Mario Pinball Land

"Gutter ball."

Sonic Spinball, Kirby's Tilt n' Tumble, and all those other miscellaneous franchise arcade pinball spin-offs. These characters and franchises give life to an otherwise dull game. In fact, with all these various pinball antics, you never know who's going to be struck by pinball fever next. And we all know who's the prime target for spin-off titles - Mario. Yes, it was only a matter of time before Mario was introduced to the pinball world. I mean, considering how successful they were in creating Pokemon into one of the most addictive pinball games ever, Nintendo couldn't go wrong with their main mascot, now, could they? In enters this not-so-well-known newbie company known as Fuse Games. First assignment - Create a Mario Pinball game. With Nintendo's guidance, they were able to bring Mario's world into the pinball world beautifully. What they forgot, however, is virtually everything that makes a pinball game a pinball game!

One day, Mario and Peach decide to go to the carnival together for some nice fun time that doesn't involve lava pits or Koopa Kids. Some Toads have just opened some new "ride" that sticks you in a machine and shoots you out as a ball as you recoil off a target and revert back to normal! Pretty trippy, ain't it? Of course, when Peach gets to the front of the line, some Goombas take over the ride. When Peach gets on, she's launched into Bowser's Castle, which just so happens to be conveniently located right next to the carnival! Mario jumps in the machine himself as he is launched out of the cannon into Mario Pinball Land!

As soon as you begin the game, you'll be thrown right into the pinball action. You don't even get to launch your ball. Everything begins immediately. As in a typical pinball game, you can control the flippers to launch Mario into different parts of the table. Instead of having a traditional ball saver, Mario Pinball Land sports a pipe between the flippers which acts as a "blocker", preventing you from dying. However, you can still can go underneath the blocker and die anyways. The tables each have a very unique design. In fact, each table has several different parts to it, some of which are built on top of another. For example, on the windmill table, if you launch Mario into the windmill, you'll be taken to a new area inside the windmill. Each table also has a cannon which you can hop in and use to launch to one of the other tables. The game has 5 tables in all, which isn't by any means a lot, but it has its share of diversity.

Mario veterans will likely recognize many of the characters you'll encounter. Enemies, like Goombas and Koopa Troopas, will walk all over the tables, and if you hit them, you'll get something. There's even a few that have been long-absent from the Mushroom Kingdom, like Tutankoopa, Spiny-Cheep, and the Cobrats (their last appearance was in SMB2 back in '88!). Usually you're required to defeat all the enemies in a certain area before you move on. Most of the time you'll get coins, which can be used to purchaser items from Toads tents which appear in random places. But usually you'll be rewarded with a star if this is you're first time completing the task. Stars allow you to access new parts of each table. One of the main goals in this game is to collect all the stars.

Of course, those goals would be so much more enjoyable without the game's various screwy aspects! At first, ricocheting Mario off the walls and bouncing off enemies at uncontrollable speeds is incredible fun. But the game's dark side will begin to sink in very quickly. Oh, boy, where should I start? First off, the pinball physics in this game are completely out of balance! Mario has no controlled speed, and the table dynamics have zero effect on Mario at all! Not to mention the game is missing one of the most vital aspects of a pinball game - The tilt feature! This means that if Mario is heading straight down the middle of the table, out of range of any of the two flippers, there's no way to adjust the table to tilt Mario to the right or left to prevent him from falling out of the machine! It's honestly unbelievable how such oversights could have taken place.

My next complaint isn't as much of a flaw as it is an extreme inconvenience. Every time you fall out of a puzzle area, you go back to the area you were before, and have to start over! This is extremely annoying in situations where you have to go back through a series of puzzles in order to get back to a certain chamber. Every time you complete a task/puzzle, they reset. It may be good for replayability, but it's a major hamper on the overall gaming experience. You would imagine this adds much frustration to the game. It does. Most of the time when you play this game you aren't going to feel challenged. You're going to feel frustrated. There's a big difference between a challenging game and a frustrating one. Words cannot describe how annoyed I get whenever I defeat a boss and fall into the gutter before claiming the star, meaning I have to defeat the boss all over again. The lousy physics don't help, either.

Speaking of bosses, Mario Pinball Land does have them. Each table has a boss, in fact, hidden in a secret area that must be reached by completing a series of puzzles. The bosses are some of the only things that add some decent challenge to the game. Each boss has their own strategy that must be used to defeat them, some of which may take a while to figure out. The bosses take about three hits each until you receive their star. An unfortunate thing, however, is that you cannot replay the bosses after you defeat them. I mean, they reset all the traps and puzzles and doors but not the bosses? The only worthwhile challenges? Note to Nintendo - Next time give them advice on common sense rather than advice on programming.

Items are a unique twist thrown into this game, though sometimes they can hinder more than help. At random times, Toad's tent will appear somewhere on the table, and if you hit it, you'll go into Toad's shop. This can be an inconvenience if you're actually doing something on that part of the table, considering how it will completely interrupt your gameplay and throw your whole balance out of whack. In the item shop, you can purchase such items like mushrooms and double pipes for coins you pick up from fallen enemies. For example, a double pipe will give you an extra pipe guarding the gutter when your current one runs out. A star will grant you invincibility, allowing you to vanquish enemies the instant you make contact with them. A mini mushroom will shrink you, allowing you to access certain areas you can only access while miniature.

Graphically, however, this game is simply amazing. Everything is in 3-D and rendered beautifully, unlike anything else you've ever seen on GBA. Yes, it looks even prettier than Mario vs. Donkey Kong did. Seriously, the characters in this game look better than they did in most N64 ones. It's a little pixelated around the edges, but the overall image is nothing short of impressive. We finally know the true potential of the GBA's graphical abilities. If only they didn't waste such sweet eye candy on such a flawed game.

Music is less than what we've all come to expect from a Mario game. The majority of the tunes are pretty catchy, particularly the theme that plays when you're facing Spiny-Cheep, which is sort of like an ominous yet upbeat pirate theme, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, the tracks in this game suffer from a very bad case of repetition. Each tune cycles every 15 seconds or so, meaning you'll be stuck hearing the same beats again and again and again. Plus, you'll be hearing much of the same music through most parts of each table. At least the tracks are somewhat fitting, though.

The other sound effects are much better. Once again, Charles Martinet does a fantastic job at voicing Mario with little yelps and humorous comments at random moments. Some are taken from other games, while others are brand new. Many of the other miscellaneous chimes are taken directly from Super Mario Sunshine, such as the coin chime, the pause jingle, etc. In fact, they sound almost as good! Petey Piranha does a funny little shriek when hit.

Replayability is another tumble, though. It's hard enough to play through the game once, with all the points of frustration and repetition with each star. I can only imagine it would be well-near impossible to play through it again. Of course, you may find yourself not even having a choice, with one more inexcusable technical flaw that I have yet to cover. The game saves after you either get a game over or pause and save. If you, however, decide to turn off your game without saving, you lose all your progress you've made during that time of play, right? Oh, no. It's far worse. You lose your whole save data completely! No traces of memory left! Note to Fuse - Hire some testers before you actually finalize the game.

Overall, Mario Pinball Land disappointed me greatly. Not because of it's overall presentation, but because of it's dynamics, which mean virtually everything in a pinball game. Perhaps because I've been spoiled by such lush treasures as Pokemon Pinball and Sonic Spinball. Perhaps because I had no previous idea of what to expect from Fuse. Or perhaps because not every game can impress, now, can it? Fuse has got their presentation down, they just need to learn some good gameplay basics. As a Mario game, it prevails. As a pinball game, it falls flat on his face. Combine the two, and you get an overall average gaming experience and nothing more. FUSE Games has potential. I just don't see that potential going anywhere.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 07/14/06, Updated 03/30/07