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Hot off the Nintendo presses comes the latest and possibly greatest Pokémon inspired game. Pokémon Pinball is fairly straightforward - it's pinball with Pokémon, simple as that! While we wouldn't want to suggest that Nintendo are trying to get as much mileage as possible out of their latest characters, that does seem to be exactly what they're up to.

As you probably know by now, Pokémon are small creatures with strange powers. In the strange alternate world that they live in humans capture and train them to fight one another in tournaments, Pokémon Pinball continues the theme of capturing Pokémon - when you begin the game, you're offered a choice of two different pinball tables, a red one and a blue one. The red and blue theme is one which runs throughout the Pokémon games, the theory being that there are usually two versions of a game with certain Pokémon only being available in each. This means in order for players to 'catch' all the Pokémon they need to play both the red and blue versions!

After choosing the colour of your table, the game begins with a Pokémon egg in the firing chute of the pinball machine. The Pokémon eggs are what the Pokémon trainers hold their Pokémon in once they've captured and tamed them. The egg therefore replaces the ball from an ordinary pinball table and various Pokémon characters are scattered around taking the place of the bumpers you'd expect to find.

Operation of the pinball machine is straightforward - two flippers at the bottom of the screen are used to prevent the Pokémon egg from dropping off the table, and that's basically it for the gameplay apart from one thing.

Obviously, this being Pokémon Pinball, there's got to be some kind of link to the 'catch 'em all' theme. This comes about via special holes on the pinball tables. If you manage to knock a Pokémon egg into one of these holes then the picture in the centre of the screen changes to show a Pokémon depicted in black and white.

You then get a limited amount of time to strike the different sections of the picture with your Pokémon egg. Each time you hit the picture, a section gets coloured in. Colour the picture in completely and the Pokémon magically comes to life, hovering around. At this point you're told to 'catch it' and you then need to hit the Pokémon with the egg to trap it inside. Do this successfully and a chute appears. The last thing you need to do therefore is to direct the Pokémon egg into the chute. Do this and you successfully catch the Pokémon! The more Pokémon you catch, the more points you get - can it get any more exciting than this?

Frankly, Pokémon Pinball is a bit of a disappointment. With just two tables to play on, the variety isn't as good as games like Hollywood Pinball with its range of tables. This is particularly bad when you consider that there really aren't that many features on the two Pokémon Pinball machines. As the ball moves around the table, the screen doesn't scroll to follow it either; instead, it flips the picture to show the top or bottom of the table as the ball moves, which can be quite disorienting and doesn't allow you to track the progress of the Pokémon egg all that easily.

The controls in the game aren't tremendously responsive either and as a result it's easy to lose your Pokémon egg far too often. The result is a game which isn't particularly excitng, doesn't really play that well and unless you're someone obsessed with Pokémon it probably won't appeal to you. Pinball can work on the Game Boy Color. Just not this version of it.

Get ready for some Pikachu-tastic pinball perplexity, in this excellent extension of the Pokémon franchise.

This is not just a shameless cash-in on the Pokémon phenomenon, but an addictive adrenaline action game. It's easy to get to grips with and impossible to put down. If you play Pokémon Pinball in public, don't be too surprised if you get some strange looks from other people, because this cartridge vibrates!

Every nudge and bump can be felt, which adds a great touch to an already great game!

Graphics 80%
Bright and colourful.

Sound 60%
Not the best - come on Nintendo!

Playability 60%
It's pinball - what more can we say?

Lastability 40%
Soon gets tedious.

Overall 65%
A bit simple, but it's got Pokémon in it!