How to play Gangster Alley online
- Move the gunsight: arrow keys
- Fire: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose a game (1–4): F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Difficulty: F4 toggles the left difficulty switch (A for beginners, B for veterans)
- Player 2 in two-player games: T/F/G/H to aim, A to fire
Gameplay
You are an agent of the “S.B.I.”, sent to take on a gang that has challenged the agency to a showdown. Mugsy, Scar Face, Lefty and Shifty appear in the windows, and Nitro Ed waits on the roof with a bomb. Hit each gangster before he draws his gun, or you lose a bulletproof vest. If Nitro Ed gets to throw his bomb, the game ends at once.
You start with four vests (three shown on screen) and four rounds of six bullets. When the gangsters run out of ammunition, everyone pauses to reload and you get $10 for each unused bullet. Every $5,000 earns an extra vest, up to four. After the third phase night falls: the building goes dark, and each shot you fire lights it up for a moment.
| Target | Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Night | Phase 5 | Phase 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mugsy | $20 | $30 | $40 | $50 | $60 | $70 |
| Scar Face | $30 | $40 | $50 | $60 | $70 | $80 |
| Lefty | $40 | $50 | $60 | $70 | $80 | $90 |
| Shifty | $50 | $60 | $70 | $80 | $90 | $100 |
| Nitro Ed | $100 | $110 | $120 | $130 | $140 | $150 |
| Hostage (woman or child) | −$1,000 | |||||
At the end you are given a rank based on your reward money, from Cadet up through Rookie, Marksman and Inspector to Chief, which needs $40,000 or more.
Game variations
Games 1 and 2 are the standard game for one and two players. Games 3 and 4 are slower children’s versions, again for one and two players.
Tips
- Know the hostages. The woman wears purple; the child has a blue shirt and yellow hat.
- Keep checking the roof. Nitro Ed can end the game on his own, so deal with him whenever the windows are quiet.
- Don’t fixate on Nitro Ed. While your sight is on the roof, the gangsters in the windows get time to fire.
- Be ready for the night. Remember which windows were busy before the lights went out.
History and other versions
Spectravision was founded in 1981 as a games distributor that hired outside developers, and became Spectravideo in late 1982 because a hotel TV system already used the name. AtariMania notes two curiosities: the demo mode is fully playable, and a second version of the cartridge fixed a small programming bug in the first.
The game was later reissued under other names, such as Gangster Ruine, Stopp die Gangster and Mafia. The best-known reissue is Froggo’s Task Force from the late 1980s, which keeps the same structure but swaps the gangsters for terrorists in high-rise buildings.
