Mario finally makes the leap onto the pinball table in Mario Pinball Land. He made a cameo appearance in the old NES pinball, but this is an altogether new undertaking for our hero. He now joins the ranks of fellow pinball wizards like Kirby, and the too cute to stomach Pokémon creatures. But let's examine Mario’s take on adventure based pinball.

The story finds are hero amid more problems than plumbers usually face. During the unveiling ceremony for the new Sky Cannon, Peach is accidentally launched into Bowser’s castle. Now the Sky Cannon, just in case you were wondering is a new transportation device. Not waiting a second longer Mario leaps into the machine to go and save the princess once again. Now here is where the it gets interesting, it seems so Mario can fit into the cannon, a special device called the “Pinballer” is used to squeeze him into a sphere so he can be fired out of the Sky Cannon. This process does have a few side effects; namely it makes Mario somewhat bouncy, almost rubbery. So begins Marie’s latest adventure as what a strange one it is.

The first thing I noticed was that the play fields are static, there is no scrolling whatsoever. This is a strange take on the modern pinball game. Most, if not all pinball simulators now have scrolling tables to give a sense of size. It may be that the table is not but two screens tall like Pokemon Pinball, but it sure looks like you have more targets to aim for than a static view.

The next thing I noticed that goes against traditional pinball table design is that each stage in Mario Pinball Land fills up the entire screen. So it is to say that the level has a wider space across, than it does from the top to the bottom. Most pinball tables are slimmer in width than they are in length. This creates a whole new dynamic as far as aiming goes. Sometimes the ball (Mario) will roll the entire perimeter of the play field because he isn’t being bounced around as much as in a typical pinball game. Many tricks that I am use on most modern pinball games don’t work on Mario Pinball Land. For example the way you can catch a pinball in your flipper is very different and doesn’t seem to be as effective of a tactic as in other pinball games.

The presentation and graphics have a pseudo-CGI look, similar to Mario VS. Donkey Kong -- another recently released game from Nintendo. The view of the play field is a centered isometric perspective, which fits in nicely with the graphic style. One of my favorite stages is the Frosty Frontier. You can actually see enemies and Mario’s reflection in the ice.

Just like stated earlier for the graphics, the sound and music is reminiscent of Mario and Donkey Kong, you will hear a lot of voice work. Music in Mario Pinball Land is nice and is a real complement to the overall package. Just like real pinball machines sound and music complement the experience, not to be looked upon as separate parts.