Alleyway
Alleyway 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 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.