1985 · Tecmo · Arcade · Pinball

Pinball Action

Nintendo console exclusive

Pinball Action is one of the early video pinball arcade cabinets.

Released: 1985
Platforms: Arcade Nintendo Switch 2
Genres: Arcade Pinball
Developers: Tecmo
Publishers: Tecmo
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Age ratings: GRAC ALL

About

Pinball Action is a 1985 pinball video game developed and published by Tehkan for arcades. It was released in Japan in July 1985 and in North America in January 1986. Hamster Corporation released the game as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in April 2025, as well as the Arcade Archives 2 series for the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows in August 2026.

Keywords

pinball

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Pinball Action features three separate pinball areas in addition to the starting area. Each of the additional 'faces' has a challenge which, when completed, allows a player access to a special three extra credits. The three faces feature challenges modelled on ten-pin bowling, poker, and slot machines. The game has a tilt feature which mimics the effect possible on a non-video pinball machine.

While multiball is not possible in the game, there are a number of ways to earn extra balls. Extra balls are awarded at 70,000 and 200,000 points. High scores can be obtained via the game's generous bonus scoring system, with the highest score obtainable being in the millions.

Reception

In a 2000 retrospective of arcade pinball video games, Pinball Action easily surpassed Atari's Video Pinball in graphics, game complexity and sound, but lacked "completely accurate ball physics".