As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #80, January 2011.

Video pinball was nothing new by the time the NES was released.  Digitized pinball simulations go back to the mid 1970's from standalone consoles to arcade cabinets to computer software to home console cartridges - you name it.  Video pinball has been around since the genesis of the video game industry.  And why not, after all arcades began as halls for mechanical games and pinball, it's only natural that some electronic games would attempt to simulate what came before them.  What the NES did have over the previous incarnations of video pinball was some graphical horsepower.  Instead of just rough outlines of a simulated pinball playfield you could have bright colors, detailed graphics and fast movement.  While a video recreation is no substitute for a the real thing, video pinball would become a genre onto itself.  Sure, a digital ball may not be "live" like a real pinball but that doesn't mean the games can't be a lot of fun.  The NES had a pretty decent, albeit small, line up of pinball games.  The nice thing is that there really aren't any stinkers in the group.  This is going to be a big one as we're going to touch on pretty much all the pinball games released for the console, including a couple that were Japan only.  No order in particular but what better way to begin than with one of the launch games for the NES, simply titled Pinball.

Pinball is both one of the earliest Famicom releases as well as one of the original eighteen launch titles for the NES.  While it's nothing to write home about it was a solid pinball simulation for the early days of both consoles.  The table itself spans two screens vertically, flipping back and forth between each when the ball crosses the center of the table.  Pressing any direction on the directional pad activates the left flipper while the B or A buttons activate the right flipper.  The game is probably most remembered for a bonus stage featuring Mario attempting to rescue Pauline, his girlfriend from Donkey Kong fame.  Actually Nintendo went as far as putting the image of Mario from the bonus stage on the front of the box.  So basically Mario's two second inclusion in the game was used to sell it to NES gamers.  That's like saying Mike Tyson's Punch-Out is a Mario game because Mario makes a cameo as the referee.  There is more to the game than just the bonus stage however.  As with real pinball there are multiple targets to hit and objectives to complete for higher scores.  The top half of the machine has a challenging shot around the left ramp as well as a short loop on the right side that activates the penguin targets.  The lower playfield has playing card and number targets to activate as well as chicken and egg matching targets that activate bumpers in the side drains.  The problem with the lower portion of the machine is how difficult it can be to get back up to the top.  There's just so much stuff on the bottom it can be very difficult to get a clear shot back to the upper playfield.  The easiest path back up is the left sink hole which leads to the bonus game but it too is a difficult shot to make.  Granted the physics are still solid and the game continues to be fun to play even after all these years.  Sound effects are decent but music, outside of the title screen, is nearly nonexistent.  If you have an NES, you probably have this game.

Rock 'n' Ball starts out with a cool little animation of a reflective pinball that leads into an unsettling title screen.  See, the title screen of the NES release has the VAP logo down at the bottom, a developer that made some of the worst games on the Famicom.  Thankfully this is a good game and while I don't know which version came first, I'd venture a guess that VAP was simply the publisher of the NES version while Namco handled the development.  Namco would actually release a slightly different version of this game on the Famicom but more on that in a moment.  Rock 'n' Ball supports up to four players and offers four different types of pinball games.  You have regular pinball, early era pinball / bagatelle, two player head to head pinball, and finally sports pinball.  After selecting which table you'd like to play you then select one of six generic characters to play as.  Regular Pinball has a playfield two screens high along with a third bonus stage that takes place on another table.  It features a somewhat generic classic American pinball motif but is a solid table just the same.  9 Ball plays like the very earliest flipper driven pinball tables and reminds me of the early Bank-A-Ball series of tables.  You place a wager on which sinkhole the ball will drop into and then attempt to will it that direction with nudging and limited flipper use.  Battle Flipper is two player head to head pinball, with one player on each side of the table.  There are three games in this series - Bomber, Thunder and Attack - all with different playfields and themes.  Each player can send their flippers up or down when on the attack or attempting to defend their side of the table.  The objective here is to get the ball to drain out on your opponent's side of the table.  It's actually a lot of fun with two players.  The last menu of games is Sports, which features Soccer and Ice Hockey.  Both play kind of like Pong if it was on a pinball table, with a single moveable rotating flipper and a goalie for each player.  Both play okay but neither are as entertaining as the three Battle Flipper tables.  All the tables have the same solid ball physics and the feel of each table is easy to pick up on.  The two player tables may take a little while to get used to with the changing perspective but it's not really an issue with the game.

Controls are pretty much the same across all the tables when applicable.  Left on the directional pad activates the left flipper while the A button is used for the right flipper.  Right on the control pad nudges the machine from the left side while the B button does the same from the right side.  Up or Down on the directional pad will move your flippers up or down along the playfield for the tables that support the function, such as the Battle Flipper games.  Sound effects are solid and the music is quite catchy and varied.  You get a lot of value with this game since it features four different game types and seven different tables.  Rock 'n' Ball is worth a serious look if you enjoy pinball.

Family Pinball is the Famicom counterpart to Rock 'n' Ball on the NES.  For the most part the two games are identical and in terms of gameplay they are.  However Family Pinball does stand as its own game and is definitely worth taking a look at.  The first difference is the Namco logo being reflected in the pinball on the introduction screen, which is a really cool little effect.  Upon starting the game the first real change becomes apparent on the table selection screen.  The generic "Pinball" table from Rock 'n' Ball is now a Pac-Man themed table.  Once reaching the character select screen the second difference shows up.  The generic characters of Rock 'n Ball have been replaced with characters from Namco games, mainly consisting of characters that would be rather alien to NES players but popular in Japan.  Pac-Man is easy to identify but you also have characters from Tower of Druaga, Wonder Momo and more.  They may seem just as odd as the generic characters in Rock 'n' Ball to most American gamers, but I do always enjoy seeing Valkyrie make appearances in games as Valkyrie no Densetsu is a criminally underrated title outside of Japan.  Getting back to the Pac-Man themed table, it shares the same basic gameplay as the Rock 'n' Ball "Pinball" table except with Pac-Man graphics and a redesigned upper playfield.  While not radically different, the targets are moved around and the over all shape is just a little different.  Personally I think the Pac-Man table plays better than the one in Rock 'n' Ball as the orientation of the bumpers allows for more fluid movement of the ball.

Roller Ball takes the idea of multiple screen pinball games sky high, literally.  Instead of a playfield two screens high, Roller Ball doubles it to four fully connected screens.  The theme of the game is that of the New York skyline, going all the way from the Atlantic Ocean on the lowest screen to the clouds above the city on the top screen, with the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty in between.  There is always something to do with multiple targets and ramps on each screen with the main objective to get back to the top and rack up a huge bonus.  You can even activate a two ball multiball mode.  While being over the top in terms of size, Roller Ball plays a lot like real pinball with very few "video pinball" type objectives.  A drawback is that there is no nudge feature, control is like Nintendo's Pinball with the directional pad controlling the left flipper and the B or A button controlling the right flipper.  Just the same, it really doesn't feel like much of a loss since the game plays so solidly and remains constantly entertaining.  The playfield being bright and sunny up top while becoming a progressively darker nightscape as the ball gets closer to the bottom is another nice touch.  The music is jumpy without becoming irritating which is welcomed since a game of Roller Ball can last quite awhile.  A second mode called Match Play allows two players to play side by side on a single screen table.  While the gameplay there is solid, it simply can't compete with the the main Skyscraper table.  Sadly Roller Ball isn't well remembered, which is a shame since this is one of the finest video pinball games to ever be released.

Pin-Bot is the first of two real life pinball recreations developed by Rare on the NES.  Rather than create a digital pinball game that borrows from the original pinball machine, Rare chose to attempt to recreate the experience of playing the actual pinball machine in person.  Nothing incredible these days with modern 3D pinball recreations but in 1990 it was pretty amazing.  Pin-Bot itself was one of the most popular pinball machines ever produced, so much in fact it lead to a series of games based around the property and Pin-Bot himself even had cameos on other pinball machines.  The perspective is as if you were standing in front of the actual pinball machine while the playfield is presented in a continuous scroll that follows the ball, however the lower portion of the playfield is always on screen.  This segmented playfield is both a blessing and a burden.  Since the bottom of the screen always shows the bottom portion of the table, you always know what's going on down where the flippers are.  This takes up about the bottom third of the entire screen.  The remainder of the screen follows the ball as it scrolls upward.  This is nice because it allows the playfield to be large and have an authentic angle with lots of detail.  However it takes a little while to get used to the top and bottom portions of the screen seamlessly joining as the ball approaches the flippers.  In other words as the ball rolls down from the top of the screen, the scrolling will stop as the two perspectives join.  Many times you'll be watching the ball roll as the screen scrolls, only to have the ball abruptly pass your flippers, since in your mind you were waiting for the screen to continue to scroll.  Of course this is something that can be over come as time is spent playing the game, it could be considered part of the game's learning curve.

With an advanced pinball recreation come advanced controls, although they're a little strange.  The directional pad controls the left flipper while the A button handles the right flipper.  The B button is used for the plunger.  Select nudges the table left and Start nudges the table right.  While that sounds good on paper, moving all the way over to Select or Start for table nudging ends up being a tricky burden.  The problem comes from how fast and fluid the game plays.  You can't be fumbling around with the control pad in this game, you simply don't have the time to do so.  Since it's based off a real table, it requires nudging to get the most out of each ball.  I simply never got used to using the Select and Start buttons for this feature.  Aside from that minor gripe about the controls and perspective, the game is great.  As pinball recreations go, you get a very detailed table with a very faithful presentation and decent coloring.  Audio is equally as good with a nice background tune and plenty of voice clips that are well done.  A few video pinball type additions do creep up, which is strange in a game which seems to try so hard to be a replica of an actual pinball machine but it's not that much of a bother.

High Speed was Rare's follow up to Pin-Bot, also based off a very popular actual pinball machine manufactured by Williams.  It uses the same engine as Pin-Bot and uses the same perspective and basic presentation.  The area in which High Speed changed things up a little were the controls.  The B button now controls the right nudge with is more convenient than the Start button.  However Select is still used for left nudge and it's still cumbersome.  The Start button actually pauses the game now and allows for either the music or sound to be disabled.  Obviously Rare was working out how to integrate as much real life pinball control onto the NES control pad as possible.  It's still not perfect but at least they were trying and it is an improvement over the control in Pin-Bot.  The table is nicely detailed but it just seems bland compared to the colors of Pin-Bot.  This is partly due to High Speed's playfield being mainly composed of freeway ramps but the blue shadow used to add detail on the NES version just looks ugly.  To me it just stands out too much and makes the whole playfield look muddy.  Still it's a pretty faithful reproduction of the actual table but a little more video game like with collectibles that appear on the playfield.  A lot more video pinball hazards show up here than were in Pin-Bot, which makes the game even less of a simulation.  Sound is again great with lots of voice but it's not a better game than Pin-Bot.  Realistically I don't know who Rare was making this game to appeal to.  It's more of a side step than an advancement over Pin-Bot.  You have slightly reworked controls that are a little better but then you have over all bland graphics.  The playfield may be detailed but then you have all kinds of video game hazards and collectibles that don't exist on real pinball tables.  Pin-Bot, for the most part, was a simulation of the original game.  High Speed seems to have a bit of an identity crisis, which is a shame because it still plays decently.

Pinball Quest is the one game out of the bunch that seems a little ahead of its time.  A flawed game yet still a solid attempt at doing something different with the genre.  To start things off you have a selection of four different games: Pop! Pop!, Viva! Golf, Circus, and RPG Mode.  All the tables feature the same controls which are almost identical to those in Rock 'n' Ball.  Left on the control pad controls the left flipper while the A button does the same for the right flipper.  Right on the control pad nudges the machine left while the B button nudges the machine right.  Up and Down on the control pad move the flippers up or down along the playfield on tables that support it.  This is by far the most seamless control method for playing Pinball on the NES, everything is right there at your fingertips in easy reach.  The menu screen resembles an extreme close up of a pinball playfield and is a really slick way to present the different game modes.  The first table, Pop! Pop!, is based around a 50's Americana theme.  The table is red, white and blue with bowling pins, a jukebox and an all over 50's diner type feel.  Next is Viva! Golf which, you guessed it, is based around a golf theme.  When you pull the plunger to shoot the ball onto the playfield a little golfer girl shows up and tees off with the pinball, complete with 8 bit golf game sound effects.  The playfield has little moles or gophers that pop up and bounce the ball around, which I think is a cute touch.  Circus is pinball under the big top with clowns, lions, seals - what you'd expect from a table called Circus.  All three tables have great music and sound and play extremely solid.  Each is two screens high with lots of variety between each including bonus rounds.  These three tables alone would make for a solid game cartridge but they end up being an afterthought when it comes to the fourth menu selection, RPG Mode.

The RPG Mode is where the "Quest" comes into play.  The easiest way to explain it would be to take an adventure game like The Legend of Zelda, turn the player character into a pinball, then control him via a set of moveable flippers.  Objectives need to be completed to open up progressive areas.  For instance you may need a key to open up a door but to collect the key you have to defeat a boss.  However to make the boss appear you may have to defeat a series of smaller enemies.  Of course every function from fighting enemies, breaking down barriers or collecting items is accomplished shooting the hero into the object with the flippers.  Between each stage there is an item shop where upgrades can be purchased, such as more powerful flippers or bumpers to block the drains on the sides or bottom of the stage.  This begs the question, is Pinball Quest really an RPG?  Well, yes and no.  Upgrades are purchased based upon the gold you earn defeating enemies and targets on a battlefield.  You're on a quest to rescue a princess.  You level up after filling an experience meter by defeating enemies.  The more powerful you are the easier bosses will fall while if you're weak then you'll be in for a rough ride.  I guess it has all the basic elements of an RPG such as stats, shops, enemy encounters, a grand objective - yet it just doesn't seem all that engaging.  The later tables in RPG Mode do get more interesting and it seems like this would make the gameplay pick up quite a bit but that's just not the case.  Every time the ball goes down the center drain on the lower portion of a level, you're dropped back to the previous shop.  Then the game adds insult to injury by making you walk back down the hallway, manually, to replay the previous level.  Granted the objective is usually already uncovered in plain sight upon your return but you'll end up playing the same stages over and over again.  It gets extremely boring, extremely fast.  This is in essence RPG level grinding, except on a pinball machine.  If that sounds tedious, believe me, it's even far worse in person.  So Pinball Quest ends up being a game with three great standard pinball tables and an RPG Mode that I really want to like but just can't seem to.  The more I play it, the more sense it makes that RPG Mode was the selection at the bottom of the table menu, rather than the headlining game.

Super Pinball is our only title this column that was a Famicom exclusive, although at one time it was tentatively going to be localized as Super Sushi Pinball.  First off this title isn't to be confused with the amazing Super Nintendo / Super Famicom pair of pinball games under the Super Pinball title, this has nothing to do with those.  The game starts out by showing some mahjong tiles and then takes you to a pinball table.  The table itself seems to be themed around a road rally, in fact it kind resembles an OutRun or Rad Racer themed pinball table.  Graphically things look pretty good and there's a nice amount of color.  However nearly every time a target is hit there's a disorienting flash effect that quickly becomes annoying.  Also the ball always feels extra heavy which slows down gameplay.  It's as if the entire table is coated with molasses or something but is at a steep angle.  So while your shots up seem like they're fighting to gain distance, the return roll down is faster than ever.  It seems like there's some decent RPG type elements to the table, such as upgrading your car, but it just plays so horribly I doubt anyone would stick with it.  The poor physics and even more poorly laid out targets simply make it a pain to play.  Every other game I've taken a look at in this column has had solid physics and ball control.  Essentially the ball did what you would assume it would do, what an actual pinball would probably do.  Sure each of the games have a learning curve but at least they were consistent.  Super Pinball is frustrating from the start and it just continues to get worse the more you play.  Bad physics, inconsistent ball control, impossibly hard to hit targets and tiny ramps equal one of the worst video pinball games ever created.  As for the mahjong tiles at the beginning, I have no idea if they later come into play since I wasn't able to get very far.  If there's a game in this grouping to avoid, this is it.

Rounding things up here, it's easy to see that pinball games on the NES were quite diverse.  You have a launch title for the system, attempts at recreating real pinball machines, experimental hybrid ideas and games that take the traditional idea of pinball and run with it.  Granted my favorite video pinball games would be found elsewhere, on the PCEngine / TurboGrafx-16 (Alien Crush, Devil's Crush, Time Cruise) and DOS PC (Silverball, Epic Pinball) to be precise.  Still, pinball on the NES is a genre that shouldn't be overlooked.  Among the handful of titles that were released, all pinball wizards should be able to find at least one game to interest them.  Pop one into your NES and Shoot Again!
 

"InsaneDavid" also covers all types of video gaming at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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