Pokémon Pinball requires no prior pinball experience, but it rewards players who know how to read the screen. This page covers what you need to know before the first ball: choosing a table, the controls, how the screens are laid out, how a game unfolds and the first useful things to try.
Choosing your table and starting point
After the main menu, the game offers the Red Field or the Blue Field. The Red Field is played with three loops, while the Blue Field has two loops and a Dash arrow that changes direction. Neither is harder than the other: they complement each other, since 27 Pokémon are exclusive to the Red Field and 33 to the Blue Field. For details on each table’s features, see the Red Field and the Blue Field.
Before the first ball is launched, the central panel cycles through the table’s seven starting locations, one location about every half second. Pressing the launch button (A by default) freezes the displayed location and sends the ball out: you choose your starting point through timing. That location determines which Pokémon can be caught until the next move: see the map and locations.
Default controls
In the Japanese and American versions, the default layout is as follows, and each function can be remapped in the Options menu, with up to two buttons per function.
| Function | Default button |
|---|---|
| Launch the ball | A |
| Left flipper | Control Pad, left |
| Right flipper | A |
| Nudge left | Control Pad, down |
| Nudge right | B |
| Nudge up | Select |
| Menu (save) | Start |
The European version, which is the one you have if you play on a French cartridge, instead offers three preset layouts, with no button-by-button setup. Try them in the Options menu before you start: the choice of flipper buttons is a matter of personal comfort.
Nudges push the ball a few pixels, with a short recovery time. They are used to save a badly placed ball or to steer it toward a target, but they never replace a good shot.
Reading the screen
The table spreads across two screens, an upper one and a lower one, and the display switches between them depending on the ball’s position. On the lower screen, you will always find:
- the central panel, which shows the current location, the silhouette of the Pokémon to catch, the word SLOT or the prompt to head to the Bonus stage;
- beneath the panel, a counter of three Poké Balls that tracks your progress toward a Bonus stage;
- the two flippers, the exit lanes watched over by Pikachu and the Saver indicator, which lights up when the ball is protected;
- the four CAVE lights, which open the Slot Machine;
- the colored arrows, which point to the next useful target.
The upper screen contains the bumpers (Voltorb on the Red Field, Shellder on the Blue Field), the loops and the targets that start the modes. A timer appears at the top right during time-limited modes.
How a game works
Each game gives you three balls. A ball is lost when it drains between the flippers or into an unprotected exit lane, unless the ball saver or Pikachu steps in. A few actions earn extra balls, up to ten in reserve: see Extra Ball and bonus multiplier. At the end of each ball, the game shows a summary, the end-of-ball bonus, calculated from what you accomplished and multiplied by the bonus multiplier.
The game ends after the last ball. If your score makes it into the table’s ranking, you enter three letters. The five best scores of each table are kept.
Your first moves
- Catch a Pokémon right away. Two GET arrows are already lit at the start of the game, so Catch’em Mode is available immediately. On the Red Field, aim for Bellsprout in the upper right corner; on the Blue Field, let the Dash arrow send you into Cloyster.
- Reveal the silhouette. Hit the bumpers six times, then strike the Pokémon four times: details in Catch’em Mode.
- Aim for the Bonus stage. Three lit Poké Balls, that is to say three catches or one catch and one evolution, open a Bonus stage.
- Light up the four CAVE letters. The Slot Machine hands out saver balls, multipliers and even direct access to the bonus stages: see the Slot Machine.
- Move on to evolution. Three lit EVO arrows give access to Evolution Mode, which is essential for the 72 Pokémon that do not appear in the wild.
Going further
Once you have mastered these basics, two pages round out the introduction: the scoring system, which explains where the millions on the counter come from, and score strategies. For collecting, the completing the Pokédex page offers a table-by-table walkthrough.
