I just had the best game of Pokemon Pinball R/S I'm ever likely to have. Final score: 726,622,179. On the Sapphire table. 5 balls used. I wish I had kept track of how long each ball lasted, but the whole game had to run at least an hour and a half, because I started playing midway through Futurama (which starts at 11:30pm) and I didn't finish until Cowboy Bebop was about to start (1:30am.)
If you don't have Pokemon Pinball R/S yet, go re-read my old review of the first Pokemon Pinball. It's pretty much the same thing. It's your regular pinball field decorated in shades of pokemon, with complicated target sequences designed to release and capture random creatures. The R/S version is just smoother, prettier, and has more pokemon to catch. One unusual quirk to Pinball R/S is that, while your pokedex only covers the 200+ R/S pokemon, you can see older monsters decorating the board. Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Aerodactyl. Kind of strange to see pokemon that you can't catch. Makes you wonder if Nintendo has some kind of eCard/Collosseum hidden plan for Pinball.
In this one session, I caught a Whismur, Geodude, Zubat, Aron, Spoink, Vibrava, Swablu, Baltoy, Tropius, Luvdisc, Beldum, Regice, Kyogre... and the ultra-rare Jirachi! The only evolutions I pulled off were a Flygon, Altaria and Metang. I was actually trying for the evolution ramp to Metagross when I dropped the final ball between the flippers. I had to pull off some crazy crap to get some of those breeds, like travelling six times to get to the Ruins location (the only place to uncover the Beldum and Regice), and going through the bonus fields enough times to actually catch Kyogre instead of just beating on him. The Jirachi thing was a complete surprise. I had just finished the Rayquaza bonus field (+99,999,999 points!) and triggered a slot machine roll. I just happened to have the Zigzagoon switch on and saw a slot panel with an unfamiliar pokemon pictured and the word "arrival." I nailed it with the Zigzagoon and Jirachi appeared on the play field. Jirachi is the same size as a normal pokemon in Catch 'Em Mode; it just hovers left to right, and you only have 30 seconds to catch him. Now there's a rare pokemon I've caught in Pinball R/S that I don't have in Sapphire!
Speaking of Sapphire, here's the latest: Caught a Whiscash, Luvdisc, Barboach and Corphish by fishing in places I never tried before. Evolved my Ralts up into a Gardevoir, my Cacnea into Cacturne, and Rhyhorn into Rhydon. Just pulled a Slakoth and a Wynaut out of the daycare so I can get to their evolutions.
Time: 101:04
Badges: 8
Pokedex: 126 (seen: 178)
Party: Flygon lv49, Wailord lv45, Razorbeak (Swellow) lv56, Metagross lv50, Wynaut lv20, Slakoth lv25
