Ten Pin Alley

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Ten Pin Alley
Developer(s)	Adrenalin Entertainment
Publisher(s)	ASC Games
Platform(s)	Playstation Sega Saturn PC
Release date	October 1, 1996
Genre(s)	sports game
Mode(s)	Single player Multi-player

This game is not to be confused with the similarly titled Animaniacs: Ten Pin Alley

Ten Pin Alley is a ten-pin bowling simulation game released by American Softworks in 1996. During its early life the game was plagued by put backs, and was released months after its inially proposed release date of early 1996.

The game was eventually released in February of 1998 in the United Kingdom, and October 1996 in the United States.

A sequel to the game entitled Ten Pin Alley 2 was mooted for a release on the Playstation 2, but for unknown reasons was shelved. Despite this, the sequel was released on the Game Boy Advance to dismal reviews.

Ten Pin Alley should not be confused with an audio game with the same title made by PCS Games.

1 Gameplay
2 Response
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The game contained considerable depth and allowed the player to participate in a number of various game play modes, including one player, multi player, tournament and a practice mode. Moreover the game included various technicalities of the bowling world which would delight some and undoubtedly confuse others, these included the option to select the weight of the ball and the material it was made from. The game was also one of the first bowling games to include a "no tap" option, meaning any player who knocked down nine pins with their first ball was rewarded with a strike.

Each shot was controlled in a similar fashion to many of the golf games of the era with an accuracy based pendulum system, with this the player decided the power, accuracy and hook each shot contained.

The game found originality in the comedic slant it added to each character, for example hitting a turkey (three strikes in a row) with one particular character would force him to flex his muscles uncontrolably until he eventually defecated himself, although this is obviously a rare occurrence in real tournament bowling, it added much needed comic relief to the game.

[edit] Response

Response to the game was relatively good, although the main criticism was the almost impossible tournament mode, in which computer players would breeze to world beating scores of 220+, while the average human player would top around a 150. To this day the game is still mentioned as one of the better Ten-pin bowling games around, a typically scarce genre.

[edit] Trivia

While in Multi Player mode, holding down all four shoulder buttons of the Playstation controller while pressing one of the four main buttons, would allow a player to scream a barrage of insults at his or her opponent. for example "You Suck" or the alley favourite "Miss".

Two of the Tournament Mode teams are named after the companies who made the game -- Team ASC (after American Softworks Corporation) and Adrenalin Rush (after the developer, Adrenalin Entertainment, and a play on the phrase "adrenaline rush").