Sega in the 90’s was always full of idea when it came to the arcades, and one of their big hits was The House of the Dead. This light gun shooter had a great b movie horror feel and as genuinely fun, which meant sequels on later systems. The sequels were well made, but the spinoffs also gained attention. We all know about games like Typing of the Dead, the typing game spinoff that ended up adding some nice humor and even got a sequel in recent year with Typing of the Dead Overkill, but there were other spinoffs as well. One of these spinoffs was The Pinball Of The Dead, which from the name alone tells you what to expect. This game is not as well known today, but may in fact be one of the best pinball video games ever made.
Released on the GBA and co published by THQ, The Pinball of the Dead took the events of the first two games and adapted them into pinball form. This might sound a little strange but it works surprisingly well. The game had three tables, each based off House of The Dead 1 and 2, each with a unique feel to them and objectives. The game has bosses from House of The Dead 2 that you fight in pinball battles, and challenges and objectives based on the games. It is all handled well, and is a brilliant adaptation of the arcade games, and evokes some of the classic of video game pinball. To be more specific, this reminds me of the classic Turbo Grafx 16/PC Engine game Devil Crush, but with more of a zombie focus.
It is not all perfect mind you, as there is an issue that needs to be addressed.. The physics are slightly off for one, not too floaty, but not as precise as need be. This will require you to overcome a bit of a learning curve as you play, but otherwise it is not as bad. Some reviewers at the time considered this a major problem, but playing it myself I find the complaints are a bit exaggerated. The floatiness is there, but it is nowhere near as bad as some claimed it to be.
The music in the game is great as well, taking the best from the games and there are even FMV clips as well from the games in here. The presentation is well done on all three tables, and I have to say that this is just a fun game. I would love to see Sega revive this idea and work with a company like Zen Studios to make a modern version. It could be quite the hit and gain a new audience. If you haven’t played it yet, you really should.
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Oh my, I didn’t know they had this spin-off with a classic pinball game! I wish I’ve known this sooner.