Crüe Ball

Crüe Ball is a pinball game for the Mega Drive/Genesis, published in 1993 by Electronic Arts and fronted by the metal band Mötley Crüe, who lent it their name and their songs. It did not start out that way — the project was in development as a straight pinball game under the working title Twisted Flipper, and the license landed on it midway through. Occasionally you can tell.

There is a single table, but a sprawling one: three levels stacked vertically and linked by ramps and tunnels, each with its own targets and toys. Progress is measured by a volume meter — keep hitting the right things and the volume climbs until the way forward opens. Enemies actually crawl around the playfield, and swatting them with the ball is a strangely satisfying pleasure no ordinary pinball machine offers.

The real star is the sound. You get crunchy chip-tune renditions of Dr. Feelgood, Live Wire and Home Sweet Home alongside original metal tracks by composer Brian Schmidt, and the Mega Drive sound chip rarely worked this hard. If that console's FM growl means anything to you, the cartridge is worth hearing for its own sake.

As pinball it leans arcade rather than simulation: the ball is fast, the physics forgiving, and with only the one table a few evenings will show you everything it has. It works best approached as a heavy-metal action game that happens to be played with flippers.

You can send the ball flying on oldgame.cz right in your browser — nothing to install.