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New Pinball Arcade from makers of Williams Collection


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Best news from Zen is that Fish Tales will be free, and the other 3 tables will be $9.99 which includes both classic and remastered versions. I'll still probably wait for a sale before buying tables that I already have in PBA, but happy that they're not marking up the price for WMS tables. Release date for Williams pack 1 is October 9th.

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I haven't checked out the newly located Bally/Williams stuff in Zen yet, but I don't like their v.3 interface, so I'm not surprised they're coming off as yecccch. I wonder who their testers/designers are trying to target?

 

It would be nice if Farsight got some (belated) credit for their efforts if they were better than the new ones.

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Best news from Zen is that Fish Tales will be free, and the other 3 tables will be $9.99 which includes both classic and remastered versions. I'll still probably wait for a sale before buying tables that I already have in PBA, but happy that they're not marking up the price for WMS tables. Release date for Williams pack 1 is October 9th.

I noticed Fish Tales being separately highlighted from the others in the "coming soon" category but I wasn't sure why. Mideval Madness, High Speed II, and I forget the last one. All excellent tables.

 

I'm a bit concerned about the potential for mutilation on the "enhanced remake" versions, but glad we'll get the option to choose which version we want. Also glad the rumors about potentially losing the Williams license for micro arcades are bunk as well.

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People seem to like Zen Studios. I never enjoyed any of their custom tables so far. Fantasy pinball is so boring compared to real tables for some reason.

 

I'm guessing people will end up loving the real tables from Zen once they get the kinks out. Now I'm wondering if I should've wasted all my money on the TPA packs in June. My wife and I are saving and I had to ask special permission from her to buy all of them.

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I don't mind fantasy pinball at all, there's a really great table for the DSi/3DS called The Ancients Beckon (from the company that did Metroid Pinball).I even like Pokemon Pinball.But Zen's stuff just feels "cheap" to me, and the physics don't feel right.

I still have the fat DS style rumble pak that came with Metroid Pinball. A few other games made novel usage of it.

 

I disagree with DJ that fantasy pinball is boring. Many well made Fantasy pinballs have pretty deep rulesets. Zen Pinball do fairly well keeping the aesthetic right down to the simulated dmd screens, though a bunch of the Marvel stuff feel pretty generic and sometimes go overboard with cgi characters on the playfield.

 

Also look at that Tesla table, my personal favorite Zen original. It's awork of art. I would love to own a real life recreation, but it would probably cost like 20 grand or more to recreate. You would need some seriously powerful solenoids for the magnetic manipulation area to the upper right playfield.

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I still have the fat DS style rumble pak that came with Metroid Pinball. A few other games made novel usage of it.

Metroid Pinball was good too, but a little too easy. I think I beat the whole thing in a day or two and sort of moved on. Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon is great if you can get it, it's a nice mix of Fun House and other 90s Williams tables.

 

I wish the DS Rumble Pak supported more games than it does, but it did seem to make more volume than it did actual vibration =) I got mine from a clearance bin way back when.

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Video pinball is better now than it was in 1983:

 

archive.org/stream/Electronic_Games_Volume_02_Number_09_1983-11_Reese_Communications_US#page/n47/mode/2up

 

But I'm still waiting for something that looks more like the real thing.

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Metroid Pinball was good too, but a little too easy. I think I beat the whole thing in a day or two and sort of moved on. Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon is great if you can get it, it's a nice mix of Fun House and other 90s Williams tables.I wish the DS Rumble Pak supported more games than it does, but it did seem to make more volume than it did actual vibration =) I got mine from a clearance bin way back when.

The "phat" versions of the rumble pack are actually quite hard to find now. The phat guitar hero accessory is also exceedingly rare I hear. Nintendo would rather alienate early adopters of the DS than to have DS Lite owners complain the card stuck out too far.

 

I remember playing Super Princess Peach with the rumble accessory. More of a gimmick imo. The linear motors were weaker than traditional motor rumbles, with no mechanism to alter the vibration frequency and intensity. "HD Rumble" in the joycons and Switch Pro comtrollers is really the same cheap technology, however the linear motor solenoids are driven directly by an actual audio amp, creating low frequency effects you can feel rather than hear.

 

This is not unlike the bluetooth speakers in the old Wiimotes. It would be a really fun mod project if someone create a device that eavesdrops on the Bluetooth connection to the Joycon/Pro controller and pass the "HD Rumble" signal to a subwoofer or chair mounted bass shaker, so you could feel the vibration with your butt. :love:

https://www.parts-express.com/cat/bass-shakers/3524

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Zen always adds a bunch of goofy environmental crap around their VR tables that makes them more expensive to produce. Maybe they think their customers expect that kind of over the top garbage and wouldn't buy them otherwise, I don't know. Personally that's why I bought Pinball FX 2 VR on Steam and then refunded it. I don't need a Delorean flying around me to make the experience worth purchasing.

 

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Zen always adds a bunch of goofy environmental crap around their VR tables that makes them more expensive to produce. Maybe they think their customers expect that kind of over the top garbage and wouldn't buy them otherwise, I don't know. Personally that's why I bought Pinball FX 2 VR on Steam and then refunded it. I don't need a Delorean flying around me to make the experience worth purchasing.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=YYFrdeeYvkQ

They introduce cgi elements to their fantasy tables because they can. This is especially true with licensed tables. An animated anthropomorphic character cheering you from the sidelines and occasionally interacting with the ball, cost no more to render in terms of computation time as pop bumpers, targets, and other hazards or interactive elements.

 

My understanding is the real life tables will get an enhanced version and a classic version. I have no idea what type of enhancements they will offer for the new tables but ic you don't like them, switch back to classic mode. I think Classic mode turns off all the score modifiers and some soecial effects. They would likely do similar on real life pinball. Don't likd the enhancements? Play classic mode... :P

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Mm, I actually like video game pinball, as long as it takes advantage of the medium without compromising the quality of the pinball action. Devil's Crush is terrific; I'm a big fan of the Genesis version Dragon's Fury. Likewise I enjoy Rollerball on the NES. And Midnight Magic, ooh! That's some good stuff.

 

But yeah, you do have to be careful not to overindulge in the technology. Flipnic is a good example... there's just too much to do and none of it is particularly rewarding. The supposed killer app on N-Gage, Mile High Pinball, was kind of a drag too... making progress felt as arduous as climbing a mountain. It's when video game pinball forgets it's pinball that you start to notice there's a problem.

 

I haven't tried Zen Pinball yet. I'm hesitant to lionize Farsight, because while they've done a good job with their pinball tables, they don't seem to do anything else particularly well. Take Action 52, for example, or Mojo, or their poorly received bowling games.

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Action 52... I remember picking up a Genesis copy and was like, "woah, I recognise this name!" Only took like 20 more years to find their niche. :grin:

 

Gottlieb Pinball Collection on Game Cube was my first exposure to modern Farsight. I'm not disappointed by the Zen news however. Just glad the license is getting utilized.

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i can't do most of these pro moves,but i'm glad they are emulating them for experts:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts5rfZA-hNglater-1

I've performed the live/drop catch a few times by accident in PBA, can't really do it on command though. The multiball stuff I just focus on kerping all 2 or 3 balls in play for as long as posdible. Seems Zen has their physics engine together. :D :thumbsup:
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