Hal's First Classic
The game opens with the all too familiar menu, sporting the game’s title and its four modes of play: 1 Player Game A, 1 Player Game B, 2 Player Game A, and 2 Player Game B. Games A and B are completely identical, with the only difference being that everything in Game B moves much faster. In a single player game, you start with 3 balls and play until you have used them all. In the two-player games, each player starts with 3 balls and the two players alternate, one ball per turn. The winner, naturally, is the player with the highest score at the end of the game.
One of the nice things about this game is the incredibly simple control scheme, although it would be quite difficult to come up with a long list of pinball “moves.” To begin the game by shooting the ball onto the table, simply hold the A button to pull back on the spring, and then release it to launch the ball. Once the ball is in play, the left flipper is controlled by the d-pad (pressing any direction) and the right flipper is controlled by either the A or B button. This simple control system makes Pinball a great game to pick up and play at any time.
Understandably, the graphics of a pinball game aren’t really made to impress anybody; however, HAL did a good job of infusing the game with as much animation as possible, adding dancing animals, hatching eggs, and other moving objects on screen. But while HAL did a good job on the visual aspect of the game, it sounds as if they completely forgot about adding audio. A very small bank of sound effects accounts for all of the game’s sound. Not surprisingly, these sounds have you on the brink of insanity after about five minutes of game play. Meanwhile, the game has no background music whatsoever, so the small effects are unfortunately never drowned out.
Overall, considering that it was created during the NES’ first development cycle and was HAL’s first attempt at working on the system, Pinball is really an excellent game. While the sound and repetition keep you from wanting to sit down and play from hours on end, the simple play controls make it a great game to pick up and play whenever you feel like some exciting pinball action.