Skip to main content

NES Pinball: Basic ball bouncing, but a bit boring

I owned both Pinball and Pin-Bot as a kid, both given to me by my dad. The latter was more interesting, but I'd sometimes play Pinball just for the simplicity of it. The fun never lasted long, and it's no more enjoyable today.

Pinball has a top screen and a bottom screen, so as to simulate a full-length pinball machine. The most engaging part of the game is the bonus stage. Whenever the ball goes into the hole on the bottom screen, the screen switches to a bonus area. Now you control Mario, who carries a girder over his head to keep the ball up as it bounces around furiously. Pauline—nowadays the mayor of New Donk City—paces overhead. Keep the ball alive long enough, and the floor below her will open up and she'll fall. If Mario catches her and guides her safely to the ledge, you'll hear a triumphant tune and gain 10,000 bonus points.
The evolution of Pauline
The rest of the game is standard pinball features, with bumpers, poker cards, and a slot machine. They're fine but unremarkable. It took me about five minutes to see everything Pinball has to offer. Once you've rescued Pauline, what more is there to do? The only replayability is trying to set a high score.
The Breakout-style bonus game
There are two game modes: in mode A the ball is somewhat floaty, whereas in B it has realistic weight, which I think is more fun because it's harder. As with other NES launch titles, there's no background music. When you turn the game on, a short jingle plays, which repeats every few games, and that's it for music.

Pinball is a well executed, albeit rudimentary, facsimile of a pinball machine. Obviously this was meant to bring the arcade experience into your home, and it does that as well as could have been expected in 1985. This game is either relaxing or boring; your mileage may vary.
Grade: D
Linked Reviews
"Nothing here is bad, in fact, the game functions quite well; it's just repetitious, lacking variety and overshadowed by better options."
— Dave Letcavage, Nintendo Life5/10

"Fans of pinball should look to get their fix elsewhere. I know Pinball is a launch title, but come on."
— Pat Contri, Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the NES Library, 2/5

"The smooth animation, responsive controls and physics, and great table and bonus design add up to an excellent package that holds up quite nicely more than 30 years later."
— Jeremy Parish, NES Works

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Final Fantasy VI: 30th anniversary

Final Fantasy VI is widely regarded as the greatest of the original six FF games. Its decision-based story events, fully customizable magic system, and gritty sci-fi/fantasy setting set the standard for the series moving forward. The enormous cast of characters and elaborate plot-line built on the promise of FF4 (“Final Fantasy II” in the U.S.), shedding many of that game’s cliches (while sticking with the tried-and-true Evil Empire trope) in favor of something more adult. The game’s villain, Kefka, embodies evil, playing on the sci-fi trope of the person driven mad by experimental technology. Final Fantasy VI begins with an amnesiac girl named Terra (you can change her name, of course). Controlled by a psychic “crown”, she pilots a magic-driven suit of tech armor (called “Magitek”). After forming a psychic connection to an “Esper” (what were called “Summons” in FF4), she breaks free of the empire’s control. A thief named Locke, who belongs to the resistance group known as the Returne...

Super Mario Land: A short, oddball entry

Super Mario Land was a Game Boy launch title, but not the pack-in game. That honor went to Tetris. Tetris is an incredible game with perennial appeal, and it propelled the Game Boy's explosive success. Super Mario Land is not as impressive but still fun. Super Mario Land is a bit odd. It doesn't feel like other Mario games. Only four of the classic enemies appear: Bullet Bills, Piranha Plants, Goombas, and Koopa Troopas. Even the koopas behave differently: their shells can't be kicked and instead explode like bombs. Most of the enemies are assorted creatures, like spiders, robots, ghosts, and Moai heads. The Fighter Flies from the original Mario Bros. arcade game also appear. The Super Mushroom, coins, and Super Star appear, as well as question blocks. The Fire Flower, however, has been replaced by a similar flower power-up. It lets Mario throw a bouncing ball. It ricochets off walls like an old screen saver, and only one can be on screen at a time. Weird! Extra-life mushr...

Dragon Buster: It's a bust

On paper, Dragon Buster sounds like a great Japanese arcade game: a side-scrolling dungeon crawler in which you (a boy named Clovis) slay monsters and wizards and collect potions, jewels, scrolls, and other treasure. But when I actually played it, I was disappointed. The stages (dungeons) are made up of hallways, monster rooms, elevators, and a few drops and ledges. Smaller enemies roam the hallways, but each room contains a big monster to fight, such as a Golem or the hilariously-misnamed Bishop, who is an ax-wielding fighting-man. When you defeat it, you collect an item, then continue on your way. In a certain room, defeating the monster will produce an exit instead. Some of the stages are labyrinthine. There are a total of twelve worlds (maps), and you have some choice of which dungeons to do. In the last dungeon of each map, you have to fight a fire-breathing Dragon. Each one has a different weak point that flashes red. The number of dungeons on each map varies greatly, from just o...