Nintendo has graced us once again with new additions to the Game Boy emulator for Switch Online, which means I have more old shit to play! BACKGROUND:
I had no idea this game was even a thing, let alone that a) it was a Game Boy launch title, and b) Intelligent Systems had a hand in developing it. Learn something new everyday. SUMMARY: Alleyway is a clone of Breakout, a legendary Atari game from the arcade era developed by industry legend Nolan Bushnell and the two co-founders of Apple (Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak). The basic premise of this game is controlling a paddle to bounce a ball, using it to break a layout of bricks (while taking care not to miss the ball by moving the paddle from side to side). It's a classic game that's been done so many times that the genre it spawned is still commonly referred to as "Breakout clones." Other notable titles in the genre include the equally iconic Arkanoid to more out-there entries like Ricochet: Lost Worlds (a personal favorite of mine; I talk about that game here). Honestly, I think it's unlikely that anyone who can read my blog hasn't seen a Breakout clone at some point in their life; the more likely thing is that people may not know what that kind of game is called, or the progenitor of the genre. In any case, I hope my explanation suffices, and that the bits of trivia I shared are interesting. Many games have evolved the Breakout formula in the decades since the original's release with all sorts of wild mechanics. Alleyway... doesn't really do that. Most of the game is the standard paddle-and-ball action that serves as the core of games of its kind, and you don't really get any gimmicks like power-ups or multi-balls. The only really notable mechanic is how the paddle shrinks every time the ball hits the ceiling, which in all fairness is a neat way to keep things challenging. The main source of variety in this game is in the brick layouts for each level, which is honestly shallow because there are only a handful of layouts that are used multiple times in the game. The layouts themselves are pretty generic, save for one set of regular levels and the bonus levels, which are patterned after sprites from Super Mario. Where the game mixes things up is when they reuse brick layouts, as every second level will have the bricks scrolling horizontally, while every third level features the same layout, but descending line per line Puzzle Bobble-style (though bricks are deleted once they pass a certain threshold). I wish there were more designs for the layouts in general, but the scrolling and descending levels are a fun way to freshen things up a little bit. Every fourth level is a bonus level, which, as mentioned, features a fun layout of bricks that look like various Mario sprites (like Mario himself, or a Koopa). Things work a little differently here, as the ball will not bounce off the bricks (it will instead go through them as they're broken), and there's a time limit. The goal here is just to clear as much of the board as you can, which will net you points (they do matter, as every 1000 is an extra life). The graphics are pretty basic (which is fine; the original Breakout itself looked simple), though amusingly, there's an opening cutscene that shows Mario entering a vessel that turns out to be the paddle you're controlling (the story behind that, I don't know). In terms of music, you get pretty much nothing apart from bonus levels, which made the game kind of boring. VERDICT: There's honestly not much to say about Alleyway, as it doesn't really do anything notable with the game it's borrowing from other than the occasional moving level layouts, the odd Mario sprite, and the shrinking paddle mechanic. I have a soft spot for simple-as-hell arcade games, so I had my fun with this game, but I can't say that it does anything to set itself apart from other Breakout clones or engage me enough to keep playing past the couple dozen levels there are. It's a serviceable game that delivers what's expected of a Breakout clone, but that's about it. If you're interested in the Breakout clone genre, you're probably better off playing the original (which is both an "essential" game for its impact on gaming, as well as the perfect showcase of the core experience of the genre it pioneered), or checking out the many Breakout clones that have since come out that add new mechanics to the formula, like Arkanoid (which expanded upon the foundations by adding stuff like power-ups to the mix). That being said, there's nothing really wrong with Alleyway if you want something on the simple side; if you just want a Breakout-style game with not a lot of set dressing or chaos, this game will suffice. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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