One particularly memorable bonus round set in a graveyard requires the player to hit ghosts for points, and if enough are hit then a huge ball-grabbing mummy turns up for a fight. The round you play depends on location and the flavour of table you're playing on, and sometimes you'll be put up against some kind of boss character. You activate the bonus rounds on the main table and are transported to the bonus table for a limited time. You can also upgrade your ball to multiply scores by passing it through the three gates at the top of the table, with each upgrade increasing the multiplier.įurther adding to the scoring orgy are the bonus rounds, which form simple tables in their own right. Then there's a little Pikachu sitting in the gutter, and if you're quick enough to send him to the right side and intercept the ball then he'll literally attack it back into play. Firstly, you can use coins collected during play to buy ball saves from each table's Pokemon Mart. Make millionsįrankly, even though I'm terrible at pinball, getting into the upper echelons of the high score table seemed just a tad too easy thanks to a number of factors. At the last count, my Sapphire table score was well in excess of 400 million, and that's the current game in progress, thanks to the handy save function which lets me switch off and continue the game whenever I feel like it. When you do decide to try and get your name up on the high score table, a concerted effort will see you bagging ridiculous scores in the hundreds of millions. Hell, this isn't pinball, this is an adventure. When capturing Pokemon instead of racking up millions of points becomes your primary concern - and it will - you'll find yourself developing strategies and starting up games just to see if you can find specific Pokemon. The actual table itself doesn't change, but moving between Forest, Plains, Ocean and Cave (as well as each table's exclusive locations) will mean that different Pokemon appear for capture. Once it hatches, the monster will run about the table and if you can knock your ball against him a few times before he manages to escape, you'll earn yourself another monster.įinally, activating Travel Mode will allow you to move to another location. Another alternative is to capture egg-hatched Pokemon by activating an incubator - passing your ball through it multiple times - or bashing Cynquadil on the head until he incubates the egg. You can even evolve Pokemon in order to boost your collection (which are entered into a universal Pokedex each time you capture a critter) via other ramp/target combos. Then you have to smash a few bumpers to get the little chap to appear, and then finally bonk him on the head a couple of times with the ball to capture him. Shooting a combination of ramps and a target (Sharpedo on the Ruby table and Wailmer on Sapphire) will activate Catch 'Em Mode, which presents an icon of the Pokemon you'll be able to catch. The best thing is that it works really simply. Not even when I've been playing Pokemon, to be honest. And never before have I ever wanted to catch 'em all quite so much as I have when playing Pokemon Pinball. These not immediately apparent depths revolve around the core premise of Pokemon which is, of course, to catch 'em all. Well okay, not hidden, just not immediately apparent depths. Because while Pokemon Pinball initially presents a couple of tables and a ball and lets you get on with it, you'll begin to discover that it has hidden depths. The key to its greatness lies in the fact that racking up millions of points by bumping bumpers and shooting your ball up ramps isn't the only road to success - it won't even get you on the road to completion. More fool me, then, when Pokemon Pinball turned out to be one of the most arresting pinball games I'd played in a long time. In fact, that's exactly what I was expecting. It would've been easy for Nintendo to craft a couple of generic pinball tables, throw in the Pokemon imagery and pop the cart in a box. I mean how hard can it be? I felt right at home. I am terrible at pinball and always have been, but this is Pokemon Pinball. Every Friday night, there I was on the Addams Family machine down my local, pint under the table, cheering throng behind me and adoring lady friends hanging from every limb. I like to believe I was a pinball wizard in my town.
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