Between 100,000 and 150,000 points, a flipper appears that the screen never shows you.
Nintendo released Pinball for the Famicom on February 2, 1984, built across two screens stacked vertically, a set of flippers waiting on each one. The game does something odd when your score passes 100,000 points: the flippers simply disappear from the screen. They still work — press the button, and the ball reacts exactly as it did before, only now you can't see the paddle that's catching it. The invisible flippers return at 150,000 points, as abruptly as they left. This wasn't broken hardware or a missing sprite; it was programmed in on purpose, adding a window where the reliable tool you'd learned to depend on becomes something you have to trust blindly. Pinball was one of the first games Satoru Iwata programmed for Nintendo, and its code included a choice that asked you to believe the machine was still working even when it stopped showing you the reason to.
— inspired by Satoru Iwata
The Pinball I played was the cartridge. I used the Disk Writer often in those early days. You brought in one disk you already owned, paid 500 yen, and the next game was written onto it. No new boxes came home. Only what was inside the disk changed.
I almost never reached the hidden stage. A child's hands do not put up that kind of score very often. But I still remember how it felt on the days I got there. Somehow I have forgotten the things I could see any time, and I still remember the one I hardly ever reached.
About this game
Nintendo put Pinball on the Famicom in 1984. Five years later the same game returned on the Famicom Disk System, and it never came in a box. You brought in a disk you already owned, and a Disk Writer in the shop wrote the game onto it for 500 yen. What you played did not change. Only the way you got it did.
Gallery
The Story Behind
Pinball reached the Famicom on February 2, 1984. Nintendo made it with HAL Laboratory, and two programmers at HAL wrote the code: Satoshi Matsuoka and Satoru Iwata. Iwata said of it later, in the Japanese book Iwata-san: "The Pinball and Golf that came out early on the Famicom were made by me together with people from HAL Laboratory."
The playfield sat across two screens stacked one above the other, each with its own flippers. On May 30, 1989, Nintendo brought the same game to the Famicom Disk System. There was no boxed edition. A Disk Writer in the shop wrote it onto a disk the customer already owned, for 500 yen. The game inside was the one from 1984.
Iwata was in his early twenties when this work came to him. One of the companies that had invested in HAL Laboratory happened to do business with Nintendo, and someone there made an introduction. He went to Kyoto. In the Japanese book Iwata-san he described walking in: "I was in my early twenties. I was wearing a suit, but plainly not used to one. Some young man turns up out of nowhere and says, please let me do some work. Looking back, I think the one asking had some nerve, and so did the one who said yes." What he carried home from that visit was a contract to write game software. Two of the programs were Pinball and Golf.
Tricks & Tales
Score high enough during a match, and the ball action pauses for a bonus stage: Mario appears on screen to rescue a woman — one of his earliest appearances in any Nintendo game. Inside a pinball table's bonus round, without running or jumping, all he does is arrive and save someone.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The Famicom Disk System was sold exclusively in Japan and was never officially released in any other region. It was designed as an attachment to the original Famicom, using a rewritable magnetic Quick Disk format — a medium that no longer has manufacturer support and that Nintendo ceased rewriting or selling decades ago. Buyers outside Japan should understand that there is no Western-compatible equivalent: FDS software requires a Famicom console, the RAM adapter, and the dedicated power adapter, all of which are Japan-market hardware. The disk media itself is not readable by any standard floppy drive.
Maintenance Tips
The drive belt is the most critical maintenance item. The original rubber belt stretches over the decades and eventually fails, and then the drive can no longer read disks. Fitting a new belt takes small tools: precision screwdrivers, a small hex key and tweezers. A new belt is not the last step. Afterwards, test the drive with a disk you know is good. If it does not read cleanly, the disk speed and the position of the read head have to be adjusted. The head is set against a test signal on an oscilloscope, which is specialist work. The RAM adapter board contains electrolytic capacitors that should be recapped if the unit is used regularly -- leaking capacitors can damage the PCB and corrupt disk reads. Clean the battery compartment with vinegar and a cotton swab if corrosion is present. FDS disks should be stored in their cases away from magnetic sources.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Pinball copies regularly.
Is this the Nintendo Pinball, or is it connected to Mattel?
It's Nintendo's own game, developed together with HAL Laboratory — not connected to Mattel Electronics in any way. Some catalog data mixes this title up with an unrelated Mattel product from the same era, but Nintendo's Pinball first shipped as a Famicom cartridge on February 2, 1984, and later returned on the Famicom Disk System on May 30, 1989.
Is the Disk System version the same release as the original cartridge?
No, they are two separate releases, five years apart. The 1984 cartridge was the original. The 1989 Famicom Disk System edition was never sold boxed: it was rewrite-only, written onto a disk you brought in at a Disk Writer kiosk for 500 yen, starting May 30, 1989. Sources that describe both versions report the game itself as unchanged, and Pinball does not appear on any of the known lists of Disk System titles that used the console's extra sound channel. If you are collecting the Disk System edition, you are collecting the way it was sold, not a different game.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Pinball
A short checklist for buying a used Famicom Disk System disk wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Inspect the disk and its shell
Disk System media is fragile — the magnetic disk can wear, and saves are written back onto the disk itself.
Ask whether it was tested and reads reliably; look for cracks or a warped shell in photos.
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Make sure it fits your console
This is Japanese Famicom Disk System media and requires a Famicom with a working Disk System drive.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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Mind the drive belt on the console side
Disk System drives commonly need a replacement belt to read reliably — this is a console matter, not the disk.
If reading is unreliable, the console's belt is the usual culprit, not the game.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
See what we have in stock →Unexpected Discoveries
Games you weren't looking for — but might be glad you found.
Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Pinball sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
Share your memory ↑From the Museum's Screening Room
Pinball — Max Explains