Pokemon Pinball (Game Boy Color)

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Most pinball fans probably have trouble finding room in their house for a real pinball machine. Fortunately, there have been alternatives for a long time in the form of video pinball.

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The earliest video pinball game I can remember playing was Night Mission Pinball on my Commodore 64. As I recall, there was only one table and it was in black and white. But the movement and physics were pretty solid. Later on I would play lots of other video pinball games including Pinball Adventure (NES), Alien Crush (TurboGrafx-16), Epic Pinball (DOS), and others. It turns out, there was also a pinball game for Pokemon fans.

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Pokemon Pinball was released for the Game Boy Color in 1999. It got pretty solid reviews overall but pinball fans might have mixed opinions. While it did a great job integrating Pokemon into the game, the actual physics and other pinball aspects were kind of an afterthought.

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There are two basic tables that you can choose from, the red table and the blue table. As with many video pinball games and unlike physical pinball games, these tables are a lot bigger than you might expect. There was also a lot more to do that just keeping the ball in play and accumulating points. Each table allows advancement into different areas based on certain accomplishments. In addition, you must also "catch" pokemon...151 of them if you want to be complete.

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To catch pokemon, you have to enter "catch mode" which lasts for two minutes. In that time period, you have to hit certain things multiple times in order to reveal the picture of the pokemon. After that, you have to also manage to hit the pokemon a certain number of times in order to finally catch it. There is also an "evolution mode" that works in a similar manner.

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While not necessarily the best pure pinball simulation, it is still fun to play if you like pinball and there is lots to do.