Alleyway (video game)

Alleyway
European box art
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D1[4]
Intelligent Systems[5]
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Designer(s)Gunpei Yokoi
Composer(s)Kenji Yamamoto[6]
SeriesMario
Platform(s)Game Boy
Release
Genre(s)Breakout clone
Mode(s)Single-player

Alleyway[a] is a 1989 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 for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in June 2011, and on the Nintendo Switch Online service in May 2024.[7]

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 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.

  1. ^ "Complete Game Boy Games List" (PDF). Nintendo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference nsitel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ndb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Nintendo R&D1". IGN. Archived from the original on 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
  5. ^ "INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS CO., LTD. ゲームソフト". Intelligent Systems. Archived from the original on 25 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  6. ^ "あのときサムスは裸だった". 任天堂公式ガイドブック スーパーメトロイド (in Japanese). Ape, Inc.; Nintendo Co., Ltd. 1994. pp. 90–95. ISBN 4-09-102474-2.
  7. ^ Romano, Sal (May 15, 2024). "Game Boy – Nintendo Switch Online adds Alleyway, Baseball, and Super Mario Land". Gematsu. Retrieved May 15, 2024.


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