Software:Hogan's Alley (video game)

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Short description: 1984 video game
Hogan's Alley
REV-A box art
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D1
Intelligent Systems
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Shigeru Miyamoto[1]
Designer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto[1]
Composer(s)Hirokazu Tanaka
Platform(s)Famicom/NES
Arcade
ReleaseFamicom/NES
  • JP: June 12, 1984
  • NA: October 18, 1985
  • EU: December 15, 1987
Arcade
Genre(s)Light gun shooter
Mode(s)Single-player
Arcade systemNintendo VS. System

Script error: The function "nihongo_foot" does not exist. is a light gun shooter video game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Family Computer in 1984 and then the arcade Nintendo VS. System and Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. It was one of the first hit video games to use a light gun as an input device, along with Nintendo's Duck Hunt (1984). The game presents players with "cardboard cut-outs" of gangsters and innocent civilians. The player must shoot the gangs and spare the innocent people. It was a major arcade hit in the United States and Europe.

In real life, Hogan's Alley was a shooting range on the grounds of the Special Police School at Camp Perry, a training facility for the National Guard of the United States.[4]

Gameplay

A wall round. The middle target is a gangster who must be shot; the woman and police officer to either side must be left alone.

The game begins with three cardboard cutouts moving into position against a blank wall and turning to face the player. The cutouts display a mixture of gangsters and innocent/friendly people; the player must react quickly and shoot only the gangsters. In later rounds, the backdrop changes from the blank wall to a city block, with some cutouts already exposed as they emerge into view. The player is confronted with five cutouts in each of these latter rounds.

After five rounds apiece in the wall and city block, a bonus round is played. Here, the player has a limited supply of ammunition with which to shoot up to ten tin cans thrown from one side of the screen, trying to bounce them onto ledges at the opposite side for points. After this round, the player returns to the wall rounds and the game continues at an increased speed.

Shooting an innocent person, or failing to shoot a gangster, costs the player one life, which is indicated by the "MISS" counter incrementing by one. No lives can be lost in the bonus round. When all lives are lost, indicated by the "MISS" counter reaching 10 or more, the game is over.

Release

The game is available on the Nintendo Entertainment System and as a Nintendo VS. System Game Pak, which was installed into VS. System Arcade cabinets.[5]

In the United States, Hogan's Alley was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 as one of the original 17 launch titles for the system. There are three modes: "Hogan's Alley A" (the blank wall), "Hogan's Alley B" (the town), and "Trick Shot" (shooting soda cans to bounce them onto ledges).

Ports

A modified version of Hogan's Alley using the Wii Remote in place of the NES Zapper was released for the Wii U Virtual Console on January 7, 2016 in North America.[6]

Reception

In North America, the arcade version of Hogan's Alley became popular and popularized light gun video games along with Duck Hunt in 1985.[7] In the United States, Hogan's Alley had topped the RePlay arcade charts by November 1985[8] In Europe, it had also become a very popular arcade game by 1986.[9]

Computer and Video Games magazine gave the arcade version a generally positive review, calling it "a pleasant change" from the space shooters popular in arcades at the time, but noted the gameplay is similar to Sega's Bank Panic which released the same year and that it may not appeal to everyone.[2] Mike Roberts and Eric Doyle of Computer Gamer magazine gave the arcade game a positive review, praising the realistic gun controller.[10] Computer Gaming World named Hogan's Alley as 1988's Best Target Game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, calling it "an entertaining variation on the theme".[11]

Legacy

Digital artist Cory Arcangel hacked the Hogan's Alley game to produce "I Shot Andy Warhol", an art piece that replaces the game's targets with images of Andy Warhol. This a reference to the film that dramatized Valerie Solanas's attempted assassination of the artist.[12]

Hogan's Alley inspired games appear in WarioWare and other games in the WarioWare series. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Ultimate, the Duck Hunt character has the ability to kick the can from the bonus rounds of Hogan's Alley, which can be continually bounced forward by an off-screen shooter using the NES Zapper until it eventually explodes. The character's Final Smash attack causes opponents to get caught in the middle of a shootout between the enemies from Hogan's Alley and Wild Gunman.

See also

Notes

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yamashita, Akira (8 January 1989). "Shigeru Miyamoto Interview: Profile of Shigeru Miyamoto" (in ja). Micom BASIC (1989–02). "Famicom (as director & game designer) - Hogan's Alley, Excitebike, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Wild Gunman, Duck Hunt, Devil World, Spartan X". 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Arcade Action: Hogan's Alley". Computer and Video Games (47 (September 1985)): 119. 16 August 1985. https://www.solvalou.com/arcade/reviews/218/593. 
  3. ↑ "Hogan's Alley (Registration Number PA0000260315)". https://cocatalog.loc.gov. 
  4. ↑ Cronin, Brian (Mar 8, 2017). "The Surprising Comic Origins of a Classic Nintendo Video Game". Comic Book Resources. https://www.cbr.com/hogans-alley-nintendo-fbi-yellow-kid/. 
  5. ↑ "Nintendo Vs. Unisystem Nintendo Vs. Dualsystem Arcade Manuals, PPU, PCB info, daughter board info, Nintendo Vs. Instruction Cards, game info". http://www.johnsarcade.com/nintendo_vs_ppu_info.php. 
  6. ↑ "Hogan's Alley for Wii U - Nintendo Game Details". https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/hogans-alley-wii-u/. 
  7. ↑ Adlum, Eddie (November 1985). "The Replay Years: Reflections from Eddie Adlum". RePlay 11 (2): 134-175 (170-1). https://archive.org/details/re-play-volume-11-issue-no.-2-november-1985-600DPI/RePlay%20-%20Volume%2011%2C%20Issue%20No.%202%20-%20November%201985/page/170/mode/2up. 
  8. ↑ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay 11 (2): 6. November 1985. https://archive.org/details/re-play-volume-11-issue-no.-2-november-1985-600DPI/RePlay%20-%20Volume%2011%2C%20Issue%20No.%202%20-%20November%201985%20%28Compressed%29/page/6. 
  9. ↑ Edgeley, Clare (16 December 1986). "Arcade Action". Computer and Video Games (United Kingdom: EMAP) (63 (January 1987)): 138–9. ISSN 0261-3697. https://archive.org/details/cvg-magazine-063/page/n137/mode/2up. 
  10. ↑ Roberts, Mike; Doyle, Eric (November 1985). "Coin-Op Connection". Computer Gamer (8): 26–7. https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gamer_Issue_08_1985-11_Argus_Press_GB/page/n25/mode/2up. 
  11. ↑ Kunkel, Bill; Worley, Joyce; Katz, Arnie (November 1988). "Video Gaming World". Computer Gaming World (53): 55. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_53.pdf. Retrieved April 23, 2016. 
  12. ↑ "Interview with Cory Arcangel". Seeing Double: Emulation in Theory and Practice. Guggenheim Museum and Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. January 1, 2004. http://variablemedia.net/e/seeingdouble/index.html. Retrieved January 27, 2012. 
  • Hogan's Alley at the Killer List of Videogames
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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