Game Review: Pachi Pachi On A Roll

By Al

​Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5

Pachi Pachi On A Roll released a few years back on most major consoles, but it only popped up on our radar recently. This is a pachinko-style game that features art of two anime-inspired girls in various stages of undress. While it may bear a passing resemblance to one of "those" games (read: ecchi or hentai games), its gameplay does set it apart from other similar looking games we've reviewed in the past. What exactly does said gameplay consist of? Will it be enough to convince you to pick it up? We'll hopefully be answering those questions and more as we take closer look at the game on the Nintendo Switch.

Don't expect any sort of story when you start up Pachi Pachi On A Roll, as you're all but placed into the main game straightaway. You're given a single game board to play, and are tasked with completing several missions that unlock art in the in-game gallery, and additional boards to play on. The only other goal besides that is to get a high score, but I'm not sure a high score in a game like this means all that much at the end of the day. Since this is as simple as can be, you can probably imagine my surprise when I learned that there is actually something resembling a plot hidden in the game's online description. Apparently the two girls in the game are named Fujiko and Robin, and they are two thieves who are trying to rob/rip off the four major casinos in a place known as Money City. None of this is ever told to you in-game, and I don't think any of this exists outside of the eShop descriptions. The only part that really holds true is that there are two girls who are playing what is essentially a game of pachinko across four machines, but seeing as they literally go to space at one point, I doubt that all of them are located in a single city. I guess you can still call them thieves and the machines casinos, but that's stretching things a bit. While none of that really matters, I figured that it was worth mentioning before we move on to discussing how one actually plays the game.

I don't think it's possible to find simpler gameplay than what's on display in Pachi Pachi On A Roll. While not a full video game version of pachinko, it uses the game ball-dropping mechanic that makes this pretty much an electronic slot machine with only the most bare bones of player interaction. All of the game machines are single-screen and horizontally-orientated, and one thing you control is the dropping of balls into the field of play. This simple task is done by pressing the single action button when the claw holding the ball gets to the desired location. Everything is up to chance from there, but you'll get points for each thing the ball touches on its way to the bottom of the screen. You'll start with about 40 balls to drop, and can get more through gameplay. The game ends once you run out of balls, and while you can complete all the missions in a single run, I'm not exactly sure that you're able to "win". That's pretty much it. There's no way to directly control where the ball will go, and you can't even move the claw holding the ball either. The only thing you'll ever do is press a button to drop the ball. If there's a single positive to be said about the game, it would have to be that it's extremely simple to learn and control.

Obviously there's more to the game than just that, and each of the game's four machines/boards do play very differently from each other. Seeing as you get points for everything you hit on the way down the screen, it makes sense to drop your balls in the path of most resistance. Besides hitting random pins and obstacles, each board has different "missions" for you to complete. Missions consist of completing tasks like successfully robbing a train in the Western-themed board, turning all the asteroids into their proper pachinko pin form in the space board, or getting a jackpot in the casino-themed board. Some missions see you go into minigames, with one even resembling the classic arcade game Breakout. You can even undress the girls a bit if you hit specific pins that are marked with hearts. All these missions add to your score, so it's best to aim for them even if some can prove to be very challenging. All missions you've completed are technically tracked in-game, but I'm not sure there's a way to directly see which you've completed and which you haven't. They are the quickest way to unlock the next board, and the gallery images you get from them are pretty neat too.

Pachi Pachi On A Roll may be a game that's left mostly up to chance, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I found it to be somewhat addicting. I guess that isn't exactly surprising since pachinko machines themselves can be addicting, but I wasn't expecting to like the game as much as I did. I initially figured I'd play it for a couple hours to see if I could unlock everything for the purposes of this review, and then realized that I was still playing it long after I got everything I needed. You may not have a lot of control over how the game plays out, but there's just enough player interaction that it occasionally feels like you do. I just hope that my love of the game never manifests into an actual gambling addiction, as losing actual money versus a video game is a totally different thing! All that said, I'm not sure if my experience can necessarily be seen as a sort of standard, but I like to think that there's something about the game that just works.

While there's nothing in Pachi Pachi On A Roll that's going to push modern consoles to their limits, I do think that the visuals are cool, and sometimes can even be a bit impressive. There's a lot of integration with the characters into the boards themselves, and the little minigames and mission unlocks were a nice touch. It has the same vibes as playing a slot machine that has over-the-top animations. You'll find yourself playing just to see if you can unlock the next scene in the board you're on, and then suddenly realize that Fujiko and Robin are losing articles of clothing! Even though that very much is a central element of the game, if you plan on playing this for the ecchi content, you may be disappointed when you learn how much work is required to get the girls to see the girls without their clothing. Also, nothing ever crosses the line into actual nudity, so don't expect anything resembling true hentai art here. This is a great-looking game for those looking to ogle pretty anime waifus, but I don't think that should be anyone's sole reason for picking it up.

I unlocked most everything in Pachi Pachi On A Roll in about 3-4 hours, and that was probably due to some of the missions being near impossible to complete. Doing all the mission unlocks art in the gallery, and I'm willing to be that I'm the only one who was dedicated enough to complete it. There's something here that kept drawing me in despite me having completely beaten the game. I'm sure it's just the addictive nature of pachinko in general, but I can attest that this game has a surprising amount of longevity to it. Considering it only costs $6.99 at the time of writing, picking it up doesn't sound like a bad idea if anything I've mentioned already interests you. Grab it, learn to love pachinko like I have, and maybe get your fix here rather than losing your savings at a pachinko parlor in Japan!

Check Out Pachi Pachi On A Roll on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/pachi-pachi-on-a-roll-switch/

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Story: N/A
Gameplay: B-
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: B-
Value: B

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ A fun, simplified take on arcade-style pachinko.
+ The graphics are fun, and the animations and changes that take place on the boards are fun to see.
+ Though I wouldn't say it should be the sole reason for picking it up, it does give a decent amount of ecchi content.
+ Its simplicity make it surprisingly fun and addicting, and the missions and different game boards add a lot of variety to the formula.
+ I actually think that the art found in the in-game gallery is one of the best parts of the game.

Cons:
- Doesn't offer a lot of actual interactive gameplay.
- Those looking for more extreme ecchi content may be disappointed.
- The sheer randomness of the gameplay can be pretty off-putting at times.
- This is basically an electronic slot machine, so there will be some who won't want to play it for that reason alone.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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