Metroid Prime Pinball stirred up a lot of controversy when it first showed up on an

EBGames release list in early February. People complained that it was a bastardization of the series and that it was bound to be a garbage, throwaway game. Well, I can say with confidence that it's none of those things. I spent an hour with it on the show floor and here are my detailed impressions.

The look of the game is very much inspired by Metroid Prime: Hunters. Some of the cut

scenes, and especially the "Thanks for playing the demo" screen, look like they were

done by the same artists. The atmosphere is dark and moody, with the aliens that spill

out onto the playfield during bonus rounds taken directly from the series. Samus's

Morph Ball looks "right", and she even makes an appearance in Varia Suit form if you hit your ball in the right places. Both screens are used for gameplay, but this never presents a problem. I never lost my ball in the gap, and ball movement between the two screens is seamless.

Controls are pretty basic, with left on the D-Pad controlling the left flipper and the A

button controlling the right flipper. You have an additional flipper on the right side

of the top screen that is triggered along with the right flipper. The one control issue I found was that the tilt function (which I would have expected to be assigned to the L or R buttons) is assigned to the touchscreen. I hope they include a control configuration option that lets you assign tilt to the R button, because using the touch screen is both unnecessary and unnatural.

There are several bonus modes to battle through. They include Creeping Scourge (alien larvae spread out across the playfield to be hit for extra points), Space Pirates (Samus's favorite enemies appear), Metroid Mania (Metroids appear and suck the life out of your Morph Ball), and Bug Hunt (your ball turns into Samus in the middle of the board and you can move her left and right as you shoot flying aliens). These modes end when all enemies are destroyed or have disappeared. There is also a "Wall Jump" bonus screen that lets you scale a shaft with your Morph Ball using the L and R buttons. I couldn't figure it out, but if I do I'll update these impressions with my findings.

Another enjoyable feature is a "Slot Machine" that triggers when you shoot your ball into a

tunnel to the right of the board. Several different options scroll through a window, and pressing the B button causes the tumbler to slow down and then stop. You can win "Big Points" (200,000 points for free), a health recharge (yes, your ball has health; I'm not sure how this affects gameplay aside from the fact that Metroids can suck your health dry), Multiball (three balls on the field at once), Phazon Multiball (one ball is red and another is blue, once again I'm not sure how this affects gameplay), and several others. These modes typically last for a minute, with a timer appearing on the screen to let you keep track. Clearing these modes presents you with an "Artifact". I'm not sure what these artifacts do, but hopefully they'll unlock some cool stuff if you collect enough of them.

There is also a boss battle. You get warped through a "wormhole" to a different playfield, where a missle container sits in the middle of the top screen. Hit it three times to break the container, and then hit the missle icon to see "Missle Acquired" flash across the screen. At that point an Omega Pirate appears along with a couple of buddies that you can take out with your ball. The goal is to bring up the Slot Machine and get "Combat Ready", which makes Samus appear as she does in the Bug Hunt bonus mode. Only this time, a "B" icon appears underneath her to let you know that you can fire missles at the boss. Each hit is worth 10,000 points. Hit the Omega Pirate with three or four missles, and he's done for, at which point you're sent back to the regular playfield.

One major surprise is that some copies of Metroid Prime Pinball on the show floor feature rumble capability. Yes, rumble as in force feedback like Pokemon Pinball. This obviously couldn't be built into the tiny DS packs, so I had a look underneath the DS playing the game and it has a GBA cartridge plugged in as well. I figured that the GBA cartridge is the one doing the rumbling, and this was later confirmed by PGC chum Chris Kohler. Apparently Chris saw someone booting up a DS with Metroid Prime Pinball in it, and the initial selection screen said that there was a "GBA Option Pak" in the GBA cartridge slot. I'm not sure whether or not Nintendo will sell this stand-alone Rumble Pak for use with rumble-enabled games, but it definitely exists. Hopefully, it will be a pack-in when Metroid Prime Pinball is released,

because it works like a charm.

Metroid Prime Pinball is one of my biggest surprises at the show. I thought it would be only OK, but instead it completely surpassed my expectations. I'm really looking forward to its release later this year.