Alien Crush

Devil's Crush isn't the only pinball game worth playing on the Turbo Grafx-16, and I could post twice about Devil's Crush without considering its predecessor, Alien Crush. Both games are amazing, and if you like one, you'll enjoy the other for the sake of variety.

Many reviewers complain about the split screen in Alien Crush. But unlike Devil's Crush, in Alien Crush the board is designed to keep the ball at the top. The screen switch never presents a huge problem, and should not deter potential gamers. I suspect I'm writing to a mainly Wii audience on this one, because just about every TG-16 owner has at least one copy of this game. Pinball was serious business in the '80s.

The sci-fi theme remains me of the Alien movies, but the bonus-levels remind me more of 8-Bit shooters. Little alien monsters and snakes and bio-terrors crawl around the board. Bumpers transform into skeleton monsters and crawl around, and eyeballs open and close everywhere. The two music tracks and game speed (seriously, again, who choses the slow option?) provide a little variety to an otherwise self-similar game.

My best strategy involves opening up the big alien's mouth by hitting the 6 snake/monsters on the sides of the bottom screen. Then, launch the ball into the alien's mouth and you'll get a bonus stage. These stages are brutal, but provide a lot of points. If you beat the stage, you'll get a multiplier, and can really rack up a high score.

You need 2,000,000,000 points to beat the game. Have fun.

It's really easy to kill an hour playing one set of credits on Alien Crush, and you can't say that about most classic games. I highly recommend it if you can't get enough of Devil's Crush and need some more extreme pinball action.

Devil's Crush

If you don't like Pinball, I'm not sure what to say. Everyone loves pinball. But without going on a tirade about the dwindling number of pinball and arcade machines in the wild, I'll review Devil's Crush, a pinball video game. Most people, however, probably cringe at the thought of a pinball video game. With so many imaginative video games, who would want to play a regular, real-world game like that? Windows XP comes packaged with a damn fine pinball game, but nothing compares to Devil's Crush for the Turbo Grafx-16.

Devil's Crush is the 1990 sequel to 1989's Alien Crush, a space-themed pinball game. Typically I'd roll with the sci-fi game, but in this case Alien Crush has a few mechanical issues that make it slightly inferior: the board is smaller and the scrolling is not as smooth. Other than that, Alien Crush is still a damn fine game, and deserves it's own review. Devil's Crush fixes both of these problem, increases the size of the world, and remains the 8/16-Bit pinball game.



The coolest stage feature is a face that slowly transforms into a demonlady the more you hit the bumpers around her. Activating certain features, or going in certain passageways will launch the player into a bonus stage (1 of 6), in which the player fights a boss or a few mini-bosses.

Even though Devil's Crush may not be the real deal, that gives it certain advantages of which the designers fully take advantage. Little monsters run around the entire game, the skeleton's eyeball follows the player, and the physics are forgiving. Often, pinball games try to be too realistic, and this results in the player losing balls unfairly. Nothing of this nature appears in Devil's Crush, and more often you will make a shot that you expected to miss.



All your normal pinball crap is present, but the environment and music set a nice, creepy tone. This is clearly the most extreme pinball game for a home console, and a must-own for all TG-16ers. However, if considering purchasing this game for the VC, be aware of exactly what you are purchasing. If you suffer from a short attention span, Devil's Crush might not be the TG-16 title for you.

But for most gamers, Devil's Crush will provide many hours of fun and even features a 2-player alternating mode. Good luck convincing your friends to play this one. My best suggestion: simply turn the game on and hand someone the controller without saying anything. After spending a few minutes playing Devil's Crush, the attention to detail and balanced gameplay should keep everyone coming back for more.