Metroid Prime Pinball - Reception

Reception

Metroid Prime Pinball was released by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in North America on October 24, 2005, in Australia on December 1, 2005, in Japan on January 19, 2006, and in Europe on June 22, 2007. Metroid Prime Pinball sold 6,228 copies during its debut month of October 2005 in the United States. The game has sold over 15,000 units in Japan as of May 2008. It was given generally favorable reviews, receiving an aggregated score of 79% from Metacritic and a 80.40% from GameRankings.

Despite early skepticism over the quality of a pinball video game themed after the Metroid series, reviews praised the integration of the two in Metroid Prime Pinball. Nintendo Power called the game a "fully realized and well-tuned hybrid of pinball play and Metroid Prime atmosphere", and the Official Nintendo Magazine named it one of the better recently released pinball games. GameZone believed that the game appeals to anyone who is a fan of pinball games or the Metroid Prime franchise, to which Play magazine attested, adding that the game embodies the Metroid Prime series well.

Appreciating the game's pinball gameplay, 1UP.com thought that its Metroid motif did not add much more to the game. Nintendo World Report felt differently; they were impressed with the game's "top-notch graphics and sound that believably invoke the Metroid series". They also appreciated the pinball innovations introduced in the game that incorporate features from the series, concluding, "This game really does feel like a seamless, if unlikely, merging between classic arcade pinball and the creepy-cool Metroid Prime series." The sentiment was shared by GameSpot's Greg Kasavin, who was convinced that pinball was an excellent medium to simulate the challenging struggles found in the Metroid series, noting that the game "pulls it off very well" by being faithful to the main series. Bryn Williams of GameSpy was impressed after playing the game; he noted that it was one of the more unique gaming sessions that anyone can have on the Nintendo DS. Metroid Prime Pinball's gameplay was lauded by reviewers. Craig Harris of IGN appreciated Fuse Games' work on the game, praising the graphics, audio, and gameplay, along with its "pick-up-and-play" element that made it easy for people with varying levels of skill to play. X-Play felt the same way, noting that the simple controls and "short bursts of gameplay" make Metroid Prime Pinball a perfect handheld video game. In addition, they asserted that the game has great value because of the included wireless multiplayer mode, which allows up to eight players to play the game with just one game card.

A few critics were negative about Metroid Prime Pinball. The reviewer from the Electronic Gaming Monthly video game magazine found it hard to see the pinball while playing the game, especially when it was in the area between the top and bottom Nintendo DS screens. With a limited selection of game modes, GamePro's Rice Burner was disappointed with the game, and concluded that because every game mode features the same tabletops, Metroid Prime Pinball lacked variety, which Game Informer's reviewer agreed with, noting that he would have had more fun with the game if he "had access to a little more content". The minigames were criticized by Game Revolution, which claimed that there were too many minigames that were only of average quality. Furthermore, it asked the game's developer, Fuse Games, to spend more time making a great pinball game rather than several minor minigames, requesting "a character-based game that's great at pinball rather than a fence-riding jack of all trades that is master of none". Eurogamer had a different experience, finding that the minigames provided more entertainment than the main game, which they remarked was a "cardinal sin in pinball". They also criticized the tilt feature for being unintuitive and difficult to use. The reviewer for GamesMaster felt that Metroid Prime Pinball was directed more towards Metroid fans than pinball aficionados, calling it a "flashy but insipid" game.