The Gamer's Quarter

[Shapermc]

So I was at Best Buy last night finally picking up Shadow of the Colossus (which I did not get to play) and I saw that they changed out the DS demo from Nintendogs to... something. I go over, grab the DS and hit start. 'Pinball, neat. O, this is that Metroid Prime Pinball, neat.'

I had pretty much forgotten this game was coming out and had no plans/desire to purchase it. 5 min pass and my wife reminded me that we need to go to get to dinner on time and I should be buying a game not playing one. What a novel idea, I should buy this. I mean, I could use it as an excuse to test the Rumble Pack add on (which is not very rumbly).

So, this game is really fun. It feels like it was made by someone who wanted to make an excellent pinball game but had to do it within a license. There are little bits of; wall jumping, shooting and bombing. All are mixed in perfectly with the pinball theme as bonus games that are brief. Also, don't even try to use the stylus for the game, you can't, at all, they disabled touch sensitivity.

The screen layout is almost perfect for a pinball game. It feels like a double deck pool table for the most part. I am not a master Pinball gamer, but the physics seem much better than other pinball. The theme of Metroid is mixed in quite well and nothing really seems forced, even the music is fantastic.

It makes me wonder what I have been missing since I last played Devil's Crush. I know that I was interested in Pinball of the Dead (GBA) and Akira Pinball (PS2?). Are either of these good? Are either of these difficult to get? Anyways, I almost completely overlooked this game, if you were interested perhaps you should take a look.

[SuperWes]

Pokemon Pinball is pretty great. Pinball of the Dead was good. Sonic Pinball Party's not bad. Revenge of the Gator was awesome.

Mario Pinball is questionable. It's great in concept but terrible in execution. I think Metroid Pinball is by the same team, but from what I hear it's been made a bit better. I'll probably pick it up despite there being 100 other games I want this week. Apparently the touch screen is used to tilt the table. Huh?

-Wes
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[dessgeega]

mario pinball, aside from being pretty tedious and rather un-pinball-like, is really ugly. i've gotten the same impression of metroid pinball - but that could be just because it's metroid prime pinball.
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[DonMarco]

Pinball of the Dead was great, not good.
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Collector of over 1,538 strategy guides. That's weird, right?

[Shapermc]

[friedchicken]

[simplicio]

I never quite got the love for Pinball of the Dead, other than just the points for the camp of another "... of the dead" game. I prefered Pokemon, and thought it fit a Pinball structure better.

Mario Pinball, in my 5 minutes with it, was way to minimal, disjointed and lateral. I mean, who the fuck thought to make wide pinball stages?

[dessgeega]

speaking of the best pinball videogame ever, i'm trying to track down a devil crash hucard. hot tips would be appreciated!
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[Mister Toups]

I played Metroid Prime pinball at Electronics Boutique. It was surprisingly not bad!

I... think I'm going to review it for Large Prime Number! Tim style, I'll play the entire game at EB. THAT'LL SHOW 'EM!
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

[Shapermc]

[aderack]

It's true. The game is good. I shoved it into Agnes's reluctant hands, and then she wouldn't give me back the DS.

I'd take one more mode of play, just for posterity. What's there is good, though.

Curious that pinball is still called "pinball" even though it's not pachinko anymore, when pachinko is called "pachinko", which I suspect is onomatopoeia. Someone should swap the names.
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[Karoshi]

Pinball of the Dead has crap physics and the table design felt unresolved.

[GSL]

So overall, Metroid Prime Pinball is a decent purchase, then? I'm just about done reading Murakami's Pinball, 1973 and have been feeling the severe jones for some flipper action. The DS, as wondrously beautiful and awesome as it is, is obviously no replacement for a real table, but at least I don't have to hunt for quarters. Makes me want to bust out Sonic Spinball again...

And what's the verdict on the Rumble Pack? I've heard differing reports that all seem to fall within the range from "total crap" to "really, really scary in the noises it makes."

Dessgeega: eBay would most likely be your best bet for Devil Crash - this one seems reasonably priced at the moment.
Also, it's not Devil Crash, but New York-based Akiba Games has Alien Crush for a measly ten dollars. Unless you were looking for the TurboGrafx versions; then these PC Engine titles will be no help at all.

[ApM]

Yeah, I'd say this is my favourite DS game so far.

The boss battles are excellent.

[SuperWes]

[dessgeega]

[GSL]

Heh, my bad - guess I should pay closer attention to the dates on previous posts!

[simplicio]

[Shapermc]

[dessgeega]

so now that i have devil crash and psycho pinball, the pinball trinity is nearly complete. all i need is kaze's necronomicon for the saturn. has anyone played it?
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[Shapermc]

[SuperWes]

[Lackey]

I think my knowledge of videogame pinball begins and ends at the Epic Pinball Android demo table.

Oh, and that Time Cruise one for TG-16.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dessgeega]

[Shapermc]

That looks like Darius cover art/font.

[Lackey]

Time Cruise 2 is excellent. It's the only Pinball game I know with an overworld, and also, it has all these strange demo-scenish effects and a trippy sound mode that sequences floating balls to the music.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[DaleNixon]

[dessgeega]

haha, i'm getting a copy.

only my saturn seems to have vanished in transport.
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[JasonMoses]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Flipnic yet!

Necronomicon is pretty damned sharp, too, although my personal favorite video pinball games are still the Pro Pinball ones... anyone familiar with 'em?

[simplicio]

[SuperWes]

[simplicio]

Oh, I thought I'd just be playing it on my bongos. So it's going to require a second controller port then too? What a pain.

I may pick up Chibi Robo first then.

[Shapermc]

[DaleNixon]

[dessgeega]

so, necronomicon.

if you don't think pinball with cthulhu is the greatest idea ever, it's only because you think pinball with the devil is the greatest idea ever, and i can't judge you too harshly.

this is some fine pinball. when i got my first six-ball multiball i was laughing like a madperson.

whether i shouted "tekili-li!" i will leave to the reader to determine.

the only thing nearly as excellent as the pinball is this game's sound design, which features a narrator intoning lines like "far away a temple stands. far away in the dreamlands".

final analysis: fhtagn!
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[dhex]

[Lackey]

See, now I think Necronomicon sounds awesome.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dessgeega]

so, yes, i made a video featuring all my favorite video pins.
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[dark steve]

Well done!

I think I was expecting something a little more over the top from Necronomicon.

[B coma]

Whichever game that was where the screen was tracking the ball looks like it might be difficult - especially during MUTLIBALL MADNESS - but perhaps the clean layout helps with that. Neat video, I sure wish my tv card didn't suck for recording so I could make things like that.

Anyhow, to chime in on this thread (in a late fashion), I hadn't seriously played pinball games since... NES Pinball and Revenge of the Gator, the latter of which I really enjoyed. Perhaps I stayed away from them because of the glut of generic looking PC ones I've been exposed to over the years.

Well, I picked up Metroid Prime Pinball, and I'm quite impressed. How it integrates the license is really pretty shocking, in the way that it everything that happens seems totally logical if you're a veteran of any game in the main series. It kicks the crap out of something like Sonic Spinball in that department, even. I also like how it emulates the look of a real life board (tilted viewing angle, traditional pinball board setups) but integrates the videogame tradition so well (weapon reserves, player health) ... which is incidentally something I look for in Pinball games, because I'm total suck at real pinball.

[dark steve]

Dess, you need Pro Pinball: The Web for your saturn.

[Lackey]

Anyone ever mess around with Visual Pinball? It's quite a solid program, I'd like to find some good tables.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[dessgeega]

[ApM]

Speaking of Visual Pinball, Visual PinMAME is also seriously awesome.

I've gotta try out Theatre of Magic, one of these days.

[dessgeega]

so my father bought metroid prime pinball, to play on my mother's flame-red ds, and i got the opportunity to give it a play.

the rumble pack is...not a rumble pack? it's more like a weird jolt pack. i took it out and started a new game and managed to collect 11 artifacts (whatever that means).

it played pretty well, despite its ugliness. i'll probably play it again! (also, the ds version of bust a move/puzzle bobble, which my mother bought for her flame-red ds, uses the touch screen fairly well.)
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[SuperWes]

[dessgeega]

anyway, i just cleared metroid prime pinball for the first time (saw the staff roll). i like this game more than i anticipated i would.
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[Shapermc]

[Shapermc]

Dess, you sly dog you : teh pinball. Nice

[dessgeega]