The three SEGA-themed tables (Samba de Amigo, Sonic and NiGHTS) are all lovingly designed, and the extra modes can be accessed by getting balls into the various obstacles in a prescribed sequence - either by luck, patience or careful use of the flippers and tilt functions.

Sonic Stage features a Ring Mode, which is a timed section where you collect rings by passing the ball through them with rings regenerating soon after being collected.

Egg Mode requires you to defeat Dr Eggman by shooting the hole in front of him while he appears. Like Ring Mode, Egg Mode is only open for two-minute periods each time it is unlocked.

Multiball Mode puts three balls on the table simultaneously.

NiGHTS Stage features Blue Chip Mode, with the same objectives as Ring Mode on the Sonic Stage table. Chips collected while playing in Arcade mode are converted to rings and available in the Tiny Chao Garden.

Dualise Mode is a three-minute section with the same hole-shooting objective as Egg Mode. NiGHTS Stage also features a Boss Mode, also on a three-minute timer, whose creature is defeated by passing the ball through a loop or ramp or hitting the boss directly.

Samba de Amiga Stage's Fever Play Mode is a rhythm game requiring co-ordination and timing to press the flippers as balls pass over the centre of two targets at left and right.

Letter Collect Mode is entered by hitting the bumbers 30 times, which then allows you to collect letters of a given keyword by passing the ball over the letters as they are arranged on the table.

There are other modes also on offer. On-screen information lets you know your score and gives hints as to how to access the extras. Once you loose a ball, a breakdown is given as is usual with pinball, reminding you of the opportunities you missed, such as score multipliers, as well as areas you might be focussing on too heavily.

It is the sheer variety within each table that provides all you could ask for in a pinball game. But even if you want more, there is the Casinopolis, where you can risk your hard-earned rings picked up from the Sonic table. Roulette, Slot and Bingo are available here, all self explanatory and as tempting as ever.

So, not all innocent fun, but then that's before you visit your Tiny Chao Garden. Naturally, the objective is to grow and care for your own Chao, mainly by buying food and toys with rings collected from pinball. Those with Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Adventure DX will be able to upload their Chao to the Chao garden in those games. Two fully developed mini games are available in the Tiny Chao Garden: Memory Game is similar to Concentration and involves tracking overturned cards and matching pairs from memory. Chao's CC Shoot is similar to Connect Four - although you need to connect groups of ten coloured chips in CC Shoot, but that's about the best way to describe it.

Outside of the Tiny Chao Garden, linking up to four GBAs together enables three further minigames. All link modes use only one Game Pak: Hockey involves shooting several balls up to your opponent's screen and attempting to prevent incoming balls getting past your flippers; Hot Potato lets you send a bomb ball to your opponents by sinking balls in the three holes on your own screen; Ladder Climb, a simple but engaging time trial co-operative challenge, shares control amongst players by colour coding flippers in a ladder arrangement, with the objective being to hit the ball to a higher flipper until the goal is reached.