Space Pinball Reproduction Cart

Space Pinball.... I feel like that should be read using extreme reverberation, creating an echo only the Gods could be proud of!

Space Pinball is the prototype name given to the Virtual Boy game titled Galactic Pinball. Aside from their common pinball theme, puck shaped "ball", and space setting, the games couldn't be more different.

Developed around 1995, Space Pinball contains a total of 5 unique tables that did not make it into the final Galactic Pinball build. Where the UFO table shares a similar style of play, swing around the back of the UFO and it takes off revealing more point scoring obstacles, the rest of the tables having little to nothing in common.

Galactic Pinball feels much more polished, and it should as it was a retail release. It contains more than 1 puck per play, highscores via battery assisted SRAM storage, special efx sounds, a highscore attack mode, and a few additional graphics. Space Pinball lacks these things but makes up for it with 5 unique tables, instead of the 4 found in Galactic Pinball, and a 1-puck-per-play programmers testing tool that feels like a feature Galactic Pinball is missing.

Each level of Space Pinball has an exit point that when reached will advance play into the next table, when that 1 puck is lost the game ends. While this is probably a testing tool left in during the coding process it feels like a unique feature that forces the gamer to really concentrate on the game. It would have been a great addition to Galactic Pinball, perhaps a "exit challenge" style option.

I am really enjoying the tables in Space Pinball but I will admit that the tables in Galactic Pinball feel much more complete. When comparing the two it is very easy to experience the feeling of progression, Space Pinball feels and plays like the prototype that it is. However, this doesn't mean that it is incomplete. The levels are much more simple but extremely fun and the exit points make it more of a challenge than the retail Galactic Pinball release.

As with my Bound High! reproduction cart, I am extremely lucky to own this rare gem. I have to thank the maker of this reproduction cart, the community for coming up with the label design, and TheForce81 for releasing the prototype ROM.<br><br>Anyways, back to gaming!

-Another World