Kirby's Pinball Land

"A decent Pinball game that retains the unique Kirby feel."

Ah Kirby.That loveable pink pudgeball that will bring back fond memories for anyone that is over the age of 10.I remember getting the original Platformer for the NES which was an amazing game and still is after all these years.Inevitably,Kirby's Dream Land,a dumbed down version of Kirby's Adventure on the NES,was released soon after and following the success of that game came this-Kirby's Pinball Land.

It seems a strange idea to put a character from a Platform game in a Pinball machine but Kirby's round shape makes him an ideal replacement for a ball and if Sonic could star in his own Pinball game,then why not Kirby?

There is no real storyline to this-just a brief introduction showing King Dedede bouncing off with Kirby on his tail.Your aim is to defeat him after his 3 henchmen who guard the other Pinball tables.The controls are fairly simple;use Left to activate the left flipper,A for the right flipper and Up and B to nudge the table left and right respectively.When you start the game up,you are free to choose from any one of three tables to test your skills on.Each one is based on a different stage of the original Kirby's Dreamland.For example,the first one,Wispy Woods,is based on the first level of Dreamland and is probably the easiest table to beat.It features enemies like Gordow and Kaboo which you can hit to rack up points in different ways.Also,the tables all have interesting bonus games included in them.A slightly different version of Breakout,a Soccer game where you need to shoot Kirby into the goal,and food passing across the screen which you need to get Kirby to eat all feature in this game but can only be accessed if you can hit the Bonus Star.Other cool inovations on the tables like a fruit machine style game all help make Kirby's Pinball Land a very different game to the usual type of Pinball game.

Kirby's Pinball Land is a very fun game that you'll really enjoy playing,Pinball fan or not but because you are offered all the different tables from the outset,there is not much incentive to keep playing for very long.That said,it is quite a challenge to reach King Dedede but since he is so easy to defeat,you'll not get much satisfaction out of beating him.However,the added battery backup that will automatically save your progress should keep you playing as you'll want to keep beating your previous high score.

The sound on KPL is fantastic!Long-time Kirby fans will recognise the music that plays from the original Platformer which is classic Nintendo stuff,espescially the Wispy Woods track :-).The sound effects aren't up to much but where they are,they work well and sound as they should.The graphics are sharp and crisp.The animation of Kirby is done particualrly well and all the enemies are taken straight from the original.The tables are well drawn and all 3 screens of them are packed with detail and the features on them are immaculately set out.I would say the graphics deserve to be appreciated espescially since this game was released in 1993 when the GameBoy didn't exactly have the best visuals.

Kirby's Pinball Land contains lots of imaginative and interesting ideas that all work well and the transition from Platform game to Pinball game is certainly not just a rip-off of the Kirby license in my opinion.It's a fun,light-hearted game that is an excellent way to warm-down after an intensive session of F-Zero GBA with your mates and if you can find it relatively cheap,then you should definitely get it!A worthy addition to your GameBoy library.

Score
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Replayability: 8/10
Overall: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/01, Updated 06/30/01