Silverball 4: The Shadow

Now anyone who knows me knows what a big fan of The Shadow I am. I love the pulps, the comics, the serials, and the radio shows. I even loved the 1994 movie. Yes, there was some terrible stuff in there, but there was also a great amount they got right. Of course like any potential blockbuster, there was a lot of merchandising - like this pinball machine.

This Midway machine was designed by Brian Eddy with art by Doug Watson based on the movie. Over and above the silly and awkward shooter shaped like one of The Shadow's trademark .45 pistols, the game features three flippers, two playfields, optical targeting, and gameplay that followed a story. It was pretty advanced for the time I'm told.

The game is fun to look at, fun to watch someone else play, but as with most games - I suck at it. But still, it's The Shadow, and it's awesome, one of the best parts of the visit to the Silverball Museum.

Silverball 3: Flash

At first glance this pinball machine from the Silverball Museum might appear to be referencing Flash Gordon, with the artist getting our hero's hair color mixed up, but no, this Williams machine from 1979 is an original. The name Flash actually refers to the fact that the game was the first to use flash lamps, displaying a lightning-like effect.

Flash was designed by Steve Ritchie, featuring art by Constantino Mitchell. It was state of the art for the time and common in arcades that were then switching over to electronic games. It also showed a digital score as opposed to rollover numbers. Flash also had a continuous soundtrack that got louder and faster the further you advanced in the game.

Flash was a pinball machine I remember playing back in the day. It was easy and fun for me, which says a lot about the game, both good and bad. I liked it a lot, and was one of the few games I spent a lot if time playing on my visit to the Silverball Museum.

Silverball 2: Oxo

Oxo is a Williams four-player pinball machine from 1973, despite its 1980s New Wave vibe and coincidentally sharing a name with the dance rock one hit wonders of "Whirly Girl" fame.  

Oxo was designed by Norm Clark with art by Christian Marche. Based on the simplicity of a tic-tac-toe game, it's easy, fast, and fun to play.

 Oxo was one of the two pinball machines I had the most fun playing on the visit to the Silverball Museum.

Silverball 1: Beat Time

Beat Time is a Williams pinball machine from 1967, designed by Steve Kordek with art by Jerry Kelley.

This was a Beatles pinball machine taking advantage of the height of Beatlemania.

The caricatures are obviously the Fab Four, borrowing from the cartoon of the time, but predating their slightly modder look from Yellow Submarine.

Fun and basic, this was a nice trip back in time, I dug it.

The Silverball Museum

Recently I visited the Silverball Museum in Asbury Park with The Bride.

You can read the original post about the trip right here on one of my other blogs, Welcome to Hell.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking a closer look at some of the pinball machines on display there at the Museum, so keep an eye out!

Zen and the Art of Pinball

Okay, those of you who read this blog, as well as Welcome to Hell and French Fry Diary, know that I was a sheltered child, and that I am no videogame genius. The truth is I was also a pretty dumb kid.

Outside of television, I had never seen a pinball machine until I was around ten, and that was in my uncle's basement. We visited and while the adults chatted upstairs I was supposed to keep myself occupied with the pinball machine in the basement for a couple hours. So I played my three or four balls, badly, mind you, then waited it out down there for my parents to be done visiting. Yeah, that's right, I had no idea there was a button to push to start over.

And that was my first pinball experience. Did I mention I was a pretty dumb kid?

Later, years later, when The Sweet Shop opened on my hometown main street Atco Avenue, and when I started going to Malibu Grand Prix, I did learn the basics, as well as the more subtle ways of the silver ball. I was never very good, but I had come a long way from that dumb kid in his uncle's basement.

While dating the woman who would eventually become The Bride I got my real education. She is the real player, getting multiple free games and lots of play time out of a single quarter. Watching her I learned how to work the flippers, move the machine, and finesse the ball. Damn, she's good. And she would little to no interest in the PS3 game Zen Pinball.

Much like the Atari Pinball game (although with graphics eons ahead of it), this is still a videogame. No matter how pretty, how stunning, how super high def these tables are - these are not real tables. Push buttons all you like, you cannot finesse this ball. Perhaps Zen Pinball is fun for those with no pinball background, but not for those of us even with a limited understanding of real pinball.

It is noteworthy that there are some cool tables, including some based on Street Fighter and Ninja Gaiden, and the graphics are outstanding. Pretty, but not playable in a pinball way.

The Rejected

Once learning that I could download game demos from the PlayStation Store, I have been a downloadin' maniac. And once I figured out that if I didn't like them, I could delete them… I've downloaded even more and more. This blog entry is about some of the games that didn't make the cut for me, and why.

Heavy Rain ~ I remember a few years back when this game initially came out. It was a big, big deal. It was called "an interactive drama psychological thriller video game." Besides being a mouthful of adjectives and noun, it was also supposed to have phenomenal special effects. In the one sequence I was able to see, and not get past, yes, the effects were pretty cool, but again, as I said, I was pretty much just stuck in this one alley and couldn't go anywhere else. With my low patience tolerance, I deleted this one fairly quickly.

Marvel Pinball ~ While I am a big Marvel Comics fan, I am not much of a pinball player, especially not in a video game where you really can't move the machine or 'finesse' the ball where you want it to go. The Bride however is a big pinballer, both real and video. I figured this would be a good game for us both to play. Sadly, after many attempts, I have yet to make this one download. There is always a problem. Oh well.

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil ~ Along with Ghostbusters and the similarly titled Rocketbirds, this game is just too damned loud. Every time I passed by it while looking for another game, the volume of it would blast so loud for just the second the cursor paused on it - I eventually just deleted to make the noise stop. I still have no idea if it's any good or not. It certainly looked intriguing in a Dragon's Lair anime way.

Lemmings ~ I love Lemmings, and on the PC version of this game I rocked it, and enjoyed it immensely. I loved Lemmings and as I said I was pretty good - no such luck with the PS3 version. It reminded me a bit of the PS3 Elevator Action (which I'm sure I'll talk about here sooner or later), as it resembles the original game but has different dynamics and controls. I couldn't do it. So because I was ashamed of not being good at a game I used to be good at - I deleted Lemmings.

Seeing how inept I am at this gaming stuff, and how enthusiastic I am at downloading free demos, I'm sure this list will only grow. Time will tell.