Gaming on the Nintendo DS

I am starting a new series of posts for Fridays on this blog.  Every Friday I will try to post a review of a Game Boy Advance game.  I am calling it Flashback Friday since while you can still play the Game Boy Advance games on the Nintendo DS I think they did finally stop making them or at least the games I have and will be reviewing are mostly at least a few years old.  Today’s review is of a game I recently rediscovered in my brother’s game stash and have been enjoying this past week.

Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire is one of my favorite Pokemon games and yes I have tried pretty much all of them and up until the last few adventure style ones for the GBA I own all the different Pokemon games for every system.  This version is not quite as good as the original Game Boy Color version because that version had a rumble pack that really added to the enjoyability.  It almost makes up for that graphics wise, though.

In this game you play pinball on either the Ruby or Sapphire course (I find the Ruby one the easiest) trying to catch Pokemon, evolve them, and hatch them by making the ball go on the right paths.  The overall object of the game is to catch them all, of course, although it is much more difficult to do than in the other Pokemon games and honestly I do not even try to really accomplish this goal, although maybe some day a decade or so from now I will accidentally end up doing so.

My favorite part is after you catch three Pokemon or catch one and evolve one or evolve two you get to go to a bonus round.  The bonus rounds are different depending on which you course you are on and if you beat one the next time it is different.  There are only two types of bonus rounds per course and you go back to the first if you beat the second and get to the bonus round again.  Beating the bonus rounds are also one of the best ways to add to your score and get a high score (or later on beat your high score).

Overall this is an addictive pinball game and while it may seem to get repetitive and boring to some if you are into pinball games you probably will enjoy it as it is not always exactly the same.  The graphics are good for a Game Boy Advance game.  I am not sure about the sound, as I rarely. play portable games with sound.