The Collection Chamber: DISNEY'S THE LITTLE MERMAID PINBALL

The Little Mermaid Pinball is an enchanting, fast-paced pinball game featuring Ariel and her favorite friends, Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle. Launch your pinball pearl and score big points on three captivating boards. Defeat Ursula, collect the musical notes and dinglehoppers, and spell “Ariel” to win tons of points!
3 Enchanting Boards - Experience pinball excitement on three colorful boards: Under the Sea, King Triton’s Palace, and Ursula’s Lair.
Familiar Friends - Experience the pinball action with Ariel, Flounder, Sebastian, Scuttle, and all your favorite deep-sea friends!
Multiple Pinballs - Trigger the whirlpool, spin the starfish roulette, or spell out “Triton” to activate the multi-ball feature. Score big points with extra pinballs!
Danger - Watch out for Ursula and her slimy sidekicks! They are full of ball-stealing tricks!

~ official press release

Disney Online was a great resource for small yet fun games based on your favourite Disney property. It sold these budget titles for around $10, but all of them had timed demos which would've been more than enough to keep a young tyke occupied. I've already covered Disney's Aladdin Pinball, but on the same day - Jull 11th 2005 - another renaissance classic got the flippers flapping in more ways than one. Enter: Disney's The Little Mermaid Pinball.

You can tell that the same people behind Aladdin also worked on this, but both of them differ greatly. The balls of Agrabah had distinct objectives and an end goal - defeat Jafar - and took place on three distinct tables, though only one was fully featured. The Little Mermaid also has three tables, but they are conjoined with each other in much the same way as Devil Crush or Kirby's Pinball Land.

Collecting dinglehoppers while Under the Sea (left).
Spinning the starfish roulette while at King Triton's Palace (right).

You start off in the centre table called Under the Sea. It features Ariel in the centre and a bunch of shells and sea-structures to aim your pearl-like ball towards. To the right are three drop targets depicting Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle. Hit all three and a bunch of dinglehoppers (forks) get strewn across the playfield in need of being collected. Doing so will increase points going forward, but also increase the difficulty overall. If you pass over the top run enough times to spell Ariel, a whirlpool will appear trapping your pearl inside. Hit it again for multi-ball.

Both of the other tables can be accessed from here, though getting to King Triton's Palace is a little more convoluted. First, you have to whack some sea snails in the face which will open up a giant conch at the top left of the table. This acts as a doorway to the palace and requires a precise and forceful hit to reach. To get to Ursula's Lair, simply fall down below the flippers. Both of these tables offer some nice gameplay touches, including a Starfish Roulette that can unlock a number of bonuses and targets.

Ursula stealing a ball while in her lair (left).
Get past the tentacles and whack her again to retrieve it (right).

Ursula's Lair is a little more interesting. It may not be that featureful as a table, but it offers up a visually arresting opportunity for multi-ball. If you hit the mirror in the centre, you will wake the sea witch who will then steal your voice (aka your ball). Hit her again to break the mirror and regain your voice in the form of a multi-ball, but annoying tentacles will do their best to protect her. This table not only marks as a buffer for those who can't quite keep their balls to themselves, but also a robust story element that is rare for a pinball game.

So, as entertaining as it is, Disney's The Little Mermaid Pinball is still a game for kids. It is easy for anyone over the age of eight, and repetitive enough for decent players to see all it has to offer within an hour. The ball physics are a little floaty and imprecise - much like Aladdin beforehand - but not so egregious that it breaks the game. Overall, it's an okay pinball game in short bursts, but I suspect most players would opt for a game with more meat than fish.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber runs natively on Windows. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 24.7 Mb. Install Size: 54.1 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download