Pinball (history and reception)

A retrospective catalog of Famicom cartridges dates Pinball to 2 February 1984, the eleventh title in its list. pinball-history/release-jp

The catalog is an unsigned retrospective mook that names no source for its dates; no period or Nintendo source giving the Japanese date has been found. The Famicom booklet prints only "© Nintendo 1983" (pinball-history/copyright).

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The Famicom booklet (HVC-PN) is copyright 1983 and the North American booklet 1985; neither prints a release date or a staff credit. The title screen pictured in the North American booklet reads ©1983. pinball-history/copyright

A copyright year is not a release date.

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Nintendo of America's list of NES games dates the North American release of Pinball to October 1985. pinball-history/release-na

Nintendo of America's list is a later compilation.

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In February 1986 Computer Entertainer counted Pinball among the 15 games sold with the NES in the markets it had reached, an Action Series game at $30 beside Clu Clu Land, Ice Climber, Kung Fu, and Super Mario Bros. Its availability table put Pinball under the first quarter of 1986, noting that some of those games had been on sale in New York City only for two or three months. pinball-history/na-launch

Chris Scullion's Baseball entry counts 18 games released alongside the NES in its Manhattan test launch (baseball-history/test-launch); Computer Entertainer lists 15.

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Computer Entertainer reviewed Pinball in its May 1986 issue, rating it three of four for graphics and two and a half for game play and listing it at $29.95 for one player or two alternating. The reviewers loved "the springy action," especially with the hidden bonus screen, Mario's Screen, and listed eggs that hatch and seals that spin beach balls among the table's features. They found the split of the field into two screens jarring as the view scrolls between them, said they lost balls when their eyes couldn't follow the jump, and suggested trying the game in a store before buying. pinball-history/ce-review

{
 "review": "Computer Entertainer",
 "of": 4,
 "scores": {
  "graphics": 3,
  "game play": 2.5
 }
}

The review prints no byline. Neither booklet mentions seals; their absence from the rules there is unexplained here.

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Chris Scullion names Nintendo R&D 1 as the developer, and writes that Satoru Iwata, then a freelance programmer who had impressed Nintendo with a prototype NES version of Joust, was called in to fix Pinball's code after its original programmer ran into problems, making it the earliest published NES game Iwata programmed. Neither booklet credits anyone. pinball-history/makers

Scullion doesn't name the original programmer or Iwata's employer, and no pinned source names HAL Laboratory as Pinball's co-developer. The entry's header dates the NES game 1985.

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Akagi Masumi's list of arcade games dates Pinball, on Nintendo's Vs. System, to August 1984 in its Japan part, the same month as Golf. pinball-history/arcade-jp

The list's overseas part dates a Pinball, without the (VS) mark, to October 1984 under Nintendo of America (pinball-history/arcade-us); it may be another release.

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The same list's overseas part dates a Pinball to October 1984 under Nintendo of America, beside Golf; unlike Golf's row, Pinball's carries no Vs. System mark. pinball-history/arcade-us

The list's Japan part dates Vs. Pinball to August 1984 (pinball-history/arcade-jp). With no (VS) mark, the overseas row may be another release, such as the NES game, so the two dates are not counted as a conflict.

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In July 1985 the Canadian arcade trade magazine Canadian Coin Box wrote that Vs. Golf and Vs. Pinball, introduced at AMOA '84, were two completely separate games in one cabinet. Its table lists Vs. Pinball for both the Vs. Dualsystem and the Unisystem. pinball-history/coin-box

The article doesn't date the AMOA show.

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Nintendo's arcade flyer sold Vs. Golf and Vs. Pinball together for the Vs. System. pinball-history/vs-flyer

The flyer prints no date, so it shows that the arcade version existed, not when it came out.

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The North American booklet sums the game up as "Be a Pinball Wizard!!!!!": bumpers, double flippers, and a bonus round, on three game screens at two levels of difficulty, where the player racks up points to beat an opponent and reaches a bonus round to save "the fallen maiden". The Famicom booklet calls pinball the king of arcade machines, now on a home television. pinball-history/object

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A or B works the right flipper and launches the ball with the spring striker, which hits harder the longer the button is held; the control pad works the left flipper, and moves Mario on the bonus screen. Game A is for beginners and Game B for experts, and a second player uses controller 2. pinball-history/controls

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The table is shown as three scenes: Scene A is the top half of the playfield and Scene B the lower half, which appears when the ball falls into it. A ball that drops into the hole on Scene B brings up Scene C, Mario's screen. pinball-history/scenes

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On Scene A, the lane scores a 500-point bonus and spins the slot window, and hitting the slot target stops it. Three 3s pay 3,330 points and raise the block post for 6 seconds, three 7s pay 7,770 and raise it for 14 seconds, and three 8s raise it and double every point scored while it stays up; each 8 pays 1,000. The post drops when the ball passes the lane again, and disappears at 100,000 and 150,000 points. pinball-history/scene-a

The Famicom booklet gives the 6 and 14 seconds as "about" (約 6 秒, 約 14 秒).

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On Scene B, each of five cards turned face up by the card lane is worth 500 points, and five spades in a row pay 5,000 and raise a block post. A ball rolling over one of three eggs hatches a chick; once all three are chickens, a stopper appears until the next ball strikes it. pinball-history/scene-b

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Scoring past 50,000 points gives an extra ball. The flippers disappear at 100,000 points and come back at 150,000. Losing three balls ends the game. pinball-history/balls

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On Scene C the player moves Mario left and right to bounce the ball back up, while a lady walks along the top of the screen. The ball changes the color of the bingo lamps it passes; when a column of lamps matches, the floor under the lady breaks off, and when the lamps match again and the gap grows too wide to jump, she falls. Mario must catch her: missing her loses the ball, seeing her to the exit pays 10,000 points, and dropping her on the way loses a ball. A ball that falls down the sides comes back out on Scene A. pinball-history/scene-c

Both booklets call her only the lady (レディー); neither names her.

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In 2019 Chris Scullion wrote that "as a first attempt at a video game version of pinball, Nintendo's offering is a good one," its vertical table laid out over two screens that the game switches between as the ball moves, with features a real table couldn't hold, such as a slot machine on the top half and three chicken eggs on the bottom. pinball-history/standing

Scullion's two screens are the booklets' Scenes A and B; the booklets count Mario's screen as a third (pinball-history/scenes).

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