The Pinball of the Dead is a pinball video game developed by Sega's Wow Entertainment division and published by Sega in Japan and THQ in North America. It was released for the Game Boy Advance on June 19 and July 4, 2002, in North America and Japan, respectively. Based on Sega's The House of the Dead series of light gun games, particularly The House of the Dead and The House of the Dead 2, the game contains three tables and includes a "Challenge" mode. Full-motion video sequences and audio samples from previous games were also added. The game was first announced during the 2001 Nintendo Space World. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto was involved with making the game's music. The Pinball of the Dead received generally positive reviews from video game critics, receiving an Editor's Choice award on GameZone. Critics praised the graphics and sound while its gameplay physics was more mixed. It also received several comparisons to other pinball games like Devil's Crush. In 2005, the game was later called one of the best games of all time from gaming magazine Nintendo Power. Gameplay The Pinball of the Dead is a pinball video game. The game has three tables based on locations from The House of the Dead and The House of the Dead 2: Wondering, Movement, and Cemetery. The player launches the ball into the table via the "Skill Shot", where a crosshair moves onto a zombie and bonus points can be earned by successfully hitting a zombie. Each table has zombies moving around that the player must kill to score points. Scoring enough points unlock new areas and eventual boss battles. Hitting certain objects or characters spell out words such as "Escape" or "Chaos". These words can result in obtaining extra balls or unlocking special events. There are six bosses in the game, based on House of the Dead 2 bosses. Losing a boss battle results in being sent back to the main board, where the player must regain access to the boss. The game also features a "Challenge" mode, increasing the game's difficulty. Full-motion video sequences and audio samples from previous entries in the series appear in the game. Development The game was developed by Sega's Wow Entertainment division. The Pinball of the Dead was first announced as House of the Dead Pinball in an interview with Rikiya Nakagawa, the CEO of Wow Entertainment, at the 2001 Nintendo