I've now actually beaten Metroid Prime Pinball (i.e., cleared the Impact Crater stage), and feel the need to write a (sort of) real review of this game. There's a surprising amount of depth to it, and a sense that the people making it wanted to find a way to translate every possible piece of Metroid Prime into the constraints of a digital pinball game. Some are small facsimiles of larger mechanics — like scanning, which grants a random reward — while others, like bombs and missiles and combat sequences, come as close as pinball can to something more systemic. The boss fights against Thardus, the Omega Pirate, and the Metroid Prime are simple but feel better than pinball combat should.

All that aside, the few hours I spent playing Metroid Prime Pinball made me think about how strangely fitting it is for something like a metroidvania — with a focus on learning, understanding, and mastering an interconnected and unchanging set of spaces — to become a pinball game.

And how they should really make a sequel for Yoku's Island Express.