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''Kirby's Pinball Land'' is a 1993 pinball video game developed by
HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN, is a Japanese video game developer based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded on February 21, 1980 by Mitsuhiro Ikeda. The company started out developing games for home computers of the era, but has since establishe ...
and published by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
for the
Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...
. It was HAL Laboratory's third pinball video game after the
MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...
and NES title '' Rollerball'' and the Game Boy title '' Revenge of the 'Gator''. It was also the first spin-off and second Game Boy title in the ''Kirby'' series, as well as the second pinball video game Nintendo published after the NES title ''
Pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
''. The game was rereleased on the
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'
Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...
service in July 2012. The game stars
Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Lofts, a building in Houston, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby Ho ...
as the ball, and features three pinball tables, each owned by a classic boss of the ''Kirby'' series: Whispy Woods, Kracko, and Poppy Bros.


Gameplay

The game is played much like that of pinball, with two flippers used to help keep
Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Lofts, a building in Houston, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby Ho ...
in play as he bounces off walls, bumpers, and enemies, scoring points by doing so. Defeating certain enemies earns bonus points and multipliers, which combine to provide a bonus at the end of each life. Players can also earn Maxim Tomatoes which helps block the drain for a short period. The game is made up of three tables; Whispy Woods, Kracko, and Poppy Bros, each made up of three floors. The game aims to help Kirby make his way up to the top floor in order to access each table's boss. Each floor has various gimmicks that either help Kirby to reach the next floor, such as characters that throw Kirby upwards or bring in a Warp Star that Kirby can hop onto. Warp Stars on the bottom floor take Kirby to the table selection screen, Warp Stars on the middle floor takes Kirby to a minigame, where he can earn extra points and multipliers, and Warp Stars on the top floor take Kirby to that table's boss fight. Each boss fight requires the player to deal a certain number of hits to the boss without hitting the Warp Star at the bottom and returning to the top screen. After defeating all three bosses, players then fight against
King Dedede This is a list of characters from the '' Kirby'' franchise, who are featured in video games and other media across the franchise. Main characters Kirby is the protagonist of the series and a playable character in every game except '' Dedede' ...
. After defeating Dedede, the player can play the three tables again to aim for a higher score. If Kirby falls down the drain on the bottom floor of each table, he will land on a springboard. By timing the A button at the moment where the springboard is at its lowest, Kirby can spring back up to the table, with well-timed presses returning him to the top floor. However, the springboard becomes smaller with each use, making it more difficult to successfully spring back up. If Kirby fails to jump back into the table, the player will lose a life, with the game ending once the player has run out of lives. Extra lives can be earned by spelling out the word 'Extra' with letters that appear on the table selection screen after bosses have been defeated.


Reception

In the United Kingdom, it was the top-selling Game Boy game for two months in 1994, from March to April. ''Kirby's Pinball Land'' was met mostly positive reception. ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...
'' gave it a 7.25 out of 10. They criticized that the blurring of the Game Boy screen makes it difficult to see what's going on, but nonetheless deemed it "one of the better pinball games for any system" due to the ability to recover lost balls, the multi-table gameplay, and the large number of hidden things to find. ''
Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...
'' ranked ''Kirby’s Pinball Land'' the fifth best Game Boy game of 1993.


Retrospective

Retrospectively, it holds an average score of 70% at
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
. In a retrospective review, ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'' praised it as a quality
Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...
pinball game, describing it as being both involving and fun. ''Kirby's Pinball Land'' was one of the nominees for ''IGN''s "Game Boy Action Game of the Century" Reader's Choice award. '' 1UP.com'' commented that "Spin-offs are a groan-inducing inevitability for popular series, but ''Kirby's Pinball Land'' is one of those ideas that just make good sense." The engine used in ''Kirby's Pinball Land'' would later be used in another Nintendo game, '' Pokémon Pinball''. ''Super Gamer Magazine'' gave the Game an overall review score of 85% writing: "Highly playable pinball game with loads of levels and bonuses. Screen blurs slightly, but this doesn’t make it any less fun." Philip J. Reed of ''
Nintendo Life Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...
'' was more negative, criticizing the repetitive gameplay and poor implementation of ''Kirby'' series elements, as well as its frequent disruption of gameplay.


Notes


References


External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games, 1990s 1993 video games HAL Laboratory games Kirby (series) video games Pinball video games Game Boy games Single-player video games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Tadashi Ikegami Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS