Initial release date 2 February 1984 Genre Pinball | Publisher Nintendo | |
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Platforms Arcade game, Nintendo Entertainment System, Wii, Wii U, GameCube, Nintendo e-Reader Developers Nintendo, Nintendo Research & Development 1 Modes Single-player video game, Multiplayer video game Similar Pinball games, Other games | ||
Pinball (ピンボール) is a 1984 pinball video game developed and released by Nintendo for their Nintendo Entertainment System. It is based on a 1983 Game & Watch unit of the same name. In 1985, it reached North America as one of 18 launch titles.
Contents
Gameplay
Pinball is a game where the player controls the paddles of a virtual pinball machine. The game has two screens to represent the traditional pinball table and one for a bonus mode. Play begins when the player launches a ball with the plunger from the first screen—the bottom of the pinball table—through the top of the screen to the second screen. Play will move to the first screen if the ball falls through the bottom of the top screen and will return to the top screen if the ball is hit back through the space at the top of the first screen. The player controls the flippers on either screen to deflect the ball to keep it from falling off the bottom of the lower screen.
Pinball has a secondary Breakout-like mode, which the player reaches by hitting the ball into a bonus hole that takes the player to a bonus stage where they control Mario carrying a platform. The object of this mode is to rescue Pauline (previously seen in Donkey Kong). The player achieves this by bouncing the ball off Mario's platform and hitting various targets, the destruction of which also earns them points. When the blocks under her are all gone, she will drop. Catching her on Mario's platform earns the player bonus points, but allowing her to hit the ground causes the player to lose.
Re-releases
Pinball was later re-released for the Family Computer Disk System in May 30, 1989, as an e-reader Card game, and is also playable as an unlockable mini-game in Doubutsu no Mori for the Nintendo 64 and Animal Crossing on the Nintendo GameCube and as a downloadable title on the Virtual Console for the Wii in 2006 (November 19 in North America, December 2 in Japan and December 15 in PAL region) and Wii U (in October 24, 2013).