Your favorite NES pinball game

[DigitalSpace]

For me, it's Pinball. The game is actually deeper than it looks, and the bonus stage was a nice touch.

Pin Bot is a close second. I've never played the actual table but it looks like the developers did a good job with the sim despite the system's limitations. It also has one of the best Game Over screens I've seen in an NES game. Dare Pin Bot to the pinball challenge!

Rollerball closes out my top three. This was the first of three excellent pinball titles developed by HAL Laboratory (the others being Revenge of the Gator and Kirby's Pinball Land on the Game Boy).

What about you?

[Atarileaf]

I went with the original. I like the others but I always come back to the original NES pinball. Great game.

[Compute]

IMO High Speed is the best. First pin I ever played, first to obsess over. I still remember the day I found the NES game at the rental store, I about flipped in place. For a port, it's pretty good. The music is top notch, but those damn tumbleweed acid pool things still piss me off to no end.

[goatdan]

Pin Bot is a close second. I've never played the actual table but it looks like the developers did a good job with the sim despite the system's limitations. It also has one of the best Game Over screens I've seen in an NES game. Dare Pin Bot to the pinball challenge!

Pin*Bot mastered, and might have been the only pinball game that I really think did completely master a perfect melding between fantasy and realism. I, as a big pinball fan in real life, am always annoyed by pinball machines that try to be realistic, but then try to do too much. Even High Speed for the NES does a few things more than I think it should.

But Pin*Bot takes a real world table and emulates the rule set on it nearly perfectly, and has physics that while not exactly real are not bad for what they are. Then, if you advance further into the game, fantasy elements come into play that are not part of the real game (hopefully obviously) like a black hole-ish thing you need to avoid, the triangle ball, and some other fun stuff like that.

To me, Pin*Bot remains the best table like that ever created. The real world table makes the shot layout better than most fake ones, and the additional rules don't overtake the game completely. It's a great, great, great pinball game, and one of my favorite NES games. In fact, a big part of the reason that I own a real Pin*Bot machine is because of the NES game!

[ShinobiMan]

For me it's Pinball. I still images of the "Mario" bonus stage burned into my brain from when I first played it at a friends house when I was 4 years old. There was something magical about getting to that screen.

Honestly, it's the only NES pinball game I've played. Need to try the others!

[namzep]

Definitely the original pinball. Something about Mario holding up the "flipper".

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Red Warrior]

Definitely going with Rollerball on this one. So many hours spent trying to stay at the top screen on the Skyscraper table... and trying to keep multiple balls going. Awesome.

Also had a lot of fun playing the Republican/Democrat two player mode with my brother. Good times.

[diskoboy]

As a Williams fan, Pin*bot gets my vote. Never played the NES version of High Speed..

[norkusa]

High Speed

Pin-Bot would be my #1 if it didn't have those cheap little things that swarm around the middle of the playfield right in front of your flippers and steal your balls constantly.

I know they're there to balance out the table but man, those things drive me nuts.

[Balloon Fight]

Easily Pinbot although I've never played High Speed. Pinball gets a fairly close second.

[cyberfluxor]

Rock 'n Ball is a great pinball title and one of my favorites from the 8-bit systems. The versus gameplay can be crazy and requires some skill to get it just right. It's been awhile since I played it, but I believe the buttons were a bit odd. It was the artwork that sold me on the game awhile back as I generally don't touch pinball simulators.

[InsaneDavid]

Rock 'n' Ball here too, great variety for an 8 bit pinball title. The Japanese version, Family Pinball, is worth checking out too since it's a little different with a Pac-Man themed table and Namco characters for player selection.

[MachineGex]

Rock 'n Ball is a great pinball title and one of my favorites from the 8-bit systems. The versus gameplay can be crazy and requires some skill to get it just right....

I liked this game as soon as I stumbled on it. It reminded me of an Atari game(well maybe a 7800 version) because of the 2 player aspect. The thing I love about Atari is it had great 2 player games and this reminded me of something along those lines.

[josekortez]

Pinbot is my favorite. Pinball is a close second since it has a Mario cameo appearance.

[BenG76]

Ive always loved the original Pinball. I can get a pretty decent score on it if I play it regularly.

[bigred5687]

The RPG mode in pinball quest is worth it.

[Beefy Hits]

Never even knew High Speed Existed for NES. I'd say pinball quest or rock n ball.

I wish we'd get either of those on VC.

[Compute]

I had never heard of pinball quest, what a neat game!

Still, my vote goes to Pinbot/High Speed for music.

[T2KFreeker]

Rock 'N' Ball. Great stuff and very different than what else was coming out in the digital pinball world at the time. Loved it.