Super Pinball Behind the Mask (Super Nintendo, 1994)

Super Pinball: Behind the Mask features three pinball tables -- Jolly Joker, Blackbeard, and Ironmen -- each of which will highly please the pinball purist. Ball physics are right on target, flipper action is smooth, and the graphics and sound effects evoke the real thing. Each board has two flippers, several drop targets, two kickbacks, three thumper bumpers, and one outhole down the middle. Skill shots, multi-ball play (hampered by slowdown, unfortunately), "shoot again when lit," and other staples of traditional pinball are fully in place. Ironically, what makes this title such a good pinball game -- realism -- is its only blemish. A lack of scrolling playfields, multi-leveled boards, or other such extravagances, hamper it from becoming an out-and-out great video game.