By Kitten

Revenge of the ‘Gator

(JP October 18, 1989; NA March, 1990)

Before HAL Labs filed for bankruptcy and had to sell themselves over to Nintendo, they actually had a surprisingly diverse output of games with a wide variety of themes. Known almost entirely for the Kirby and Smash Bros. series, today, titles like Revenge of the ‘Gator lie with games like Trax among some of their best output before becoming so narrowly focused and playing it much safer with their wildly successful mascot.

Released relatively shortly after launch, Revenge of the ‘Gator was both the first pinball game on the Game Boy and among the first fifteen games ever released for it. It was HAL Labs’ second pinball game, their first being Rollerball (one of the earliest games the late Satoru Iwata was credited on), and could arguably be seen as somewhat of a spiritual sequel to that title.

Like Rollerball before it, Revenge of the ‘Gator divied its table up among four distinct screens for the player to enjoy, each with their own flippers, and allowed a transition to occur only when the ball would scroll off one and onto the other. Unlike Rollerball, however, Revenge of the ‘Gator had three different bonus games with their own unique screens and objectives that made it a less faithful representation of what it was like to play an actual game of pinball and more into a context specific to video games.

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Video pinball has been something that various developers have attempted on nearly every device capable of gaming known to man even into modern day, and it can be really hard to stand out among some of the better interpretations and simulations of pinball when there’s such a wide variety to choose from. So, what makes Revenge of the ‘Gator particularly interesting? Well, for one, its unique syling, visuals and music make it both remarkable as a pinball game and as a one-off property by a well known developer. Secondly, it’s because I played the hell out of it as a kid with my family.

Many modern philosophies on classic games consider them too inaccessible because of a high difficulty level, but I think pinball is one of the best examples of that being a false flag to attack. The universal appeal and accessibility of pinball is something that is rarely argued against, and yet most tables – Revenge of the ‘Gator being no exception – are incredibly difficult to master and require an intimate familiarity for your play to reach a level where you can actually complete many of the objectives.

Getting into Revenge of the Gator allowed me to become closer to my parents, because I was able to compete with them on a pinball table that we could take anywhere. My fondest memories of the game are sitting in a camping chair out in the woods with my dad fishing as nearby in one direction as my mother was cooking in the other, preparing some grits or spam for an early, hearty breakfast.

My mother constantly insisted that she used to be a “pinball wizard” back in the day and that no one could beat her hi-scores, but the truth of that is far less important than how it allowed playful back and forths between us as we’d try to trounce each other’s best game and argue whether the lack of inclusion of a tilt function mattered. Admittedly, it was funny to see her instinctively jerking the Game Boy while playing, her reflexes believing it would move the ball.

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Dad even joined in on the competition, having enjoyed pinball himself back in the day, though he curiously stayed out of confirming or denying Mom’s alleged status as a champion. Moments like these are what planted the seed of lifelong appreciation to bloom. Unlike most video pinball games, Revenge of the ‘Gator put a great amount of effort into its presentation with delightful visual work that wasn’t afraid to divorce itself from actual pinball table accuracy.

Rather than reach for what it couldn’t and attempt to emulate an actual pinball table as best it could and quickly date itself as the years passed, HAL realized the best way to form this game was to embrace its trappings and establish itself as its own thing. One could argue that HAL’s second pinball game on the Game Boy, Kirby’s Pinball Land, is the better game, but its variety of tables and objectives and inclusion of boss fights perhaps took things too far. Though Revenge of the ‘Gator did allow its design to divorce itself from a stagnant attempt at accuracy, it also knew how to exercise the restraint to not alienate those unfamiliar with video games.

I would argue the game knew how to perfectly blend both classic pinball design and (then) modern video game ethos into something that acted as a middle ground that was both accessible and familiar to both types of enthusiasts, rather than moving too far in one direction and either making itself sterile to children or too different for adults. It’s games like these that spoke to both kids growing up with a rapidly developing form of entertainment and adults who confusedly looked at games as a mess of complications too far for them to reach. It’s a genuine shame that these types of games couldn’t continue to exist in a capacity great enough to stop that divide from growing.