Pinball games usually fall into two categories, those that
aim to be as realistic as possible and those that try something new with the
concept. Battle Pinball definitely falls into the second category which is a
good thing since those games that tried to be realistic usually fail due to the
limitations of the SNES hardware. The first thing you’ll notice about Battle
Pinball is that it is unfortunately in Japanese but as long as you can live
with some Japanese text in the intro that’s not a problem. From the looks of
things evil aliens have invaded and it’s up to the robots to save the day.
Other than that the rest of the game features no unreadable Japanese text so
western gamers should have no problem playing it.
The reason for this lack of text is the fact that the game
unfortunately seem to have no options but since it would have been hard to
navigate due to the language barrier I won't’ complain too much about it. What are
on offer are four very big and unique pinball tables each with its own cool
theme. Your goal on each table is to battle the enemies roaming around the
screen using your pinball as a weapon. Hitting certain targets or holes results
in special attacks and overall the effect looks very cool. Each table is about
three screens high but each screen is like a table on its own with flippers and
goals. That means there’s no annoying scrolling and instead you shoot certain
ramps or targets to propel your ball to the next screen. Each stage is packed
with cool details and the themes are very unique too. One table is laid out
like a city with buildings that can be destroyed and aliens lurking on a sport
field. Other tables feature stuff like space and underwater locations. You can
also access some bonus stages if you’re skilled enough and while these don’t
look that impressive they do make a nice break from the main game.
Although Battle Pinball is one of the most interesting and
entertaining pinball games I've played on the SNES it’s also one of the hardest
and it takes a lot of skill and luck before you’ll start putting up high
scores. That also makes it a bigger pity that the game has no battery backup to
save those high scores. My only other gripe is that the ball can sometimes go
through your flippers when the action gets too frantic but since this actually
helps at times I guess it balances out. I can’t really comment much on the
audio since most of the tunes are pretty forgettable and there isn't that much
in the way of sound effects either. The controls are pretty much the same as
any other SNES pinball game I've played before and all the features like
nudging the table is present.
As it is Battle Pinball is definitely one of the better
pinball games out on SNES and it’s a pity that it never saw a western release.
As long as you can put up with the Japanese intro and high challenge then this
should provide you with a few hours of entertainment.
[8]
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