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»Super Robot Pinball
"It's a weird but fun spinoff."
It’s kind of interesting to take a look at the
different ways that developers tried to bring the pinball experience to
various game systems, especially when it comes to portables. At first,
they tried to make the most accurate facsimile of a game of pinball
game possible, but as time went on, developers decided to try gimmicks
to capitalize on the fact that the differences between an actual
pinball table and any video game equivalent. Most of these variations
were set to the themes of various popular video game franchises. Games
like Kirby’s Pinball Land and Sonic Spinball, for example. Then there’s this game, Super Robot Pinball, which was spun-off from the Super Robot Wars series. Sure, it’s in the same vein as those aforementioned titles, and despite its obscurity, it’s still a pretty good game.
At first glance, Super Robot Pinball doesn’t really seem too different from a far more popular GBC pinball game - Pokémon Pinball. The superficial similarities are numerous: both games only have two tables; both are based on popular Japanese series (Super Robot Wars and Pokémon
respectively) and both are unique takes on the classic game of pinball.
Delving deeper, however; the game shows an even greater similarity:
much like Pokémon Pinball, there’s a bit of a collecting
element but on a smaller scale. The collecting here involves both the
heroic mechs and various villains from such series as Mobile Suit Gundam and Mazinger Z.
Another comparison would be the blatancy of the game’s basis in the
tables’ motif. There are numerous cameos on the pinball table itself.
For example, there are various grunt enemies from the various series
who appear as bumpers (of varying levels), not to mention the two
gimmicky “savers” (Boss Borot, who takes up the mid-section and Haro,
who takes up the outer lanes).
Of course, SRP has its own wild quirks too.
For example, when certain goals are achieved, the ball is leveled up,
allowing it to do more damage to the bumpers (which can be destroyed in
a certain number of hits, depending on how high the bumpers’ and the
ball’s levels are). When the ball levels up, it changes colors,
shifting from blue to green to red all the way to a yellow-orange
color. Also, unlike in Pokémon Pinball (in which players can
simply choose between the two tables from the beginning), one must
clear the first table to unlock the second one.
That brings about the question: how does one go
about clearing a table. Well, there’s a gimmick involved, something
like a cross between the ones found in Sonic Spinball and Pokémon Pinball.
Basically, after destroying a set number of bumpers, an enemy robot
(from one of the various series involved in this game) appears. At this
point, the player must fire the ball up the “Scramble” ramp in the
course of two minutes. When the ball is shot up the ramp, players are
allowed to choose one of the six randomly chosen robots (there are 41
in all). After that, the ball returns into play and must be shot up the
“Enemy” ramp, which sends the ball into the battle field. Basically,
the battle field is a fairly small pinball table, with the enemy taking
up center stage. In order to attack, one must shoot the ball into the
enemy, until their health meter reaches zero. On the flipside, the
player’s mech also has a health bar, and if it runs out, the battle
phase ends, allowing the enemy to escape. However, when the player’s
mech takes a certain amount of damage, a scramble hole opens, allowing
the player to switch to a new mech for the rest of the battle. Of
course, if the ball falls out of the battle table, players return to
the normal table, affording them the chance to regain health through
the “HP” ramp, change robots via the “Scramble” ramp, but try to get
back up the “Enemy” ramp as quickly as possible, because the enemy
regains health during the time out of the battle table.
After beating a certain number of enemies (three
or five, depending on the table), players enter into the boss table.
It’s similar to the boss battles found in both Sonic Spinball and Kirby’s Pinball Land:
players attack the boss by striking them with the ball until they are
defeated. Of course, falling out of the boss table is a bit more costly
this time around: instead of simply being able to reenter the boss
table through some special area, one must beat another regular enemy to
return.
The graphics are a mixed bag, which isn’t a
surprise considering the system. On a personal note, I honestly can’t
believe that the Game Boy Color had a wider overall and on-screen
palette than the Game Gear, because for the most part, the system’s
graphics had vast areas of blank space, not to mention the fact that
the coloring in most games was flat. Oh well, this is pretty much
standard for the system, and aside from this setback, the game looks
fairly nice. The pinball graphics are detailed to the point where you
can tell the differences between the various bumpers. The battle
graphics are also pretty good, albeit simple. The best effect would
have to be when a Mark 3 Attack is achieved: there’s a little SRW-style cinematic showing off the move in its full (well, maybe not full, but it’s still a pretty good imitation of the graphical style seen in the console SRWs of the time) glory. It makes me wonder what a real SRW game on the GBC would’ve been like.
The sound’s actually pretty good, and that’s
saying a lot if you know my feelings about the GBC’s sound card. Most
of the robots’ themes are well-arranged on the GBC’s hardware, and most
of the game’s original music is actually pretty good. On the other
hand, the sound effects are pretty low-grade, quite similar to those
heard in Kirby’s Pinball Land. All in all, they’re not bad; I just would’ve thought that the sounds would be a little more realistic with the new sound card.
The replay value is basically what you’d expect
from a pinball game. Needless to say, there’s not that much, at least
at face value. With only two tables (granted, they loop), the standard
mode gets pretty bland. Of course, there are some other features, like
an endless mode which allows players to play a single table infinitely.
There are also two databases, which records every robot and enemy
encountered, not unlike the Pokédex in Pokémon Pinball. Besides, this
game is generally pretty quick, and it’s a decent time waster. Still, Pokémon Pinball’s easier to find, so it’s probably the best choice you have for a pinball game on the GBC.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Aug. 30th, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Consider it Sonic Spinball and Pokémon Pinball’s otaku love child. Needless to say, it’s fun. |
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Graphics |
| Sure, this game suffers from “flat-palette syndrome”, but it’s otherwise a fine looking game. |
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Sound |
| The soundtrack’s pretty good for the most part. Sound effects are pretty much what you’d expect though. |
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Replay Value |
| Eh, it’s got two tables and databases for both the mechs and the enemies. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really mean much replay. |
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