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"Everyone’s favorite pink hero is back. In pinball?"

OPENING STATEMENT
Kirby’s Pinball Land is pinball starring everyone’s favorite pink guy from Nintendo, as the ball. This is by far and away the best pinball game on any portable system, and it probably is on any console.

GAMEPLAY--10
This is not your typical pinball game. There are three tiers on each table. Plus there are bonus areas for you to go to, if you can find one of two stars hidden within each of the three levels. Plus you can tilt the table (no Pokemon Pinball did not invent that) to assist you in trying to get the best score possible.

There are plenty of objects around to give you points. There are classic Kirby enemies and other things from Kirby that make up most of the obstacles.

GRAPHICS--9
These are some of the best graphics I have ever seen on the Game Boy or Game Boy Color.

GAME BOY-- These graphics are great in black and white. Everything shows up easily on the white background and the developers did a great job finding different grays to use. Occasionally there is the problem of hitting things to close together, so you do not know what you are hitting.

GAME BOY COLOR-- These graphics are greater in color. The colors are all bright and vibrant. There is a good blend of which color should be where, so no color seems to take over, even with Kirby’s being pink. The chickens are bright yellow, the trees a realistic brown, the colors are all formatted perfectly.

MUSIC--8
SOUND--9
Both the music and sound effects are great. The music is basically a bunch of Kirby’s classic tunes, or songs closely based on them. They are all kind of happy, and some (especially for the cloud table) are very whimsical. The classic Kirby music goes hand in hand with this classic Kirby game. The greatest music in the game happens after you lose a Kirby/pinball. Kirby’s Pinball Land then plays the music that you hear when you lose a life in Kirby’s Adventure!

The sound effects are amazing for a Game Boy game especially. There are great bouncy noises from when your Kirby/pinball bounces off things. The flippers make great noises. There are different noises for each thing you bounce off. There are also noises for other occasions in the game, also, for example while the game is scoring.

CONTROL--8
I must say the controls were bizarre at first, but I quickly warmed up to them. ‘Left’ on the Control Pad moves the left flipper and ‘A’ moves the right flipper. ‘Start’ pauses the game and ‘Select’ brings you to the menu where you can choose to save the game. ‘B’ and the other three directions on the Control Pad (‘Up,’ ‘Down,’ and ‘Right) tilt the game board.

Everything responds quickly to your commands. The game never does not listen, assuming you are doing it correctly. Even I was surprised at how responsive they were. Tilting is a little difficult to control, mostly because there are very few times when one can use it effectively. The other thing that is difficult to use effectively are the flippers when you are choosing your table. Not because they do not respond, they are just difficult to aim. I always let the Kirby/pinball roll into the cannon and fire it from there instead.

FUN--10
This is the single most fun game on the Game Boy or Game Boy Color. You can spend hours playing, and not know more than fifteen minutes have gone by. A two player link mode would have been a nice addition, but, unfortunately, there is not one included. The fact that you can save your game in the middle of a round is great, in case you have to go somewhere and you are doing really good.

The mini-games inside each round make this game even more fun. Out of all the in-level mini-games, the soccer game is my favorite. Scoring goals with two flippers and two Kirby/pinballs is great fun!

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM
All of the tables are a different difficulty level. The table on the far right (Poppy) is the easiest, followed by the table in the center (Kracko), and the table on the far left is the most difficult (Whispy). All of the tables are fairly difficult in the beginning, but then the fact that they are different difficulties becomes apparent with some practice.

REPLAY VALUE--HIGH
I have played this game more than any other Game Boy game. This includes Tetris, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Pokemon Red and Blue. This game is very addicting, and you will play constantly. Once in a while, you will get a really high score, and then you will strive to beat it again and again.

CLOSING STATEMENT
When I got this game, I never expected to be playing it the most of any other Game Boy game. But, I am, and I am pleasantly surprised. It is the greatest single example of a great Game Boy game that you can play forever without getting tired of it.

OVERALL--9


Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/26/00, Updated 07/18/01