I loved pinball machines growing up. When my friends had all graduated to those upright video games like Space Invaders, I was the lone holdout feeding quarters in the pinball mo-sheen. THAT SAID, I'll be damned if I could tell the difference between one machine and the other. Same noises, same flippers, same music, same old soup just warmed over differently. Only the title concept was the same, and if you took the sign off of an Evel Kneivel or a Ted Nugent "Weekend Warriors" game, I wouldn't have known the change. All I knew was that if had four flippers instead of two, then I knew it was gonna be a good game.
I loved pinball machines growing up. When my friends had all graduated to those upright video games like Space Invaders, I was the lone holdout feeding quarters in the pinball mo-sheen. THAT SAID, I'll be damned if I could tell the difference between one machine and the other. Same noises, same flippers, same music, same old soup just warmed over differently. Only the title concept was the same, and if you took the sign off of an Evel Kneivel or a Ted Nugent "Weekend Warriors" game, I wouldn't have known the change. All I knew was that if had four flippers instead of two, then I knew it was gonna be a good game.
Yeah, but it was right after that when they started to get good - to compete with video games they made them more interesting and flashy, with all the ramps and features, etc. The early 80's to early 90's were something of a "Golden Age" for pinball...
Yeah, but it was right after that when they started to get good - to compete with video games they made them more interesting and flashy, with all the ramps and features, etc. The early 80's to early 90's were something of a "Golden Age" for pinball...
When pinball went gimmicky in the late 80's is where my cutoffpoint was. I couldnt get w/ digital displays and all the extra features. Pinball was dead to me in 87/89.IMO. Tommy came out in what year?
I have spent countless hours smokin' johnnies and playin' pinball. In fact in college (UW-Madison, GO BADGERS!!!) I was involved in a pinball club. we met Monday evenings at the Plaza where they had 4 games and would have a round robin type tournament, hi-score takes all. $1 to enter. We even went so far as to make a spreadsheet of all the establishments in town that had games and what games they currently had. Played ALOT of Black Night 2000 "give me your money!!!!" hahaha, that was the sound track to my dreams for a while. Dr. Who was cool. I actually liked all the crazy shaking, but one of the ramps was a bitch!!! Twilight zone and Addam's Family got much love. I played Tales From the Crypt alot but the ball moves WAY too fast. Never liked Pinbot or Jackbot. Played the shit out of the new(ish) Simpsons game. I loved Guns-n-Roses but the seedy assed bar it was in (the Ohio tavern) kinda freaked me out. The people in there ROUGH!!! One day I ate 7 pickled eggs and smashed a plastic pitcher on my head, the patrons were all cool to me after that. Theatre of Magic and Arabian Nights ROCKED!!!! Medieval Madness was cool. That Star Wars episode 1 game sucked SOOOOOOOO bad it's not funny. Playboy 50th got alot of play. I could go for a hour with that one. A bar called the Up North (I liked because I was from up north and it reminded me of home) had Junkyard. I would play that game for hours when my friends would play bluegrass down there. By the end of the night that game was like 10 feet away from where it started. (no tilt). I liked Attack from Mars and one of the Elvira games. Funhouse is annoying. Anyone ever played SafeCracker??? no ball limit, just a time limit. Played a fair amount of Big Guns where i did laundry. The building that i did loundry in was split into 3 businesses, a record store, a laundry mat, and a bar. I spent full days in that building.
What was the game, it was magic themed, you could make the ball levitate with some magnet device. there was a hand with a wand that the ball would roll down, etc... I don't think it was theatre of magic. Whoever made that game made a shit load of AWESOME games!!!! There is an Arcade in StP/MPLS that has like 6 of them.
My faves in no particular order are:
Black Night 2000 G-n-R Simpsons Party Addam's Fam Junkyard
Oh yeah!!!!! The company that made the most bad assed games, and only 8 at that, and some are truely raer, is CapCom coin-op. They did Pinball Magic which was the one I was thinking of. And Breakshot too. which was interesting too. Check them out.
PS I liked Fishtales and Creature from the balck Lagoon too.
this game is my favorite shit. its kinda new (came out in 1999). this "3d" version pictured is actually kind of wack. but we had the non 3d version at a place i worked and it was the bomb. it played like a video game, with you having to destroy the spaceships and going from city to city defending the world. dope game.
definately top five! pinbot is up there....this game was badass
big shout out to caveman the first video game / pinball game I ever played..
#4 and I can't come up with a fifth one right now.
A few of my favorites have already been mentioned, such as the Kiss one and Haunted House. Here are two that weren't:
With Time Warp, it has to be the originals with the bent flippers I'd like to play some of the older machines. Any decent places in Seattle with a lot of machines>
For me, pinball starts and ends with BALLY. The seventies and sixties produced pinballs that were simple yet fuckin hard. I could play for days on the Kiss and the playboy...(which is in a pub near here with 20 cent credits still!!!!) But a mate bought a STAR TREK pinball and we played this for eva!!
Also have to mention the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK pinball, which I think was the W I D E S T ever pinball!
And after you finished a session, you had to leave a credit on the machine when you walked away!!
Comments
- J
Yeah, but it was right after that when they started to get good -
to compete with video games they made them more interesting and
flashy, with all the ramps and features, etc. The early 80's to
early 90's were something of a "Golden Age" for pinball...
When pinball went gimmicky in the late 80's is where my cutoffpoint was. I couldnt get w/ digital displays and all the extra features. Pinball was dead to me in 87/89.IMO. Tommy came out in what year?
What was the game, it was magic themed, you could make the ball levitate with some magnet device. there was a hand with a wand that the ball would roll down, etc... I don't think it was theatre of magic. Whoever made that game made a shit load of AWESOME games!!!! There is an Arcade in StP/MPLS that has like 6 of them.
My faves in no particular order are:
Black Night 2000
G-n-R
Simpsons Party
Addam's Fam
Junkyard
that is all.
one of the last good Williams games...
"Hey! You found the secret passageway!"
PS I liked Fishtales and Creature from the balck Lagoon too.
YES!
the ramps in that game are sooooooooooo fun...
definately top five! pinbot is up there....this game was badass
big shout out to caveman the first video game / pinball game I ever played..
#4 and I can't come up with a fifth one right now.
not trying to take anything away from a flesh-and-blood machine, but I know at least a few of you have to be wasting some time on this...
i play at work all the time cuz its the only game we have on our computers and they restrict our internet to wack ass websites. my hi score is 9,500.
With Time Warp, it has to be the originals with the bent flippers
I'd like to play some of the older machines. Any decent places in Seattle with a lot of machines>
http://www.portlandpinball.com/
Also have to mention the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK pinball, which I think was the W I D E S T ever pinball!
And after you finished a session, you had to leave a credit on the machine when you walked away!!