Pokémon Pinball
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is a
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 ...
-based
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
for the
Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...
. It was released in Japan on April 14, 1999, and in North America on June 29, 1999. In it, the ball is a Poké Ball, and most of the objects on the table are
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
-related. Like any pinball game, the main
objective Objective may refer to: * Objectivity, the quality of being confirmed independently of a mind. * Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope * ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film * Objective pronoun, a personal pron ...
is to get points, using the different modes of advances to score them at a higher rate. ''Pokémon Pinball'' has a secondary objective hinted at by the tagline "Gotta Catch 'em All," which is to collect all 151 Pokémon to fill your Pokédex. The Pokédex is saved between individual games, so it can be built up over time.


Gameplay

There are two tables in the game: Red and Blue. Each table has its own details and gameplay elements. Each table has different playable "locations", which determine which Pokémon are available for capture. A subset of available locations are displayed slot-machine style in the beginning of a game, and pressing A will select a starting location and launch the first ball into play. After that, each table has its own mechanism for advancing to the next location, including the locations not available at the start of the game. "Catch Mode," when activated, starts a 2-minute window of opportunity where the player can attempt to capture a Pokémon. Once you activate "catch mode," the player must hit the pop bumpers 6 times. Each hit unlocks 1/6 of an image of the Pokémon currently available for capture. Once the image is complete, the Pokémon appears on the table, where it must be hit 4 times with the ball to be captured. "Evolution Mode," when activated, starts a 2-minute window of opportunity in which the player selects a captured Pokémon (from the current game in progress only) and attempts to evolve it into another form. This is the only way to add the evolved form to the player's Pokédex. Once you select a Pokémon, the player must hit targets on the playfield. There are up to 7 targets on the red board, 6 on the blue board, but only 3 of them have items in them needed to evolve a Pokémon, with the others creating a time-wasting sequence before the player can hit targets again. If the player hits a target with an item, the item appears on the playfield and must be collected with the ball. Once the player has collected 3 items, the hole in the center of the board opens up. Sinking the ball in the hole successfully evolves the Pokémon.


Release

''Pokémon Pinball'' was announced in the March 1999 issue of The 64Dream and was first released in Japan on April 14, 1999.


Reception

''Pokémon Pinball'' received generally positive reviews, holding an aggregate score of 81.73% 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 ...
. ''
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'' gave it a score of 8.7, citing its use of the Game Boy Color's display and presentation. However, they also criticized the game, lamenting the lack of other pinball-related elements and the game's poor physics. They additionally criticized the built-in rumble feature, calling it "a waste ..of an AAA battery" and a "nice novelty". ''
San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
'' praised its rumble, however, noting that it "won them over". ''
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'' editor Aaron Curtiss called it a "great game". '' CNET'' called it "more than a shameless cash-in on the ''Pokémon'' phenomenon", calling it one of the best pinball games for the
Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...
. However, they criticized the "gratuitous Pikachu appearances" and the "incorrect physics" as detracting somewhat from the pinball experience. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' editor Joe Hutsko called the rumble mechanic as innovative, stating that it will likely lead to more games that use rumble from other developers. ''
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'' listed ''Pokémon Pinball'' as one of the titles they want in the
3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
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 ...
. In Japan, ''
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'' magazine scored the game a 32 out of 40.''ゲームボーイ - ポケモンピンボール''. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.108. 30 June 2006. ''Pokémon Pinball'' received a "Gold" sales award from the
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(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


Sequel

''Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire'' is a pinball game based on ''Pokémon Ruby'' and ''Sapphire'', and is the sequel to ''Pokémon Pinball'' for the third generation of ''Pokémon'' games. It was developed by
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
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 Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
handheld game console. It was first revealed at E3 in 2003, and was released in the same year – on August 1, August 25, and November 14 in Japan, North America, and
PAL regions Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25& ...
respectively. The North American release was done to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the North American release of ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue''. In some ways, it plays like a traditional pinball game, where the objective is to get a high score by keeping the ball going as long as possible and completing objectives. It features Pokémon collection, where while the players play pinball, they must also capture Pokémon.


Notes


References


External links


Official Nintendo ''Pokémon Pinball'' page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pokemon Pinball 1999 video games Game Boy Color games Game Boy Color-only games Jupiter (company) games Pinball video games Pokémon spinoff games Single-player video games Video games developed in Japan