Pinball Quest is a pinball video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System from Jaleco, famous for its highly original mix of Pinball and Role-Playing Game mechanics.
In the Pinball Realm, Princess Ball has been kidnapped by Beezelbub, Dark Lord of the Machine, and he plans to marry her in three days. As one of the gallant knights of the land, you must storm Beezelbub's castle, then flip, bounce, and smash through six levels of graveyards, dungeons, rivers, and other dangers to reach the throne room and rescue her. Gain experience and level yourself up, gather gold along the way, then visit the Black Market Imps between levels to purchase better equipment for your journey.
In addition to the RPG Mode, Pinball Quest offered three other games, all combining Pinball with other game genres. Still, everyone remembers this game for its adventure, short as it is.
This game demonstrates the following tropes:
- Ambiguously Human: Played with; while the King, the player, and the other citizens of the pinball realm resemble round metal pinballs, Princess Ball looks like a human female. Whether she actually is a human or not is never specified.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: This is Lord Beezelbub's Evil Plan for Princess Ball.
- Cannon Fodder: The goblins of the third table simply stand immobile, blocking your way to the Goblin King.
- Character Level: Your pinball levels up by destroying monsters to gain Attack Strength.
- Damsel in Distress: Princess Ball, of course.
- Decoy Damsel: On the fifth table, you defeat four monsters guarding the Princess, only for her to be revealed as a vampire in disguise.
- Dem Bones: The main enemies of the first table are a set of animated skeletons who combine to form a giant skeleton after they're individually defeated.
- Equipment-Based Progression: The Black Market Imps sell stronger flippers and drain-blocking stoppers of various effectiveness.
- Gainax Ending: The quest ends with Princess Ball joining the player's pinball, whereupon they perform a dance. They are then drawn into a hole by an evil giant magnet, which explodes and sends them back to the pinball realm.
- King Mook: The boss of the knight level is a giant knight.
- No Hero Discount: The Imps in the Black Market charge you full price for equipment. Justified as they don't care about your quest in the least.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They impersonate Princesses and are vulnerable to steel pinballs.
- Patriotic Fervor: The "Pop! Pop!" table is awash in red, white, and blue stars and stripes.
- Shoplift and Die: You can try to steal items from the shops, but if you fail, you'll lose half of your gold as punishment.
- Weakened by the Light: Implied with the final battle against Beezelbub; hitting the candles around the chamber increases the damage you inflict.
- Wicked Witch: The boss of the second level is Ziffroo the Witch.
