Pinball has a surprisingly long, complex, and sometimes seedy history. The progenitors of pinball started from a 17th century variant on various cue sports like billiards (which was itself a variant on the ancient game of bowling) played by the aristocratic class during the reign of the builder of the Palace of Versailles, the Sun King himself, Louis XIV. That's right, early versions of pinball probably filled the recreational areas of the absolute monarch of France.Pinball's name derives from the historic source of these kinds of table bowling games. It turns out that knocking over tiny pins (a la Bowling) takes forever to set back up for another round. So some early game maker simply nailed the pins into the board, found that the little ball ricocheted nicely and put targets and holes and such around the playfield.
Examples of these games continued to find their way East and West until becoming Pachinko in Japan and Pinball in the U.S.
Okay, maybe not that simple, early games required people to roll the ball up, or hit it with a cue stick, and bounce off of the now embedded pins into scoring holes or targets. It was eventually found, circa 1770 that using a spring launcher to launch the ball to the top of the table and let gravity pull the ball down into a labyrinth of pins was more fun and voila! Pinball!
In the early 1930s coin-operated "pin games", often called "bagatelles", were introduced. The first major hit was Baffle Ball by David Gottlieb (lovingly recreated in Microsoft's Arcade Pinball). Other than the plunger, these were almost entirely games of chance. A shortage of "Baffle Balls" inspired a Gottlieb distributor who started making their own games, starting with "Ballyhoo" and eventually spun out to become Bally.
It turns out flippers weren't introduced (Gottlieb's Humpty Dumpty) and made common until around the time of that episode. The familiar double flipper system, common to all modern pinball games, finally stuck with Gottlieb's Spot Bowler in 1950. And with that the basic format of modern pinball was set.
Additions since then, score keeping, bumpers, sounds, lights are all derivative of this basic system. Pinball machines eventually shed their gambling past with a virtuoso display of flipper skills in court and it opened the game up to play by people young and old for years.
The ban ended when Roger Sharpe (a star witness for the AMOA – Amusement and Music Operators Association) testified in April 1976 before a committee in a Manhattan courtroom that pinball games had become games of skill and were not games of chance, that is, gambling. He began to play one of two games set up in the courtroom, and – in a move he compares to Babe Ruth's home run in the 1932 World Series – called out precisely what he was going to shoot for, and then proceeded to do so. Astonished committee members reportedly voted to remove the ban, which was followed in other cities. (Sharpe reportedly acknowledges his courtroom shot was by sheer luck.)
A early 1989/1990 release by HAL Laboratory for the Game Boy (and later 3DS and Virtual Console), Revenge of the 'Gator (RotG) is a classic on the platform. At first glance it seems like a basic enough, 'Gator themed pinball game for the portable. There's a couple of easily accessible levels on the playfield with some interesting targets and bumpers and such. A fun, light and upbeat tune plays on in the background. There's nothing amazing about RotG, but it's supremely competent at first glance. Good enough for casual play for a few minutes, but like any pinball game, deep enough for long play.
As you play, you soon realize that the targets are more than just point multipliers, hitting sets of them open up doors to new areas and turn on blockers to keep your ball from draining to a lower part of the field or down the final drain where it's eaten by a waiting, exaggerated cartoonish alligator.
Two more entire single screen playfields are reachable through these unlocked doors. Other paths lead to single screen bonus stages. And it's here that the designers went wild and had some fun. These other areas play really nothing like the traditional pinball we've come to know and love over the past several decades. Sure there's flippers, but the playfields combine bits of breakout and whack-a-mole with flying baby alligators and other madness. They're fun and a nice reward for climbing the screens that far.
Play-wise, there's some interesting design decisions. Lots of modern pinball games have an elevated track, that's not here. Nor is multiball, bumping the table, or other various themes common to modern pinball. In many ways it feels like a pinball game from the early pre-digital years. The game never really elevates to the kind of panicked frenzy that lots of modern games bring you to. This is really a game you can pick up quickly, play a few relaxing rounds, then put down.
The screen also doesn't scroll, which, while initially alarming, surprisingly helps the game be more playable on the Game Boy's blurry screen. Ball physics are pretty good, with some time you can get a feel for the ball and usually get it to go where you want after a couple hits. One frustration, certain targets reset if you go off that playfield, meaning that a long effort to unlock a door can end with a momentary dip to a lower part of the game.
There's a few songs, a title song, a main playfield song and one for bonus rounds. They all sit comfortably in the background without becoming annoying -- though there's no way to turn it off. Sound effects are well designed and distinct, with different kinds of targets giving appropriate sounds.
Graphics are pretty good for the such an early release and hold up well even to games later in the system's life, and quite frankly even against more modern, colorful games. The art direction has kept the game fresh feeling, and the decision to go with 'gators means the green screen of the Game Boy has meaning.
I think Game Boy Crammer has a good take on the game.
Revenge of the 'Gator is a fun game, it's not the best game, but it's a fun diversion for a bit. The extra play areas and bonus stages means that long play, and investing some time into the game are rewarded. You'll probably see everything there is to see in the game after no more than 5-10 hours of game play, but that's okay -- It's pinball.
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