A nice addicting side-trip from the real Pokemon games.
Review 7
Pokemon Pinball was one of those stupid side-games that Nintendo released to make some more dough. It is also one of the few side-games that has any interesting aspects to it.
Graphics
Standard Gameboy Color graphics.
Sound
Standard Gameboy Color sound. It is less annoying than the other pokemon gameboy games, though.
Gameplay
Pokemon Pinball’s gameplay is a very interesting idea. The object, just like the other Pokemon games, is to catch all 151 Pokemon. However, you don’t do this by battling, at least not like the kind of battling you’re thinking of. There are two different pinball boards you can play on, Red and Blue. In each one, there are different ways to get Pokemon, but the jist of it is that you need to shoot the ball into something that activates the Pokemon catching mode. Hitting the bouncy objects at the top of the screen 6 times unlocks the Pokemon’s picture. Hitting the Pokemon 3 times will catch it. Once a Pokemon is caught, it is added to your list.
Shooting the pinball into another area will activate the evolution mode. This mode is more like a pain in the butt than anything else in the game because you have to hit 5 different objects to train your pokemon.
One of the downsides to the gameplay is that once you lose, you also lose the Pokemon. They are still in your Pokedex, but you’ll have to catch them again if you want to evolve them.
Controls
Controls can be set to what you want in the options screen, but it’s not even that big of a deal. The only controls you need are the two flippers. Make them left and right, or “A” and “B”. It’s not that hard.
Frustration Rate:
I actually found myself getting quite frustrated with this game. I hated catching a Pokemon, then losing before I could evolve it. Durability
Another 7, just because it’s definitely replayable, but not fun enough to replay for more than a week.
Overall Score (7/10)