is a 1989 video game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy. It is a Breakout clone and one of the launch titles developed and released for the system. The game was released alongside the Game Boy, first in Japan in 1989, in North America later that year, and in Europe in 1990. It was later re-released for the Virtual Console on the Nintendo 3DS in June 2011, and on the Nintendo Switch Online service in May 2024.
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.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The first stage
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. 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.
The game ends when all the player's paddles are depleted. An additional paddle is granted for every 1000 points scored until the player has over 10,000 points. The player may have up to nine paddles at once.
The ball's direction and speed can be controlled by the paddle's velocity and point of contact. Changing direction the moment the ball comes into contact with the paddle, called a snap technique, If the player contacts the ball with the body of the paddle before it falls into the pit below, it will bounce back into the playing field. However, if instead, either corner of the paddle collides with the ball at that moment, it will be knocked directly into the pit.
Alleyways ball cannot be locked in an infinite loop of ricochets. Whenever the ball starts to loop between objects such as the ceiling, indestructible blocks and/or the paddle itself, its velocity will change at a random point after the second cycle on its next collision. As a result, the ball will travel at a slightly raised or lowered angle depending on its current trajectory, and will break out of the loop. Unlike regular levels, the ball will destroy blocks in these stages without ricocheting off them, and contact with the ceiling will not affect the paddle size. These stages are the only ones to feature background music during play, and cannot be paused. After finishing the final bonus round, the game then loops back to the first stage, allowing for infinite play.
Alleyway marks one of the first appearances of Mario on the Game Boy system alongside Super Mario Land, although its original box and cartridge art showed an unidentified character in a spacesuit piloting the paddle. The artwork was changed to show Mario at the controls on the game's international release, but neither the manual nor the back of the box refer to the Nintendo mascot's presence in the game. Nintendo Powers preview made no mention of Mario in the title other than note of the pattern of bricks in Mario's shape for the first bonus level. Official confirmation of the pilot being Mario only came about in 1990 with Club Nintendos preview of the game's European release.
The game was one of the first titles made by the Nintendo R&D1 development team, alongside Tetris and Radar Mission. Years later, the game's designer Gunpei Yokoi would reuse much of Alleyways source code (such as paddle behavior and adapted physics engine) for the Game Boy game Kirby's Block Ball while working with Shigeru Miyamoto's team.
Release
Promotion of Alleyway in Nintendo-published material consisted of a segment taking up a third of the page the articles were on. Years after its initial release, a two-page section in the Super Game Boy Nintendo Strategy Guide bundled with the Super Game Boy accessory appeared, which gave advice and color codes for the game.
Alleyway was re-released as a launch title for the Virtual Console system on the Nintendo 3DS on June 6, 2011, first in Japan and a year later in North America. It was re-released on the Nintendo Classics service in May 2024.
Reception
Although Alleyway sold well enough during its production run, it has not been re-released as a Nintendo Player's Choice title, The four reviewers in Electronic Gaming Monthly compared it to Arkanoid, writing that it lacked enhancement over the Breakout format. In the Japanese magazine Famitsu, two reviewers desired more variation on the gameplay, with one writing that this was more apparent after playing Arkanoid and Nazo no Kabe: Block-kuzushi. The book Rules of Play discusses the game as an example of improved design over a base core mechanic, citing the inclusion of distinct sound effects for ball collision as a means to praise the player for destroying bricks, and the varied level designs as "well done" and giving the player "an element of discovery to the overall experience".