JALECOlle Famicom Ver. Pinball Quest

Genre: Compilation / Pinball / RPG

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Alternating)

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Review:

Pinball Quest, originally released on Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, is a Compilation of four Pinball “tables”, with the primary game mode being “RPG Mode”, which combines Pinball gameplay with RPG mechanics, with this release of the game coming to Nintendo Switch in 2024.

Pinball Quest actually had a few unique gameplay mechanics, including one that requires players to shift their flippers up and down the table to change locations to where the ball is, a feature included in all of this game’s tables save one, Viva! Golf, a table that combines themes of Golf and Whac-a-Mole. Rounding out the other tables here are Pop! Pop!, a USA/Bowling-themed table, and Circus, a Circus/Slot Machine-themed table. Of these three, I think Circus is the best of the bunch, with some fun lines to pursue, and good overall variety.

Of course, the main meat of the game is the RPG mode, and this has players moving up into and through a castle filled with various mechanisms and medieval fantasy-themed enemies, some of whom must be beaten to obtain a key to move forward. This is all done with RPG mechanics – you attack enemies by ramming the ball into them, and enemies can attack you by hitting your flippers. Likewise, if the ball falls through the hole at the bottom, this is a defeat that sends you down to redo the previous room in the castle – do poorly enough over and over again and you’ll be sent farther and farther back, even as far as the beginning. To help you out, there’s a shopkeeper between different areas of the castle that you can buy an upgraded ball or flippers from.

While there’s a lot to like here, particularly given how ambitious this unusual mashup of genres is, I do think there’s one major flaw across all the game modes here – the pinball physics are odd and unreliable in a way that doesn’t feel quite right. You can see this clearly when “trapping” the ball by holding up a flipper – rather than keeping the ball in place, it jostles back and forth as if it was suffering from a caffeine high. In addition, in the RPG mode specifically, some of the bosses are punishingly difficult, even when making use of some of the features this release adds, like a rewind feature (more on this later).

As you’d expect from a game from the Nintendo Entertainment System era, this game makes use of 2D pixel art visuals and a chiptune soundtrack, and I think both have aged pretty well. In fact, I think the soundtrack here is surprisingly catchy.

Despite that Pinball Quest wasn’t exactly a megahit release when it first came out, the Nintendo Switch version of the game has gotten a lot of love. This release comes with both the US and Japanese versions of the game, a huge gallery of box art, instruction manual art, and promo art, a timed challenge and achievements to pursue, a quick save feature, a rewind feature, display and control options, and a frame that includes helpful gameplay info. This is far more than I would have expected for such a niche game.

Overall, despite its flaws, I still have a soft spot for Pinball Quest, and this is an outstanding port that adds a lot to the original game. This creative combination of Pinball and RPG elements, alongside three other Pinball tables, might be let down somewhat by poor physics and overly-tough difficulty in parts, but I think players curious to see a fun and unique mash-up may still want to give it a look.

tl;dr – Pinball Quest is a Compilation of multiple Pinball tables, including one that’s extended into a full RPG-style quest. There are issues with the game’s physics and punishing late-game difficulty, but it’s still a fun and unique combination of its respective genres, and this release includes a surprisingly good amount of extra features. This won’t be for everyone, but players curious about the interesting combination of elements may want to try it.

Grade: C+

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