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Video Pinball is rad. Real Pinball is rad. Talking about Pinball is rad. Be rad.
TheSonicRetard
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Can we talk video pinball for a second? Real pinball is awesome and fun and a whole bunch of other stuff, but I've always enjoyed the impossible, innacurate world of video pinball much more. On the surface, video pinball looks just like normal pinball, but actually playing such games feels entirely different. Their physics are often floaty and unrealistic, and that adds to their charm. Mastering these physics, which varies from game to game, is part of what makes these games so fun. Figuring out which angles and velocities different parts of the flippers will yield, being able to predict how bumpers will react to the ball. That sort of stuff. This is an ancient genre with thousands of games over the years that still continues today with releases like Pinball FX and Zen Pinball. Here's a look back at my favorite video pinball games throughout history:
Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies, Pinball Illusions
This is one of those series that refuses to die and just keeps on coming back. It was originally a series of Amiga pinball games, but they've been ported to just about everything since, including iOS, the GP32, various game consoles like the Atari jaguar and SNES, numerous PCs, and even less capable hardware like the C64. My first run in with the series was Pinball Dreams on the GP32, but I've since played numerous ports, my favorites being the iOS and Amiga CD32 versions. Developed by Digital Illusions CE (AKA DICE, the battlefield people), each of these games contained 4 themed tables. This game aimed more for realism than most video pinball games, and thus the tables often felt like they could have been real, actual tables without sacrificing too much. You had typical themes like circus', or urban life, along with slightly more interesting themes like a haunted house. This is a solid, low-frills pinball game series that has survived because it deserves to. Standard versions of these games have MOD music, but the Amiga CD32 versions have a special, and absolutely incredible, redbook audio soundtrack that is indicative of early-mid 90's house music.
Epic Pinball
Just as capable as Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions, but with a much more exotic and impossible design, Epic Pinball has to be my favorite video pinball game of all time. A gem from the glorious golden days of DOS gaming, I'd dare say that no single pinball game has had more variety in its tables than Epic Pinball. the game, when ordered (or collected) included a staggering 12 tables. These range from traditional action pinball tables like Android, to score-attack tables like Crash and Burn, to an awesome action-game tie-in with a Jill of the Jungle table, to, my personal favorite - Enigma, a table completely impossible in real life with warps and invisible areas and trippy, acid-induced visuals. The soundtrack rocks a soundblaster 16 card and is written by the same dude who did Jazz Jackrabbit and One Must Fall 2097's soundtrack, so you know that you're getting a breakbeat, house-inspired soundtrack. This is from the days when Epic did more than Unreal and Gears. It's been recently re-released on iOS as Retro Pinball. Epic Pinball was unique in that it didn't adhere to the typical shareware model - rather, each individual table was distributed as shareware which could be purchased for cheap, and would install into a common folder, so that, as you collected the shareware demos, you'd gradually unlock the entire game. I actually got the full version of this game, in 12 full-sized boxes, from a promotion blockbuster video was doing in the mid 90's.
Space Cadet 3D Pinball
This is actually a part of another, full game, called Full Tilt! Pinball by Maxis. But, until a few years ago, I had no idea that game existed. No no, I got space cadet pinball as a pack-in with Windows 95 Plus!, a commercial service pack for Windows 95. From the inclusion in Plus on forward, Space Cadet Pinball was included in every windows release up until Vista. I'm fairly certain everybody reading this thread has played this game. It's terrific as far as pinball tables go. The table is very interactive, with many goals. It's a beefy pinball table, one that you can play for a long time without completing (yes, you can complete a pinball table). It never really wears out its welcome and is still quite a bit fun to play.
Devils Crush, Alien Crush
Developed by the classic japanese shmup company NAXAT, the crush series are a pair of incredibly video-gamey pinball games popularized on the Turbo Grafx 16 and Sega Genesis (under the name Dragon's Fury). Like Space Cadet Pinball, the crush games feature a number of goals and objects to interact with, but unlike space cadet, these games include various video-game inspired mini games as rewards for completing said goals. Some are clones of other games, like breakout, while others are shooting galleries. You can get these games today on the Wii Virtual Console for almost nothing.
Ruiner Pinball
Considering how limited the Atari jaguar's library is, it's rather shocking that it got 2 pretty excellent pinball titles. One was a great port of Pinball Fantasies, and this is the other, a jaguar-exclusive pinball title. I like this one a lot for its unique gimmick - dual tables. The game has two different dual-playfield tables which zoom in and out as needed. When normally playing, the screen zooms in on the ball, giving you a viewing angle similar to pinball dreams or epic pinball. But grab the correct multiball powerups or hit the right ramp, and the screen will zoom out, revealing a sister table that extends the playfield. Sometimes you'll get 4-8 balls going at once on both tables and the action is completely hectic. Beyond this gimmick, it's pretty no-frills, but the gimmick, when working, is a lot of fun to mess around with.
Mile high pinball
Yes, I'm serious. This is one of the very best, last n-gage games released. It's also one of the most uncommon and least heard of. But it's a terrific pinball game. This is one of the very few games which the n-gage's vertical screen orientation is a blessing. The game is actually 80 levels long. rather than conventional pinball, this game plays more like Kirby's Pinball Land, where the goal is to reach the top of the tower and falling between the flippers merely drops you down a level. Every time you move up a screen, you gain a level. Each screen is a new level, with new gimmicks. Some have goals which must be accomplished before the gate to the next level is open. Some have enemies that need to be killed. Some are simple pinball tables. It rarely gets old, and is one of the few n-gage games that you could play for hours on end without getting bored of.
Anybody else like video pinball?
Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies, Pinball Illusions
This is one of those series that refuses to die and just keeps on coming back. It was originally a series of Amiga pinball games, but they've been ported to just about everything since, including iOS, the GP32, various game consoles like the Atari jaguar and SNES, numerous PCs, and even less capable hardware like the C64. My first run in with the series was Pinball Dreams on the GP32, but I've since played numerous ports, my favorites being the iOS and Amiga CD32 versions. Developed by Digital Illusions CE (AKA DICE, the battlefield people), each of these games contained 4 themed tables. This game aimed more for realism than most video pinball games, and thus the tables often felt like they could have been real, actual tables without sacrificing too much. You had typical themes like circus', or urban life, along with slightly more interesting themes like a haunted house. This is a solid, low-frills pinball game series that has survived because it deserves to. Standard versions of these games have MOD music, but the Amiga CD32 versions have a special, and absolutely incredible, redbook audio soundtrack that is indicative of early-mid 90's house music.
Epic Pinball
Just as capable as Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions, but with a much more exotic and impossible design, Epic Pinball has to be my favorite video pinball game of all time. A gem from the glorious golden days of DOS gaming, I'd dare say that no single pinball game has had more variety in its tables than Epic Pinball. the game, when ordered (or collected) included a staggering 12 tables. These range from traditional action pinball tables like Android, to score-attack tables like Crash and Burn, to an awesome action-game tie-in with a Jill of the Jungle table, to, my personal favorite - Enigma, a table completely impossible in real life with warps and invisible areas and trippy, acid-induced visuals. The soundtrack rocks a soundblaster 16 card and is written by the same dude who did Jazz Jackrabbit and One Must Fall 2097's soundtrack, so you know that you're getting a breakbeat, house-inspired soundtrack. This is from the days when Epic did more than Unreal and Gears. It's been recently re-released on iOS as Retro Pinball. Epic Pinball was unique in that it didn't adhere to the typical shareware model - rather, each individual table was distributed as shareware which could be purchased for cheap, and would install into a common folder, so that, as you collected the shareware demos, you'd gradually unlock the entire game. I actually got the full version of this game, in 12 full-sized boxes, from a promotion blockbuster video was doing in the mid 90's.
Space Cadet 3D Pinball
This is actually a part of another, full game, called Full Tilt! Pinball by Maxis. But, until a few years ago, I had no idea that game existed. No no, I got space cadet pinball as a pack-in with Windows 95 Plus!, a commercial service pack for Windows 95. From the inclusion in Plus on forward, Space Cadet Pinball was included in every windows release up until Vista. I'm fairly certain everybody reading this thread has played this game. It's terrific as far as pinball tables go. The table is very interactive, with many goals. It's a beefy pinball table, one that you can play for a long time without completing (yes, you can complete a pinball table). It never really wears out its welcome and is still quite a bit fun to play.
Devils Crush, Alien Crush
Developed by the classic japanese shmup company NAXAT, the crush series are a pair of incredibly video-gamey pinball games popularized on the Turbo Grafx 16 and Sega Genesis (under the name Dragon's Fury). Like Space Cadet Pinball, the crush games feature a number of goals and objects to interact with, but unlike space cadet, these games include various video-game inspired mini games as rewards for completing said goals. Some are clones of other games, like breakout, while others are shooting galleries. You can get these games today on the Wii Virtual Console for almost nothing.
Ruiner Pinball
Considering how limited the Atari jaguar's library is, it's rather shocking that it got 2 pretty excellent pinball titles. One was a great port of Pinball Fantasies, and this is the other, a jaguar-exclusive pinball title. I like this one a lot for its unique gimmick - dual tables. The game has two different dual-playfield tables which zoom in and out as needed. When normally playing, the screen zooms in on the ball, giving you a viewing angle similar to pinball dreams or epic pinball. But grab the correct multiball powerups or hit the right ramp, and the screen will zoom out, revealing a sister table that extends the playfield. Sometimes you'll get 4-8 balls going at once on both tables and the action is completely hectic. Beyond this gimmick, it's pretty no-frills, but the gimmick, when working, is a lot of fun to mess around with.
Mile high pinball
Yes, I'm serious. This is one of the very best, last n-gage games released. It's also one of the most uncommon and least heard of. But it's a terrific pinball game. This is one of the very few games which the n-gage's vertical screen orientation is a blessing. The game is actually 80 levels long. rather than conventional pinball, this game plays more like Kirby's Pinball Land, where the goal is to reach the top of the tower and falling between the flippers merely drops you down a level. Every time you move up a screen, you gain a level. Each screen is a new level, with new gimmicks. Some have goals which must be accomplished before the gate to the next level is open. Some have enemies that need to be killed. Some are simple pinball tables. It rarely gets old, and is one of the few n-gage games that you could play for hours on end without getting bored of.
Anybody else like video pinball?
TheSonicRetard on
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Nintendo Network ID - PirateLuigi 3DS: 3136-6586-7691
G&T Grass Type Pokemon Gym Leader, In-Game Name: Dan
I actually avoided mentioning games like Kirby pinball land and sonic spinball because I felt they were more like pinball themed mascot games. Is pokemon pinball more like those, or traditional video pinball?
I'd say it's more Devils Crush than Sonic Spinball.
Nintendo Network ID - PirateLuigi 3DS: 3136-6586-7691
G&T Grass Type Pokemon Gym Leader, In-Game Name: Dan
That said, there seem to be two versions of video pinball: simulation and arcade. Similar to the difference between an arcade racer like Mario Kart and a simulation racer like Gran Turismo, pinball simulations usually have an underlying physics engine that makes the silver ball behave similarly to its real-world counterparts. On the other hand, arcade pinball games tend to have their own physics rules. The Pro Pinball series is a pinball sim series, as is the Pinball Arcade series. Pokemon Pinball & Metroid Pinball are arcade pinball games. Zen Pinball/Pinball FX 2 falls more on the pinball sim side of the spectrum.
I agree. I think of you follow my op, I lean more towards the arcade end of the spectrum. If I want sim, I'll play a real machine where I can feel the weight of the ball.
Video pinball is at its damned best when it allows itself to go completely batshit crazy instead of just trying to be a pinball sim. Yes, good ball physics are important but if some of the targets don't turn into Godzilla and battle Gurran Lagann while Michael Jackson from Bad has a fist fight with Weird Al from Fat then the devs missed the point of doing a pinball computer game.
that's precisely why I like epic pinball so much. That enigma table is flat-out impossible. It's unlike any pinball table I've ever seen before. Hell, just looking at it, it doesn't even look like a pinball board:
You throw in the melting, trippy demoscene-inspired backgrounds and the impossible physics and you have one hell of a board. That table alone demonstrates everything I like about video pinball. And it's got a pretty great soundtrack too - most pinball games (real, sim, arcade, or other) don't bother with soundtracks too much. The Pinball Dreams series and Epic Pinball games were all about producing some great music. Pinball Fantasies in particular, the Amiga CD32 version, has a terrific soundtrack.
Man, I miss Epic's good ole days. They used to do such a big variety of really fun, really interesting games and then they got all srsfaeced and Cliffy turned into a prick.
Zen getting their hands on those tables would be fantastic since they're the Pinball FX2 guys as well.
Well, like I said, it was already remade for iOS as Retro Pinball (guess they can't use Epic since Epic isn't publishing it anymore):
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/retro-pinball/id415637674?mt=8
That said, fun fact: There are actually two different versions of Android. I only ever had the original, because I pieced together my full version:
That's the original, and the one I played. Apparently the commercial full version replaced this board with Super Android:
Seems they added a few ramps and, watching video, they changed the music entirely.
So on that note, it's nothing short of criminal that the Pro Pinball tables aren't in the OP. Timeshock, Fantastic Journey and Big Race USA are all awesome and deep tables with fantastic simulation level features. I demand justice! :P
Bro, that's when you build a pinball machine. A satisfying and rewarding hobby on its own.
I vow to one day own a Terminator 2 pinball machine, with the gun handle plunger.
Me and pinball go way back.
I've gone there a few times. Every time I go, my wallet starts sweating bullets, because I could see myself impulse-buying an actual machine.
if you like metroid pinball and kirby's pinball land, give Mario Pinball Land and Sonic Pinball Party a go. Both are GBA games and quite good examples of video pinball done right. Mario Pinball Land and Metroid Prime Pinball were all made by the same people - FUSE games. They were the team that made Epic Pinball, too.
That was an amazing machine. I must have put hundreds of quarters into it as a kid.
Ooh, maybe you guys can help me remember the name of a table we had when I was growing up!
It was a very simple playfield (bumpers, progressive lights for a jackpot) and the backglass had a silver - android lady on it. The playfield actually looks a lot like what I'm seeing in pictures of Magnotron, but the backglass is completely different.
Nintendo Network ID - PirateLuigi 3DS: 3136-6586-7691
G&T Grass Type Pokemon Gym Leader, In-Game Name: Dan
Man that was a great table... I used to play that for hours at a time.
Nintendo Network ID - PirateLuigi 3DS: 3136-6586-7691
G&T Grass Type Pokemon Gym Leader, In-Game Name: Dan
Yeah, it would probably be easier to try and list arcades / pizza places that didn't have it. It was everywhere.
Nintendo Network ID - PirateLuigi 3DS: 3136-6586-7691
G&T Grass Type Pokemon Gym Leader, In-Game Name: Dan
Here's ye olde pinball thread from days past if you want to mine it for additional information: Link.
You have Steam right? Download Pinball FX 2 and whack the ball around on the free Sorcerer's Lair table!
Definitely buying the PC version the moment I get home.
It now sits un-assembled in their basement with junk piled on it. Fucking tragedy.
Edit: It was a Phoenix, my wife corrected me! Here's a pic of one:
They are essentially the same table. I liked them both but Twilight Zone was definitely better. As far as I'm concerned, they're the best tables to be released post-Bride of Pinbot.
I know, right?
I'm really hoping that Timeshock: Ultra Edition ends up having some modern-day implementations added to it like a friends leaderboard. That's literally the only thing I miss about it.
I'm pretty sure that the '97 version of Timeshock still looks and plays better than any of the more modern games.
Also:
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
My favorite machines / era would probably be Williams in the early 90s - late in the LED period, just before the switch to DMDs. High Speed, PinBot, FunHouse, and Black Knight 2000.
I got to play this at an arcade around Niagara once. I remember the Player's Poll contest to win one (which I lost).
I want one of these of my very own someday. I'm... partway there (I own the image from the backboard).
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Still think my favorite one was kinda a no-brainer when you think about it, a table based of The Who's Tommy. Play long enough and hit certain marks and the game would shut down. No audio, no lights, even a screen over the flippers so you couldn't see them.
My dad really introduced me to the nuances of pinball. Growing up in the 60's, he was in that prime era when pinball was a big deal. He said that he and his friends used to be able to roll the score over - that is, go past the maximum value back to 000,000,000 because they'd play for so long.
also, the totally rad arcade/game store in my town got a Theater Of Magic table recently. thats my all time favorite table, so im pretty happy about it.
That is god damn brilliant actually. I didn't think a pinball manufacturer would go that far as to make the player prove they're that damn good.