The good Retro Pinball games thread

[hudson]

Pinball video games are great. I'd say for me the game that got me hooked was Pinball Dreams on the Amiga - most probably down to the cool graphics and audio. But there were cool pinball games before and after that (not just its sequels). Let's mention them here and hope to make the ultimate retro pinball video game list for say, adding to a retro handheld and the like.


Pinball Action - Arcade (1985 Tekhan (the former name of Tecmo)) - This game was colourful pinball game which featured a mystical lady's face on the board. Not super popular, but I really enjoy playing it from time to time on Mame. EDIT: Just discovered this had a very interesting looking sequel in 1991 (Super Pinball Action) which I will have to check out.



Revenge of the Gator (GameBoy) 1989 - Developed by HAL, this had me hooked as much as Tetris back in the day.



Alien Crush / Devil Crash /Jaki Crush (PC Engine & others) 1989/1990/1992 - Developed by Compile/TechnoSoft. These games are truly excellent. Added Jaki Crush - not played it yet, will give it a try.



Pin-Bot (NES) 1990 - Developed by RARE! So it has got to be good, right?




Pinball Dreams - (Amiga & lots of 16Bit platforms) 1992 - Developed by Digital Illusions (who later became DICE of Battlefield fame), they produced a handful of pinball games which were mostly all hits (Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions).



Epic Pinball - (PC) 1993 - An Epic Games pinball game. It has a similar look to Pinball Dreams, but I do believe that this game has quite the following, so it's in the list. You can try it out in your browser right now > here



Psycho Pinball (Megadrive) 1994 - Developed by CodeMasters. Decent tables. Quite Pinball Dreams-like, but it stands up on its own as a decent MD pinball game.



Sonic Spinball (Sega Megadrive) - 1993 - Developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI?). It's a slightly strange one this. As it's a bit slower paced and has sprites the size of the regular Sonic games. It's fun enough though. Got to be on the list. Even just for the JP artwork (Sonic Japanese artwork is always FIRE!



The Getaway: High Speed II (GameBoy) 1995 - Developed by FarSight Studios. Apparently another decent pinball game on GameBoy. Modelled on an actual pinball table of the same name. Adding it to the list, so I remember to try it out.



Battle Pinball (SFC)1995- Developed by Banpresto. Not played this myself, but I have read that it's a bit of a banger on the SNES. The game features some Gundam, Ultraman and Kamen Rider crossover pinball action.



Microsoft Pinball Arcade (GameBoy Color) 1998 - Developed by Microsoft Saffire, this game is great. Seems weird having Microsoft in the title, right? The game is a bunch of real life Gottlieb tables (5 in total).



Pokemon Pinball (GameBoy Color) 1999 - Developed by HAL. Loved this!


Pinball of the Dead (GBA) 2002 - Developed by Wow Entertainment. Yes we've had House of the Dead, Typing of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Powerwash of the Dead and now Pinball of the Dead? It makes sense to me!



Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire (GBA) 2003 - Developed by Jupiter (Yes, of Picross fame!) This looks great.


Sonic Spinball Party (GBA) 2003 - Developed by Sonic Team and Jupiter. Recommended by our man on the ground reporter, Dogg Thang of WangTV. The game also features Night into Dreams and Samba de Amigo tables alongside the Sonic Advance one. I'm down with that.



Metroid Prime Pinball (NDS) 2005 - Developed by Silverball Studio (well with a name like that!) They made Mario Pinball Land the year before. What a game.



Going to leave it there for now. I am sure there are more worthy mentions. May update the main post with any additional mentions.

[wakka]

This is a great list! I'd really like to try Metroid Prime Pinball at some point.

My main addition would just be the sequel to Pokémon Pinball, which was Ruby & Sapphire themed, on the GBA. It's also a really good game and expands on the original in pretty much all the right ways.

One I've always been intrigued about is Flipnic on the PS2, which took quite an interesting approach to pinball. There's also Odama on the Cube which kind of remixed the concept of pinball as well.

[hudson]

Added Epic Pinball to the list. The game has many fans. It look similar to Pinball Dreams. Came out about a year later than that game. It does look decent and you can try it out in your browser here

[hudson]

List updated!!!!

[Dogg Thang]

That Pac-Man GBA pinball game wasn't fantastic, if I remember correctly. I'm also going to mention Mario Pinball Land as a total stinker.

But one not on your list that was pretty great is Sonic Pinball Party, also on GBA. Sure, Pokemon Pinball stole its thunder and is easily the better game, but Sonic Pinball Party is still pretty great, with a table based on Sonic Advance, one based on Nights Into Dreams and one (for me the weakest one) based on Samba de Amigo. It's a fun game.

Out of your current list, one of my favourites is Psycho Pinball on the Megadrive. That game was so good.

[QualityChimp]

Thanks for reminding me how ace Revenge of the Gator was!

[hudson]

Nice one, Dogg Thang. I've added your suggestion. It does look cool. I happily removed Pac-Man after doing some more looking into reviews of it. Plus, it's boxart was pretty plop

[hudson]

Thanks for reminding me how ace Revenge of the Gator was!

Oh yeah! Also, just look how much better Japanese boxart and the like was even back then. 1989!? It wouldn't look out of place today. Japanese graphic design just seems infinitely more better than in the west.... ok maybe a big ol take, but you know what I mean.

[hudson]

Anyone know much about Kirby's Pinball Land for GameBoy?

[QualityChimp]

Oh yeah! Also, just look how much better Japanese boxart and the like was even back then. 1989!? It wouldn't look out of place today. Japanese graphic design just seems infinitely more better than in the west.... ok maybe a big ol take, but you know what I mean.

There's definitely some phycological reason why foreign text looks better. Possibly the association we have that, as kids, all the coolest and exotic games were coming out of Japan and it's possible that if you can't read the text, there's an element of intrigue, or maybe it's that the fonts look better in Kanji?

I sometimes like to do an image search for "Japanese Arcade Flyer" and drink in the lovelyness.

Back to RotG, I loved how it had multiple screens and you really wanted to stay higher up as the lower you were, the more likely you were to lose a ball.
Each screen had lots going on, like one screen had a load of gators and pegs to clear and you'd either unlock a bonus games (crack the eggs) or lead you to the next screen. There were 3 gators above the flippers where 3 grown gators gave ball save bumpers, but clearing them removed them, so you were balancing where the ball was going with what bonuses to unlock.

[hudson]

I'm gonna have a retro pinball early night in bed on my little handheld (this sounds rude), starting with Revenge of the Gator!!! So this 'gator is getting his revenge? Does that mean there could be a prequel? A quick looksie, say no.

Ok, the internet has had me run into this monstrosity called Screaming Mad George's ParanoiaScape... it's meant to be pretty good... but uuummmm I dunnooooooo...



Now this looks like a western game, but it's a Japanese game that came out on Playstation in 1998.


Ok, stop the press. Did you know Gaming has us covered....

[wakka]

I've always meant to play Paranoiascape. In some ways it reminds me of a 3D version of Devilish on the Megadrive, swapping that game's Breakout-inspired action for a pinball theme.

Devilish was such a good idea for a game but I always find it way too hard to be actually fun.

I'm gonna get into a PS1 sesh soon I think, and I'm putting Paranoiascape on the list.

These are great threads you are making!

[hudson]

I just love talking about games and like real mean, I love making lists of games

I plan on making a few playlists for my handheld. Retro golf, pinball etc. Thank you.

[speedlolita]

Interesting thread. I already want to check out Sonic Pinball Party and Revenge of the Gator!

[Dogg Thang]

There was also a Muppets pinball game on the GBA and, while it maybe wasn't a top tier game, it was actually pretty good. Called Muppet Pinball Mayhem. Maybe not list worthy but worth checking out at some point.