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Metroid pinball ... actually good?

Monk

Banned
One major surprise is that some copies of Metroid Prime Pinball on the show floor featured rumble capability. Yes, rumble as in force feedback like Pokemon Pinball. This obviously couldn't be built into the tiny DS packs, so I had a look underneath the DS playing the game and it had a GBA cartridge plugged in as well. I figured that the GBA cartridge was the one doing the rumbling, and this was later confirmed by PGC chum Chris Kohler. Apparently Chris saw someone booting up a DS with Metroid Prime Pinball in it, and the initial selection screen said that there was a "GBA Option Pak" in the GBA cartridge slot. I'm not sure whether or not Nintendo will sell this standalone Rumble Pak for use with rumble-enabled games, but it definitely exists. Hopefully it will be a pack-in when Metroid Prime Pinball is released, because it works like a charm.

Metroid Prime Pinball is one of my biggest surprises at the show. I expected it to be only OK, but instead it completely surpassed my expectations. I'm really looking forward to its release later this year.

http://www.planetgamecube.com/impressions.cfm?action=profile&id=774
 
I heard Mario Pinball sucked and that this was made by the same people.
 
Dice said:
I heard Mario Pinball sucked and that this was made by the same people.
You heard right. Though:

IGN said:
Last year, Fuse Games and Nintendo worked together to send Mario into the world of pinball. Though it had some merit, ultimately the attempt was a dud, which made people sort of roll their eyes when they heard that the development team was sending Samus to that same world of pinball. The game is on the show floor at E3, and I can safely say that this game, in its current demo form, is a far, far better pinball game than Super Mario Pinball Land.
That said, these types of games seem fun for about five minutes.
 
I played while I waited in line for zelda and it seemed pretty fun. Seemed unteresting how the incorporated a full form of samus as an extra bonus "weapon" that popped up center screen as you shot creatures that flew down from the bottom of the screen. Ididn't play for too long, but it was entertaining while I was in line.
 
The DS has built-in rumble.

The GBA cart that was in it was DKC3. A friend removed it and looked at it and it still rumbled without it.
 
I've heard good things about Metroid Pinball from a massive Metroid fan who originally thought the concept was the greatest abomination in videogame history.

So I'm now confident it might be decent.
 
Was Super Pac-Man Pinball there, or did just images come out of it?

Seems like Pac-Man is the current Nintendo whore. Pac-Pix, Pac n Roll, Pac-Man Pinball, Mario Kart Arcade + Pacman.

Actually, where the hell was Mario Kart Arcade?!
 
I played a LOT of stuff at Namco's booth, but the only Pac-Man Pinball I played was the mobile phone version which was fun, but used a metal ball. I assume the DS/GBA/whatever versions to be a bit more embellished.

Mario Kart Arcade GP was delayed a while back in Japan, so it'll probably be at the inevitable Spaceworld.

Nintendo has so much crap to show off, not holding one would be stupid.
 
M3wThr33 said:
The DS has built-in rumble.

The GBA cart that was in it was DKC3. A friend removed it and looked at it and it still rumbled without it.
No, I don't think so.

If you open a DS (there are some pics at lik-sang.com) you cannot see any rumbling mechanisms.
 
Soul4ger said:
CLEARLY, BITCH, YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED POKEMON PINBALL.

Yeah, Pokemon Pinball's catch-em-all approach really was its saving grace. It's probably the best video pinball game ever as a result.
 
I could never really get into Pokemon Pinball. The tables were pretty basic and the ball moved too slow, IMO.

My favorite videogame pinball is Pinball Hall of Fame.
 
I think Metroid Pinball is the surprise DS hit of the show. It reminded me very much of Pokemon Pinball, but the gameplay is faster and so far there is no collecting except for artifacts, which eventually unlock the boss level. There is another hidden level involving wall jumps, which I accessed a couple of times but couldn't make any progress into. (If you fail the wall jump sequence, you return to the main board.)

By the way, the rumble definitely comes from a cartridge plugged into the GBA slot.
 
M3wThr33 said:
The DS has built-in rumble.

The GBA cart that was in it was DKC3. A friend removed it and looked at it and it still rumbled without it.
That was his hands shaking at the pure excitement of playing DKC3 :rolleyes
 
What I'm still curious about is whether the DS will use a standard GBA rumble game as a rumble pack... or if only supports stand-alone carts.

In other words, would Wario Ware Twisted work as a rumble cart for Metroid Pinball?
 
This news is true, I played it at E3 :)

P.S I'm a huge metroid fan, I liked the game, i didn't find anything wrong with it (though it seemed a bit easy?), but i only played it for about 10 minutes.

Edit: It's true about the rumble, i don't know if it was an actual gba pack though. I asked the booth babe i was playing it off and she said "it's built into the game" or at least something to that extent, i was too busy looking at her boobs. I'd seriously doubt that the rumble was in the game but i did look under the ds and there was nothing sticking out. It's kinda hard to picture a rumble in a gba cart that didn't stick out though..
 
I thought Mario Pinball was pretty bad and Pokemon Pinball was pretty good.

I really enjoyed Metroid Pinball. I got kind of sucked into it and didn't realize how much time I was spending on it.
 
This game has ended up looking extremely cool for what sounded like an abomination to the franchise. I'd say the developer could redeem themselves big time if this game turns out right.

My favorite pinball game to date is probably Kirby's Pinball Land because it was a bit more than a straight-forward pinball game. It had a feeling of progression because you had to work your way up the level. And you could still get back a lost ball with the right timing. Pokemon Pinball was also surprisingly fun for having only two tables and being so straight forward. Hal (makers of Kirby's Pinball Land) also made this fun Game Boy pinball game that had something to do with an alligator. Forget the name.
 
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