Platform: NES
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: April 1990
Genre: Pinball
Nerd Rating: 6/10
Reviewed by Jedite83

Rare’s Pin Bot is based off of Williams’s 1986 pinball machine of the same name. The rules of the two games are mostly identical: The player starts with a lit marker set on Pluto and advances through the solar system by hitting various lit targets and earning points. Reaching a certain flashing checkpoint planet or the sun awards a Special, which in the NES version earns an Extra Ball.

In the NES version of Pin Bot, successfully scoring a Solar bonus during multiball causes the playfield to change, resulting in six different “levels.” The shape of the playfield and the locations of all targets remain the same throughout the game, but the playfield’s color scheme changes and different enemies begin appearing after Level 1.

To be honest, I didn’t originally set out to play Pin Bot. I had been watching a Twitch streamer play another NES pinball game, and thought I would give it a try myself, but ended up loading the wrong game from my collection. This is a mistake I’m glad to have made as it introduced me to an interesting game that I am glad to have tried.

The general gameplay in Pin Bot is true to the original machine. However, the physics are just a little off when compared to a real pinball machine. That said, it is easy to excuse this as a limitation of the NES’ technology. But, the addition of enemies in later levels, which do not appear in the original pinball machine, seem poorly tacked on in order to make the game ‘more exciting.’ In what should be a simple remake of a classic pinball game, this is unneeded.

Like many NES games of the era, the graphics in Pin Bot have not held up well over the last 29 years. While it is an accurate reproduction of the original pinball machine, there are parts of the table that are pixelated and just look off when compared to the rest of the playfield.

I am giving Pin Bot a score of 6 out of 10. Overall, Pin Bot is not a bad game, and is a good reproduction of its namesake. However, it has aged poorly. If you’re a fan of retro gaming and pinball, then it’s worth giving a play. Otherwise, you’re not missing out on much if you pass on it.