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Mario Pinball Land
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Mario Pinball Land is a game for the Game Boy Advance. In the game, Mario gets transformed into Pinball Mario, in this shape, he can go into worlds, and act as if he was a pinball to ram into enemies and bosses such as Bowser and Petey Piranha. The game is made by Fuse Games, who ... made Metroid Prime Pinball for the Nintendo DS one year later.
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Mario Pinball Land isn't pinball in the traditional sense. You don't use flippers to pound a shiny ball around a table loaded with bumpers, spinners, and loops in an effort to rack up the most points before the ball falls down the drain. Instead, you use flippers to help a balled-up Mario smack into enemies, roll through doorways, and do battle with a quartet of bosses in an effort to collect the coins and keys that he needs to invade Bowser's castle and eventually rescue the princess.
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Like in older Mario games like the ones on the NES, Mario Pinball Land has levels within worlds. This works by doing certain tasks. In the original Super Mario games, you just had to find the exit to the stage or kill the boss - and in the newer Super Mario games, you have to complete an objective. This time around, once you perform objectives like clearing the field of enemies on the screen, or getting a certain number of points, a Power Star from Super Mario 64 will pop out. These Power Stars open up new paths to explore within the levels, which eventually lead you closer to the area's boss. A factor players may like or won't like about the game is that if you fall through the gutter on a secondary area of a world, you don't lose a life.
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Mario Pinball Land uses pre-rendered visuals to great effect. When you first begin to play you'll be surprised that the Gameboy Advance can output graphics at this level. Mario himself is particularly impressive, from the moment you watch him crushed into a ball onwards. As a ball he doesn't really animate all that much, but this has given the game's designers more time to tweak the animation of all of the game's enemies, especially the main bosses of each world. Each of the game's tables, which use standard Mario themes - Ice worlds, desert words, and so on - look suitably sumptuous as well. Audio is exactly what it's always been in Mario games - boppy stuff that you'll find terribly familiar, but that many gamers will find repetitive all too quickly.
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Mario Pinball Land is an ambitious take on the traditional pinball game, instead combining pinball gameplay with Mario-like platforming elements. (No, this is not like Sonic Spinball, although the games share a few similarities in that regard.) Instead of having to stay on one table, you can switch between different tables at will (assuming you complete certain objectives first). There are enemies on each table you can kill by smacking them with Mario. You collect coins and stars just like any traditional Mario title. Most of the power-ups are there, including mushrooms and such. It\'s an interesting combination, to be sure.
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Jumping has always helped Mario perform heroic feats, but in Mario Pinball Land, the plumber must learn how to roll to rescue the princess. When Bowser kidnaps Peach and escapes to another dimension, a scientist transforms Mario into a ball to chase after the fiend. Now you must use your flippers to shoot a much rounder Mario into doors that lead to new areas. In his new form, Mario is ... useful for knocking down enemies, picking up special bonuses, and finding power-ups.
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Mario Pinball Land