Pinball Games #3

Revenge of the 'Gator (1989)
By: HAL Laboratory  Genre: Pinball Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Nintendo Game Boy First Day Score: 278,570
Also Available For: Nothing
Download For: Nintendo 3DS

I'm not sure why I never got 'into' the whole handheld console scene but as a result there are millions of cracking games I missed out on, and continue to miss out on until I eventually look at them here. One I remember getting lots of positive press in its day was Revenge of the 'Gator which, despite the strange name, is actually a pinball game! This is well skillish since... Well, I was going to say since I like digital pinball games thanks to the Crush series, but they are about the only examples I played extensively in their day. This effort arrived a year after said series debuted with Alien Crush so it's possible it was 'inspired' by the Compile classic, but it's immediately apparent that it's at least a decent one, perhaps even a corking one. It even has a two-player link-up option but alas, I don't have any friends with Game Boys. I don't have any friends with any handhelds, in fact, so I will have to focus on the one-player mode, although I suspect there are few who have ever played it any other way.

Mobile Games #10

I Am Level (2014)
By: Smiling Bag Genre: Platform / Pinball Players: 1 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Android
Also Available For: iOS

It was long ago now that I initially discovered this game - more than two years has passed, in fact. It was soon installed onto my Android phone; I played it for a while, and enjoyed it, but then my phone went and broke. It didn't take too long to replace it - how could it these days? - but my progress was obviously lost in this and all other games I had installed (which was only a few, luckily). I had originally intended to review it back then but gadzooks if it hasn't taken me all this time to finally get around to reinstalling the game (I had to buy it again, too!) and playing it through. It didn't take me long to make up my previous progress and only a little more to surpass it, so I guess it's time to resurrect that review as well. If I can remember where I put it, that is. Oh, wait a minute...

Pinball Games #2

Dinoland (1991)
By: Wolf Team  Genre: Pinball Players: 1 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 2,345,500 (one credit)
Also Available For: Nothing

I think it's safe to say that interest in pinball video games was ignited for pretty much the first time by the Crush series and unsurprisingly it didn't take long for various other developers to try their luck as well. This effort from Wolf Team is one that I remember and it has a lot in common with Naxat's series. Oddly, an improbable back-story has been added here though, which casts you as DINO-Bunz (yes, really), a suitably cool/tough-looking green dinosaur who must protect/rescue his sweetheart, Meeshell (who's pink and has a bow on her head, obviously). This is apparently achieved by smacking up those pesky carnivores with a pinball - actually, I believe DUNO-Bunz is the pinball as he's able to curl into an impressively tight spherical shape - and there are three prehistorically-themed tables over which to do this, based on three primeval environments - land, sea, and sky.

Pinball Games #1

Battle Pinball (1995)
By: Banpresto  Genre: Pinball  Players: 1  Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Nintendo SNES  First Day Score: 601,910
Also Available For: Nothing

Have you ever found a particular genre of something ruined for you by its finest example being so superior to all other examples? This happened to me with sci-fi TV shows - I'm a big Babylon 5 fan but it's so good that most other sci-fi seems crap in comparison and my ability to further enjoy the genre diminished. The same sort of thing happened to me a little earlier than this with video games too, or more specifically, pinball video games. Having discovered the Crush series only a few years after getting into gaming to begin with, the supreme awesomeness of the games in question greatly reduced the appeal of pretty much all other examples. Therefore, to this day, almost the only pinball videogames I've played have been Crush-related ones. This kind of closed-mindedness won't do here at Red Parsley though, so I've decided to start looking at a selection of alternatives. The first one I've chosen, based purely on the splendid cover-art I accidentally found, is Battle Pinball which is apparently part of a sizeable series itself.

Crush Series Overview

In the unlikely event that you've been reading my ramblings here at Red Parsley since all the way back at the beginning, you may remember that I've long been keen on Naxat's rather spiffing Crush series of pinball games. Even including the (fairly) recent Wii remake, however, there have only been six releases in the series, and only three of them are generally considered unique and proper instalments.

What is much more likely, however, is that you haven't been visiting my humble blog for very long (or ever before) and have therefore seen nothing of my enthusiastic tributes to the (mostly) fine games that make up this intriguing series. Therefore, as it's been a long time since I posted anything about them, and also because I was recently reminded of an article I wrote for the Replay magazine a while back, I thought I'd share it with my tens of readers here as well to wrap up my coverage of the series. Behold, for your possible reading pleasure:

3DO Games #3

Pataank (1994)
By: PF.Magic Inc  Genre: Pinball  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: 3DO  First Day Score: 1,810,764
Also Available For: Nothing

One of the great things about videogames is that they allow designers to approach existing subjects from new perspectives. This is one of the reasons why I, and many others, love the Crush series of pinball games. Naxat realised they were no longer bound by the rules of an actual pintable and so covered their tables with all manner of scary creatures and outlandish bonuses. That was one way to play around with the accepted pinball format. Another one is explored here with Pataank. Until this game came along, to the best of my knowledge all pinball videogames viewed the action either from directly above or from the same viewpoint as though playing a real pintable (even the Crush games). Pataank has other ideas - as you might have gathered from the screenshots, the chosen perspective here is not only much closer to the table than normal but actually follows the ball around!

Crush Series - Part 6

Alien Crush Returns by Tamsoft / Hudson Soft (2008) - Nintendo Wii

It's scary to think that it's now 23 years since Naxat dreamed up the genesis of the Crush series. There have since been several sequels, both official and otherwise, the last of which was the little-known Jaki Crush, itself now almost 20 years old, but that was it. Until now! Yes, in a move of special magnificence, Tamsoft have resurrected this great series and what better way of doing so than to remake the original? Alien Crush Returns is more of a sequel than a remake really though and they've even managed to tack on a backstory this time! Apparently "an elite squad of space marines sets off to investigate an alien spaceship trapped in Jupiter's gravity" or some such nonsense. Sound familiar? How they've managed to facilitate a pinball game with that story I don't know, but the game includes a story mode, arcade mode, ranking mode and versus mode (1-4 player), and as well as multiple tables, including bonus tables as always, and lots of other sweet features like multi ball, reverse ball, etc.

Crush Series - Part 5

Jaki Crush (1992)
By: NAXAT Soft / Compile  Genre: Pinball  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Nintendo SNES  First Day Score: 1,748,500
Also Available For: Nothing

To be honest it was probably a bit of a niche franchise, but most gamers who actually played any installments in the great Crush series ended up loving them. However, even many fans believed the last game in the series was Dragon's Revenge on the MegaDrive which isn't even really a true Crush game anyway. Until fairly recently I also believed this to be the case but it seems Naxat pulled a sneaky move and released another final offering. This time they jumped ship to the SNES and the game never appeared outside of Japan either, which I guess would be why not many Western gamers have heard of it. It was a strange decision though, considering the success of particularly the first two games - another installment of crazy, supernatural pinball action would've gone down a treat! Then again, if the game continued the downward spiral started by Revenge, perhaps it was best left in Japan...

Crush Series - Part 4

Dragon's Revenge (1993)
By: Tengen Genre: Pinball Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 1,312,400
Also Available For: Nothing

The emergence of the Crush series was a pleasant surprise for some but it wasn't until the MegaDrive (and Genesis) conversion of the second game, Devil's Crush (known here in the UK as Dragon's Fury), that the series became known to most Western gamers. Splendidly converted by TechnoSoft and published by Tengen, the latter apparently took the success of the game as an opportunity to create and publish their own sequel - Dragon's Revenge. Whilst not strictly speaking an official sequel, Dragon's Revenge duly takes the monstrous themes and ideas created in Alien Crush and perfected by Devil's Crush, and tries expanding on them in its own way. Was it successful?

Crush Series - Part 3

Dragon's Fury (a.k.a. Devil Crash MD) (1992)
By: TechnoSoft Genre: Pinball Players: 1-2 (alternate) Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 22,593,300
Also Available For: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
Download For: PlayStation Network

For two years, Devil's Crush had been thrilling Japanese (and to a lesser extent, American) PC Engine gamers before, unlike its prequel, it finally received a conversion, and it was MegaDrive owners who were the lucky ones to receive it. Handled by Technosoft (famous for the Thunder Force series), it's a more or less a straight conversion of the Engine game (aside from the unnecessary name change), but there are a few noteworthy differences. Aside from a few small, almost unnoticeable changes, the main table in this version looks pretty much the same as it did on the Engine - everything's in the same place and everything does the same thing, though the ball feels a little weightier and doesn’t seem to bounce around quite so much.

Crush Series - Part 2

Devil's Crush (a.k.a. Devil Crash) (1990)
By: NAXAT Soft Genre: Pinball Players: 1-2 (alternate) Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 First Day Score: 18,756,300
Also Available For: MegaDrive / Genesis
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

If you cast your mind back to the first time you noticed pinball videogames, there's a good chance you'd think of this game. Digital Illusions had some success in the early 90's with the realistic but playable Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies, and sure, Alien Crush was popular, but it was this sequel, which arrived approximately two years later, which really got the genre noticed among the console gaming fraternity. Brought to us by Naxat again, the basic premise is obviously very similar to before. Instead of the evil aliens from the first game, however, this game is based, perhaps somewhat controversially, on the occult! The main table, for there is only one again, is three screens high this time, medieval themed, and is crawling with hordes of satanic demons, dragons, and monsters beyond description!

Crush Series - Part 1

Alien Crush (1988)
By: NAXAT Soft Genre: Pinball Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 First Day Score: 11,173,400
Also Available For: Nothing
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Pinball has diminished in popularity a great deal since the advent of videogames, and pintables are now rarely seen anywhere but decent sized arcades and specialist retro establishments, but thanks to the entertainment medium that saw their demise, they can continue to live on! Which brings me, in a typically long-winded RKS stylee, to Alien Crush. I’m a bit of a pinball fan and I frequently venture into my local pizza restaurant, which is the only place for miles that still has any pintables, but pinball videogames, in my view, too often tried to accurately emulate proper pintables rather than taking advantage of the fact that they are no longer governed by the sometimes-restrictive rules of pintables. That is until Alien Crush came along.