First Impressions:

Metroid Pinball alone is worth the price of buying this console.
The first game that I got to play on my DS was Metroid Prime Pinball. I tried a demo of it and it was the icing on the cake that brought me albeit unwillingly to worship at the altar of Nintendo. Yes, I loves me some good pin ball. Ever since Little Mermaid Pinball with the Rumble Pack for my long lost and lamented purple Game Boy Color, I have been trying to recreate that pinball buzz. Yes I have stress. Therefore I bought the DS.

Metroid Pinball can be operated with the shoulder buttons which make handy triggers that perform very well. It feels nicely balanced for pinball. There is the little ping that sends the ball onto the table. Then there is the inevitable battle to keep it aloft. A waterfall inspired "wall jump" that resembles dragon flies fluttering over a river is a mini game that comes up unexpectedly if you get the ball back in a far right hand side pit. It doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the bio mechanical art style of the game, but it is pretty. This game has several contrasts that make it interesting. The back and forth motion of the shiny ball is hypnotic and it's every bit the essence of addicting.

Graphics:

The graphics are good. There are lots of different uses of color. There are multiple lighting effects. You can see everything clearly even though some of it is very small. The parasites and other baddies are sufficiently ugly and gross enough.

Sound/Music:

The sound an music for this game were surprisingly good. Each table had a unique theme, either rocking or progressive and spacey. It went well with the pinball game and the table sounds of dings and plinks were all employed creatively. It emulated a pinball table pretty well on the whole.

Gameplay:

There are several spots on the table that yield bonuses. and If you manage to light up the letters spelling the name of Samus. Then she will pop up for a time to help you clear out a swarm of huge flies on steroids up on the top screen with her arm cannon.

The two multiball modes are a good time and are an opportunity to rack up points. There is a spinner that will dispense bonuses. I found that I was able to influence the spinner to give up more Extra Ball bonuses by holding down both the "A" and "B" buttons at the same time. I also abused the touch screen with my long thumbnails to shake and "tilt" the table. That gets the multiplier to add up.

The Phazon multiball are blue and red balls that are supposed to represent phazon-generated clones of Samus. The regular Samus balls are gold. There are a total of six levels but four are unlockables and you only get to begin with two tables. That is is a disappointment. It isn't an easy game either. Getting more tables opened up takes a significant investment of time. It does indeed waste time well. You are limited in the number of balls that you can keep alive and a game can last from one minute to an average of fifteen minutes. So you can take a break from what you are doing and play pinball to relax. Your mind doesn't have to be on the game. It is one of those things that takes you in to the zone. Need to work a kink out of your brain? Pinball I say to you.

The levels are Pirate Frigate and Tallon Overworld which you start out with. Then the others are called Phendrana Drifts which is a snowy level. The Phazon Mines, and then The Artifact Temple opens up to a boss level.

Multiplayer:

The DS has built in multiplayer capabilities. With that option turned on you can locate other people to compete with in pinball. It is a generous touch that you can pass along a demo of the game to someone else with a wireless download.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

Samus' image has been said to be praise worthy as "one of the most self-sufficient and realistic female role models in video games". That is presumably because her costumes in the game have been less revealing overall than what other female characters in games have worn. In the Metroid Prime game series she is never seen without very thick heavily plated futuristic metallic armor. I don't know if the Metroid games really uphold a standard for images of women in gaming or avoid it by having a character that has more padding than a football-player. The way I interpreted it the first time I saw Samus was that there was a intention of equality. She does all these athletic things as you control her through the game. It never matters what gender she is. Then was it a surprise that she turns out to be female? That is up to the gamer themselves. I always had the suspicion that she was female right from the start. The original costume didn't fool me.