One of the most underrated pinball games of all time has to be Street Fighter II. It was one of the first pinball games that really got me playing pinball in the first place. When I went to a game room, I kept the games and never bothered with the pinball machines.
I was a huge fan of the Street Fighter II video game, like everyone from my generation. But once I found the pinball version, I was hooked. My only real knock on the game is that I wish the order of the fighters had followed the video game more closely, but it’s no big deal.
Most of this game is that it was like you were playing through levels. Every time he passed a level, he opened up to another fighter that he had to defeat. It was the same concept as the arcade game.
Defeating each fighter required a special mission to complete, be it knocking down objectives, going up a ramp, or simply getting a certain amount of points.
There were a lot of ramps in the game, well-paced levels and it was a lot of fun. If you managed to defeat all the fighters in the game, then you won the game. I put a bunch of quarters in this machine and the first time I finally beat the game, it was worth it.
I’ve played a lot of pinball games since then, but I don’t think any of them have as much nostalgia as Street Fighter II.