Pokémon Pinball started a small line of Pokémon pinball games, always entrusted to the same studio, Jupiter. It includes one game on a miniature console and a true sequel on Game Boy Advance. The original game, for its part, has never been re-released. Here is the whole family, and how to play it today.
The Pokémon pinball games at a glance
| Game | Console | European release | Re-release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon Pinball | Game Boy Color | October 6, 2000 | No Virtual Console version |
| Pokémon Pinball mini | Pokémon mini | March 15, 2002 | None |
| Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire | Game Boy Advance | November 14, 2003 | Wii U Virtual Console (December 11, 2014 in Europe) |
Pokémon Pinball mini (2001)
Two years after the first pinball game, Jupiter adapted the idea for the Pokémon mini, Nintendo’s tiny console dedicated to Pokémon. Released on November 16, 2001 in North America, December 14, 2001 in Japan and March 15, 2002 in Europe, Pokémon Pinball mini doesn’t reuse the Game Boy Color fields: it is a series of 90 small stages, where you most often have to get a Poké Ball into each of the holes on the board.
The ball launcher is a Pokémon. You start with Diglett, then obtain Pikachu, Wobbuffet, Clefairy and Poliwag as you clear the Catch’em stages. Some stages require or forbid a particular launcher: the last stage accepts only Diglett, a water stage accepts only Poliwag, and several tricky stages forbid Clefairy, which lets you steer the ball slightly.
| Mode (English name) | Contents |
|---|---|
| Quest | 70 stages to unlock in order, along with the Catch’em stages |
| Time Attack | 10 stages where you have to fill the holes as fast as possible, all available from the start |
| Score Attack | 10 stages where you have to reach the best score |
Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire (2003)
The true sequel arrived on Game Boy Advance on August 1st, 2003 in Japan, August 25 in the United States and November 14, 2003 in Europe. Still developed by Jupiter, it keeps the formula of two fields, renamed Ruby and Sapphire, and of a Pokédex to fill, this time with the Pokémon of Hoenn. Its Pokédex holds 205 Pokémon: the first 201 of the Hoenn Pokédex (from Treecko to Jirachi, without Deoxys), plus four Pokémon from elsewhere, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile and Aerodactyl.
The cartridge no longer has a built-in rumble feature. Vibration was only offered when playing on GameCube with the Game Boy Player and a GameCube controller. The game also made use of the e-Reader card reader, an accessory that never came out in Europe.
Ruby & Sapphire is the only Pokémon pinball game to be re-released: it came out on the Wii U Virtual Console on December 10, 2014 in Japan, December 11, 2014 in Europe and January 1st, 2015 in the United States. This version loses e-Reader compatibility and vibration. It has its own guide on our site: Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire.
And the first Pokémon Pinball?
The 1999 pinball game has never been offered on the Virtual Console, on either 3DS or Wii U, unlike many Game Boy games of the era. Its rumble feature built into the cartridge (see the rumble feature and the cartridge) makes it a hard game to reproduce faithfully. GamesRadar even listed it among the games it wanted to see arrive on the 3DS Virtual Console. Since the Game Boy games in the Nintendo Switch Online subscription are regularly expanded, check the catalog: it’s the only route by which a re-release could still arrive.
Finding the original cartridge
- European version: this is the one that offers French, the language menu and the rumble intensity setting.
- Battery compartment: check for corrosion before buying.
- Console: Game Boy Color preferably, Game Boy Advance possible; on older Game Boy models, the game works with simplified graphics.
For what to do next in your game, see score strategies and completing the Pokédex.
