Well, this is one of those "niche" Pokémon games that Nintendo made in a few months to cash in on the craze and tide people over until Gold/Silver. It combines Pinball (duh!) and Pokémon (Double duh!) in a kinda dumb way to make some money. Oh well, let's get on with it.
Graphics: 9 out of 10
The graphics are actually pretty good, even rivals some of the later Game Boy Color games. The sprites are beautifully detailed, and the colors are bright and vibrant. Everything moves fluidly and there is no slowdown whatsoever. The Poké Balls actually look like Poké Balls, as do their upgrades, and the Pokémon look like their anime counterparts. The animations for the baby Pokémon when you try to catch them is cool too. They even squint in pain when you hit them! VERY nice.
Sound: 8 out of 10
The sound isn't as good as the graphics, but they are still up there. The two tables have different music, and the blue table's music is the original Japanese anime theme! (Known as either Mezase Pokémon Master or Pokémon Get Daze.) Bumps sound like bumps, and the baby creatures also call out their cry when they are seen. What's really cool is when you fill up your Lightning meter, then your ball goes into the slot next to the flippers. Pikachu will catch the ball, charge up, call out his name, and shock it back into play! Cool!
Control: 9 out of 10
Control, as with all Pokémon games, is top notch. You can set the buttons to anything you want. For instance, you can set both flippers to B while having A as a tilter. Anyway, all the control you need to do is flip the flippers and tilt the machine. During the mini-games you might need to aim, but that's about it. It's like all Pokémon games: short and simple.
Gameplay: 7.5 out of 10
The story is this: You have to catch all 151 Pokémon again, but this time do it in Pinball form. Both the Red and Blue tables have different Pokémon, and different levels have different Pokémon, and you can advance to more complicated routes along the way. Each table has a specific Pokémon you need to get to in order to catch a random one. After getting Bellsprout or Cloyster, you are allowed a few minutes to catch a random Pokémon, get the three symbols to identify it, then hit it three times to catch it. If you're too slow, then you lose it. Once you capture a Pokémon, you can evolve it. However, you can't evolve a Pokémon you captured in past games. If you captured a Rattata, then started a new game, you can't evolve that Rattata until you capture a new one. After three captures, or a special event, a mini-game hole will appear, with one of four(?) mini-games. Beat those to gain more points. After losing your extra balls, you are sent to the High Score screen, then get to replay.
Overall:
Overall, the game is very challenging, but relys too much on luck and chance. Sometimes it's very hard to get into certain holes, just like a real pinball game. However, they should have allowed you to evolve a Pokémon you captured in past games. Since it's REALLY hard to get all the way up to Indigo Plateau, it can be very difficult to capture all 151 Pokémon, especially Zapdos, Mewtwo, and Mew. If you are a pinball fanatic, or a Pokémon fanatic who needs everything Pokémon, then this is your game. Those who are casual fans probably won't play this much. As for the rumble, it is used in good effect, and doesn't rumble according to the music. However, you can't put it in traditional plastic cases from the old days. Oh well.