GOTD 5/21/2016: Ruiner Pinball (Jaguar)

[celerystalker]

Ruiner Pinball for the Atari Jaguar is one of two pinball games on the Jaguar (the other being Pinball Fantasies), but it's not just a good pinball game for the system; it's a high-quality pinball game for any system. Offering two tables, Ruiner and The Tower, it uses quality physics and pairs that with the strength of the video game medium to create an experience that feels like pinball, but wouldn't be possible in a real machine.

Ruiner, the first table, employs a World War II nuclear war theme. With some flippers shaped like missiles, war bond mock ads, tanks, planes, and more, it really gets its aesthetic across clearly. Aside from your traditional pinball bumpers and kickouts, it also has enemy planes that fly by in formation, a tank that can be activated, and perhaps coolest, a double wide table whose right side can be accessed by hitting a track. There are tons of cool scoring opportunities, whether knocking down panels, destroying plane formations, or spelling out words, there are lots of goals to shoot for, and scores can easily reach the hundreds of millions. It's a nifty table theme with campy pinups and tough obstacles, and it plays fast to boot.

The Tower has a dark fantasy theme, with a dark elf sorceress at its center. This table is several screens high, and would likely be about two tables long in real life. Covered with skulls, monsters, and spikes, its greens and purples make it a light-hearted take on a hellish world. Big scores can be earned by opening the multi-ball at the top screen accessed by a "portal" represented by a ramp, and bats and other crearures occasionally swarm the screen. It's a very colorful table, and its bloody swords, drawbridges, and tortured creatures give it more of a ten-year-old's take on a cool halloween, and it works together pretty well.

Both tables in Ruiner are good plays, and both allow a button tap to shake the table, but be careful not to tilt. They can take a bit to get used to with their zoomed-in view and fast scrolling, but once you get a feel for it, it makes for a fun, fast play that compares favorably to Naxat's Crush games in looks and table designs. It also uses some nifty scaling at times, zooming out for multi-ball and other events, and in good video (I run s-video) it looks outstanding. The music is fitting, but I wouldn't pay just to hear it.

Ruiner is a top flight pin for the Jaguar, and once I got a feel for it, it became a regular part of the rotation when I get in that Jaguar mood. For me, it holds up great next to other video pinball games, offering a great mix of style and strategic play.

Played it?

[JeremiahJT]

I am not a huge video game pinball fan, but I have played Pinball Fantasies a whole lot more than I have played Ruiner Pinball. From my time spent on Jaguar forums I think I am in the minority on that one though.

[Steve W]

I've always liked Ruiner Pinball. I don't own Pinball Fantasies (one of the few non-sports Jag games I never bought back in the day) so I can't compare them. I liked Ruiner because it's a little more forgiving than traditional pinball, it's got good graphics and a decent amount of depth along with great audio. As far as game console pinball titles, it'd have to be right behind Devil's Crush and Alien Crush on the Turbo.

[celerystalker]

I am not a huge video game pinball fan, but I have played Pinball Fantasies a whole lot more than I have played Ruiner Pinball. From my time spent on Jaguar forums I think I am in the minority on that one though.

I think Pinball Fantasies probably has slightly better ball physics, but I like the bigger, crazier tables and their themes in Ruiner better. I also like the scaling effects Ruiner uses, as the Jaguar handles that stuff great... I'dve been really interested to see something like Art of Fighting running on the Jaguar, as it does scaling really well. I mean, the controller wouldn't be great, but I bet it could handle a lot of the graphics of an SNK fighter like that pretty gracefully. Ruiner uses them to make things seem even more in motion than they are, which adds to the fast feel for me.