Upon playing Mario Pinball Land for the first time I was immediately impressed with the graphics and even the music seemed above average. The game’s story has Mario being compressed down into a pinball to collect coins and stars to unlock new areas. The game plays like a pinball game should. There are flippers at the bottom of the screen and players must hit the ball around the playfield, which is usually cluttered with enemies, switches, and other interactive environments. All of the bells and whistles are present. In fact, the game has above average graphics with an almost rendered look to many of the locales, which is very pleasing to the eyes. It’s the tedious gameplay that completely ruins the experience.

In previous pinball games players would simply bounce the ball around to reach a high score. Games like Pokemon Pinball, although cute in design, got the basic pinball formula down. Mario Pinball Land tries to be something other than a pinball game and fails miserably. The best way to describe the game is that it’s a cross between a regular Mario game where you have to defeat enemies, collect coins, and locate the stars, and a pinball game where you must do all of this by using two flippers at the bottom of the screen. It becomes very frustrating to clear areas when specific objectives must be completed to do so and the controls do nothing other than inhibit progress. In the desert stage there is this little nub of a pyramid sticking out of the ground. Hitting one of the two statues in the top corners of the screen will make the pyramid rise up. Players must consistently hit the statues until the pyramid is all the way out of the sand. If a few seconds go by, the pyramid drops back into the sand. Timed events like this are present throughout the game and the game is artificially prolonged because of the pinball controls, which makes it more luck than skill to hit specific targets. To make matters worse, if the ball falls down between the flippers players are often forced to start from scratch and many times replay the stage that they previously completed to get back to where they just were. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

If Mario Pinball Land were simply a normal pinball game perhaps it would have been a good time. All it is in its current form is a painful exercise in tedium. I’m seriously in shock that this game made it through Nintendo’s quality control department. A company that values gameplay and “fun factor” over everything else just doesn’t put out a game like this. Nintendo’s games usually reward players as they progress, not punish them for design flaws the player has no control over. I suppose Mario’s name alone on the game will guarantee some sales success and I’m sure there might be the occasional kid that will enjoy the game, but it’s a shame the game doesn’t live up to Nintendo’s standards. There are so many better games available on the GBA right now. If you’re considering a pinball game, get Pinball of the Dead or Pokemon Pinball. If you’re simply looking for fun games, be sure to try Metroid Zero Mission, Castlevania, Fire Emblem, any of the Mario Advance games, or even Pokemon. Don’t disappoint yourself or a loved one with Mario Pinball Land.