It's new to me: Battle Pinball

Battle Pinball. Pinball, in battle form. What a concept! Rather than a pinball game where players take turns facing off against the same table — and also each other’s scores — Japan Dataworks’ Battle Pinball has two players simultaneously going at it, on different tables tied to their playable characters. What a great idea.This game released in November 1994, exclusively in Japan, for the 3DO. It was actually the second pinball video game of the year for Japan Dataworks, as Real Pinball came out for the 3DO in March. It was known as Fire Ball!! in Japan, and Real Pinball in North America and Europe, and included five different tables of increasing complexity and difficulty, as well as multiball. It’s pinball in a pretty standard form, to the point that reviews of the time were not kind — NEXT Generation scored it one star, for instance, and opened its review by stating that “Real Pinball is an ironic title” and closing by saying “3DO owners will have to wait a little bit longer for a…