Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: October 18, 1985
These black box games really do make good t-shirts
Pinball on NES isn’t a particularly important game, but it did give us one innovation. It introduced the console world to the Mario cameo. Now I know that he is on the cover, but that was mostly for marketing purposes. He only appears in the bonus game saving Pauline one last time before he got too busy with Princess Peach. It is a fun number matching bonus game which isn’t too hard to get to, but it rarely lasts more than a few seconds. It’s like if he was the cover star of Punch-Out even though he only appears as the referee. Still, Nintendo knew they had a mascot on their hands so they started sneaking him into any game they could. It’s a trend that continues to this day.
The top half of the game
Pinball was a game that I loved as a kid. I remember staying up all night with my cousin playing it. We rented it so much that when the video store was paring down their games we bought the rental copy and it is still in my collection today. As a launch title it makes sense because Pinball has wide appeal and the thought of playing it at home any time without having to go to a noisy arcade or downtown dive is always tempting. The only problem with it is that the game was already almost two years old by the time it made it stateside and it was starting to show its age. It’s a fairly fun game, but it could certainly use a bit more excitement.
The bottom half of the game
The actual machine in the game features two screens and a bonus game which makes it more in depth than the typical early 80s pinball video game. I like that the goals are pretty clear. You hit targets, you bounce off bumpers, you try to turn all the cards over in the middle of the screen. It’s about as low frills as a pinball game could be. This is also the main problem with the game. It’s about as laid back as a game can be. There’s no music except during the intro and the sound effects are sparse. It doesn’t really have the bells and whistles of a typical pinball machine. It could also use some better bonuses. It’s not easy getting all the drop targets on the bottom screen, but the payoff is only an exit on the side back to the plunger that goes away if your ball goes down the side lanes. It’s a pointless bonus that goes away when your ball is in a position to use it. All getting the royal flush does is change the table’s color and put a bumper between the flippers. A real pinball machine would give you a big bonus for that or at least have some flashing lights. It’s a game that if you’ve played it for thirty minutes you’ve seen just about everything. Even the disappearing flippers are more of an annoyance than anything else.
In spite of it’s flaws, however, I am still going to put this in the good column. There is something to be said for a game that is so relaxing. It’s one of the great cool down games on the NES. In game A the ball moves nice and slow, and I love to get my score higher and higher while hitting the familiar ramps and targets. It does have decent replay value too, and if I had bought this in 1985 I would’ve felt like it was worth the money. I know that’s modest praise, but Pinball is a game of modest pleasures and that makes it worth playing. There are only six pinball games on the NES and I am curious to see how it stacks up against the others. It probably won’t be near the top, but it’s a decent launch title.
1. Super Mario Odyssey
2. Galaga
3. Donkey Kong
4. Exodus: Ultima III
5. Pac-Mania
6. Pac-Man
7. Excitebike
8. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX
9. Mickey’s Racing Adventure
10. Metro-Cross
11. Gaplus
12. Dragon Spirit
13. Pinball (NES)
14. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)
15. Red Sea Crossing
16. Baraduke
17. Gamma-Attack
18. The Legend of “Valkyrie”
19. Galaxian
20. Evoland
21. Defunct
22. Gyruss (2600)
23. Looney Tunes Racing
24. Squidlit
25. Birthday Mania
26. Bad Street Brawler
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