Controls disclaimer: this is a plug and play with specilised controls, but I played it using a regular old saturn controller via emulation. The only photo I can find of an actual unit looks like a small rectangular controller with a couple of novelty flipper-shaped buttons, but it's not a particularly great photo, so I thought I should mention this just in case it is more than it looks like.
Also known as the more correctly-spelled Champion Pinball, this is a dedicated plug and play video pinball game from Tomy, released in 2003. Obviously made for a younger audience, it's still an interesting piece, and also surprisingly fully featured! There's a story mode, which tells, through the medium of cute little cutscenes (which are unfortunately unskippable), the story of two kids, sent by the pinball king to crush his enemies in various places and times. At least, that's what it looks like, there's no English language version.
It sees you going through a linear set of stages, each with their own simple little missions. Finish the mission, go to the next stage. For example, the first stage is in a forest, with a big tree at the back. Hit it a few times to reveal the enetrance to the boss' lair, go in and smack the boss around a bit, and you're done. Stage two is in the ocean, and takes place across three screens, and on the first two, you keep scoring points until someone (a big fish on the first screen, a mermaid on the second) appears to carry you up to the next. Then on the last screen, a whale will appear to shoot you out of their blowhole and into the next stage.The most interesting stage I've seen so far is the fifth, set in an evil robot factory, in which you've got to hit various buttons and mechanisms with the ball to make your way through.
As well as story mode, there's challenge mode, in which you can individually play any of the tables from story mode (though only the first three are available at the start, more are unlocked as you reach them in story mode), classic mode, which features a unique, though very bland "old school"-style pinball table. Which is actually a lot simpler and less exciting than most actual 1970s tables, unfortunately.
There's also battle mode, which actually seems a little bit like a very simplified version of one of the modes in KaZe's PS2 game Akira Psychoball. There's a single table, though the bottom half is divided in two by a wall, and each of those two halves has a pit and a set of flippers. Each set of flippers is controlled by a different player, and you're just trying to keep the ball out of your pit. Hitting things on the table causes effects like making your opponent's flippers invisible and the like. It probably won't provide hoyrs of fun, but I'm sure it led to young siblings in Japan somewhere coming to blows at least once, so there's that.Finally, there's a kind of incredibly simple pachinko mode, which is barely a game at all, even by pachinko standards. Launch balls to try and get them in holes, and if you're lucky, even filling in a full line of holes. Ooh.
Champiyon Pinball is fine, I guess. It's not some great unsung classic of the genre, but it's a decent bit of fun. I've had a couple of hours of enjoyment out of it, anyway, and I feel like it's one I'll go back to every now and then, too. I have no idea if buying an actual unit would be expensive or not, as I can't find one for sale anywhere online. Which I guess answers the question in a different way? But you can play it in MAME, anyway.
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