It’s not really controversial, probably. I just wanted to get it out there.
This is unsubstantiated, but I imagine that if you asked a retro gamer (pac-man, dig-dug, galaga, etc.) about pinball they would probably say it sucks or that they don’t care about it or that it’s not for them.
Nobody talks about pinball outside of the niche circles, but I think it’s superior to traditional arcade games, superior to modern arcade games, and is generally a perfect amalgamation of the arts: music, artwork, mechanics, and code-based chicanery all contribute to something beautiful.
Take Whirlwind for example. It’s absolutely gorgeous in every way: the Gnosticism in the art, the insanely catchy soundtrack, novel mechanical elements, and brutal hostility make it the magnum opus of pinball, and a perfect embodiment of the chaos of a storm IMO.
Admittedly, the scene is not what it once was. New table manufacturers leverage existing IP instead of creating their own, and the few original tables that are still produced are mostly kind of slop. Compare Total Nuclear Annihilation to Whirlwind for an example.
It’s not really controversial, probably. I just wanted to get it out there.
This is unsubstantiated, but I imagine that if you asked a retro gamer (pac-man, dig-dug, galaga, etc.) about pinball they would probably say it sucks or that they don’t care about it or that it’s not for them.
Nobody talks about pinball outside of the niche circles, but I think it’s superior to traditional arcade games, superior to modern arcade games, and is generally a perfect amalgamation of the arts: music, artwork, mechanics, and code-based chicanery all contribute to something beautiful.
Take Whirlwind for example. It’s absolutely gorgeous in every way: the Gnosticism in the art, the insanely catchy soundtrack, novel mechanical elements, and brutal hostility make it the magnum opus of pinball, and a perfect embodiment of the chaos of a storm IMO.
Admittedly, the scene is not what it once was. New table manufacturers leverage existing IP instead of creating their own, and the few original tables that are still produced are mostly kind of slop. Compare Total Nuclear Annihilation to Whirlwind for an example.