Topic: Pinball Discussion (Real Tables, Zen Pinball, Pinball Arcade, etc)

@Freelance: Oh, I thought V12 was referring to Voltaire for some reason, I didn't see any other games mentioned that fit that abbreviation... Sorry.

v12 is one of Zen's pins. It doesn't stand for anything though.

These feel like a cash grab, like any casino game. They all play the same but they cheat you out of your money by buying different tables that don't do much different things.

That's a pretty ignorant thing to say. That's like saying 2D platformers are cash grabs because they're not much different from each other. Pinball tables may have various ramps, drop targets, holes, bumpers, etc (standard in pinball), but each pin has different themes, and all the modern pins even have story lines that you need to complete to score really high points. Every pin has different missions/goals based on what the theme/plot is.

I'm guessing you don't play much pinball or don't like pinball, because EVERY non-pinball fan say the same thing; "All pinballs are the same" and "you're just bouncing a ball around. It's all just luck,' when it's not true at all. Sure, you can simply bounce a ball around, but you won't get great scores that way. You have to do things in a certain way to gain the highest scores. There's skill involved when playing pinball.

I can say that "All fighting games aren't much different from each other because all you do is beat up the other guy," but we know that isn't true.

@Freelance, I believe the user you're responding to is trying to troll. He just joined within the past day, and most of his posts seem to be contrarian (ex: he went to the Marvel thread just to point out how much he hates Marvel).

Anyhow, it's time for my daily pinball update, and I tried out some more free trials in TPA:

• White Water - The ramp structures in this are very impressive, and almost rollercoaster like in their complexity (especially the one that has multiple hills). They also did a fantastic job aesthetically making it look like a series of caves & caverns. Due to the visual complexity, it took a bit to get the hang of it, but once I did it was good fun.
• Whirlwind - Pretty fun thunderstorm themed table. The spinners on the playfield that altered the direction of the ball were pretty novel. Bet my bro would love this (he's into weather).

That's all right. What he says are often mentioned by non-fans as well, so if my reply can help these people see their mistake and become fans, then that''d be a good thing. Whether the guy was trolling or not, he provided a good opportunity to educate these people :3

Whirlwind was my fave pin when it was in Pinball Hall of Fame, but with the new physics, the pin's harder for me now in TPA. On the actual pin, a fan was mounted on top so it blew in your face during the 'whirlwind.'

Time for my daily pinball update.

Didn't use my tablet much today at all, so I just tried out the free trial of Victory (TPA Android) a few times. It's not really exceptional (pretty standard stuff for a more modern table, from my limited understanding), but I couldn't help but enjoy myself.

While not exceptional, it was still fun, & I liked the fact that it seemed almost impossible to lose the ball over the sides. It only happened a few times on the right side, and the path lead to the ball launch area, rather than to the bottom. Because of this, whenever you lose the ball, it's because you missed it, and not because it unluckily ran down the sides because you didn't activate a kickback fast enough.

You tell 'em @Freelance! I've actually talked to some people about the same thing. I brought up pinball at work, and one other guy there knew what pinball was really about, and we were explaining it to the other coworkers. Another time I was playing Lord of the Rings at an arcade I visit pretty often, and the owner was talking to some other guy who asked, "Isn't it just chance?", and we quickly were like "What, no!" I can understand why people might think that at first, but it shouldn't take long to realize a lot of skill and planning is involved from watching someone play, especially the pros!

@RR529 Like I said earlier, Whitewater is my #1 pin! Crazy ramps with amazing flow, always something to shoot for, great modes with plenty of variety, beautiful art and sound, and the vacation jackpot is one of the, in my humble opinion, most exciting awards in all of pinball! Seriously, don't look up the vacation jackpot and spoil the fun, if you earn it without knowing what happens beforehand, it should be pretty awesome! Plus it comes with Space Shuttle, which is just the icing on the cake!

Time for my daily pinball update.

Today I just replayed some of the free TPA trials I've played recently. Mostly Victory, Whirlwind, & Big Shot.

Time for my daily pinball update. Played a couple more free trials in TPA.

• Terminator 2: Judgement Day - This is was really quite fun, & I like the IP. Due to it not being bundled with anything else, it won't be one of the first ones I buy, but I'll get it eventually.
• Teed Off - This seems like a fun table, but I really couldn't get a good feel for it, because it had a slow framerate for some reason.

@RR529: Teed Off is easily one of my favorite tables. It doesn't feel cheap like some of the others. The sound effects are great and just the overall theme is good.

Teed Off is okay, but the gopher was annoying. I preferred the other golfing game, No Good Gofers. The gophers, Bud and Buzz, were better characters too.

Time for my daily pinball update, and I played a couple more free trials in TPA:

• Space Shuttle - I adore the theme, and it was a really fun time.
• Pin-Bot - It's not bad, & I know it's highly regarded, but for some reason it just didn't really "click" for me, if that makes any sense. Also, half the time when I hit the 5,000 point skillshot, the ball made a beeline to the furthest left path to the bottom, never even giving me the chance to do anything about it.

Time for my daily pinball update, and I tried out a couple more tables in TPA:

• Haunted House - This actually has a pretty trippy layout that fits the theme perfectly. It takes a bit to get the hang of it, but it's fun once you start figuring things out.
• Goin' Nuts - Well... it's different, I'll give it that. Really never seen anything like it, though I can't say I'm a big fan.

Goin' Nuts is a very rare pinball table. Only 10 prototypes were ever made, and it never went into production. It's an unique pin, with no outlanes and timer-based gameplay. It's a good pin to practice multiball on, and I like it 'cause of that. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's cool that FS managed to add it to the game, for historic purposes.

@Freelance, yeah, while I personally didn't click with Goin' Nuts, it has a cool history, so I'm glad they were able to include it.

Anyhow, it's time for my daily pinball update, and I tried out a couple more free trials in TPA:

I tried out both Flight 2000 & Firepower. Both were pretty decent sci-fi themed tables, though neither really struck me. Then again, I've been a butterfingers (butterflippers?) all day. I just can't seem to keep the ball alive, no matter what table I'm playing (the ball always finds it's way through the flippers, sometimes in the most WTF moments). One of those days...

Time for my daily pinball update, and I played a couple more free trials in TPA:

• El Dorado: City of Gold - This was pretty decent I suppose.
• Dr. Dude - Wow, this is totally 90's incarnate. I had a pretty fun time with it, though there are others I'd get before it.

BTW, I'm still playing Zen as well, it's just that I haven't hit any high scores as of late. Actually, they just added Earth Defense to the Android version today (my favorite table in the 3DS version)! C'mon Google, send me some surveys soon so I can get it...

I caved in and bought Sonic Pinball Party used from Amazon. It'll take some time to get here though...

I bought the original standalone version (originally exclusive to Target stores in the US) in case I ever find my original cartridge (it was a 2 in 1 cart with Sonic Advance), so at least it'll be unique!

I've never played Sonic Pinball Party. It's hard to pick a favourite video-gamey pinball game, but I do like Revenge of the 'Gator a lot. It was one of my fave GB games ever, with awesome music, a cool gator theme, and dancing gator animations. I was soooo happy it came out on the 3DS VC. I had lost the cartridge many years ago and have been wanting to play it again ever since. It was a game that I thought would never come to VC, given how unknown it is. I was also hoping that Hal would release Shanghai as well, but they never did Anyway, Sierra's 3D Ultra Pinball series wasn't too bad too, and Alien Crush. I liked Pokemon Pinball Ruby and Sapphire too.

I have revenge of the gator on my 3ds, it's pretty funny. The music is certainly really good, the dancing gators too.

Sonic Pinball Party for the GBA is really good though, I'm not a big pinball fan but I still loved the game.

It comes with 3 main tables, each with unique objectives and two of them even have multiple "worlds/levels" that change the graphical style and music of the table. Besides that, it also comes with other three casino-themed mini tables, three multiplayer pinball mini games (needs cables and multiple GBAs though), a story mode and a virtual pet where you can spend your winnings (which comes with two non-pinball mini games itself).