released with limited advertising, receiving moderate to low scores from reviewers who compared it to games like Arkanoid.
The player's objective in Alleyway is to clear all bricks in each stage using a ball and paddle while keeping the ball from falling into the pit below, similar to that of Breakout. The paddle's speed can be adjusted by holding either the B or A button on the controller while moving the paddle, which can move only horizontally at a fixed height. At the start of each life, the player can reposition the paddle before releasing the ball and commencing gameplay. When released, the ball will always begin at a 45° angle above the paddle aimed toward its center. The player starts the game with five paddles; each time the ball falls into the pit below the paddle, a paddle is removed and the ball is reset.
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