All 16-Bit

Review #6829 Psycho Pinball It's craaaazy MD PAL 1994 Codemasters Arcade Arcade › Pinball D 75 / 100 Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Excellent pinball physics. Looks and feels and behaves like a pinball machine. No complaints, although it scrolls with the ball, which isn't my favorite thing. Still, this is a quality pinball game. 4 / 5 Level Design 4 tables with two screens each. Great variety of pads and trails and lights. Good stuff on all tables. 3 / 5 Theme Eh, these tables have some ho hum themes. There's an unattracive aardvark or something which acts as the mascot in a Wild West, Halloween, Space, and Clown setting. Kinda weird. 4 / 5 Art Styl...

Review #2376 Super Pinball II: Amazing Odyssey SFC 1995 Meldac Arcade Arcade › Pinball E 62 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Well, it's pinball. The ball zips around quickly and falls easily but that might be my slowed reflexes showing. 3 / 5 Level Design Three tables. The James Bond and Clown tables have a single level while the hot girl table has two. They're each fun but for me they got boring pretty quick.because they aren't as dynamic as digital pinball games like the Crush series. 3 / 5 Theme Serious nostalgia, as this looks and feels like a real pinball machine. I'm not a huge fan but kudos to their commitment. 4 / 5 Art St...

Review #2175 Jaki Crush The worst crush SFC 1992 Naxat Soft Arcade Arcade › Pinball F 58 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay I wish I could make this higher, but the paddles are so short! The physics are good and having the option to slow down the ball is nice but it just doesn't feel as good as the best pinball titles. 2 / 5 Level Design So disappointing. There's only one table and it's practically impossible to traverse to the second level and beyond. Just a terrible design. What you can access is ok, not great, and it's all you'll ever see. So much worse than the first two games in the series. 4 / 5 Theme Has that cool demon theme from the other two...

Review #2023 Battle Pinball Unironically the best 16 bit pinball game SFC 1995 Banpresto Arcade Arcade › Pinball C 83 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Wow this is incredible! Super forgiving hit detection. Maybe even questionable but it favors the player so I love it. Obviously there's not much to note about the gameplay of a pinball game but this is as good as it gets in the genre. 5 / 5 Level Design 4 tables with three screens each. One scrolls with the ball, which I don't like, while the others snap between levels. It's very clear how to traverse the screens which makes it so much fun to do so. Each screen has a mini storyline going on like Ultraman fighting bad guys in a city street. So much fun ...

Review #7080 Time Cruise The other TG-16 pinball game TG-16 1992 TTI Arcade Arcade › Pinball F 50 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Screen scrolls like Devil's Crush. Makes it hard to react as you can't see what's below you. 2 / 5 Level Design Big table, with three levels and two columns connected horizontally. But each level is so boring that it doesn't feel very large. It's hard to move around the levels and again, there's barely anything to hit. Also the tables are so busy with colored elements which do nothing that it's hard to see what can be interacted with. 2 / 5 Theme I guess you're traveling through time or something. Maybe. I...

Review #7026 Devil's Crush TG-16 1990 NEC Arcade Arcade › Pinball E 65 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Mostly more of the same as Alien Crush. Good physics, for the most part. One exception is that the ball tends to roll away from the flippers at the bottom of the table so you lose balls way more than you'd like. Another problem is aiming the ball. It feels much more difficult to hit the ball where you want it to go, especially at extreme angles away from the flipper. The screen scrolls rather than snapping between levels of the table. This is more realistic and is visually impressive but I don't like it as much. 3 / 5 Level Design The table has three levels but after 30 min of play I never saw th...

Review #7002 Alien Crush I'm pretty sure you play as Ripley TG-16 1989 NEC Arcade Arcade › Pinball C 83 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Pinball doesn't get any better than this. Fair and consistent physics, interesting events to trigger, and responsive controls. Good stuff 4 / 5 Level Design The table has two levels plus a hidden special stage of you get the ball into the monster's mouth. I wish there was another table but what's here is awesome 5 / 5 Theme The Geiger-esque Alien theme is perfectly realized. Everything but the ball is techno-organic nightmare fuel - in a good way. The developers obviously watched a lot of the first two Alien movies but those infl...

Review #4652 Virtual Pinball Pinball Maker Genesis 1993 Electronic Arts Arcade Arcade › Pinball G 40 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay More like a pinball sandbox than an actual game. Create a game by selecting a table, a background, and music, then jump right into a game. There are 18 tables plus the ability to create your own. That's probably where this game shines, but I don't have time or interest in making my own table. The ball tends to move slowly of a flipper hit so the gameplay feels slow and boring. 3 / 5 Level Design The prebuilt tables feel poorly designed. They favor bumpers and kick walls so you often get to watch the ball bounce around for 30 or more before you get to do anything. Flippers are too...

Review #4525 Sonic Spinball Sonic slowdown Genesis 1993 Sega Arcade Arcade › Pinball G 40 / 100 Bad Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Feels like it's running at half speed. Controls are laggy You have control over the ball (Sonic) which makes it both easy and frustrating. Organized a bit like an adventure with different areas but I can't figure out where I'm trying to get to. Poor control over aiming a shot. 2 / 5 Level Design Boring and painfully repetitive boards. Each segment of the overall map is quite small so you see the same interactions over and over until you can finally escape to a new area. 2 / 5 Theme It's Sonic, but in a green sewer. Gross. I'm half expectin...

Review #4161 Dragon's Revenge NSFW pinball Genesis 1993 Tengen Arcade Arcade › Pinball F 56 / 100 Not Bad, but Flawed Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Plays similar to Demon's Fury. The camera seems to jump around a bit more and the ball travels incredibly fast at times making the game quite challenging. Paddles still have generous hit detection. 3 / 5 Level Design Good but not great table design. It's more boring than the prequel. The extra tables are mostly empty save for the enemy boys you're attacking. 1 / 5 Theme Demon theme is replaced by swords and sorcery. Scantily clad women are everywhere and orgasmic moans are cued constantly. It's not for playing while the kid...

Review #4160 Dragon's Fury Almost the best 16 bit pinball Genesis 1992 Tengen Arcade Arcade › Pinball C 80 / 100 Very Good Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 4 / 5 Gameplay Plays like an adventure title using pinball mechanics. Main table is three levels. There are six other one screen tables which okay like a boss battle. Super cool concept. Paddle hit detection is extremely generous. Lots of shooters and obstacles like sprites wandering around the table. 4 / 5 Level Design Again plays like an adventure game. So much to do and see on the board. Incredible variety especially on the other screens. 4 / 5 Theme Demonic, yes, but holy cow there is so much to do. Everything is cohesive and interesting. Good stuf...

Review #4150 Dino Land Where's Yoshi? Genesis 1991 Renovation Arcade Arcade › Pinball H 38 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 2 / 5 Gameplay Extremely simple ameplay pinball mechanics. Extremely forgiving physics. Low frame rate. Camera movement can be jarring but it's not terrible. Ultimately, the one board just makes this a boring experience. Oh, and the extremely low difficulty level. I played for 25 minutes and never once did I come close to losing the ball. I stopped, not because I lost the ball, but because I softlocked the ball got stuck on a flat surface at the top of the board and that was that. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. 2 / 5 Level Design Three difficulty levels, Expert, Intermediate, and Biginner. ...

Review #4128 Crüe Ball Metal balls Genesis 1992 Electronic Arts Arcade Arcade › Pinball E 63 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Use left on dpad and C for the two paddles. The one and only table has three levels of paddles, although you rarely see the top level. There's also a mini game of Pong vs skeletons which move toward you, Plants vs Zombies style. The camera scrolls with the ball which is very nice. It's pinball, but it's a good game of pinball. 4 / 5 Level Design Well there's only the one table. It has several triggered events, like a big set of blocks to knock down, words to knock down one letter at a time, lots of blinking bumpers, and uhh, an inchworm that crawls across the...

Review #582 Super Pinball: Behind the Mask The Crush series didn't come to SNES so this is the best SNES pinball SNES 1994 Nintendo Arcade Arcade › Pinball E 62 / 100 Your mileage may vary Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 3 / 5 Gameplay Full table is visible so no scrolling. View is slightly tilted away from you as it would be if you were standing at the foot of an actual pinball machine. L and R paddles are controlled by last d-pad and A but I wish all directions or buttons would work like on Pinball Dreams and Fantasies. Tables have a lot of features that open up as you hit them. Kept me engaged anyway, more than any other pinball game on the SNES. Excellent physics. I felt that reverted was fair and the ball bounced exactly as I would expect it to. It feels very realistic ...

Review #417 Pinball Dreams Oh happy day! My son, finally having the pinball dream! SNES 1994 GameTek Arcade Arcade › Pinball H 29 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay Typical pinball stuff. Too bad I hate pinball. Low framerate makes it tough. D-pad and buttons control the L and R paddles, respectively. Nice setup. 2 / 5 Level Design Four tables. They're nice I guess. Not sure what makes a good tables tbh. Nothing animates or changes like Alien Crush. Pretty boring imo 3 / 5 Theme Minimal setup, which I appreciate. Just pick a table and get started. 2 / 5 Art Style Flat uninteresting graphics. Framerate drops when the screen scrolls. ...

Review #418 Pinball Fantasies Dreams are one thing, but I'm not sure about my son having a pinball fantasy. SNES 1995 GameTek Arcade Arcade › Pinball H 29 / 100 Horrible Screenshot used for review/reference purposes. 1 / 5 Gameplay See notes from Pinball Dreams 2 / 5 Level Design 3 / 5 Theme 2 / 5 Art Style 1 / 5 Audio More SNES reviews Browse all reviews