Evolution Mode is the Pokédex’s second engine: 72 of the 151 Pokémon in Pokémon Pinball can’t be caught. You get them by evolving a Pokémon you’ve already caught. The mode also lasts two minutes, but its logic differs from Catch’em Mode: among several targets on the table, you have to spot the three that release an evolution item.
Trigger conditions
- A caught Pokémon. The mode is only available if you’ve caught at least one Pokémon in the current game. Pokémon from previous games don’t count.
- Three EVO arrows lit. They’re at the bottom of the left loop (the outer left loop on the Red Field). Each time the ball travels up to the yellow rectangle at the top of the loop, one arrow lights up, from top to bottom. At the start of a game, none are lit.
- Getting into the mode. On the Red Field, Ditto, which blocks the Evolution hole in the upper left corner, disappears once all three arrows are lit; the ball must then enter the hole. On the Blue Field, the Dash arrow has to send the ball into Slowpoke, which swallows it and then spits it back out.
The Slot Machine can also offer Evolution Mode; if no Pokémon has been caught, it replaces that reward with Catch’em Mode. As with Catch’em Mode, the mode won’t start if another mode is already in progress.
Choosing the Pokémon
As soon as the ball enters, the game displays the list of Pokémon you’ve caught or obtained through evolution in the current game. You pick one with the directional pad and confirm with A. You don’t have to choose a Pokémon that can evolve: one that’s already fully evolved, or has no evolution, can also be chosen. It then “evolves” without changing appearance, and the game awards 10,000,000 points once the three items are collected. Evolved Pokémon also appear in the list and can evolve again: this is how you get Venusaur by way of Ivysaur.
As soon as you make your selection, the evolved form is registered as “seen” in the Pokédex, even if the evolution isn’t completed. The Ball Saver is active for the first minute, and the timer runs for two minutes.
Finding the three items
Once the Pokémon is chosen, small blue arrows appear on the table, each pointing at a target. Only three of these targets hide an evolution item; the others are decoys. The number of candidate targets depends on the Pokémon: four for first-stage Pokémon such as Bulbasaur, five for second stages, and six or seven for final forms and Pokémon with no evolution. The exception is Horsea, which can evolve but shows seven targets. The possible targets are as follows:
| Red Field | Blue Field |
|---|---|
| The group of three Voltorb | The group of three Shellder |
| Left Diglett | Poliwag |
| Right Diglett | Psyduck |
| Left Bonus Multiplier counter | Left Bonus Multiplier counter |
| Right Bonus Multiplier counter | Right Bonus Multiplier counter |
| Staryu button | Slowpoke |
| Bellsprout | Cloyster |
Hitting a candidate target earns 3,000,000 points. If it hides an item, the item appears somewhere on the table and you have to hit it with the ball to collect it: each item is worth 10,000,000 points, and the counter below the panel shows the total. While an item is lying on the table, or during the recovery time, the small arrows temporarily disappear.
The targets that tire you out
If the target you hit hides nothing, its arrow disappears for good and a recovery time of about ten seconds begins: the game displays the message “Pokémon is tired” (English version) when the evolution requires experience, and “Item not found” in other cases. During this delay, no other target reacts. You can shorten the wait by sending the ball around an outer loop, which makes the Pokémon available again and earns 100,000 points.
Completing the evolution
When the third item is picked up, the central hole opens. You have to get the ball into it before the timer runs out; the Pokémon then evolves, is registered as “caught” in the Pokédex, and adds two Poké Balls to the Bonus stage counter (only one if just one slot is left). If time runs out before that last shot, the evolution fails and the Pokémon stays unchanged.
Which item for which evolution
The game uses seven items, which reflect the evolution methods of the first generation. The three items needed for an evolution are always identical to one another.
| Item | Evolutions covered |
|---|---|
| Experience (EX) | 52 level-up evolutions |
| Fire Stone | 3: Vulpix, Growlithe, Eevee (into Flareon) |
| Water Stone | 4: Poliwhirl, Shellder, Staryu, Eevee (into Vaporeon) |
| Leaf Stone | 3: Gloom, Weepinbell, Exeggcute |
| Moon Stone | 4: Nidorina, Nidorino, Clefairy, Jigglypuff |
| Thunder Stone | 2: Pikachu, Eevee (into Jolteon) |
| Link Cable | 4: Kadabra, Machoke, Graveler, Haunter |
Eevee is the only Pokémon with several evolutions: the game picks one of the three at random, so the required item (Water Stone, Thunder Stone or Fire Stone) is only known at the moment of selection. Our evolutions page gives the complete list, Pokémon by Pokémon.
