Give you points I will. - Yoda
When I am not playing MMO's, I enjoy spending time with some old arcade games. I am lucky enough to have a wife that allows a small arcade in our home. Although Pinball has fallen out of fashion these days, I still find them very fun. There is really nothing like them. The first game I bought was Star Wars Pinball by Data East.
I am a Star Wars fan, but not an uber-fan. However I have always enjoyed anything Star Wars related. In my younger days, when arcades were still around, I was not a big pinball fan. I did have to play Star Wars pinball whenever I saw it though. I didn't appreciate the nuances of pinball at the time, so I was more interested in the theme, sound and lights.
The artwork on this pinball is just fantastic. It was made in 1992, so it follows the original trilogy. There are a lot of little details and most everything in the Star Wars universe is represented. Sometimes, I will just look at the artwork and not even play. Brings back the memories of what made Star Wars a great movie.
Also amazing are the sound clips and the lights. I'm not 100% sure if they have the actual cast doing the voice clips, but I can't tell the difference. Classic quotes include: Luke: "Noooooooooooo" on a ball drain and Darth: "You have failed me for the last time." There are many pinball ones, like the Yoda quote at the beginning. The music from the movie is here, but a little bit different (digitized perhaps?) It fits in very well though.
Gameplay wise, Star Wars is not considered one of the top pinballs. It is rather simple due to the importance of the middle ramp shot. That is alright by me, as I am by no means good at pinball. One thing I never knew about pinball until I owned one was how deep the rulesets actually are. As a kid, it was just hitting the ball and hoping something happened. Now I realize there are strategies involved. The best part of the game has to be the spinning Death Star. At certain times, a door opens. When you hit a ball into the Death Star you see a nice dot animation of them getting ready to fire (like in the movie). However, when they do it explodes. This starts a 3 ball multiball. Lots of great lighting, sound and fun.
Star Wars Pinball will probably always remain in my collection. It isn't the highest rated game, but is fun to play none the less. Someday, maybe pinball's will be considered fine art... ok maybe not.
5 comments:
I used to love pinball and I really do remember playing the Star Wars version. Nice piece of kit.
It's probably the number 2 most asked for game here in the UK after the Addams Family. Need the back legs up on a pile of books though to make the ramp shot a bit harder :o)
@skar: Thanks!
@Pinball: A pinball blog, nice... I'll have to drop by.
Addams family is nice too, although not in my collection or on my list to get. I have a new pin coming next week (as a hint, it also starts with Star) :) Will be replacing a TX Sector.
Damm I remember the Adams family one. I hope people realise, that this not an indication of how much time I spent in the arcades as a young man.
That my friend is pretty freakin' awesome! I bet thats a blast to play every now and a gain. I'm glad I stumbled upon your site.
Cheers!
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