Sonic Pinball Party is a video game released for Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Advance

The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

 in 2003. It is a celebration of sorts for Sonic Team

Sonic Team

is a Japanese computer and video game developer established in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan in 1990, originally known as Sega AM8. The Japan-based division is also known as G.E. Department Global Entertainment. The studio has collaborated with several in-house Japanese studios as well as other American-based...

 featuring many references to its previous games, mostly Sonic.

Story

The story is set in Casinopolis (in Station Square), where Doctor Eggman

Doctor Eggman

, also known by his alias , is a fictional video game character, the main antagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series created by Sega. Dr. Eggman is a rotund, mad scientist with an IQ of 300 who plans to conquer the world in order to build his Eggman Empire and is the archenemy of Sonic the Hedgehog...

 turns the people gambling into robots, and brainwashes Miles "Tails" Prower

Miles "Tails" Prower

, better known by his nickname , is a character, as well as the main deuteragonist in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games, comics, animated series and film released by Sega....

 and Amy Rose

Amy Rose

, known earlier as Rosy the Rascal, is a video game character who appears in most of the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games developed by Sega's Sonic Team, debuting in Sonic CD as the third recurring protagonist. Amy Rose was created by Kazuyuki Hoshino and based on one of Kenji Terada's...

. Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog (character)

, trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Sonic video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons, and a feature film. The first game was released on June 23, 1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's...

 must rescue his friends by winning a pinball tournament called the "Egg Cup Tournament."

Characters

• Sonic The Hedgehog
  Sonic the Hedgehog (character)
  , trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Sonic video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons, and a feature film. The first game was released on June 23, 1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's...
  
  
• Miles "Tails" Prower
  Miles "Tails" Prower
  , better known by his nickname , is a character, as well as the main deuteragonist in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games, comics, animated series and film released by Sega....
  
  
• Knuckles the Echidna
  Knuckles the Echidna
  Knuckles the Echidna is a video game character of the Sonic the Hedgehog game series, including spin-off games and comics. His first appearance was in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, released in 1994 to introduce a new rival for Sonic. He was presented as an antagonist who was tricked by Dr. Eggman into...
  
  
• Amy Rose
  Amy Rose
  , known earlier as Rosy the Rascal, is a video game character who appears in most of the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games developed by Sega's Sonic Team, debuting in Sonic CD as the third recurring protagonist. Amy Rose was created by Kazuyuki Hoshino and based on one of Kenji Terada's...
  
  
• Metal Sonic
• Dr. Eggman
• Cream the Rabbit
• Nights
  Nights (character)
  Nights is a video game character from the games Nights into Dreams... and Nights: Journey of Dreams, developed and published by Sega. Nights is gender-less, known as a "Nightmaren" who resides in Nightopia, a dream world where the dreams of all human beings are acted out every night...
  
  
• Amigo the Monkey
  Samba de Amigo
  Samba de Amigo is a rhythm game originally developed by Sonic Team and released in 1999 by Sega in arcades, 2000 for the Dreamcast video game console, and developed by Gearbox Software and Escalation Studios in 2008 for the Wii. The player uses controllers shaped like maracas with the goal of...
  
  

Boards

• The game features three Pinball tables, based respectively on Sonic Advance
  Sonic Advance
  is a platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Dimps, published by Sega , by THQ and by Infogrames for Game Boy Advance. It was released in Japan on December 20, 2001, in North America on February 4, 2002 and finally in Europe on March 23, 2002...
  
  , the Sega Saturn classic Nights into Dreams...
  NiGHTS into Dreams...
  Nights into Dreams... , is a video game released by Sega in 1996 for the Sega Saturn video game system. The game's story follows two children entering a dream world, where they are aided by the main character, Nights...
  
  , and the Dreamcast/arcade game Samba de Amigo
  Samba de Amigo
  Samba de Amigo is a rhythm game originally developed by Sonic Team and released in 1999 by Sega in arcades, 2000 for the Dreamcast video game console, and developed by Gearbox Software and Escalation Studios in 2008 for the Wii. The player uses controllers shaped like maracas with the goal of...
  
  .
• The player must defeat Eggman to move to the next area in the Sonic board. The player moves to the next area when they collect all the Ideya and defeat the Nightmaren in the NiGHTS board. The Samba De Amigo Board never changes, as there are no real objectives except for getting a high score.
• In the Sonic board, shooting the ball into a hidden hole three times changes the character shown on the table from Sonic, through Tails, Knuckles, Amy and back to Sonic.

Receptions

The response to the game, overall, was positive.

• IGN
  IGN
  IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
  
   - 8.3/10
• GameSpot
  GameSpot
  GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
  
   - 8.1/10
• GameSpy
  GameSpy
  GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
  
   - 74 out of 100
• GamePro
  GamePro
  GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
  
   - 4 out of 5
• Nintendo Power
  Nintendo Power
  Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
  
   - 4.1 out of 5
• Electronic Gaming Monthly
  Electronic Gaming Monthly
  Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
  
   - 7.5/10

GameRankings currently scores it 78.8%.