Mario Pinball Land for Game Boy Adv Reviews by Gamers

For a long time, I thought Mario Pinball Land was awesome. And then I got to the final boss. 3 days and literally at least 48 attempts later (I started counting on day 2), I beat Bowser. Apart from the final boss, this game was really cool. It had a lot of elements that I had wished were in Metroid Prime Pinball. The stages were expansive, there were many goals for the player to try and get, and there were even a few mini-games.

I am forced to ask myself, though, “why do I keep playing pinball video games?” The amount of frustration that comes when you get an SDTM is infuriating! Pinball is largely luck, especially when you can’t tilt the table, which you can’t do in Mario Pinball Land. Since this is the case, one ends up feeling gypped when the ball slips by the flippers.

The graphics were excellent. It was all 3D rendered sprites, which on the GBA screen looked awesome.

Still, though, the boss battle at the end was so frustrating that it left a very sour taste in my mouth for this game. I think Mario Pinball Land had the potential to get about a 7, maybe a 7.5 had there been a few more mini-games, but alas, it fell prey to my biggest pet peeve in video games—when the final boss is of a difficulty level FAR superior to the rest of the game. It’s interesting how many games fall apart in their final chapters.

-CommanderVideo