If you've been a consumer on the mobile market long enough, you've probably come across more than a few gacha games in that time. This genre of game, as the name implies, is centered around a gachapon reward system where the player must use in-game currency to pull various units from a pool, and the general idea is to encourage players to spend their hard-earned coin in the hopes of getting a rare unit. I've played quite a few of these from Dragalia Lost to Genshin Impact, but recently World Flipper was given a worldwide debut, and its probably one of the nuttier ones that I've picked up.
On paper, Action JRPG and Pinball may seem completely at odds with one another, and I was definitely in that camp when I first heard of it. However, having now played through the first three chapters of the game, the combination works a bit too well. The game is designed so that each map is a pinball board, and as you bounce your units around the map, you fill up your skill and combo meters to unleash powerful attacks on fearsome bosses. Your heroes will automatically attack any enemy they hit, but in case you don't quite line up a shot, you can use a dash to close the distance and attack the enemies that way. You can only have three units in a map at a time, but you can equip three additional units as support to combine their attacks and deal more damage.
But of course, it wouldn't be a JRPG if it didn't have a wild story to go along with it, and while World Flipper is a bit more straightforward in its end goal, it makes up for that by taking us through a varied set of locations in pursuit of that end goal. The story begins by introducing us to Light, a Champion who goes to slay the Lord Of Shadow at his king's request. However, as he's about to finish the villain off, the Lord of Shadow curses Light into a diminutive bunny-like form.
Before the champion can meet his end, he's pulled away at the last minute by a mysterious power. Its at this point where we meet the game's protagonists Alk and Stella. Alk has amnesia, and can't remember where he came from before arriving on Starview. Stella, meanwhile, has no idea what the future brings for her, and wants to see the world outside of Starview. Its at this point where the titular World Flipper activates, and Light comes tumbling out. Having been chased by a Daemon, Light is forced to team up with Alk, and after chasing the monster off, the trio decide to go on a quest to restore Light's human form and possibly find out the origins of Alk and Stella, going on a multidimensional quest to find Light's home and figure out the Lord Of Shadow's evil plan.
Its at this point where I should probably explain the World Flipper itself. Since the game is named after it, you can safely assume that it is the central plot device behind the whole story. Modeled after a pinball game, this magical gate enables travel to and from various worlds as long as the World Flipper itself is active, from a massive jungle to a metropolis sunken under a massive ocean, and each chapter typically revolves around finding it to continue the quest. Since it allows our heroes to travel the multiverse, it enables them to learn more about the various worlds beyond their own, learning their culture, systems of government, etc. This also sets up the possibility that not everybody will be native to the worlds where they're found, as both Nimbus and Marina, two characters the heroes befriend on their journey, aren't originally from where the party first meet them.
The World Flipper isn't just a gate for traveling the multiverse, though; its also your gacha system. Since its connected to the various worlds you can visit, it also enables you to summon units from those worlds to aid in your quest. Some of the units are given out for free, usually one or two stars, but everything else is fair game from the pool. As you'd expect from a grand universe-hopping adventure, the adventurers you can recruit vary wildly. Some are knights, others are assassins, and even a mermaid and dragon join the fray if you're lucky enough to get them. The gacha isn't even limited to just World Flipper characters, either, since Arisa, the main protagonist of Cygames' card fighting mobile game Shadowverse, makes an appearance as a possible unit for you to recruit. She's currently the only returning character from a previous game, but given Cygames' tendency to establish crossovers with their other IPs, I don't imagine it'll stay that way for long.
With its body-slamming pinball action, cute character designs, and charming 8-bit art style, this game will definitely be one of your favorites whether you're a fan of gacha games or not. Is absolutely addictive and easy to come to grips with, so it won't take long before you're a pro at it. There's no penalty for picking this game up, so be sure to do so whenever you can. Just don't expect to have much free time afterward.