Kirby's Pinball Land, known in Japan as is a 1993-1994 pinball

Pinball

Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...

 video game developed by HAL Laboratory

HAL Laboratory

is a Japanese video game developer that was founded on February 21, 1980. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its name comes from the HAL 9000 computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The company is most famous for its character Kirby, the protagonist of the eponymous game series, as well as...

 and published by Nintendo

Nintendo

is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 for the Game Boy

Game Boy

The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...

. It was HAL Laboratory's third pinball video game after the MSX

MSX

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...

 and NES

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

 title Rollerball

Rollerball (video game)

Rollerball is a video game produced by HAL Laboratory, Inc. in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System four years after its initial release on the MSX. It is designed to be played by one to four players, in turn...

and the Game Boy title Revenge of the 'Gator

Revenge of the 'Gator

Revenge of the Gator, known in Europe as Pinball: Revenge of the Gator and in Japan as , is a pinball video game for the original Game Boy. It was developed and published by HAL Laboratory in 1989...

. It was also the first spin-off and second title in the Kirby series

Kirby (series)

The series is a fantasy video game series developed by HAL Laboratory and Nintendo, and produced by Nintendo. The gameplay of a majority of the games in the series consists mainly of action, platform and puzzle-solving elements...

, as well as the second pinball video game Nintendo published after the NES title simply titled as Pinball

Pinball (video game)

Pinball is a 1984 arcade game created by Nintendo. The game is designed to simulate a game of pinball. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System later that year. In 1985 it reached North America as one of 18 launch titles. The Nintendo Entertainment System version added an alternating...

.

The game stars Kirby as the ball, while it features three pinball tables, each owned by a classic boss of the Kirby series: Wispy Woods, Kracko, and Poppy Bros. Senior.

Gameplay

The game is played much like that of pinball, with two flippers used to help keep Kirby in play as he bounces off walls, bumpers and enemies, scoring points by doing so. Each pinball table has three floors; Kirby must make his way up to the third floor, where a Warp Star that delivers Kirby to where the boss resides can be attained. After destroying all three bosses, a warp star appears that leads to fight with King Dedede. After defeating Dedede, Kirby is brought back to the level selection screen and can play through the levels again at will.

If Kirby falls through the bottom of the pinball table, he will land on a springboard. If the player presses the 'A' button at just the right moment, the springboard will launch Kirby back up and out of the hole at varying levels of power, without losing a life—it is possible to reach any of the three floors, depending on the timing of the jump. The size of this springboard decreases with each use, however, and after a certain amount of retries Kirby becomes unable to jump high enough to reach the hole; a life is then lost, and a new Kirby is launched into play.

Minigames

Each table also has its own minigame, which can be accessed from the second floor of each table. When time runs out, Kirby is sent to the third floor.

Reception

Since its release, Kirby's Pinball Land has held mostly positive reception. It holds an average score of 75% at GameRankings. IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

 praised it as a quality Game Boy

Game Boy

The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...

 pinball game, describing it as being both involving and fun. IGN would later describe it as an awesome game, praising it for taking Kirby's ball form into new and clever areas. Kirby's Pinball Land was one of the nominees for IGN's "Game Boy Action Game of the Century" Reader's Choice award. 1UP.com

1UP.com

1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....

 described it as a spin-off that makes sense amongst other groan-inducing spin-off titles. The engine used in Kirby's Pinball Land would later be used in another Nintendo game, Pokémon Pinball

Pokémon Pinball

is a pinball-based Pokémon spin-off video game for the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on April 14, 1999, and in North America on June 28, 1999. In it, the ball is a Poké Ball, and most of the objects on the table are Pokémon-related....

.