Pinball machines had been popular for decades before videogames came on the scene. Pinball on the NES was one of the launch titles for the system in the USA, it attempted to bring the magic home. With simple graphics and no flashy tricks this actually makes for a pure pinball experience and this simplicity is one of the games saving graces.
Pinball offers only one table, but it's two screens tall. The field is filled with obstacles and obstructions, offering opportunities to score high and fast. There's a animal theme to the presentation, with seals and penguins taking up residence on the upper end of the table and baby chicks claiming the lower, but overall it's a pretty straightforward, no-frills look.
A third screen can be accessed with a proper shot of the ball - a bonus stage, starring Mario. The pasta-packing plumber portages a plank above his person, running back and forth along the screen to keep the pinball in play, Breakout-style. The damsel in distress from Donkey Kong, Pauline, appears at the northernmost edge of the stage, and must be caught and saved by Mario if and when she falls.
Playing Pinball again today on the Wii, it's easy to be underwhelmed. After all it was an NES launch title, and the novelty of its adaptation of a real pinball experience is lost now with a myriad of other pinball games coming out on the NES and later consoles which surpassed this. It is still fun so we don’t want to completely dismiss it out of hand, but Alien Crush is also on the Virtual Console and it has far more sophisticated game. We recommend stumping up the extra 100 Wii points and giving that a try instead of this.
1. Pocketim
06 May 2007, 04:20 GMT
This game is under-rated, the jumpman bonus minigames are fun and the pinball table is cool too
2. mario/zelda_fan
13 May 2007, 07:02 GMT
u can play this on the game cube animal crossing. I remember the only reason i played this game was to be Mario.
3. Pocketim
16 May 2007, 06:58 GMT
I agree with you mario/zelda_fan, the mario minigame is why I played it in the first place but I also like the pinball table
4. SKTTR
11 Jun 2007, 09:27 GMT
This Pinball title is excellent.
Me and my friends always try to top our highscores and that's all about it.
It also didn't aged much, like all of the other 1st generation NES titles.
The graphics are nice and the control is tight.
We played it for months. I like this game. 4 Stars.
5. Pit 42
16 Jul 2007, 02:43 GMT
This game is...decent. Sonic Spinball is a much better choice.
I won't get it because it's not very deep and I already have it for my old e-Reader.
6. learn japanese ds
10 Jan 2008, 01:51 GMT
pinball has never really translated well onto the home console.
7. Grant
25 Jan 2008, 13:19 GMT
i dont like this game it has not originality at all and it just blows
8. 2097
03 Mar 2008, 01:06 GMT
The princesses Mushroom, Toadstool and Peach are the same person; Pauline, Daisy and Rosalina are three separate people for a total of four?
9. Stu
12 Apr 2008, 14:14 GMT
I think this provides a decent game of pinball. No more, no less.
Of course, it does lack the experience of playing on a real pinball table, but at least once you've bought it you don't have to keep feeding it coins!
10. JamesMcCloud
28 Apr 2008, 14:30 GMT
i've got pinball on windows
11. Beau Skunk
06 Aug 2008, 05:11 GMT
Takes a li'l getting used to, if your used to more advanced video game pinball games, but it is possible to master this game, and play it for a long time getting really high scores, once you get the hang of it. There's no option to "shake" the pinball table, but luckilly there's no way to ever get the ball stuck. The semi-hidden Mario minigame is great to.
The top table features a slot machine, and the bottom one features flipable cards. Get a match in the slotmachine, or flip all the cards, (pretty hard to do) and the bottom hole between the flippers will be clogged, so you won't fall down it, and best of all it stays there, until you slip down the sides. So it's very rewarding.
It's possiblly the first video game adaption of pinball, (I'm not sure if it's true) but definatelly not the worst. I find it quite enjoyable, though not as much as Kirby's Pinball Land (Gameboy) or Sonic Spinball. Still it's a nice diversion from those more complex pinball titles. Also the dancing penguins are cute!
Leave A Comment
Please login to post a comment.