Mario Pinball Land

Mario Pinball Land (known as Super Mario Ball in European languages) is a video game that was developed by Fuse Games and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance and was released in 2004. It was rereleased on the Wii U's Virtual Console in Europe and Australia on September 11, 2014; in Japan on September 17, 2014; and in North America on November 27, 2014.

Story
From the instruction booklet: Princess in Peril!? During the unveiling ceremony for the new "Sky Cannon" at the Fun Fair, Princess Peach was accidentally blasted off to Bowser's castle! The Sky Cannon, an amazing new transportation device that launches people to new destinations, got off to a rocky start because of this shocking turn of events.

According to eyewitnesses, the mishap occurred when a pair of shady Goombas altered the cannon's direction. Within moments, they had locked up the castle, with Princess Peach trapped inside!

Mario to the Rescue! Without a moment's hesitation, Mario leapt into the cannon to rescue Princess Peach. If Mario collects four Star Keys, he'll be able to get into Bowser's castle. To do that, he'll need to confront many challenges and defeat the bosses who hold those keys! Will he be able to rescue Princess Peach?

How Does it Work? Before you can ride the Sky Cannon, a special "Pinballer" squeezes you into ball [sic], so that you can fit into the cannon's barrel. The Pinballer also makes you surprisingly rubbery, so that you bounce harmlessly when you land!

The story takes place in an amusement park called the Fun Fair. Mario, some Toads, and Princess Peach are waiting in line to try a ride called the Sky Cannon. To ride it, the rider must be turned into a ball first via the Pinballer, after which they are shot out of the cannon. The Toad who tries it first has fun. As Peach is about to take her turn, two Goombas appear and change the direction the cannon is aiming toward Bowser's castle. Mario then uses the Pinballer to turn into a ball himself to go save Peach.

At the end of the game, Mario confronts Bowser inside his castle. When Bowser is defeated, he is launched out of the castle. Mario and Peach, after returning to normal, are riding the roller coaster on the final screen.

Gameplay
Mario Pinball Land is a pinball game featuring Super Mario elements. The player controls Mario, who takes on the shape and is used as a pinball. The left and right flippers are used to hit Mario. He can earn points by hitting objects and enemies. There are five stages, each separated into a few areas, and they can be traveled to via the Sky Cannon. If Mario falls down the drain between the flippers at the bottom of a stage, he loses a life. At first, when Mario starts an area, there is a blue Pipe in between the two flippers to protect him from falling down. After a certain amount of time, the Pipe disappears. Every stage (except the Fun Fair) has a few paths, each obstructed by a door that requires a number of Stars to open, like in Super Mario 64. Once the door is open, Mario can take the path and continue to the next area. If Mario falls down the drain in a following area, he returns to the previous area, where the enemies and objects are reset. In a few cases, falling down the drain in a following area sends him back two areas.

Whenever Mario defeats an enemy, it drops a coin, although if it is part of a streak (done by defeating more than one enemy before touching the bottom of the screen), the enemy instead drops a Blue Coin. If Toad appears, Mario can hit him to enter his tent, where Toad offers a few items for sale. Mario can buy only one item with the coins he has collected. After he does so, the item he bought is displayed at the bottom right corner of the screen up until he uses it. Mario can also obtain items from a ? Block. Blue Coins can be spent only in the blue tent in the Fun Fair, and they are used to access three different challenges.

Mario can collect a Star by either defeating every enemy in an area, completing a challenge in the blue tent at the Fun Fair, or collecting every Red Coin in an area. There is a total of 35 Stars to collect. If Mario defeats every enemy in an area where he already collected its Star, a question mark appears instead. If Mario touches it, a roulette spins, and he obtains whichever item it lands on.

A boss appears in every stage, and defeating one yields a Star Key (along with several coins). There are four Star Keys, and each unlocks a boss statue in Bowser's castle. Once every statue is unlocked, Mario can face off against the final boss, Bowser.

There are two modes: Adventure and Time Attack. At first, only the Adventure mode is accessible. Mario can unlock the Time Attack mode once he has defeated at least one boss. The objective of Time Attack is to complete a stage as fast as possible.

Controls

 * (up and down): Select menu options
 * Launch ball, confirm
 * Use item, cancel
 * (or left on ): Use left flipper, select left on target screen and shops
 * (or ): Use right flipper, select right on target screen and shops
 * Pause game

The player can press, , , and simultaneously to reset the game.

Stages

 * The Fun Fair
 * Grassy Greens Stage
 * Frosty Frontier Stage
 * Shifting Sands Stage
 * Fiery Stage

Enemies

 * 1-up Moles
 * Armored Koopas
 * Bob-ombs
 * Boos
 * Bullet Bills
 * Bumblers
 * Chain Chomps
 * Cheep-Cheeps
 * Flying Shy Guys
 * Freezie
 * Goombas
 * Kleptos
 * Koopas
 * Lakitu
 * Mr. Blizzards
 * Penguins
 * Pokeys
 * Shy Guys
 * Shy Guys on Skates
 * Snakes
 * Spikies
 * Spiny Cheep-Cheeps
 * Thwomp

Items

 * Coin – the main currency; allows Mario to buy items
 * Blue Coin – allows Mario to play special minigames to earn Stars
 * 1-UP Mushroom – gives the player an extra ball
 * Pipe – puts a blue pipe on the bottom of the screen, preventing Mario from falling
 * Yoshi Egg – gives the player a Yoshi Egg as a second ball
 * Mega Mushroom – temporarily grows Mario to a larger size
 * Invincibility Star – makes Mario invincible, allowing him to instantly defeat any enemies
 * Mini Mushroom – temporarily shrinks Mario, allowing him to enter small passages
 * Lightning – deals a hit to all enemies onscreen
 * Special Egg – a red egg with white stars and the rarest item in the game (only four can be found); gives the combined effects of a Mega Mushroom, Invincibility Star, Yoshi Egg, and Pipe

Development
After Adrian Barritt and Richard Horrocks founded Fuse Games, they wanted to pitch a pinball game to Nintendo. Figuring that they needed to make an impact before Nintendo would speak to them, Barritt and Horrocks made a demo consisting of what they figured would be the first and last areas of the game. Afterward, they went to Seattle to pitch the game to Nintendo of America and were approved. The game was developed for the Game Boy Advance rather than the Nintendo GameCube due to Fuse Games' limited resources and due to the system's similarities to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Mario Pinball Land was developed over the course of 18 months, from September 2002 when the company was founded to its completion in June 2004, and by a team of five people. At an earlier point in development, the game was simply titled Mario Pinball before the name was changed.

Staff
Mario Pinball Land was developed by Fuse Games, who would later go on to develop more pinball-based games for Nintendo. The entirety of the game was developed by Adrian Barritt, Richard Horrokcs, Cai Remrod, Keith Ainslie, and Kevin Ayre. Shigeru Miyamoto was the game's main producer.

References to other games

 * Super Mario 64: The numbered doors depicting stars are very similar to the ★ doors from Super Mario 64.
 * Super Mario Sunshine: The coin sound effects were reused, and the Shine Sprite sound effects were reused for Stars in Mario Pinball Land.

Reception
Mario Pinball Land received mixed reviews at launch. While most reviewers praised the game's graphics at release, the game was mostly criticized for its difficulty and overall gameplay. It was also criticized for its short length and relative lack of replay value.