It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since the world of Pokemon was introduced to the U.S. Depending on your point of view, it likely feels like it was either just yesterday or an eternity ago that we first met Ash, Pikachu, and company. To celebrate, Nintendo has provided gamers with a new pinball adventure starring our favorite Poke-friends from the latest Pokemon adventures, Ruby and Sapphire.
Much like the original Pokemon Pinball for Game Boy Color, Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire provides two tables to play, one based on each of the title games. Each board is roughly two and a half GBA screens tall by one screen wide, and while they are arranged differently, each has, for the most part, the same features. Each board has three bumpers, an outer loop which enables Evolution Mode and Catch ‘em Mode, a ramp that starts Catch ‘em mode, a ramp that starts Hatch ‘em Mode, a ramp that activates the Poke Mart and Evolution Mode and a ramp that earns the player coins to be used in the Poke Mart. The boards are, of course, decorated with different Pokemon who each react when hit with the ball, such as Chinchou and Shroomish that act as bumpers, Wailmer who swallow and then spit out the ball, Pikachu who occasionally save the ball from going off the board, and so on. As an added touch, your pinball is actually a Poke Ball.
Of course, there wouldn’t be a Pokemon-themed game without the incessant need to “catch ‘em all”, and this game is no exception. Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire has a Pokedex with the same roster as those found in Pokemon Ruby or Pokemon Sapphire. You catch Pokemon in this game by activating Catch ‘em Mode, Hatch ‘em mode, or Evolution Mode. Each one of these modes can be started by sending the ball up the right series of ramps, and is generally easy to get the hang of after a cursory read of the manual or a few minutes of fooling around. Needless to say, this is easily the draw and the main source of replay value for the game; the first few hours that I had the game were full of that familiar Pokemon feeling of trying to catch ‘em all, only accelerated because it was so much easier to collect a decent variety of Pokemon here than in the actual Pokemon games. Of course, the Pokemon here are nothing more than entries in your Pokedex; catching a Pokemon gives you no further benefit other than the satisfaction of having one step closer to your ultimate goal.
Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire also features bonus levels that can be activated after catching several Pokemon in a single game, which transport your ball into a mini-board where you have a set amount of time to hit a specific Pokemon a set number of times while they either try to evade your ball or otherwise impede its progress. For example, Kyogre will freeze your ball for short periods of time as well as trap it within whirlpools, all the while diving under the water in the stage. These bonus levels are fun the first few times, but they do tend to get tedious, given that each can often take up to the full two or three minutes allotted to complete. These stages can be skipped, but it is nigh-impossible to get a respectable high score by doing so; completing a bonus level results in payouts in the tens of millions of points, well above any point value attainable in the standard boards.
Then again, the entire game can get as repetitive as the bonus levels after a while. The boards are relatively small with few real rewards and surprises unrelated to catching Pokemon, and once the Pokemon begin to repeat, the fun factor begins to diminish quickly. That’s not to say that the game isn’t still fun, but rather that it tends to rely on the “gotta catch ‘em all” aspect of the game for most of its replay value, and that aspect can only last as long as the Pokedex remains mostly empty.
Despite the repetitiveness of the gameplay, Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire does have a few interesting features in its favor that put some points in its win column. One is the excellent save system, which allows you to instantly save any game exactly where you are right down to where the ball was on the board, and pick up from that exact same spot later on. Given that some games can last fifteen minutes or more, and no one wants to give up a hard earned Pokemon because the car ride suddenly came to an end, this is a welcome addition. The game also comes with rumble support when playing via the Game Boy Player, which is not a truly big deal, but is a nice touch for those playing on the big screen. (It should be noted that the original Pokemon Pinball came with rumble support built into the cartridge, but this made it somewhat unwieldy, not to mention the fact that the cartridge itself required batteries in order to rumble.)
The game’s control is fairly standard as far as video pinball is concerned, which is to say that the game is extremely easy to pick up and play. There are several control schemes to choose from, and there is also the option to customize the control to suit your liking. Of course, given that this is a pinball game, and a relatively simple one at that, tit would be tough for Nintendo to screw up the control aspect of the game. One nice addition in terms of control that makes the game even more accessible is that the ball speed can be slowed down for beginning players. While I didn’t feel that normal speed was all that fast, the fact that the option is there so that even the youngest Pokemaniacs could get into the action is a nice touch.
Graphically, Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire is all you would expect from a GBA Pokemon game. The boards are colorful and all the characters that appear on the screen are easily recognizable and well-animated, with no noticeable slowdown. Obviously, we’re not looking at Golden Sun caliber quality here, but for a simple pinball game, the graphics work well, and are functional first, which is how it should be.
Sound is also in line with expectations. Various Pokemon scores play in the background, which change according to the mode (or lack thereof) that the player currently has activated. Little touches like the traditional Pokemon battle theme playing during Catch ‘em Mode remind you that this is, indeed, a Pokemon game. Pikachu and Pichu also chime in with their voice samples from time to time, and many other sound effects are pulled directly from the original Pokemon games. All in all, sound is well done across the board.
So should you spend your $30 on Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire? If you’re a Pokemaniac or a fan of pinball in general, you’ll probably have a few hours of fun with this one. If you’re not a fan of wither Pokemon or pinball, however, this game won’t do much for you; at its core, it’s fairly shallow, and you really need to come into this game liking Pokemon, or pinball, or preferably both in order to get your money’s worth. Similarly, if you haven’t played Pokemon before at all, you likely won’t be able to appreciate a lot of what’s happening on screen. That said, for a niche title, Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire is surprisingly fun, at least for as long as a rental period would last. While another “real” Pokemon game might be a better way to celebrate the last five year of Pokemon, this game has enough play value to tide Pokemaniacs over until that next game comes around.
