A eulogy for Pokémon Pinball

destructoid.com:

The Pokémon franchise is no stranger to excellent spinoffs. Between the lauded Mystery Dungeon crossovers, the well-regarded (if seldom played) Pokkén Tournament, and, of course, the cultural juggernaut that is Pokémon GO, there’s been a Pokémon game for just about every genre imaginable. Once upon a time, there were even two excellent Pokémon pinball games.

The original Pokémon Pinball is something of an oddity, even when viewed amid the eclectic Game Boy Color library. Released three years after the first Pokémon generation in Japan, and just a few months before Pokémon Yellow arrived in North America, the game was little more than two digital pinball tables with Pokémon theming. The two tables were “Red” and “Blue,” and they were excellent.

The most unique element of Pokémon Pinball is its catching mechanic. The eponymous pinball is, of course, a Pokéball, so it figures that you’d be able to catch Pokémon with it. To do this, you carry out a couple of archaic bumper-bouncing rituals to make a Pokémon spawn in the center of the table, then you bonk that Pokémon in the head a couple of times to catch it.

It’s not all that revolutionary — target-hitting goals in pinball machines are about as common as little silver balls — but it does wring some interesting digital charm out of a genre known for its tactility. When you catch a Pokémon, for instance, it’s added to your Pokédex, which helps the player maintain a bit of a personal bond with their personal cartridges. As they say, you’ve gotta catch ’em all.

Pokémon Pinball finds a few other novel ideas in its Pokémon theming; certain Pokémon, for instance, can only be captured in specific areas, and your area is randomly selected at the start of a game. You can also trigger