What are some good video pinball games?

[BetaWolf47]

There's these games:

3D Ultra Pinball series (PC)
Pokemon Pinball (GBC and GBA games)
Video Pinball (Atari 2600)
Pinbot (NES)
Pinball (NES)
Pinball of the Dead (PC?)
Metroid Prime Pinball (DS)
Kirby's Pinball Land (GB)
Revenge of the Gator (GB)

What else?

[Nebagram]

I'm sure there have been threads on this before and I'm going to repeat here what I've said there- Psycho Pinball on the Mega Drive. European exclusive but well worth the import, and can usually be found on ebay UK very cheaply.

Edit: Also you seem to be missing the Crush games from your list.

Edit again: And Pinball Fantasies/Dreams. I don't know anyone who owned an Amiga who DIDN'T have one of those.

[A Black Falcon]

Epic Pinball (PC) -- one of the best PC pinball games ever! Lots of tables, awesome graphics and sound for the early '90s, and more... when I first played the demo table, Android, it was by far the most amazing video/computer pinball game I had ever seen. Even though it's aged some since then, it's still great.

Extreme Pinball (PC) -- Essentially a 4-table stand-alone retail game using the Epic Pinball engine. I liked the original better, for some reason... this is still worth picking up, though.

Pro Pinball series -- Unparallelled realism. One table per game, and there were four installments. Best by far on PC, but there were console versions of some. Get these games if you like pinball. The four tables were The Web, Timeshock!, Big Race USA, and Fantastic Journey.

Oh, and you mentioned it, but my favorite console pinball game is Kirby's Pinball Land. Awesome, awesome game...I played a lot of that game. :)

Also, Pinball Quest for the NES is kind of interesting and unique, for sure.

[josekortez]

I believe there is already a thread about the best pinball games in the Classic Discussions forum, but I don't know how to link to it from here.

[Jorpho]

Pinball of the Dead (PC?)That's GBA only. I've been meaning to check it out for a long time.

Balls of Steel is brazenly unrealistic, but it's good fun.

There's an article on HG101 raving about Crush Pinball:
http://www.hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/crushpinball/crushpinball.htm

Other articles from the same site include Super Pinball and the aforementioned Pinball Quest.
http://www.hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/superpinball/superpinball.htm
http://www.hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/pinballquest/pinballquest.htm

And if you're utterly infatuated with the Windows Pinball game, you should know that it is but one of the three tables included in Maxis' Full Tilt Pinball. (The other two tables are rather better, actually, though the engine still has its limitations.)

[cityside75]

The Pinball Hall of Fame games are fun, I have Williams Edition on the Wii and it has some great tables on it.

[DigitalSpace]

I now have a pretty big sub-collection of pinball video games - 45 as of this post, and there's a list of what I have here (http://www.freewebs.com/jkwh/pinballvglist.html) (the most recent acquisition was Dream Pinball 3D on the DS). I have a goal to hit 50 at some point. One of these days, when I have more room, I'm hoping to own an actual pinball table or two.

(The pinball collection is also the only reason stinkers such as KISS Pinball on the PS1 and Pinball Tycoon on the GBA are still in my collection.)

If someone asked me to pick one favorite for each system I own a pinball title for, here's what I'd go with:

2600: Video Pinball (Wasn't a tough decision as it's the only 2600 pinball game I own - I'm still looking for Midnight Magic)
NES: Pinball
Genesis: Virtual Pinball
SNES: Super Pinball: Behind the Mask
PlayStation: True Pinball
PS2: Flipnic: Ultimate Pinball
Game Boy: Kirby's Pinball Land
Game Gear: Sonic Spinball (the only GG title in the collection)
GBC: Pokemon Pinball
GBA: The Pinball of the Dead
DS: Metroid Prime Pinball

A few other titles I highly recommend hunting down:

-Crue Ball (Genesis)
-Power Rangers Zeo Full Tilt Battle Pinball (PS1)
-Pro Pinball series (PS1) - there's also a Pro Pinball compilation on the Dreamcast that wasn't released in the US. IIRC, all four tables from the PS1 games are included.
-3D Ultra Pinball: Thrillride (GBC)
-Little Mermaid II: Pinball Frenzy (GBC) - I kid you not. Uses the same engine as 3D Ultra Pinball and is just as fun.
-Hardcore Pinball (GBA)
-Muppet Pinball Mayhem (GBA) - Probably the best game ever published by NewKidCo.
-Dream Pinball 3D (DS)

[Mimi Nakamura]

Devil Crash (Mega Drive / PC Engine)

[Ro-J]

Video Pinball (2600) is my all-time favorite pinball game, but only for nostalgia reasons. If I didn't play it to death as a kid I probably wouldn't think much of it.

I didn't see Odama (Gamecube). I rather enjoyed that game although I could only play it when NO ONE was around. Yelling into the microphone made me too self conscious.

[Steve W]

Dragon's Fury on the Genesis is pretty good. Alien Crush and Devil Crush on the TurboGrafx-16 are supposed to be fantastic (and related to Dragon's Fury, apparently) although I've only played Alien Crush. Ruiner Pinball on the Jaguar was a great one, I thought. I loaned out my copy of Flipnic on the PS2 before I ever got a chance to play it, and still haven't gotten it back yet. It's supposed to be a good one too.

[StakeRaiser]

I enjoy Rock N Ball and Rollerball on NES

[otaku]

I'm loving the updated version of alien crush on wii

[Leo_A]

Pinball Hall of Fame: The William's Collection on the Nintendo Wii is easily the best video pinball title to date (At least until the expanded hd version is released for the 360 and PS3).

[bucky]

I was always a fan of Pinball Dreams for the Amiga.
There were some other titles in the series, like Pinball Fantasies and Illusions, but I never got to play them.

[Tron 2.0]

TG16
Alien Crush
Devil Crush

Sega Saturn
Digital Pinball Last Gladiators
Necronomicon

Tops in my book at least.

[Billy Sastard]

Dragon's Revenge and Dragon's Fury for the Sega Genesis are a ton of fun.

[norkusa]

Akira Psycho Ball for PS2 is one of my favorite console pins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VnS2mNvPlA

And if you don't have the Visual Pinball emulator on your PC yet, install it ASAP.

[Haoie]

Can anything beat the pure coolness of Space Cadet?!

[j_factor]

Time Cruise (tg16) isn't as well-known, but is every bit as good as the Crush series IMO.

[darkwingduck13]

I'm a big fan of this genre. My favorites, in no particular order:

Dragon's Fury - Sega Genesis
Dragon's Revenge - Sega Genesis
Extreme Pinball - PC
Adventure Pinball - PC, built on the Unreal Engine...never gets any respect. :(
Necronomicon - Saturn, JP release only
Last Gladiators Digital Pinball - Saturn, same dev company as Necronomicon
Psycho Pinball - Sega Genesis, EU release
Pinball of the Dead - GBA
Behind the Mask - SNES

These are just my cream of the crop...god knows there are many many more out there, and likely a lot of good ones that I still haven't managed to get my hands on. :)


I went back and re-read the original pinball genre thread, and it might be worth noting here that Pure Pinball for the PC was recently released on Good Old Games' website: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/pure_pinball_2

[Sabz5150]

Crue Ball (Genesis)

[crazyjackcsa]

Sonic Spinball.

[acem77]

Mile High Pinball on N-GAGE is really good.

Jaki Crush on sfc is part of the very good crush series

[Howie6925]

Zen pinball for PS3(DLC) is actually damn cool.

[tom]

Mile High Pinball on N-GAGE is really good.



Yes indeed

also good: Pinball Prelude (CD32, PC)
Pinball Jam (Lynx)

[Johnny Pow!]

Pinball Hall of Fame: The William's Collection on the Nintendo Wii is easily the best video pinball title to date (At least until the expanded hd version is released for the 360 and PS3).
...Or until they release a Bally collection with Flash Gordon and 8-ball Deluxe.

[Jorpho]

I think I'll put this here:

Remember Pro Pinball? The devs are attempting to rev things back up again and have started a Kickstarter. They're already giving away one of their tables, and for two bucks you can get two of the others! I'm a little surprised it isn't proving to be more popular.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1790321238/pro-pinball-revived-and-remastered

[A.C. Sativa]

The Pinball Hall of Fame games are fun, I have Williams Edition on the Wii and it has some great tables on it.

I have that too, only reason I haven't sold my Wii. Putting Gorgar on there instead of High Speed (ported to the NES too, though it kind of sucks) was a mistake, IMO, but whatever...

Family Pinball for the Famicom and Super Pinball: Behind the Mask for the SNES are pretty decent.

[SpaceHarrier]

I had a good time with Sonic Pinball Party (GBA).

[cheesystick]

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned the simply titled "Pinball Arcade" for XB360, PS3, and iOS platforms. A lot of these tables appeared on the Williams Collection, but the physics have been reworked and they seem to have better flow. I have probably put over 50 hours into the tables that have come out so far, Theatre of Magic being my favorite.

I originally bought a few tables on my phone, but I wouldn't really recommend it. You have to "swipe" to nudge or tilt the machine, which isn't very intuitive or accurate. Performing these moves is absolutely essential for high-level play, so I'd recommend a console port that defaults this action to one of the thumb sticks. if you want something on the go, it is hard to beat Pinball of the Dead on a Gameboy Micro.

My favorite aspect of these games is that I have literally improved at playing pinball in real life thanks to playing these virtual tables - NO JOKE! Not only do I understand the rules a lot better, but my practice in timing has translated to real life. Obviously the virtual games are more lenient than the real thing, (real life physics perhaps wouldn't make for a very good game. 45 minute play times are a lot more fun than 5-10 minute playtimes), but you learn tricks that translate on the real tables. These include things like when you can 'live catch' and when you can't, how to avoid flailing, learning about ball momentum and control, and most importantly, learning the arc of the ball so you see a potential drain coming before it even happens. This has allowed me to respond and save a lot more balls in real life than I ever could before. Insert joke here.

Also, the stat tracking is pretty awesome. I was 88th in the world for Tales of Arabian Nights for awhile. Although I have since fallen, it is kinda a cool feeling to know that I am in the top 500 for quite a few tables, so that gives you a little more incentive to improve your score and really brings home the feeling of a true arcade. Every game, eventually, will end, and very few modern games keep me coming back to improve my score.

Highly recommended.

[Atarileaf]

Time Cruise (tg16) isn't as well-known, but is every bit as good as the Crush series IMO.

I was going to mention this one too as it seems to always get buried underneath the "Crush" games. Its a little more obscure but as you said, very fun. I made a video of this a couple of years back so for those who aren't familiar with the game. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx3BwNCDwas

[Koa Zo]

Fantasic Pinball Kyutenkai by Technosoft is one of my favorite digital pinball games.

It is bright and colorful, and there are some fun and wacky bonus stages and boss fights.

It can be found for quite cheap on Saturn and Playstation.

And I believe it must have been made by the same developers from the "Crush" series - the tables and play style is exactly the same, only in a bright colorful royal fantasy world.

[Jorpho]

The Pro Pinball Kickstarter is back, if anyone is interested:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/500643708/pro-pinball-timeshock-the-ultra-edition-0

[lkermel]

Naxat's "Crush" series is a must:

Alien Crush - PC Engine (http://www.videogameden.com/hucard.htm?alc)
Devil's Crash - PC Engine (http://www.videogameden.com/hucard.htm?dec)
Jaki Crush - Super Famicom (http://www.videogameden.com/sfc.htm?jac)

[zakthedodo]

Hardcore Pinball for the GBA.
The Pro Pinball series for the PS1 and I think Dreamcast.

[bb_hood]

Necronomicon Pinball for saturn is my favorite pinball game, the Dreamlands table is excellent. Awesome music by John Petrucci.
Zen Pinball 2 on PS3 is also excellent. The Tesla table is awesome.

[patrick_710]

Devils Crush and Alien Crush are both great pin ball games and are both for the TurboGrafx 16

[Daria]

After reading through this thread I've decided that at some point I'd really like to add Dragons Fury and Dragons revenge to my Genesis collection.

[Mr Mort]

After reading through this thread I've decided that at some point I'd really like to add Dragons Fury and Dragons revenge to my Genesis collection.

Devil's Crush isy all-time favorite video pinball game, and Dragon's Fury is a good port of it, and a good game in its own right, in would definitely recommend it.

I've recently discovered Pinball Arcade and have been really enjoying it on the Vita and PS3. Being finally able to play Bride of Pinbot is awesome. They physics in that series is amazing, and I really like playing the classic tables.

I also really like Last Gladiators on the Saturn. It runs in the Saturn's hi-res mode, has good physics, awesome music, and fun tables.

[Neb6]

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection - PlayStation 2

Pinball Dreams (the Amiga implementation is the smoothest). Same for
Pinball Fantasies
Pinball Illusions

[AdamAnt316]

I'm surprised that no one in this thread mentioned Atari's dedicated console version (http://www.atarihq.com/dedicated/videopinball.php) of Video Pinball, released shortly before the VCS hit. Plays better than the later VCS cartridge (which always had issues with glitchy flippers, for some reason), and having the flipper buttons on the sides of the console adds immensely to the game, IMO. Also offers basketball and Breakout games, depending on the console version.

As far as other pinball games go, NES Pinball and Midnight Magic are fun (can't forget Pinball Construction Set for the C=64 and such). I had a lot of fun playing Epic Pinball on my old DOS machines. Microsoft Pinball Arcade was another fun PC pinball game, with fairly accurate renditions of seven Gottlieb tables. For newer consoles, PBHoF: Williams Collection is great, though the PS2 version has some glitches.
-Adam

[bigbacon]

Epic pinball on the PC

[AdamAnt316]

Rediscovered another of the early computer pinball classics today, in Night Mission (played it on the Apple //, but was also released for the Commodore 64, IIRC). The flippers were a bit odd (at least when played from the keyboard), but I still managed to rack up a decent amount of points, and the 'insert quarter' button is a nice touch. :)
-Adam

[Iron Draggon]

Gundam Battle Pinball
Super Pinball 2

Both are SFC exclusives, and pretty hard to find, but well worth buying. Easily played on SNES with a Honeybee converter. Battle Pinball is by far the better of the two, but if you're a fan of Super Pinball, you absolutely must play the sequel, if only for the 3 new tables.

[Tanooki]

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection - PlayStation 2

Pinball Dreams (the Amiga implementation is the smoothest). Same for
Pinball Fantasies
Pinball Illusions

I'm throwing my vote in on this too. I'm sad that this topic is from 2009 and it took this long for it to get appreciated. There is a solid conversion of both (2 in 1 cart) of Dreams and Fantasies into a GBA cart only the UK annoyingly got called Pinball Challenge Deluxe which I imported. Also annoying is that the Ubisoft clowns cheaped out not including a battery for scores, the game saves them, and will on an emulator or flash cart.

[jammajup]

The crush games and Psycho pinball are the first that spring to mind,to be honest it would be easier to ask if there any bad pinball games as i have enjoyed most of the ones i have played.Sonic spinball was average and probably on parr with video pinball on the Atari 2600

[gameofyou]

Necronomicon on Sega Saturn is by far my favorite pinball game.

[supaevil]

Galactic pinball for the virtual boy best game on the system best pinball game of all time!

[Buyatari]

There is a Worms Pinball for Dreamcast which was unreleased. Not sure if the ROM is out there but there were at least 2 different builds.

[Jorpho]

Worms Pinball was also released for the PC. You can even buy it on Steam. (And yes, I'm pretty sure this is the same game from 10+ years ago.)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/70660/

[o.pwuaioc]

Can anything beat the pure coolness of Space Cadet?!

I played more Space Cadet than real pinball machines. This is definitely my favorite pinball game. Oddly enough, I didn't realize it was so prevalent. I played it to do death on Windows 98 (which wasn't a pre-packaged game on it), but don't remember it being pre-packaged with my XP machines, so I was surprised to see others have played it, too.

[M.Buster2184]

My childhood favorite, Super Pinball: Behind the Mask for SNES.

[Prince]

Pokemon Pinball definetly, I can remember playing that game like it was just yesterday, pop that triple A battery in the cartridge and have a blast!

[Tanooki]

Pokemon Pinball put on the GBA was solid too, but I had all my time on the GBC one.

While not oldschool video pinball really and it's also a limited port since it can't have added tables, but Pinball Arcade which is on all those tablets and console downloads also hit the 3DS and I think its small run deserves a nod. Not many tables sure, but what it does have are some very solid machines and it's unique there. The game has a very solid use of the systems 3D capabilities and adds this badass depth to the tables that make them feel just a little bit more like you're on the real hardware because you can really see that ball pass around all the depth of the table as it gives it more life.

And on that, T2 the Pinball machine recently added to Pinball Arcade is amazing. I played the crap out of it when I was in college as my school then was very new and only a few buildings at the time, so they had this little arcade with that machine in there too to keep people busy between classes and did it ever.

[Neb6]

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned the simply titled "Pinball Arcade" for XB360, PS3, and iOS platforms. A lot of these tables appeared on the Williams Collection, but the physics have been reworked and they seem to have better flow. I have probably put over 50 hours into the tables that have come out so far, Theatre of Magic being my favorite.
Highly recommended.

Is it just me or is Pinball Arcade super hard to find? I'd like to get this on disc for the XBOX 360 but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Their website says something about "Free download". Not sure is that's a demo or what.

http://www.pinballarcade.com/

[Lady Jaye]

It's download only (similar to the XBLA Arcade) and I believe you must pay to unlock tables. Its advantage is that there are also tables by Bally and Stern. If you absolutely want it on disc for the Xbox 360, it goes by the name of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (for the original Xbox) and Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. Personally, I prefer the Williams edition.

[Neb6]

It's download only (similar to the XBLA Arcade) and I believe you must pay to unlock tables. Its advantage is that there are also tables by Bally and Stern. If you absolutely want it on disc for the Xbox 360, it goes by the name of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (for the original Xbox) and Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. Personally, I prefer the Williams edition.

Thanks!

I tried the link to the XBOX 360 download but it appears to be broken. Do you know of any purchase links that are currently working? I have the Gottlieb disc, but it sure would be nice to get the Stern and Bally tables.

[Lady Jaye]

According to Wikipedia:


Crave Entertainment, the publisher for the Xbox 360 version of The Pinball Arcade, filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and FarSight Studios has been unable to ship new tables for the Xbox 360 since then as they fight in court for the return of the publishing rights. Microsoft terminated Crave's publishing license after the company emerged from bankruptcy, forcing The Pinball Arcade to be removed from the Xbox Live Marketplace. In July 2013, Microsoft announced a revision to its publishing policy for independent developers, which will allow FarSight Studios to self-publish the game on the Xbox Live Marketplace. FarSight plans on re-releasing the front-end software and all table packs as soon as the new policy takes effect in August 2013

Well, it's still not there.

[maxren]

Little Mermaid Pinball for GBC is pretty good too!