Stern Pinball has unveiled a brand new pinball machine, a variation of one of its most popular, for a very special anniversary. The greyscale Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition Pinball Machine features brand new ar?twork, content, and a way to enjoy the franchise like never before.

As the name suggests, the Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition Pinball Machine celebrates the 70th anniversary of the king of movie monsters. The first movie premiered in Nagoya in October 1954, and w?e still adore it all these years ??later. This pinball machine is a tour of Godzilla's greatest stories and battles, allowing you to jump in and find enemies you might be familiar with, others you might not be, and dozens of nods to every major entry. in the franchise.

Remembered as it was born

As you can see in the trailer, the Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition Pinball Machine takes everything from the full-color version and wi?pes that color out. Godzilla was born in black and white, and this pinball machine is an homage to that original vision that captivated audiences.

The machine is available at the same price as the premium color table, $9,699, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Stern Pinball has also confirmed that this machine will be in production for as long as there is demand, with no end in s?ight as long as there are buyers.

Finally, Stern Pinball is launching a new Godzilla Challenge Mode alongside the Godzilla 70th Anniversary Edition Pinball Machine. This challenge mode can be played by those with the greyscale and color machines, so no matter how you're celebrating Godzi??lla, you can push your skills further.

I adore Godzilla, and I have only recently watched the latest movies in which the Kaiju battles against and then with Kong. Despite being a hulking, great mutated dragon with breath that could turn several cities into glass at once, there's something intoxicating about Godzilla that makes us want to watch and even root for the thing that could well destroy us. That is unless you're watching Shin Godzilla.

Some truly iconic pinball machines are out there, but few produced today are as iconic as Godzilla. Sure, it's fun to play around with a John Wick or Jaws pinball ?machine for a laugh, but Godzilla is part ??of the woodwork when it comes to sci-fi and monster movies.

Celebrating that with your own pinball machine, or just with one in an arcade, makes the franchise tangible and enhances the already pretty thrilling experience of every round on a pinball table. There's something about the physicality of a table that brings the creature to life far more than its various video game crossovers and releases.

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Atari has both announced and released the 1997 classic-ish, Balls of Steel onto Steam today. The port was handled by Big Boat ??Interactive.

So, I have bad news. The Duke Nukem table appears to have been removed. I’ll get to that. However, in its place, there is the spin-off table (Devil’s Island) and two brand new tables based on Missile Command and Centipede. Not a bad deal.

Balls of Steel was developed by Wildfire Studios (with help from Apogee/3D Realms/The Pinball Wizard) and published by GT Interactive in 1997. If we track the lineage, GT Interactive was acquired by Infogrames in 1999, which later became the modern-day Atari. That would be why it’s Atari releasing a re??master of it. That is, assuming everyone has the rights ownership figured out.

As for why the Duke Nukem table was removed, that property is now owned by Gearbox in a “worst timeline�kind of situation. It does feel weird for the character to not be in it. I’m pretty sure it was named Balls of Steel because of him and the fact that pinball tables feat??uring his visage appeared throughout Duke Nukem 3D.

I never played Balls of Steel, but I wanted to back in my youth. I wanted to play anything with Duke Nukem in it. ?It got some pretty decent reviews, but whether or not it’s worth playi??ng now is going to depend on your tolerance for �0s Windows pinball games.

The port is fine. Big Boat Interactive previously did the Battlezone remasters, which were fantastic. This is a bit more bare-bones. You start in a launcher, and each table seems to be its own executable. What kind of bothers me is that they disable??d “scrolling mode,�which would zoom in on the table. Instead, your only option is viewing the whole field and the marquee right next to each other, and this results in the table itself being crammed into the left side of the display. Depending on your monitor size, it's still easily legible, but its placement gives me anxiety, and there doesn’t seem to be an option to change it.

The new Atari tables display differently, being directly in the middle? and having a background that looks like it’s in an arca??de. I wish they did that for all the tables.

Balls of Steel is available now on PC via Steam.

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'Pin-Poké-Ball' didn't have the same pizzazz

The Pokémon franchise is no stranger to excellent spinoffs. Between the lauded Mystery Dungeon crossovers, the well-regarded (if seldom played) Pokkén Tournament, and, of course, the cultural juggernaut that is Pokémon GO, there's been a Pokémon game for just about every genre imaginable. Once upon a time, there were even two excellent Pokémon pinball games.

The original Pokémon Pinball is something of an oddity, even when viewed amid the eclectic Game Boy Color library. Released three years after the first Pokémon generation in Japan, and just a few months before Pokémon Yellow arrived in North America, the game was little more than two digital pinball tables with Pokémon them?ing.?? The two tables were "Red" and "Blue," and they were excellent.

Gotta catch 'em all!

The most unique element of Pokémon Pinball is its catching mechanic. The eponymous pinball is, of course, a Pokéball, so it figures that yo?u'd be able to catch Pokémon with it. To do this, you carry out a couple of archaic bumper-bouncing rituals to make a Pokémon spawn in the center of the table, then you bonk that Pokémon in the head a couple of times to catch it.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEdGJvcs2Y8&t=533s[/embed?]

It's not all that revolutionary �target-hitting goals in pinball machines are about as common as little silver balls �but it does wring some interesting digital charm out of a genre known for its tactility. When you catch a Pokémon, for ?instance, it's added to your Pokédex, whic?h helps the player maintain a bit of a personal bond with their personal cartridges. As they say, you've gotta catch 'em all.

Pokémon Pinball finds a few other novel ideas in its Pokémon theming; certain Pokémon, for instance, can only be captured in specific areas, and your area is randomly selected at the start of a game. You can also trigger a totally different target-hitting minigame to evolve your Pokémon and further flesh out that Pokédex. It's full of charming concepts like this that make it feel less like a pinball machine in your pocket and more like a complete Pokémon game... that happens to also be?? a pinball machi?ne in your pocket.

A sequel, kinda

A few years after Pokémon Pinball had come and gone, it received a sequel for the Game Boy Advance. Well, okay, it was a sequel in the same way Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were sequels to Pokémon Red and Blue. Fittingly, the game was called Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poa??Hka?wBCag[/embed]

The tables in Ruby and Sapphire are nearly identical to those found in the original game. Pokémon from later generations have been sprinkled about, and spaces that were previously occupied by static obstacles now feature more involved mechanical additions like a hatchery and a PokéMart offering small upgrades. The table is now a single scrolling screen rather than two distinct screens, and the physics engine and graphical quality have received a loving touch-up. In most respects, it is simply Pokémon Pinball but better.

One area where Ruby and Sapphire sets itself apart from the original game is in its bonus stages. The original Pokémon Pinball has bonus stages, where the ball is sent to a mini-table to achieve some simple goals, but they're all fairly boring (Serebii has a great list outlining them if you're truly curious). Ruby and Sapphire's bonus stages are leagues better, allowing you to play pinball-basketball with Spheals or hunt down an invisible Kecleon. These bonus stages hint at a rich iterative history to come for Pokémon Pinball, a franchise rich w??ith potential to reimagine? Pokémon in new and interesting contexts.

And then, nothing.

Unfortunately, since Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire's 2003 release, the franchise has been entirely dormant. I'm inclined to chalk this up to the death of the handheld game, a concept I've lamented in the past. Pokémon Pinball is not the kind of game you sit down with for hours at a time. It doesn't look like much on a big screen, and its simplification of the "gotta catch 'em all" philosophy doesn't translate to home gaming quite as well as the genuine article. But if you have a Game Boy Color or a Game Boy Advance with a Pokémon Pinball game loaded onto it, you'r??e guaranteed a couple of damn good hours.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-KAU3bK1Y8

Even without a dedicated handheld to call home, I'd love to see Pokémon Pinball return one of these days. This year marks Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire's 20th anniversary, and digital pinball technology has come a long way in the last two decades. I genuine??ly want to see the series make a comeback of some kind, even if that just means giving the same tables one more chance as DLC for one of the various pinball games on the Nintendo Switch. Hell, I'd be overjoyed to see either game on Nintendo Switch Onlin??e �at the time of writing, neither has been confirmed for the Game Boy or Game Boy Advance lines.

What I really want, though, is a brand new Pokémon Pinball game. For the last few years, Pokémon Pinball developer Jupiter Corporation has been near-exclusively developing games for the Picross series, and I don't think anyone would be too terribly upset if they took some time off from that noble endeavor. So hey, why not bring back Pokémon Pinball? Right after you bring back Pokémon Sleep.

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1966 - 2022

On January 21, 2022, the pinball community was rocked by the sudden and tragic news that Lyman F. Sheats Jr., prolific game designer and one of the single?? greatest pinball players of all time, had passed away at the age of 55.

Lyman Sheats has been something of a major celebrity within the community for decades, known to pinball players the world over as one of the greatest ever to take up the challenge of the silver ball. Sheats began his professional pinball career in 1993, working at Data East, where he was responsible for the design and coding of arguably the studio's best pinball releases, including Guns n' Roses, The Who's Tommy, and WWF Royal Rumble.

Here's?? a famous clip of Sheats on The Today Show, holding his cool against a dismissive Bryant Gumbel.

//youtu.be/6rBxIJPe8VY

Having quickly established himself as a developer who understood the mechanics of making a truly standout pinball machine, Sheats would move on to industry giant Williams in 1995, coding iconic releases including Attack from Mars, Revenge from Mars, Monster Bash and �one of the most popular games of all time �Medieval Madness.?? Sheats would remain with Williams until the closure of its pinball division in the fall of 1999.

In the mid-'00s, Sheats took a role with what was then the last bastion of pinball manufacture in the U.S.: Stern Electronics. Sheats coded lucratively licensed games such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, James Cameron's Avatar, Metallica, AC/DC, and Elvira's House of Horror, working alongside fellow industry legends George Gomez and Steve Ritchie. More recently, Sheats was asked to update the rulesets of games Batman '66 and The Walking Dead �boosting the gamepla?y and longevity of both titles after collectors found themselves a littl??e wanting.

Away from the office, Sheats is renowned as one of the greatest pinball players of all time, having been a three-time champion of the Professional & Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA), a former European Pinball Ch??ampion, and fre?quently placing highly, or outright winning, numerous independent tournaments and challenges on both the national and international stage.

//twitter.com/sternpinballinc/status/14845920687690752??17?s=20

Lyman F. Sheats Jr's contribution to the pinball world, whether stood at the flippers or sat? behind a design desk, cannot be overstated. The pinball community has lost a true legend �icon �of the game.

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I'm still hoping for a sequel to this charming pinball-meets-metroidvania game

I'll take any chance I can get to nudge folks toward Yoku's Island Express, a warm hug of a platforming adventure game that's a mix o??f metroidvania exploration and springy pinball mechanics. The PC version is free on the Epic Games Store until Sep??tember 9, 2021.

//youtu.be/sMgHGxYOUek

I try to always include a relevant trailer in these Epic Games Store freebie posts, and some are far less useful than others �but really now, watch this one. It'll tell you everything you need to know about Yoku on a functional a?nd vibe le?vel without oversharing.

Yoku's Island Express has been out for a few years now, across the major PC and console platforms, and really, it's fantastic. Whi??le I know plenty of Destructoid readers have played and loved it, I can't shake the fe??eling that it deserves an even bigger audience.

If you're on the fence about a not-exactly-pinball video game, I feel like this game th??reads the needle pretty well. I think people who could take or l??eave pinball, as well as all-out pinball nuts, can enjoy it. More than anything, it's a charming, vibrant world to settle into.

Coinciding with the Epic Store giveaway, Yoku's Island Express also has an experimental new Randomize mode with shuffled traversal ability unlocks. It's seemingly only on Steam for now, and Villa Gor??illa warns that "NPC dialog is unchanged and?? might refer to items you’ve not received," so "finishing the main game first is strongly recommended."

This is the only free Epic Games Store title this week. Next time, from September 9�6, it'll be Sheltered, a family surviva?l sim in ??the nuclear post-apocalypse.

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Multi-ball combos coming to an Apple device near you

If you've been paying attention as of late, you might notice that Apple Arcade has been on something of a roll. Following its massive dump of new titles back in April, the service has seen several high-profile games released or announced, including Monster Hunter Stories+, Tetris Beat, Layton's Mystery Journey+, and Fantasian Part 2. Today brought the announcement of yet another huge get for the subscription service when Zen Studios revealed Apple Arcade will be getting its own exclusive Zen Pinball title.

Zen Pinball Party will release for the?? service "soon" with 12 tables available on day one and more sch??eduled to arrive over time. Some of the big-name tables you can expect to see at launch include "Williams' Theater of Magic," "Attack from Mars," "My Little Pony," "How to Train Your Dragon," and "Kung Fu Panda."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbv2YqX3ixQ

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp2dRMES3uI

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr0WiAlMQLo

That looks to me to be a fine initial batch of tables. In addition to the standard single-player mode, Apple Arcade's Zen Pinball Party will support a local multiplayer mode called Hotseat, online tournaments, and seasonal events with prizes you can use to "further customize your play experience." All in all, it sounds like another great addition to a service that has been adding some darn good games over the past several weeks. If you're still holding onto that free first month, now may be a good time to use it, especially with the second half of Fantasian launching soon.

Zen Pinball Party can be reserved right now on Apple Arcade to download when it's made available. You may also want to check out Zookeeper World while you're there because it looks amazing.

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EXTRA BAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOW!

I dig pinball. Do y'all know this? I don't know if y'all know this, but I do. And I also dig Pinball FX, which has kept digital fans flipping ever since its launch on Xbox 360 way back in 2007. So it's with no small amount of joy I bring you the news that Zen Studios is currently rebuilding its?? pinball simulator for launch on next-gen platforms in 2021.

The new version of Pinball FX will utilize the technology of platforms such as PS5 and Xbox Series X to deliver the flashiest and most visually arresting PFX experience to date. Not only that, but Zen is currently working on a whole host of new gameplay modes and additions, including "Pinball Royale" - a sort of "Last Ball Rolling" affair. A?? new career mode and score-attack challenges await, as do brand new online leagues, limited-time events, and even seasonal content.

Zen will continue to develop original tables based on a selection of pop culture brands, though the studio is keeping these under wraps for now. Additionally, a new video series titled "The Pinball Show" (ingenious), will keep fans up-to-date on all of the latest news in the fast-flipping world of Pinball FX, including upcoming content, contests, and more. You can check out the first episode below, with new episodes arriving each month going forward. Within minutes somebody says "Pinball Wizard," but we'll let th?em off just this once.

While digital pinball and its difficulty in recreating real-world physics remains a polarizing issue among players, I personally have a lot of time for Pinball FX. Not only does the team do a solid job with its real table recreations, but the inventiveness on display with its wholly original creations is quite often something to?? behold. With the power of next-gen platforms in its corner, I don't see this brand tilting anytime soon.

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Featuring NBA Jam, Tournament Edition, and Hangtime

Arcade1Up is showing its new range of 3/4-scale arcade cabinets at CES 2020, and one of them – an online-enabled NBA Jam machine with Tournament Edition and Hangtime – should be a cr?owd-pleaser. It's just one of those classic lightning-in-a-bottle games that people want to hold onto forever.

The NBA Jam arcade cabinet isn't available for pre-order yet, but we have a few promising? details.

The big one: the original team rosters are intact, "minus some players [Arcade1Up] couldn't get [the] rights t??o," according to senior vice president of lice?nsing and business development John Diamonon.

"For NBA Jam vanilla, we currently don't have rights for three players," he added. "For Tournament Edition we have about 90% of the OG roster and Hangtime about 80-85% of the OG roster. It's likely to ship this way with a possibility to update the OG rosters as we cont?inue to attain rights."

The other head-turner: these cabinets have free online multiplayer support for NBA Jam, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, and NBA Hangtime. If that runs reliab?ly, it'll certainly sweeten the pot.

Here's some gameplay footage captured from the CES show floor. Worth noting: ther??e are options for head size, scanlines, computer assistance, sound during game over, drone difficulty, and timer speed.

And here's a close-up shot of the four-player NBA Jam cabinet:

NBA Jam with WIfi Enabled to play online against other people!!!@arcade_1up actually is amazing and I just get so excited for all the?? retro goodness!!

The possibilities of games!!! pic.twitter.com/m2Q9eFSjXJ

— Justin Wong (@JWonggg) January 7, 2020

The ??machine is expected to launch this fall for $399.

Arcade1Up has several other arcade cabinets lined up for the tech-lusting Consumer Electronics Show taking place this week in Las Vegas. There's a new Burger Time cabinet (with Karate Champ, Caveman Ninja, and Bad Dudes), a sit-down Star Wars cabinet, a Frogger cabinet (with Time Pilot), and a Golden Axe cabinet (with Shinobi, Altered Beast, Wrestle War, and Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder).

The company is also teaming up with Zen Studios for a ??line of 3/4-scale digital pinball machines. Accord?ing to IGN, "titles from Bally/Williams" and other "big names" in the space are on the docket.

Arcade1Up Introduces Online-Enabled NBA ??Jam Cabinet, Burger Time Special Edition, 3/4 Scale Pinball Machines an??d More [IGN] [Twitter]

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The Upside Down is calling...

Stern Pinball has revealed the next release in its line of slick pinball machines based on popular film and television franchises, as hit Netflix series Stranger Things prepares to adapt its weird and creepy world for silver b?all shenanigans.

Stranger Things will tell an action-packed tale of the odd happenings around Hawkins, Indiana, as players attempt to get the bottom of several spooky mysteries pulled directly from the successful series. Expect appearances from regular characters such as Mike, Dustin, Joyce, Lucas, Will and Chief Hopper, as well as the mysterious psychic force known only as "Eleven." You can? check out images in the gallery below.

As per usual, Stern is releasing Stranger Things in three formats??: Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition. The Premium model includes a built-in video projector, allowing for images and animations to be displayed directly on the playfield. Also featured are a main ramp that doubles as a video monitor, and a magnetic lock feature to represent Eleven's telekinetic abilities. The Premium model will retail for $7,699.

The Limited Edition model, along with all features listed above, also f?eatures exclusive cabinet art, a mirrored backglass, custom art blades, an autographed bottom arch, anti-reflection playfie??ld glass, and a shaker motor - a classic pinball feature that causes the whole cabinet to "rumble." This LE is limited to only 500 machines globally and will retail for a cool $9,099.

Stranger Things is expected to ship in 2020. For more details you check out Stern Pinball's official site. Incidentally, if you own Elvira's House of Horrors, I'd like to be your best friend.

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Thing on a Spring

Zen Studios has revealed three more classic Williams tables headed to the Pinball FX 3 platform. The Williams Pinball: Vol. 5 pack will include Cirqus Voltaire, No Good Gofers, and Tales of the Arabian Nights, and will launch on all platforms December 10.

Originally released back in 1996, Tales of the Arabian Nights is a lavish fantasy title based upon the One Thousand and One Nights fables. TOTAN's many modes see players battle the Rocs, ride a magic carpet, and even sneak into a harem. The playfield itself features a spinning lamp and a giant Djinn, prepared for a final showdown. TOTAN was one of the games that got me back into?? pinball?, as I was drawn in by its storytelling-style gameplay and lavish artwork.

No Good Gofers, which hit the arcades in 1997, is a more comedic table loosely based on Bill Murray's destructive antics in the movie Caddyshack. Players take on two wisecracking pests, Bud and Buzz, while attempting to achieve a high score out on the links. NGG also features a multi-level playfield and a famously tough "Hole-in-One" shot, wher?e the ball shoots off a ramp and takes to the air, before land?ing snugly in a hole on the upper playfield.

Finally Bally/Williams lit up the scene in 1997 with Cirqus Voltaire, one of the most eye-catching games ever designed. Set in a futuristic circus, charged by a fiendish ringmaster, Cirqus Voltaire used strips of neon? lightin??g to give its playfield an intense glow of greens, pinks and purples. Players rack up points while competing in a series of traditional circus acts including acrobats, a juggler, and the tightrope.

As per usual, all three tables will be available to play in both traditional and "remastered" mode, which adds an array of special effects to each game, including 3D modeled characters, dynamic ball effects and animated action sequences. All three games are a lot of fun and very creative. In my humble opinion, of the Pinball FX Williams packs released so far, this is the most consis??tent in te??rms of quality.

Pinball FX 3 is ?available now on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Ninten?do Switch.

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'EXTRA BAAAAALLLLLOOOOOW!!!'

Zen Studios' Pinball FX3 is the latest video game to reveal some spooky content it has planned for the Halloween season. The upcoming DLC pack will bring two classic Williams' pinball ?machines to the simulator, both based on Universal Studios' classic monster movies.

Monster Bash, released in 1998, is a popular title which sees Universal's Wolfman, Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Bride and The Creature From the Black Lagoon brought together to form a band. Players must use their skill and reflexes to gather each member of the hard-rockin' outfit, before taking to the stage in the titular Monster Bash. In the pinball community, MB is known for its great callouts, fun music and detailed and c?olourful playfield. It remains one of the upper-tier titles in terms of price today.

Creature From the Black Lagoon, released in 1992, is less about the movie itself and focuses more on the Drive-In experience of the 1950s. Using rockabilly music and lingo, along with the kitschy marketing style of B-movies, CFTBL was a big hit on release, thanks also to its 3D hologram gimmick, which would sometimes see the titular mer-creature gl??owing o?ut from the playfield.

As usual, both titles will be presented in classic and remastered form, the latter option will add new special effects and 3D character models to the old-school gameplay. The Williams Pinball: Universal Monster Pack will also feature Zen's recently??-tweaked physics engine.

Williams Pinball: Universal Monster Pack will launch October 29 on PS4, X??box One, PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile devices.

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Third time's a charm

Stern Pinball has released video and images of the next game in the ongoing range of stylish pinball machines. This next release will see a long-awaited return to the pinball world for horror icon and valley-girl vamp Elvira, Mistress of the Dark??.

Elvira's House of Horrors will be the third pinball machine to feature the voluptuous late-night TV host, following on from 1989's Elvira and the Party Monsters and 1996's Scared Stiff. Veteran pinball designers Greg Frenes and Dennis Nordman (the latter of whom designed both of the previous Elvira games)? return to make this Elvira's biggest and best pinball a??dventure yet.

House of Horrors revolves around the gimmick of Elvira trying to sell up her classic mansion, but first needing to cleanse it of the ghosts, ghoulies and monsters that have walked its hallowed halls over her distinguished career. House of Horrors will see the return of classic ?Elvira pinball features such as the ??DeadHeads and Junk in the Trunk, and will include full-motion video of the badass babe herself, with clips and call-outs recorded exclusively for the new title.

As is often the case with modern pinball releases, Elvira's House of Horrors will be available to purchase in several editions. These include a Premium Edition for around $8,000 USD, a Limited Edition - which includes exclusive artwork, a shaker motor??, and a mirrored backglass - for around $10,000 USD, and finally a Signature Edition, which includes hyper-chrome embossing, hand-signed artwork from The Mistress herself, and a swatch of velvet from her iconic sofa. This edition will be limited to only 50 units worldwide and interested parties should "Call for price". Yikes.

I'd still just be happy with an Elvira and the Party Monsters machine, the ownersh??ip of which has eluded me for years...

Elvira's House of Horrors is expected to ship later in 2019.

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Tilt the table, Luke

For a little over a decade now, Zen Studios has been perfecting its craft at making pinball games. Starting with Pinball FX on?? Xbox 360 all the way back in 2007, the studio ??has seemingly not stopped finding ways to adapt different properties into pinball tables. With a release on basically every major platform (including the Wii U) and tons of IPs to work from, Zen Studios has its work cut out for it.

One of the more recognizable releases from the studio has to be Star Wars Pinball. Originally a few small tables as an add-on for Pinball FX2, the DLC has morphed into basically its own game over the years. Zen Studios even released a standalone version of the spin-off on PS3 and Vita in 2013. Combining pinball with one of the most recognizable brands in entertainment history, it was a match made in heaven for fans of Pinball FX.

At long last, the title is finally available on Switch and i??t somehow manages to bring even more new features into the fold. The Force is definitely strong with this one, but let's breakdown exactly what you can expect should you opt into Jedi training on your Switch.

Starting off, Star Wars Pinball on Switch is based on the latest version of Pinball FX3 for Nintendo’s platform. When Zen Studios first brought over its premiere pinball game to the hybrid machine, there were some disappointing performance issues. Thankfully, this new release contains all of the fixes done to get Pinball FX3 running at 60 FPS on the d?evice. You won't even need a day-one patch to see it running smoothly, either (which should be great news for anyone wanting the physical ve??rsion).

As for what this package entails, you'll be getting all 19 Star Wars-themed tables along with a "campaign" mode, an XP-based multiplayer power struggle, and the option to play with vertical orientation. That last part is crucial since it is technically the only console port of the game to feature that. You can get "cabinet mode" on the Steam release of Pinball FX3, but it requires a s??pecial key from Zen Studios. On Swi?tch, it's available with a simple push of the minus button and it even works in docked mode.

Two years after the release of Nintendo's console, I’m still in awe of how smoothly it operates. Starting up a table on your television, removing the console from its dock, tilting the orientation, and resuming play is just so seamless. It's the kind of thing that would have absolutely obliterated my mind as a k??id.

The campaign mode is probably not what you're expecting. You won't be getting any additional story or some table-based recreation of the classic Star Wars plotlines, but more a series of challenges set to specific tables — things like "Earn X sco??re in five minutes" or "Complete X score in under 200 flips." It's pretty basic stuff, but it does g??ive you an incentive to get better at individual tables or improve certain techniques.

As you do improve your scores, you'll earn tokens that can be traded in for upgrades. Much like Pinball FX3 prop??er, you'll find various upgrades that all give you boosts to your score. ??Things like slow-motion and bonus multipliers are available as well as other ways of bolstering your points. If you feel that diminishes the challenge a bit, you can opt to forgo them completely and play a purer version of pinball. A single-player hot-seat mode even offers just as much.

What I was surprised to find is that a few of the tables have mini-games. On the Empire Strikes Back table, you can actually re-enact the famous lightsaber duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. It's a little clunky and obviously a gimmick, but it perfectly captures the vibe t??hat old-school pinball tables used to have. It also looks stellar in vertical mode, with Vader appearing larger than life on a big-screen television.

There's been a lot of care given to specific little details here. John Williams' iconic score is present, all of the sound ef?fects are film accurate, and the visuals do a splendid job of capturing the atmosphere of George Lucas' legendary series. The only real stumble is that the voice actors aren't very good. Maybe it's more that I'm expecting sound-alikes, but it's so hard to hear someone attempting to be Han Solo and missing the mark by a Tatooine mile.

Voice acting isn't what is going to keep drawing you back to Star Wars Pinball, though. If it's not the addictive table design (of which only a few are duds), then it will probably be the interesting multiplayer component. Not some kind of direct head-to-head mode, Zen Studios has i?ncluded what it calls the "Galactic Struggle" as a means of extending replayability. P?layers will select which side of the Force they align with, and then perform a series of score-based challenges to earn favor and XP for their team.

I’m not sure what the full extent of Galactic Struggle is (the player count was incredibly low post-launch), but it could make for a neat tug-of-war that draws you back in every now and then. If that's not your thing, then you'll likely still find that the sheer value proposition of Star Wars Pinball makes it palatable. Retailing for only $29??.99, this is not only a hell of a buy but a cheaper alternative to grabbing all of the tables in?dividually on other platforms.

You don't get cross-compatibility with Pinball FX3 (something that is possible on other platforms), but you also don't need to worry about getting multiple DLC packs. This is a simple, one-time purchase that caters to Star Wars fans with little fuss. As I started out mentioning, Zen Studios has perfected its craft, so why wouldn't you want multiple tables? Almost everything here is really good and even if you hate The Last Jedi, the table is damn fine.

Star Wars may be a bit old hat by now and maybe Zen Studios hasn't really innovated on its formula all that much, but does that ultimately matter? Star Wars Pinball is a great package for Switch owners ??and something I can easily recommend to fans of digital pin??ball.

_{[This impressions piece is based on a retail build of the software provided by the publisher.]}

The post The Force is strong with Star Wars Pinball?? on Swit??ch appeared first on Destructoid.

From Soho down to Brighton...

Retro game publisher Hamster continue to reach out for titles from the NES VS. range for its weekly Arcade Archive releases, as this week's offering sees the return of NES launch title Pinball, now available to download on Nintendo Switch.

Pinball released for the NES and the arcade VS. system in 1983 and is one of the earliest and most rudimentary examples of digital pinball. The playfield is represented by two screens, and players must score points and rack up bonuses whilst keeping the ball in play. Occasionally, the action transitions to a Breakout-style bonus stage, which also features cameos from Nintendo stars Mario and Paul??ine.

While I'm obviously not going to rail on Pinball for its simplicity - it was '83, after all - I'm not sure about including the Nintendo VS. library as filler for the Arcade Archive range, not to mention charging the same eight bucks as it does for Neo Geo releases such as Samurai Shodown II or Metal Slug 3, or arcade titles such as Double Dragon and The Ninja Warriors.

It's been a bit of a lean month for Hamster fans, with only Water Ski, Pinball and VS. Gradius hitting the store, though we did also get the pretty rad XMULTIPLY. Hopefully September will b??ring with it some more exciting titles.

Pinball is available to download now on Nintendo Switch.

The post This week’s Arcade Archives release is NES Pinball for Nintendo Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

Roger Sharpe stood before congress for this?

PC pinball heads can now jump on board the anthro action of the newest entry in the Senran Kagura series, as Marvelous has ported Senran Kagura: Peach Ball onto the Steam ??platform, following up on last month's Nintendo Switch release.

For those of you who have missed this weird little game, Peach Ball mixes all of the action of the silverball with the cheesecake fanservice of the Senran Kagura series, as players must team up with Haruka in order to restore the girls - accidentally transformed into cute furry critters - back to their lovable old selves. You can check out CJ Andriessen's review in the video below.

Senran Kagura: Peach Ball is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC v??ia Stea??m. There is a small discount for the PC edition for the first week of release.

The post Senran Kagura: Peach Ball is now available on PC appeared first on Destructoid.

A look at some of the rarities from this year's show

"So what's California Extreme?" I hear you asking. Simply put, it's a yearly convention where arcade cabinet and pinball ??collectors converge in San Jose to show off their favorite machines. Enthusiasts bring their perfectly maintained arcade cabs from all over the state, then set them to freeplay for the weekend for everyone to examine and enjoy. I like to think of it as something like a classic car show, except there are arcade rarities on display rather than vehicles.

The best part is, even if you don't have any arcade games of your own to display, you can still play all you want for a flat fee. While retro games are the focus, the show's also become known as a great place for showing off new? or upcoming pinball tables. Hundreds of different games are r?epresented, and with so many options there's hardly ever a long wait to play your favorites or try out something bizarre. 

I've attended every convention since 2015, and although there are several games that make appearances every year, the roster changes constantly. You never know what you're going to ??see until you walk through the doors. In no particular order, here a?re a few of the standouts I got to try out at this year's show.

Baby Pac-Man (Bally Midway, 1982)

This is a good one to start with because it combines both the pinball and arcade elements of California Extreme. A sort of sequel to Ms. Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man is a hybrid game which combines a video display on the top screen wit??h a simple pinball game below. It's extremely rare to find a working cabinet because a lot of the parts were custom-tooled for this machine, and the complicat?ed design makes it terribly difficult to maintain.

The player starts on the top screen and plays as the title character, eating dots and making their way through a maze while dodging enemies. However, the maze doesn't initially contain any energizers, so it's impossible for Baby to turn the tables on the ghosts. Players might notice there are more escape tunnels than usual on this particular Pac-Man maze, and that's where this game's greatest innovation kicks in.? 

Whenever Baby leaves the maze via the lower tunnels, the pinball section of the machine will activate and the player will get a chance to earn some powerups for the upper video section by shooting ramps and targets below. Fruit bonuses and energizers must? be earned in the pinball section, and play returns to the top screen whenever the player loses a ball. Fortunately, the maze section goes dormant while you're doing this so you don't have to split your attention between the two screens. 

Unfortunately, these two great tastes don't necessarily taste great together. The pinball section is too simple to be much fun, and the arcade maze is too hard to play without ducking into the pinball section first. Playing Pac-Man and playing pinball are two very different skills, and switching between the two is a little too complicated to be enjoyable. It's been speculated that unauthorized games like this one may have been responsible for Namco yanking Midway's Pac-Man license in the U.S.

Flapping Bird (Custom build, TubeTime, 2019)

Flappy Bird may have only existed since 2013, but it's probably been ported to at least as many platforms as DOOM by now. This unique tabletop machine isn't remarkable so much for the game as how it's played. The unit utilizes vector graphics, a precursor to both pixels and polygons, and it's built from an old military cathode ray tube originally used as a RADAR display during World War II. The very first commercial arcade game, Computer Space, was built using similar limitations. If you're interested in learning more about the machine and how it was built, you can find the creator at Tubetime.us or on Twitter. 

The Grid (Midway, 2001)

This one's a little more modern than most of the machines you'll see at California Extreme, and even though it's been available at every show I've been to it's still one I like to seek out and play a round or two. There probably aren't too many places left in the world where you can find six of the cabinets linked up as you can see in the picture above. The cabinets ?themselves have a triangular footprint and were designed so they could be installed in multiple configurations, including side-by-side or as a circular column of six with screens facing in every direction.

The Grid was created by Midway and holds the distinction of being the company's last arcade release. It's a third-person deathmatch shooter, and seems to take inspiration from Unreal Tournament, Smash T.V. and The Running Man. Despite some cameos from popular Mortal Kombat characters, these machines didn't sell very well, too unwieldy and expensive for most arcade operators. It's a shame, because in an era before reliable internet or split-screen multiplayer, The Grid was one of the best ways to frag your friends (and? it's still pretty entertaining launching man-sized cannonballs across an arena to slam your buddy into a wall). I wouldn't mind seeing a modern update: maybe someone can patch in 94 other players and turn it into a Battle Royale game.

via GIPHY

Criss Cross Pop-Up (Chicago Coin, 1964)

This one has nothing to do with making a video. Part bowling, part Skee-ball, Criss Cross Pop-Up sort of defies description, as it's more of an electro-mechanical amusement than a true pinball table. It's not exactly difficult since there's only?? one button to press, but there's still some skill required to get the high score. That said, it's a lot simpler in execution than most pinball tables and there's more of an element of randomness. 

Pop-Up challenges you to arrange four balls on a 3x3 grid by aiming a single pinball on the lower playfield, which will affect the upper display. The upper playfield actually sits below the pinball section, but it's reflected via a mirror built into the backglass so the player can see what's going on. Getting three balls in a row will earn you some points, and getting more difficult arrangements (such as one ball in each corner, or a diamond shape) will earn more than simpler configurations. You can choose which balls will be launched by waiting for the arrow to point at the proper row and launching the pinball at the target, but you're still up to the mercy of gravity and circumstance as far? as where the balls will land. Part of the strategy is deciding how many of your ten shots you want to use to adjust and try for a more valuable grouping, or whether it might be more productive to leave well enough alone if they're already in position.

I was surprised at how much fun this one was, and my friend and I enjoyed trying to beat each other's high scores. It's never going to happen at this point, but a digital version would be a great fit for the 3DS. That said, it wouldn't be ab?le to emulate the feel of the machine as the pinball hits the backboard, or the rattle as the balls drop into place.

Teeter Torture (Prototype by Exidy, 1982)

Of all the games displayed at California Extreme, this has to be one of the rarest. Teeter Torture was never put into production, and the cabinet above is the only dedicated machine known to exist. Fortunately the ROM has been made freely available, but California Extrem??e offers a rare chance to play on ??something pretty close to the original hardware.

The gameplay looks to be inspired by Space Invaders, as enemies slowly fall from the top of the screen and you can shoot them before they reach the bottom. Simple, right? Well... maybe not. You can only have one bullet on screen at a time and you control the gun's movement with a spinner built into the cabinet, both of which add to the difficulty. Additionally, your gun is balanced on a see-saw, and underneath both sides of the platform there are plungers connec??ted to a barrel full of dynamite. If either side has too much ??weight on it for too long, the dynamite explodes and it's game over. To complicate matters, if you miss any of the approaching enemies they'll attach to whichever side of the teeter-totter they land on, shifting the weight and making it more difficult to balance. 

Teeter Torture relies on a fairly simple concept, but it might have been a little too complicated for arcade-goers in 1982. It probably wouldn't have drawn in a lot of quarters compared to contemporaries like Donkey Kong Jr., Q*Bert, Dig Dug or Joust. But ??it's still entertaining and challenging, and I'm glad the owner is willing to share it with the world.

The Goonies (1986, Konami)

Sorry for the poor picture quality on this one.&n?bsp;

California Extreme features lots of Pinball and arcade machines, but there's a console freeplay area as well. This isn't technically an arcade game, although it did appear on Nintendo Vs. Systems and PlayChoice-10 machines in the U.S. so there's a chance you might have seen it at your local minigolf facility or bowling alley. It's far more likely you're familiar with the sequel, though, since The Goonies II received a worldwide re??lease and was available on the Ni?ntendo Entertainment System

If you've ever played The Goonies II you probably have an idea what to expect from its predecessor: unusually large mice who drop bombs which can be used to open safes, Fratelli brothers to avoid, and some decent platform action. You might be surprised to find that the item collection and adventure game elements aren't present in the first Goonies game, and it's a rather straightforward platformer rather th?an a confusing exploration game. In my humble opinion, the earlier title is a lot more fun. 

This one's hard to find in the U.S. since PlayChoice machines were usually fairly well locked down by Ninte??ndo and few made their way into the hands of private collectors. The Japanese Famicom version plays great though, and someone was nice enough to bring an adapted, late-model NES to play it on.

Black Knight: Sword of Rage (Stern Pinball, 2019)

Black Knight is considered one of the premier pinball tables among aficionados, and its sequel Black Knight 2000 is at least as well regarded. The original 1980 Black Knight was the first table to debut a two-level playfield and an electromagnetic save, both features quickly embraced by the rest of the industry. Its 1989 sequel Black Knight 2000 was one of the last pinball machines programmed by Ed Boon, better known for his work on the Mortal Kombat franchise.

The newest table at the show, Black Knight: Sword of Rage features a physical black knight on the playfield who'll try to block some of your shots with a whirling flail in his right hand and a shield in his left. Sword of Rage also features a full color HD screen inserted below the backglass, something that wasn't possible 30 years ago. Having? waited my turn to play myself I can attest that A.) this table is a lot of fun, and B.) I still suck at pinball.

With this machine, Black Knight becomes one of only a few pinball franchises to complete a trilogy of themed games. All three Black Knight machines were designed by Steve Ritchie, a legend among pinball enthusiasts who's known for the smooth flow of his tables. I'm not an expert but in my opinion it's an excellent machine, and it was pretty cool to be able to see all three Black Knight tables side by side. 

Pac Man and Chomp Chomp (Namco, 1983)

This one's almost as rare as Teeter Torture, but not quite. It's better known by its Japanese name, Pac & Pal, and it was never widely released outside of Japan. The game switches up normal Pac-Man gameplay by adding a rival character who steals point bonuses and drags them back to the ghosts' home before Pac-Man can collect them. Namco considered exporting the game to the U.S. under the name Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp, but the plans were scrapped, most likely because this was right around the time the company decided to pull Bally Midway's distribution rights. A few test uni?ts made their way overseas, but for many years this game remained a Japanese arcade exclusive.

The machine seen above is a homebrew project, sort of a physical answer to the hypothetical question "What if Namco had released this game in the U.S.?" The owner, Brendon Parker, meticulously restored a damaged Ms. Pac-Man cabinet, and created custom artwork based on the concept art and the old Pac-Man Saturday morning cartoon show. He also customized the game's programming, using a modified ROM which changes the sprite from the green monster seen in Pac & Pal to Pac-Man's dog, Chomp Chomp.

Both Baby Pac-Man and Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp share the same problem; Pac-Man is a damn near perfect arcade game, and adding new mechanics to it doesn't make it any more fun. Still, Parker did a fantastic job creating this machine, and it's fascinating to try it out and think about what might have been. If you'd like to know more about Pac & Pal, there's a great retrospective from a few years back at USGamer.

Crazy Otto (General Computer Corporation, 1981)

Another custom machine by Brendon Parker, this one's better known as the precursor to Ms. Pac-Man. It should be clear by now that Namco and Midway were willing to try almost anything to follow up on the success of Pac-Man, but very few of their ideas were working. Changing the fundamental simplicity of Pac-Man just made things worse, but arcade denizens who'??d mastered the mazes were hungry for a f??ollow-up.

A small group of technical students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had recently formed an arcade corporation called General Computer Corporation (GCC). They specialized in "enhancement kits," early ROM hacks which could extend the life of existing arcade machines. (If you've ever played a "Rainbow Edition" of Street Fighter II, you've seen this sort of thing.) Since Pac-Man w??as THE arcade hit of 1981, it only made sense that GCC would ti??nker with the boards and try to improve what they could. 

The result was something GCC called Crazy Otto, a vastly improved version of Pac-Man which added new mazes, monster behavior, and other enhancements. GCC showed their project to Bally Midway, who offered to buy the project and release it as an official follow-up to Pac-Man. Less than a year later, Ms. Pac-Man cabinets running a modified version of GCC's game could be found in arcades coast-to-coast. But very few people have ever heard of Crazy Otto, and Namco aims to keep it that way. 

Fast-forward to 2012. Brendon Parker has been fascinated by Pac-Man ever since the circular hero was the focus of Google's daily doodle back in 2010. He attends California Extreme as an 11-year-old and is blown away by the display of an original Crazy Otto circuit board by a member of GCC. (Even today the original Crazy Otto code is difficult to come by, thanks to a royalty deal between GCC and Pac-Man's parent company Namco.) Parker decides to learn how to reverse-engineer a Ms. Pac-Man machine and teaches himself how to hack the game's data, turning operations on and off one by one until he knows the game inside and out. He also learns how to redraw the game's sprites, changing the ghosts into furry monsters with antennae and the main character into a blue-eyed, long-legged creature which looks more like the cabinet designs. As a final touch he creates new cabinet?? art, emulating the style of the artwork on the original display.

Now 18 years old, Parker has brought a new, Pac-Man themed restoration to California Extreme every year since 2015. He's started a business providing custom graphics for others who share his interest. He was nice enough to pose for the picture above and speak with me for a few minutes during the show, explaining his passion for Pac-Man and the work he's put into preserving some of the lesser-known games in the franchise. If you'd like to know more, there are detailed writeups on each of his projects on his website, Pacificarcades.com.

There were tons more neat arcade machines on display, including a four-player standup cabinet for Super Slam Dunk Touchdown, a brand-new pinball table based on Deadpool, and even a copy of Sega's bizarre live-action hologram game Time Traveller. This list is barely scratching the surface; you can read about some of the other rare games I've seen at the show by clicking here or here.

If you're ever in the bay area during the last weekend of July, it's well worth a trip to the Santa Clara convention center to visit the show. And even if you're not, there's a chance you might be able to find a local version, such as Free Play Florida, ReplayFX in Pittsburgh, or the monthly events held by Ground Kontrol in Portland. If you do make it out, let me know! There's a good chance you'll find something even weirder and cooler if you ??poke around a little.

The post Arcade weirdness abounds at California Extreme appeared first on Destructoid.

How do you think he does it?

XSeed Games has announced that the latest release in its goofy Senran Kagura series, Peach Ball, will be landing on the PC platform in August, following on from ?its recent release on Nintendo Switch.

Peach Ball recounts the baffling escapades of a selection of Senran Kagura girls who are turned into anthropomorphic creatures after dicking about in a myster?ious arcade. The player, armed with the power of pinball, must team up with Haruka in efforts to return our favourite lasses ba??ck to their usual doe-eyed forms. As each girl climbs onto the playfield, you must use your pinball wizardin' skills to rack up the points and restore the roster's humanity.

The PC port will contain all of the content from the Nintendo Switch original (though, to be fair, it's a pretty thin release in and of itself). When not saving your furry friends by batting a steel ball against their faces, players can enjoy the typical Senran Kagura ??side-modes such as the Dressing Room, Diorama mode, and Intimacy mode.

If you'd like to know more about Peach Ball, then check out CJ Andriessen's review right here. Senran Kagura: Peach Ball is available now on Nintendo Swit?ch and launches on PC via Steam August 14.

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Full tilt

The Senran Kagura series is in a bit of a tough spot right now. Kenichiro Takaki, the creator of the franchise, announced in March that he was leaving developer Marvelous, feeling he was being restricted on what kind of content he could show in his games. While he is still attached to the announced Senran Kagura 7even, it's unclear exactly what that game will end up being due to Sony's rece?nt prudish?? ways.

Of course, as I'm sure many have pointed out before, Takaki could just move the game over to Switch. Nintendo has been receiving of the Senran series since its inception. Even something as over the top as Senran Kagura: Peach Ball is welcome on Nintendo hardware, which is great because it might be the best Senran spin-off to date.

Senran Kagura: Peach Ball (Switch [reviewed], PC) 
Developer: Honey∞Parade Games 
Publisher: Xseed Games 
Released July 9, 2019 
MSRP: $39.99

The Senran Kagura series is no stranger to ridiculous plots and eye-popping fan service, two things Peach Ball has in spades. The game is set in the Honey Arcade where Haruka, the puppet master of Hebijo Academy, works part ??time. Unfortunately, the place isn't always busy and in her down time, she likes to do some chemistry. One of her latest concoctions is Beastall, a liquid that turns anyone who touches it into an animal.

As is wont to happen with this series, things go awry during a video game tournament when th??e heterochromatic Ryona mistakes the serum for soap and turns into a dog. She then goes about licking the four other girls there with her, which she probably would have done even if she wasn't sporting dog ears and a tail. Murasaki, Yumi, Yomi, and Asuka soon start turning into animals themselves, leaving it up to you and Haruka to change them back using the power of the Peach Ball. 

It's a totally cheesecake set-up and the developers smartly lean all the way into it. Unlike the last time Honey∞Parade Games got its hands on the franchise, Peach Ball is an always light and a?iry experience. Most of the dialogue of the story mode thick in the cornball sexuality fans expect and the pinball gameplay of the Peach Ball can be exceptionally fun if frustratingly meager.

Senran Kagura: Peach Ball has just two pinball tables: Peach Land and Spooky Shinobi Park. Each table has different themes and backgrounds players can unlock, but nothing to quintessentially change how the table plays. Through all five hours of the cam??paign, it'll just be the same two tables ov??er and over, which can sound monotonous. However, the pinball gameplay has enough features that repeated plays never grows rote, with plenty of bells and whistles to keep each run buzzing with excitement.

Peach Land is the standout of the two tables. The theme park design of it is inviting and its layout is thoughtful and full of character, especially as you begin to learn the tricks of the table. There are teacup bumpers to hit, a Ferris Wheel to activate, a drop ride, and more. A lot of love went into the creation of this table and it shows. There is clearly some love in the design of Spooky Shinobi Park as well, but it's general design is too similar to Peach Land, and its gimmick -- mini-games you can activate when you collect enough coins -- can often be difficult to activate.&n??bsp;

Unlike a regular game of pinball, Peach Ball encourages players to shake the table, using either the Joy-Con motion controls or thumb sticks, and doing so can help player rack up the points. Each table has one of the five girls at the center of it and if you hit them in their special spots -- boobs, butt, taint -- you'll score massive points. One of the best ways to send that score flying is to trap the ball behind the girl, creating a situation where it's always bouncing off her. Bumping the table is one of the ways to make this happen, but you can also do it with a perfect shot. You should know that Peach Ball does not feature true-to-life pinball physics -- they feel tilted in the players favor -- but it nev?er crosses a line to where the game is too easy.

As you play each table, you'll have a growing series of challenges to complete. These are listed to the right of the screen during gameplay and can ask you to score a certa??in number of points, hit the ball into a specific location multiple times, or repeatedly bump the girl with the ball. Score enough points and you'll open the opportunity for a Sexy Challenge. These are pinball mini-games where the object is to hit whatever little toys dot the table enough times that your girl ends up in a compromising situation. Some of these challenges include rubber ducks that get the girls all wet, an ice cream truck that gets them sticky, or magical top hats that produce a pair of tickling hands.

It's all very tongue-in-cheek and never crosses over into being grossly exploitative. Even the Super Sexy Challenge, the final bit of each table where you're just smacking Peach Balls directly into the girl's boobs or butt, is all in good fun. But that fun feels limited when there are only five girls and just t??wo tables.

Outside of the story mode, players have access to a free mode that allows them to play to their hearts content. Playing either mode will net you coins to spend in the in-game shop, and there is a lot of content here to unlock. New clothes, hairstyles, Peach Ball designs, artwork, music, and more is up for grabs, and unlike with a lot of games, I thoroughly enjoyed going through and unlocking everything in the game because the core gameplay is so damn entertaining. And yes, the dressing room returns with costumes, diorama poses, and the Reflexions-like intimacy mode that lets you touch the?? girls all over.

Marvelous and Honey∞Parade Games' biggest mistake with Senran Kagura: Peach Ball was treating it as a budget title because it deserves so much more: more tables, more girls, more everything. Combining the cheeseball sexuality of Senran with pinball is perhaps the most brilliant idea this franchise has ever had and the execution of what is here is nearly flawless. But the lack of a diverse set of pinball tables and a curtailed cast keep Peach Ball from reaching the excellence it could have so easily achieved if the developers had more time and more ideas for what they wanted Peach Ball to be.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Senran Kagura: Peach Ball appeared first on Destructoid.

And I don't mean 'Politically Correct'

Marvelous has announced a release date for the North American localisation of cheesecake release Senran Kagura Peach Ball. Not only that, but the publis?her has confirmed that the furry fun will also be arriving on PC later this Summer.

To bring you up to speed, Peach Ball is the latest title in the eyebrow-raising, genre-hopping Senran Kagura series, which this time around is taking on pinball. After some dumb shenanigans take place at an abandoned amusement park, some of SK's buoyant crew are transformed into anthropomorphic versions of themselves, and it's up to the pla?yer's nifty flipper skills to revert th?em back to their normal, dead-eyed selves.

Already available in Japan, the North American release will incl??ude a bonus accessories pack, featuring 30 extra ite?ms to dress up the roster in Peach Ball's "Locker Room" mode. A physical release is also incoming, complete with alternative cover art and a set of character stickers. Stickers! like it's 1991!

Senran Kagura Peach Ball launches for Nintendo Switch July 9. A PC ed?ition will arrive later this summer.

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That pinball wizard got such a supple wrist...

XSeed Games has announced that naughty pinball game Senran Kagura: Peach Ball will be getting a western release this Summer on Nintendo Switch. Peach Ball will be made available to download via the eShop in North America and Europe, but will also see a physical release - in America only - via the XSeed Games Store.

Already available in Japan, Peach Ball sees the Senran Kagura girls in another scrape. While messing about at an old ??amusement park, Haruka has somehow managed to turn the gang into anthropomorphic animals. Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of you, the player, who can restore the ladies back to the regula??r human forms via the medium of pinball and I DON'T WRITE IT I JUST REPORT IT.

Alongside a selection of fun and colourful playfields, each of which features one of your new furry friends, Peach Ball also i?ncludes a?? selection of side-modes. These include the series' traditional Locker Room area, some mini-games, some "Sexy Challenges" and even "SUPER Sexy Challenges". For when the former just isn't enough, I guess.

You can check out the game's awesome theme tune in the video below. Senran Kagura: Peach Ball launches this Summer in North America and ?Europe for Nintendo Switch.

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'YOU GOT THE POWER...'

Old pinball heads like myself will remember Williams' 1980 machine Black Knight (not so much that? I remember it on release, of course, but it was kicking around arcades for years). The classic machine, designed by industry veteran Steve Ritchie, was well known for its dual-layered playfield and player-activated "Magna-Save" feature.

In 1989, Williams and Ritchie returned with a super-neon sequel, Black Knight 2000. This was an incredibly fast-paced and unforgiving game which went big with light??ning effects, bright colours, synthesized speech and an amazing/cheesy cock-rock soundtrack.

Now, almost 40 years later from Black Knight's original release, Stern Pinball has announced a third entry to the saga. Black Knight: Sword of Rage looks to take the great music, multi-layered playfields, lightning motif and playfield features of its forefathers and bring them screaming into the modern day. Once again designed by Steve Ritchie (fun fact: the original voice of Mortal Kombat's Shao Kahn) Black Knight: Sword of Rage will blend the best elements of classic and modern pinball, while reminding u?s long-termers just how damn old we've gotten.

As is often the case with Stern machines, Black Knight: Sword of Rage will be available in three formats: Pro, Premium and a 600-unit Limited Edition run. Frankly, it looks fucking gorgeous. Prices range from around $6,000 to $9,000, with each edition having its own exclusive artwork and in-game features. Pinball has always been a rich person's game.

Black Knight: Sword of Rage is currently in development at Stern Pinball.

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More of this stuff, please

When the world of pinball bleeds into the world of video games, the results can be pretty dang awesome. Look no further than Yoku's Island Express, or an old favorite, Devil's Crush. The next game in that vein to grab my attention is Creature in the Well, a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler.

It was shown today during Nintendo's in??die showcase for Switch and I'm buzzing.

Playing as a sword-wielding robot, you'll explore a bygo?ne desert mountain facility in hopes of saving a city from a sandstorm. As Flight School Studio puts it, this is basically "pinball ??with swords." You can whack orbs around, sending them spiraling across the screen to restore dormant machinery.

As for the game's curious name, there's an "all-seeing Creature" with big skeletal hands roaming the facility. If you're intrigued, Creature in the Well is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC this summer.

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Hocus Pocus

A new trio of classic "real-world" pinball machines have been released for Zen Studios' great pinball platform, Pinball FX 3. Williams Pinball Vol. 3 adds three famous titles from the silver ball's golden era to the wide variety of titles the Pinball FX catalogue already has to offer.

This new volume kicks things off with 1997's Theater of Magic, where play??ers must guide their ball through a series of increasingly difficult stage acts, culminating in an impressive grand finale. This game is well known for its dramatic score and rotating magic chest. It is looked down upon somewhat by pinball fans, but I get a kick out of it.

Also included in Volume 3 is 1998's The Champion Pub, which is essentially a game about drinking and bare-knuckle boxing. This title features frantic gameplay, a list of increasingly-difficult opponents, a rowdy dude on the playfield that you have to bash and, most notably, a selection of terribly-performed accents.

Rounding out the trio is a slightly rarer title, 1996's Safecracker. This particularly unique machine has you playing against the clock, rather than limiting you to  certain amount of balls, as you attempt to break into a high-security vault. The original machine awarded play??ers with plastic tokens as a reward for completion.

All three games can be played in standard form of with Pinball FX 3's additional 3D models and effects. Fortunately, Zen has retracted the ridiculous censorship that plagued th?eir first run of Williams' releases, and now these classic recreations feature an option to restore all the original artwork and DMD animations to th??eir barely-risque original form.

Pinball FX 3 is available now on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo?? Switch.

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Taking a trip to the Pinball Hall of Fame

Silver streaks i??n his beard, silver balls on the table. Jack Black's here pumpin' bumpers and lookin' for high scores.

Earlier in the week, we wrote about beloved comedian/musician/wild man Jack Black and his new foray into YouTube gaming. A??fter posting two very short videos, he had already amassed 2.1 million subscribers (it's at 2.6 million right now). Black promised new videos every Friday and that the gaming would begin in 2019.

Well, it's 2019 and it's Friday -- and Black made good on his promise. His first gaming video isn't the start of a Let's Play series or some Fortnite act??ion. It's a trip to the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. It's not the sort of longform rambling content most probably expected, but rather a concise and tightly-edited video.

It's still worth a watch, though! There's some cool pinball history stuff happening and Black is most always entertaining. I sure hope he gets around to playing act?ual video games soon, or I'm going to run out of excuses to post these videos.

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From Soho down to Brighton, I must've played them all...

Proving that their know their audience well, Marvelous! has released a video of their upcoming Nintendo Switch pinball title Senran Kagura: Peach Ball, as played ?by voice actor Hitomi Harada and Gravure idol Airi Shimizu.

Harada, (who voices Asuka in the cheesecake Senran Kagura series), seems to be taking everything in her stride as she checks out Peach Ball's wacky physics and bizarre mini-gam??es. Shimizu - who wardrobe apparently couldn't find a? sweater for - seems a little more bemused by the on-screen action, particularly during the game's "Locker Room" moments.

Still, seems like they're having a lot of fun, going by all the shouting. Peach Ball sees players in an abandoned amusement park, playing pinball in order to restore a selection of Senran Kagura girls, who have being turned furry by Haruka. I?t looks like a lot of nonsense, but that's in keep?ing with the series weird, goofy and NSFW stylings.

Senran Kagura: Peach Ball launches in Japan on December 13 for?? Nintendo Switch.

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You jiggle girl boobs with pinball flippers

Those wacky funsters at Marvelous! have released a new trailer for the upcoming pinball simulator Senran Kagura: Peach Ball, headed ??to Nintendo Switch in Japan this December.

The new spot features some of the colourful, ball-bouncing action that takes place on Peach Ball's original tables. Each playfield features some of your favourite Senran Kagura characters in anthropomorphic ??form, havin??g been turned furry by Haruka. Only you can return them to their original human selves via your pinball wizardin' skills.

Of course it wouldn't be a Senran Kagura title without a Locker Room mode, with character customisation options in full effect. Peach Ball will also feature a selection of cheesy mini-games and other "Super Sexy" modes.? You can see some of the fe??atures in action in the new trailer below.

Senran Kagura: Peach Ball laun??ches in ??Japan for Nintendo Switch on December 13.

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Age rating tilts classic tables

Zen Studios has released Williams Pinball Volume 1, bringing four classic '90s pinball machines to their excellent simulator Pinball FX 3. The first pack features Fish Tales, Junk Yard, The Getaway and one of the most popular machines of all time, Medieval Madness.

The pack costs around $8, although Fish Tales is free-for-all Pinball FX 3 owners. Each table has been painstakingly recreated in the Pinball FX 3 engine, and even features optional new special effects, adding tabletop characters and bringing some of the game?'s ornaments to life with new animations. The Bally/Williams licence and Zen Studios are truly a match made in heaven.

Unfortunately, in order to secure an "E" rating, Zen have chosen to make alterations to the games' backglass, playfield and cabinet art, as well as some changes to Dot Matrix animations. All reference to tobacco and alcohol (such as cans of beer or a troll smoking a cigar) have been removed from the artwork and bloody weapons have been scrubbed cleaned. Mild innuendo also felt the airbrush, as Fish Tales' mermaids have had their midriffs covered, and a bikini-clad girl in Medieval Madness is now rocking a suit of armour.

"In order to meet our age range obligations," reads an in-game message. "We were compelled to tone down or adjust the following pertinent contents of the table." This is followed by a list of changes made to Medieval Madness, Fish Tales and Junk Yard, examples of which you ??can read in t?he gallery below.

Considering these tables have been released prior in their uncensored form - in titles such as The Pinball Arcade and Williams' Pinball Classics - this is disappointing. Censorship is an enemy of preservation, and whilst it's understandable why Zen Studios has chosen thi??s option, I think they're doing themselves, and these games, an unnecessary disservice.

For whatever it's worth, all four tables look fantastic and play great, as is to be expected from the highly-talented Zen Pinball crew. None of these small changes affect gameplay, they're purely egregious from an aesthetic standpoint. But to be dodging mild risque images for the sake of not getting a "T" rating (and in theory, as Williams Pinball Classics got away with "E10") raises questions about possible future titles such as Elvira: Scared Stiff, Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Xenon, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and other games that feature mild violence, booze, sexuality an?d gambling con?tent.

Williams Pinball Volume 1 is available now for Pinball FX 3 on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

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These tables are (special when) lit

Zen Studios has released details on their first Williams tables pack for their excellent pinball simulator Pinball FX 3. The pack will contain four classic real-lif?e pinbal machines that l??it up many an arcade in the '90s.

Williams Pinball Volume One will include Fish Tales, Junk Yard, High Speed II: The Getaway and the classic Medieval Madness. Fish Tales is free for all as an introductory bonus,? ?and the pack is set to run about $10. But that's not all. Zen has also revealed that each Williams table will be playable in Classic and all-new Remastered modes.

Classic will see the table play just like it did in the arcade, whereas remastered will include new visual effects designed by Zen including new visuals and animated 3D models. For example, the static dragon on Medieval Madness' right ramp will now roar, flap its wings and breathe fire, whilst The Getaway will feature?? an angry cop at the plunger and a flaming trail when the ball redlines. Both editions of the table??s are included in the purchase.

Pinball FX 3 is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch. Williams Pinball Volume One launches October 9.

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The news has got me on tilt

In news sure to make the day of pinball fans the world over, Zen Studios, developer of Pinball FX 3 have purchased the rights to the classic Bally/William?s catalogue. The tea??m plan to start pushing out digital recreations of some of the '90s most fondly remembered pinball machines.

"Most of our developers grew up admiring Williams and Bally pinball machines" said Zsolt Kigyossy, Zen's Managing Director. "We have a grand vision for what we can add to these a??mazing tables on gaming and mobile devices. We are dedicated to providing an amazing experience and new challenges for all players around the world!"

The first four tables on the books are Fish Tales, The Getaway, Junk Yard and one of the most popular pinball machines of all time, Medieval Madness. Also spotted in the trailer below are manuals for other great titles such as Theater of Magic, Black Rose and the neon power of Circus Voltaire.

Obviously, games such as Twilight Zone, The Addams Family or my personal favourite, Bram Stoker's Dracula are likely not on the cards right now, due to their separate licensing costs, but fingers crossed for the future. Pinball FX 3 is an excellent pinball simulator, and it's taken far too long for these licences ??to find their way into the hands of the perfect developer to do the??m justice.

Pinball FX 3 is available?? now on PS4, PC,?? Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

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