Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire

"Pokemon keeps it's tradition of pinball..."

We all know the famous Pokemon series and all their game. A lot of spin-offs have been made from the large series, and this game takes the cake as one of the best spinoff Pokemon game that has come out on the Gameboy Advance (SP).

Graphics-9/10: Great graphics as ususal for a Pokemon game. Some things on the boards look a bit different than what I was expecting it to look like but hardly noticeable. The graphics are always crisp and clear and well made espicially with the bonus stages. The Pokemon in general look brillant and have very avid colors which bring out the looks in most of them (Espicially the ugly Nosepass).

Gameplay-10/10: While it may sound as a boring concept to you, this pinball game is very addictive. The game itself is quite easy although it does have it's hard points where needing to capture rare Pokemon becomes a race against time as a time limit comes into play. It very entertaining- the way of how they made virtual pinball as you never know what to expect. This can of course make it very annoying and cheap as the ball can go conveinently go right through both flippers without you having to do much which gets old after a while.

Sounds-7/10: The usual Pokemon cries are back when you are going to capture them. But the background music for the two boards are very nice, so is the jazzy music for the bonus stages. The only downside is that it gets annoying after a while because the music keeps repeating over and over again.

Story-5/10: Like all of the Pokemon game trademarks you're out to catch them all but with the pinball effect in your way. Are you up to the challenge of doing this task? Special Pokes such as Kyogre, Groudon, and the super rare Rayquaza have their own battle field bonus mode stage and passing it twice (The needed to actually capture the Poke) will own you a title of greatest Pokemon master.

Overall-9/10: Like I said, the music can get very boring and annoying quickly but the gameplay and story will keep you coming back for more.

Buy or rent?-Rent, as catching and evolving all the Pokes doesn't take more than a few days of solid gameplay. But if you want to exploit every boards secret and get new scores then buying the game would be more suitable for you.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/04