![\"PINBALL_BOX\"](\"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/PINBALL_BOX-103x150.jpg\" "\\"PINBALL_BOX\\"")
I love video pinball games. Recently I picked up the Xbox 360 version of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection for around 15 bucks on sale. I was surprised how addicting it was! So I thought I\u2019d run through the dozen or so pinball tables on the collection!<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d have to say that The Williams Collection is one of the better pinball games I\u2019ve played in recent years. The tables are accurate, ball physics are nearly spot on, and most of the tables are familiar to me and I\u2019ve seen them and played them in arcades before.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, Crave came out with a Gottlieb pinball collection, but it wasn\u2019t as fun because I didn\u2019t know most of the tables and they weren\u2019t as interesting anyway. Another pinball game collection you can download on Xbox Live is Pinball FX. It\u2019s all right, but some of the tables aren\u2019t very fun (like the downloadable Street Fighter one), and the ball physics aren\u2019t as good.<\/p>\n
In the Williams collection, the menu where you pick which table you play is set in a fictional 3-D arcade from the 80\u2019s and it looks really authentic. Everything from the change machine, faux-80\u2019s music, even the ugly carpet is there. It makes me even more excited about the upcoming Game Room on Xbox Live.<\/p>\n
Many of the tables are locked, but you can play them anyway with tokens earned by completing goals in the other tables. Complete all the goals in one table and you can unlock one for free! Each table has rules explained to you with spoken voice and pictures, making it easy to figure out how to complete the goals and get a high score. So anyway, if you see this game on sale somewhere, pick it up! It\u2019s very good.<\/p>\n
So here are the tables you can play in the game:<\/p>\n
Jive Time (1970)<\/strong><\/p>\n OK, this one is the exception. It\u2019s locked, but you can\u2019t unlock it by buying it or completing goals. What you have to do is take The Williams Challenge. It\u2019s a special mode where you play all the tables in a row and try to get a set score in each. And I can\u2019t do it. I love pinball games, but I\u2019m not especially good at them. But I don\u2019t feel too bad about not being able to unlock Jive Time because it\u2019s a really old table and usually those aren\u2019t quite as much fun to me.<\/p>\n Gorgar (1979)<\/strong><\/p>\n The name sounds like some kind of MST3K movie. The theme of the table is a devil monster called Gorgar that you have to defeat, and he\u2019ll taunt you with bad voice samples along the way. The further you get into the table, the faster you hear a heartbeat, so I imagine it was a pretty intense table for the time. I think the sound effects in Gorgar were later used in Joust, as they both sound real similar. The first few tables on this collection I don\u2019t remember, as I was pretty little back then and was more interested in Sesame Street than pinball. Since Gorgar is an older table, it\u2019s pretty simple and it was one of the first tables I was able to get all the basic goals on.<\/p>\n Firepower (1980)<\/strong><\/p>\n This one has a spaceship theme. I don\u2019t know if I got lucky or if the table is really easy, but I managed to get all the basic goals the first time I tried it! It\u2019s a really open table with a lot of targets to hit, but not a lot of ramps.<\/p>\n Black Knight (1980)<\/strong><\/p>\n I guess the two most popular themes in pinball are sci-fi and medieval. A Black Knight threatens to \u2018slay you\u2019 in this table. The main feature is that the table is split into two parts, with flippers at the top middle and bottom. Try to keep the ball in the top part, where earning multi-ball is easy. I managed to get all the basic goals in this table pretty quickly as well.<\/p>\n Sorcerer (1980)<\/strong><\/p>\n This psychedelic table has an evil wizard who taunts and laughs at you as you play. Aside from the bright colors, I didn\u2019t find this table too interesting.<\/p>\n Space Shuttle (1984)<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the earliest table that I can actually remember seeing in arcades. It\u2019s a simple table with few ramps. The main feature is the big space shuttle that sits predominantly at the top middle of the screen, where a ramp is. It\u2019s not a terribly interesting table, but with a little work, I was able to complete the basic goals.<\/p>\n Pin-Bot (1986)<\/strong><\/p>\n I saw Pin-Bot tons of times in arcades, but I bet many people my age who grew up in the NES era also remember the NES version of Pin-Bot. The NES game was very faithful to the arcade machine and looked great for its time. Rare also made a NES version of High Speed later, but I never played it. It could be a good testament to both the NES game and the version of Pin-Bot on this collection, but both played spot on. I was able to complete the goals easily because it felt so much like the NES game. Anyone remember the pinball sequel: Bride of Pin-Bot?<\/p>\n Taxi (1988)<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t remember this one, but I wonder if this was the inspiration for the video pinball game Big Race USA (more on that one later). You have to pick up passengers and the ramps look like roads and the lights are the people you have to pick up by rolling up the ramps. One of the passengers is Santa Claus! It\u2019s a fun table, but also really hard for me to get all the basic goals on! It feels pretty advanced for an 80\u2019s pinball table, though.<\/p>\n Whirlwind (1990)<\/strong><\/p>\n This one has a tornado theme. There are three circles in the middle of the board that will spin around and mess up the path of your ball when it rolls over. For this reason, I don\u2019t care much for this table.<\/p>\n Funhouse (1990)<\/strong><\/p>\n This is another table that I remember seeing in a lot of arcades. In fact, I think EGM did an article about it back in the day. I\u2019m not sure why it\u2019s called Funhouse, though, because the two main features of the table are a clock on the bottom and a talking dummy head named Rudy near the top. You have to hit targets to make the clock go to midnight. That\u2019s when the talking dummy Rudy falls asleep, and you can send pinballs in his mouth for mega bonus points. I don\u2019t really like this table because the layout of the ramps is a little confusing. And the basic goals are pretty hard! One of them you have to shoot the ball into Rudy\u2019s mouth WHILE he\u2019s talking! How are you supposed to do that?!?<\/p>\n Tales of the Arabian Nights (1996)<\/strong><\/p>\n You can probably tell by the title what the theme of this table is. The main features are a 3-D lamp you can spin around with the ball, and a genie near the back that you can hit. There\u2019s a magnet by the genie that makes it look like he\u2019s \u2018holding\u2019 the ball magically. Lots of newer pinball tables do this. My favorite thing about pinball tables starting in the mid to late 90\u2019s is the LCD scoreboard that shows all the neat animated graphics.<\/p>\n The only problem I have with the video pinball version of this table is one of the goals is hard to get. You have to get Harem Multi-ball for one goal, and in order to do that, you have to go up a ramp to light the word HAREM. But if any other light is lit on that ramp, you can\u2019t spell it. And the ramp is hard to get up to! There\u2019s another way to \u2018sneak\u2019 in to the harem by rolling into a secret spot, but that\u2019s even harder! I just can\u2019t get into the harem! (Boy that sounded awful)<\/p>\n No Good Gophers (1997)<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a golf-themed table that I\u2019ve seen and played TONS of times in real life arcades. So I figure it was very popular. In fact, the Gottlieb collection had a golf table as well, called Tee\u2019d Off, and I was disappointed that it wasn\u2019t this game instead. The big feature of No Good Gophers are two wisecracking gophers that make snide comments as you play. It\u2019s very Looney Tunes-ish. Makes me wonder if Williams really wanted the Caddyshack license for this. It\u2019s a really fun table, though, plus I managed to get all the basic goals on it. My one tiny quibble with this table is the ramp layout is a little confusing.<\/p>\n Medieval Madness (1997)<\/strong><\/p>\n Yup, it\u2019s another medieval themed table. This is probably my favorite on the collection. I remember playing it tons of times in real life as it was one of the last pinball machines at the local GameWorks. It has a tongue-in-cheek cartoony humor about it, almost Monty Python-ish. Aside from the harem multi-ball in the other table, I think the other main form of E-10 Suggestive Themes comes from the Damsel in Distress ramp on this table. Some of the stuff she says is\u2026wow, that\u2019s all I have to say. Aside from that ramp, there are other easy to get to ramps that activate jousts, catapults, and other medieval fun. The main feature of this table is a castle in the back. Hit the door enough times to lower the drawbridge and open the gate, and then you can send the ball in to \u2018destroy\u2019 the castle. It\u2019s fun, challenging yet fair, and the humor is great.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s all the tables in The Williams Collection. Again, I was really surprised how good and addicting this game is! If you like pinball any at all, you\u2019ll want to pick it up as soon as possible!<\/p>\n Cary\u2019s Favorite Video Pinball Games<\/strong><\/p>\n I thought I\u2019d conclude by talking about a few of my other favorite video pinball games. While they\u2019re not the same as playing the real thing, they\u2019re easier to find and maintain. That\u2019s what keeps me from buying a real pinball machine (aside from the space it takes up) because I imagine maintenance on these things is a pain! I do have a favorite real life pinball machine, though, and that\u2019s Cirqus Voltaire. Mainly because it has a big neon light down the side of the table, plus it\u2019s really fun.<\/p>\n I think my love for video pinball games really took off with Revenge of the Gator on the old Game Boy. HAL really knows pinball, and they later made my favorite Kirby\u2019s Pinball Land and one of the Pokemon Pinball games. Speaking of which, the Pokemon Pinball games on GBC and GBA are really fun and I\u2019m surprised that they haven\u2019t made one on the DS.<\/p>\n When I first started college and got a PC of my own, I got a box of game CDs real cheap and one of them was Crystal Caliburn. It was a video pinball game modeled after tables from the 80\u2019s, so it was a bit simpler. It had a King Arthur theme to it, and you had to go up a ramp 12 times to light up all the knights of the round table (represented by a zodiac sign), and then you could try for the ramp to collect the Holy Grail for mucho points! I think I managed to do that ONCE! I was so addicted to this game in college. Good simple fun and catchy music. It was made by a company called Littlewing\u2026I wonder if they\u2019re still around.<\/p>\n But my favorite video pinball game is from the Pro Pinball series. Even though they made fictional tables, they were very realistic and you could even adjust the angle of the board (steeper meant the ball moved faster and it was tougher to get up ramps). You could even choose to play the tables in new condition or unmaintained, where the lights were burnt out and dusty tables made your ball physics messed up! It was like owning your own pinball machine!<\/p>\n The Pro Pinball makers first did a sci-fi table, which name escapes me. Next was a time travel table called Timeshock. The last one they did was Fantastic Journey, which had a Jules Verne vibe to it. But the one they did before that was my favorite: Big Race USA. It was a very complicated table, so much so that they simplified Fantastic Journey due to complaints. But I loved it anyway.<\/p>\n In Big Race USA, the star was a taxi cab and the cast were living vehicles similar to Pixar\u2019s Cars. The cars were competing in a cross country race, and each one had their own personality. For instance, the monster truck talked like Forrest Gump, and the Police Car imitated Darth Vader! By going up certain ramps three times in a row, you could challenge one of the cars in an event. You could also do other events by stopping off in different cities, and even play mini-games on the LCD score screen! Not only that, but you could pick up passengers and earn money separate from your score that you could use to buy items at a shop (I always bought ball saves). Needless to say, the game was VERY complicated, but very fun and challenging. I had to pry myself away from Big Race USA in college just to get my studies done! If you can find this game anywhere, get it!<\/p>\n After the company who made the Pro Pinball series finished Fantastic Journey, I think they went on to make the horrible Mario Pinball Land on GBA, but they made up for it later with Metroid Prime Pinball on DS. Not sure what they\u2019re doing now, if anything.<\/p>\n Anyway, that\u2019s all I have to say about pinball right now. What are YOUR favorite pinball games? –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love video pinball games. Recently I picked up the Xbox 360 version of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection for around 15 bucks on sale. I was surprised how addicting it was! So I thought I\u2019d run through the dozen or so pinball tables on the collection! \u00a0 I\u2019d have to say that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"PINBALL_SCREEN\"](\"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/PINBALL_SCREEN.jpg\" "\\"PINBALL_SCREEN\\"")
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