When you think of Pinball, the first thing that springs to mind is probably not Metroid. However, Samus does have that wacky morph ball ability, and sometimes she gets knocked around, bomb jumped, and blasted out of cannons so often while she is in the morph ball that you might as well be playing a pinball game. While the thought of a Metroid pinball game causes a wrinkled forehead upon first hearing of it, after a few seconds of thought you realize “Hey, I guess that does kind of make sense!”

Metroid Prime Pinball is exactly what the title advertises. It is a pinball game set in the Metroid Prime world. The pinball table levels are ripped straight from the game. Some of them include the Pirate Frigate, Tallon Overworld, Phazon Mines, Phenandra Drifts, and a couple more hard to find levels that I won’t tell you because you don’t want the entire game spoiled do you? All the tables utilize the Dual Screens on the DS by displaying the top half of the level on the top screen, and the bottom half on the lower screen. With this set up, there is no scrolling up and down with the ball whatsoever. However, since the screens do not meet up with each other exactly, there is a small gap between the two sections of the table. What is strange is that the gap actually exists in the game. When you give Samus a nice smack with the flipper on the bottom and make her fly up to the top screen, she doesn’t immediately appear in the top screen when she leaves the bottom. They actually programmed the space between the two screens as part of the table. At first I found this very strange and actually kind of annoying, but it didn’t take long before I got used to it and learned to anticipate how long it took to travel the gap, and where the ball would appear on the other side. Now, instead of finding it strange, I consider it a nice touch.

There are two different modes of play for single player content. The first option, the meat and bones of the game, is the multi-mission mode. This is where you will spend the bulk of your time playing Metroid Prime Pinball. You can start the game in one of two locations, either the Tallon Overworld, or the Pirate Frigate. A lot of each level is typical pinball stuff. Flippers on the bottom, maybe one or two other flippers placed higher on the table, targets, chutes, and spinners that all add to your score. The not so normal pinball stuff is what makes this game stand out. As you play the table, you will inevitably find yourself in mini missions that you have to complete. Upon completion of a task, you will receive an artifact. If you hit a series of targets, and then knock Samus onto the right ramp, you may find yourself using the L and R buttons to play a wall jumping game. Time your jumps right and she will make it to the top and find an artifact. You might end up having to knock Samus into a few Space Pirates that appeared to destroy them and gain another artifact. The pirates won’t make it easy on you though. They have homing missiles that will knock you all over the place.


This game is quite a looker.

You may find yourself on a Metroid killing mission, or a beetle killing mission. One of my favorites is combat mode. Samus will come to a stop and pop out of the morph ball and you have to aim her blaster left and right to shoot down the waves of aliens coming at you.