RukBot
02-23-2023, 02:51 PM
https://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/pokemon-pinball-ruby-sapphire-1.jpg
'Pin-Pok?-Ball' didn't have the same pizzazzThe*Pok?mon franchise is no stranger to excellent spinoffs. Between the lauded*Mystery Dungeon crossovers, the well-regarded (if seldom played)*Pokk?n Tournament, and, of course, the cultural juggernaut that is*Pok?mon GO (https://www.destructoid.com/how-to-catch-ditto-in-pokemon-go/), there's been a*Pok?mon game for just about every genre imaginable. Once upon a time, there were even two excellent*Pok?mon pinball games.
The original*Pok?mon Pinball is something of an oddity, even when viewed amid the eclectic Game Boy Color library. Released three years after the first Pok?mon generation in Japan, and just a few months before*Pok?mon Yellow arrived in North America, the game was little more than two digital pinball tables with Pok?mon theming. The two tables were "Red" and "Blue," and they were excellent.
Gotta catch 'em all!The most unique element of*Pok?mon Pinball is its catching mechanic. The eponymous pinball is, of course, a Pok?ball, so it figures that you'd be able to catch Pok?mon with it. To do this, you carry out a couple of archaic bumper-bouncing rituals to make a Pok?mon spawn in the center of the table, then you bonk that Pok?mon in the head a couple of times to catch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEdGJvcs2Y8&t=533s
It's not all that revolutionary ? target-hitting goals in pinball machines are about as common as little silver balls ? but it does wring some interesting digital charm out of a genre known for its tactility. When you catch a Pok?mon, for instance, it's added to your Pok?dex, which helps the player maintain a bit of a personal bond with their personal cartridges. As they say, you've gotta catch 'em all.
Pok?mon Pinball finds a few other novel ideas in its Pok?mon theming; certain Pok?mon, for instance, can only be captured in specific areas, and your area is randomly selected at the start of a game. You can also trigger a totally different target-hitting minigame to evolve your*Pok?mon and further flesh out that Pok?dex.*It's full of charming concepts like this that make it feel less like a pinball machine in your pocket and more like a complete Pok?mon game... that happens to also be a pinball machine in your pocket.
A sequel, kindaA few years after*Pok?mon Pinball had come and gone, it received a sequel for the Game Boy Advance. Well, okay, it was a sequel in the same way Pok?mon Ruby and Sapphire were sequels to*Pok?mon Red and Blue. Fittingly, the game was called*Pok?mon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoaHkawBCag
The tables in*Ruby and Sapphire are nearly identical to those found in the original game. Pok?mon from later generations have been sprinkled about, and spaces that were previously occupied by static obstacles now feature more involved mechanical additions like a hatchery and a Pok?Mart offering small upgrades. The table is now a single scrolling screen rather than two distinct screens, and the physics engine and graphical quality have received a loving touch-up. In most respects, it is simply*Pok?mon Pinball but better.
One area where*Ruby and Sapphire sets itself apart from the original game is in its bonus stages. The original*Pok?mon Pinball has bonus stages, where the ball is sent to a mini-table to achieve some simple goals, but they're all fairly boring (Serebii (https://www.serebii.net/pinball/bonusstages.shtml) has a great list outlining them if you're truly curious).*Ruby and Sapphire's bonus stages (https://www.serebii.net/pinball_rs/bonus.shtml) are leagues better, allowing you to play pinball-basketball with Spheals or hunt down an invisible Kecleon. These bonus stages hint at a rich iterative history to come for Pok?mon Pinball, a franchise rich with potential to reimagine Pok?mon in new and interesting contexts.
And then, nothing.Unfortunately, since*Pok?mon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire's 2003 release, the franchise has been entirely dormant. I'm inclined to chalk this up to the death of the handheld game (https://www.destructoid.com/where-have-the-handheld-games-gone/), a concept I've lamented in the past.*Pok?mon Pinball is not the kind of game you sit down with for hours at a time. It doesn't look like much on a big screen, and its simplification of the "gotta catch 'em all" philosophy doesn't translate to home gaming quite as well as the genuine article. But if you have a Game Boy Color or a Game Boy Advance with a*Pok?mon Pinball game loaded onto it, you're guaranteed a couple of damn good hours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-KAU3bK1Y8
Even without a dedicated handheld to call home, I'd love to see Pok?mon Pinball return one of these days. This year marks Pok?mon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire's 20th anniversary, and digital pinball technology has come a long way in the last two decades. I genuinely want to see the series make a comeback of some kind, even if that just means giving the same tables one more chance as DLC for one of the various pinball games on the Nintendo Switch. Hell, I'd be overjoyed to see either game on Nintendo Switch Online ? at the time of writing, neither has been confirmed for the Game Boy or Game Boy Advance lines.
What I really want, though, is a brand new Pok?mon Pinball game. For the last few years, Pok?mon Pinball developer Jupiter Corporation has been near-exclusively developing games for the Picross series, and I don't think anyone would be too terribly upset if they took some time off from that noble endeavor. So hey, why not bring back Pok?mon Pinball?*Right after you bring back*Pok?mon Sleep (https://www.destructoid.com/whatever-happened-to-pokemon-sleep/).
The post A eulogy for Pok?mon Pinball (https://www.destructoid.com/pokemon-pinball-retro-nintendo-game-boy/) appeared first on Destructoid (https://www.destructoid.com).
More...
'Pin-Pok?-Ball' didn't have the same pizzazzThe*Pok?mon franchise is no stranger to excellent spinoffs. Between the lauded*Mystery Dungeon crossovers, the well-regarded (if seldom played)*Pokk?n Tournament, and, of course, the cultural juggernaut that is*Pok?mon GO (https://www.destructoid.com/how-to-catch-ditto-in-pokemon-go/), there's been a*Pok?mon game for just about every genre imaginable. Once upon a time, there were even two excellent*Pok?mon pinball games.
The original*Pok?mon Pinball is something of an oddity, even when viewed amid the eclectic Game Boy Color library. Released three years after the first Pok?mon generation in Japan, and just a few months before*Pok?mon Yellow arrived in North America, the game was little more than two digital pinball tables with Pok?mon theming. The two tables were "Red" and "Blue," and they were excellent.
Gotta catch 'em all!The most unique element of*Pok?mon Pinball is its catching mechanic. The eponymous pinball is, of course, a Pok?ball, so it figures that you'd be able to catch Pok?mon with it. To do this, you carry out a couple of archaic bumper-bouncing rituals to make a Pok?mon spawn in the center of the table, then you bonk that Pok?mon in the head a couple of times to catch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEdGJvcs2Y8&t=533s
It's not all that revolutionary ? target-hitting goals in pinball machines are about as common as little silver balls ? but it does wring some interesting digital charm out of a genre known for its tactility. When you catch a Pok?mon, for instance, it's added to your Pok?dex, which helps the player maintain a bit of a personal bond with their personal cartridges. As they say, you've gotta catch 'em all.
Pok?mon Pinball finds a few other novel ideas in its Pok?mon theming; certain Pok?mon, for instance, can only be captured in specific areas, and your area is randomly selected at the start of a game. You can also trigger a totally different target-hitting minigame to evolve your*Pok?mon and further flesh out that Pok?dex.*It's full of charming concepts like this that make it feel less like a pinball machine in your pocket and more like a complete Pok?mon game... that happens to also be a pinball machine in your pocket.
A sequel, kindaA few years after*Pok?mon Pinball had come and gone, it received a sequel for the Game Boy Advance. Well, okay, it was a sequel in the same way Pok?mon Ruby and Sapphire were sequels to*Pok?mon Red and Blue. Fittingly, the game was called*Pok?mon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoaHkawBCag
The tables in*Ruby and Sapphire are nearly identical to those found in the original game. Pok?mon from later generations have been sprinkled about, and spaces that were previously occupied by static obstacles now feature more involved mechanical additions like a hatchery and a Pok?Mart offering small upgrades. The table is now a single scrolling screen rather than two distinct screens, and the physics engine and graphical quality have received a loving touch-up. In most respects, it is simply*Pok?mon Pinball but better.
One area where*Ruby and Sapphire sets itself apart from the original game is in its bonus stages. The original*Pok?mon Pinball has bonus stages, where the ball is sent to a mini-table to achieve some simple goals, but they're all fairly boring (Serebii (https://www.serebii.net/pinball/bonusstages.shtml) has a great list outlining them if you're truly curious).*Ruby and Sapphire's bonus stages (https://www.serebii.net/pinball_rs/bonus.shtml) are leagues better, allowing you to play pinball-basketball with Spheals or hunt down an invisible Kecleon. These bonus stages hint at a rich iterative history to come for Pok?mon Pinball, a franchise rich with potential to reimagine Pok?mon in new and interesting contexts.
And then, nothing.Unfortunately, since*Pok?mon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire's 2003 release, the franchise has been entirely dormant. I'm inclined to chalk this up to the death of the handheld game (https://www.destructoid.com/where-have-the-handheld-games-gone/), a concept I've lamented in the past.*Pok?mon Pinball is not the kind of game you sit down with for hours at a time. It doesn't look like much on a big screen, and its simplification of the "gotta catch 'em all" philosophy doesn't translate to home gaming quite as well as the genuine article. But if you have a Game Boy Color or a Game Boy Advance with a*Pok?mon Pinball game loaded onto it, you're guaranteed a couple of damn good hours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-KAU3bK1Y8
Even without a dedicated handheld to call home, I'd love to see Pok?mon Pinball return one of these days. This year marks Pok?mon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire's 20th anniversary, and digital pinball technology has come a long way in the last two decades. I genuinely want to see the series make a comeback of some kind, even if that just means giving the same tables one more chance as DLC for one of the various pinball games on the Nintendo Switch. Hell, I'd be overjoyed to see either game on Nintendo Switch Online ? at the time of writing, neither has been confirmed for the Game Boy or Game Boy Advance lines.
What I really want, though, is a brand new Pok?mon Pinball game. For the last few years, Pok?mon Pinball developer Jupiter Corporation has been near-exclusively developing games for the Picross series, and I don't think anyone would be too terribly upset if they took some time off from that noble endeavor. So hey, why not bring back Pok?mon Pinball?*Right after you bring back*Pok?mon Sleep (https://www.destructoid.com/whatever-happened-to-pokemon-sleep/).
The post A eulogy for Pok?mon Pinball (https://www.destructoid.com/pokemon-pinball-retro-nintendo-game-boy/) appeared first on Destructoid (https://www.destructoid.com).
More...