Family Pinball (ファミリーピンボール Famirīpinbōru) is a Famicom game developed by KID and released in 1989 by Namco.
Gameplay[]
The game features four modes of play - Pinball, Nineball, Battle Pinball and Sports Pinball. Pinball is a basic pinball game, while Nineball plays similarly to Bingo. Battle Pinball pits two players against each other in a Pong-like game (while using pinball flippers), with Sports Pinball following a similar formula.
Despite the somewhat misleading box art (featuring a reoccurring Namco character first seen in Namco Classic), Family Pinball features many Pac-Man themed elements - so many to the point where the game is effectively a Pac-Man title in itself. The playfield in Pinball features Pac-Man and Pinkys on it, and is directly referred to as "Pac-Man" at the top. There is also a bonus function that features various Fruits from the original game (as well as some vegetables from Dig Dug).
Pac-Man himself is also a playable character in the game, joined by other Namco characters like Valkyrie and Wonder Momo. The characters do not add much to the game, but can be seen in Battle Pinball and Sports Pinball. Pac-Man wears his hat from Pac-Land.
Localization[]
Family Pinball was released in the U.S. under the name Rock 'n Ball - however, this version removed all Pac-Man and Namco elements from the game. The Pinball playfield is now a bright orange color, the playable characters were replaced with generic ones, and the Pac-Man sign has been changed to just say "Pinball". All instances of the word "Namco" have been blacked out as well, and the music is played at a different tempo. Out of the two, Family Pinball is generally regarded as the better version.
Gallery[]
