As usual, Mario heads off to save the lovely damsel, but to keep things interesting, does so in spherical form. Bowser doesn’t like innovation, though, and is more interested in the princess So His Koopingness sends a pair of goombas-goombas-who, despite their unfortunate lack of stature or arms, manage to re-aim the cannon towards Bowser’s Castle without confrontation. At the Fun Fair, Peach is celebrating the completion of the Sky Cannon, which squishes the user into a ball to be shot long distances. Mario Pinball Land’s story is deliciously absurd. One could make the same complaint about Mario’s last two platformers, but such mistakes are far more common in pinball. That means doing the same task all over again, because apparently stars have no tolerance for losers. The player will work hard to collect eight red coins or defeat every enemy under a time limit, only to hit the ball into another room or fall while trying to hit the Mario-ball into the star. Less defendable is the developer’s decision to require that Mario physically grab every star he earns. Skill with an inaccurate tool is pinball’s challenge, so this design choice is understandable, if mildly frustrating. Enemies tend to get in the way when a player is anxious to move forward, deflecting shots or unluckily redirecting them to an undesired door. Mario must smash a door once to open it, and then manage to do it again without opening every door first, which causes them all to close. Room entrance is a clog in Mario Pinball Land’s drains. Accessing certain areas or defeating an enemy will often be impossible or more difficult without a specific power-up. Lighting damages all enemies on the screen the warp pipe acts as a center stopper (there are no side gutters) and the Yoshi egg functions as a second ball. Self-explanatory power-ups include the super mushroom, mini mushroom, 1-up mushroom, and star. Regulation mushroom coins may go towards a handful of power-ups, which are also obtainable through “?” blocks and random bonuses (acquired by earning stars already collected). Combos of two or more enemies produce blue coin rewards that can be spent on special star challenges in one of Toad’s many shops. Mario must have momentum to destroy the varied baddies, and players must have skill to collect the coins the enemies drop. The concept is sound and enjoyable for the most part. All of this is in an attempt to claim stars with the power to unlock more doors connecting each stage’s rooms (a la Super Mario 64). The player must navigate Mario via flippers, smashing him into enemies, doors and switches in an attempt to explore the worlds. The basic game mechanics are standard pinball fare. It may not revolutionize handheld pinball, but Mario Pinball Land is fun while it lasts. Now Nintendo’s flagship franchise is staking a claim in the genre, with the quaint Fuse Games behind the flippers. Memorable titles include HAL Laboratory’s Revenge of the Gator and Kirby’s Pinball Land on Game Boy, as well as the more recent Pokémon Pinball games on GBC and GBA. Some may be quick to forget pinball’s rebirth in videogame form, though-especially on Nintendo’s handhelds. It is common knowledge that, much like a certain 80’s song about radio stars and television, video-games killed the pinball parlors.
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