Genre
Perspective
Non-Sport
MobyRank MobyScore
PlayStation 3
...
4.5
PSP
...
4.3
SNES
...
2.9

Description

The first in a line of pinball games from 21st Century and Digital Illusions, with four tables covering themes such as the wild west for Steel Wheel, space rockets for Ignition, a haunted graveyard for Nightmare and pop music for Beat Box.

The portable versions for the Game Boy and Game Gear only have 3 of the 4 original tables with the removal of Beat Box.

The iPhone version includes updated graphics (optional) and gameplay in both portrait and landscape orientation.

Alternate Titles

  • "Pinball Pinball" -- Japanese SNES title
  • "Pinball Dreaming: Pinball Dreams" -- iPhone title

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform    
Amazon
Pinball Dreams Game Boy    
Pinball Dreams SNES    
ebay.com
Pinball Dreams    
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User Reviews

A horrible conversion of a true pioneer. DOS Tomer Gabel Bronze Star Contributing Member (4418)
The best pinball simulator for the 90's! Amiga skl (1149)

The Press Says

Svenska Hemdatornytt Game Boy Dec, 1993 100 out of 100 100
Amiga Action Amiga Apr, 1992 87 out of 100 87
Amiga Joker Amiga Feb, 1992 86 out of 100 86
Power Unlimited Game Boy Nov, 1993 8.5 out of 10 85
Edge DOS Oct, 1993 8 out of 10 80
Power Play Amiga Apr, 1992 72 out of 100 72
ST-Computer Atari ST Jun, 1995 70 out of 100 70
Svenska Hemdatornytt SNES Oct, 1994 65 out of 100 65
Power Play DOS Sep, 1993 64 out of 100 64
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) Game Gear Feb, 1994 5.8 out of 10 58

Forums

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Trivia

Copy protection

The game featured a copy protection which required write access on the original floppy - not a good idea those days with all the virii floating around and no-one caring about getting a virus scanner. Besides, the copy protection didn't protect the game at all.

Cracking scene

There were rumors that Digital Illusions made a special HD-installed version of Pinball Dreams for their friends in the scene. Many Amiga games couldn't be installed on a hard drive as a copy protection measure. When the was released, many cracking groups made a pact not to crack and spread the game because of the game maker’s strong roots in the scene. This pact didn’t last for long and the game was later illegally released and spread.

Development

The developers were members of the Amiga demoscene group The Silents and the game was originally not planned to be released as a commercial game.

The idea to make Pinball Dreams came up in 1988 when Mikael Balle, another member of The Silents, had drawn some pinball tables (assumedly on the Amiga). However, his tables were not used for the game, but his ideas of having tables larger than the actual screen size (scrolling) remained.

Bitmap Brothers and their publisher Renegade turned down the game, stating that pinball games do not sell well. Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies became one of the biggest hits ever released for Amiga computers.

Tools used for developing Pinball Dreams on Amiga: DevPak (assembler), Deluxe Paint III (graphics), ProTracker 1.1b (music), PowerPacker 2.0b (cruncher).

Mouse control

The developers once met a handicapped kid with only one hand, and made a special version of the game for him where you can control the flippers with the two mouse buttons. This feature does also appear in the sequel, Pinball Fantasies.

PKUnzip

The game disk included a registered version of PKUnzip - someone must have made a mistake putting it together.

Sound card

You had to select the sound card / PC speaker every time you started the game.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #119 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
Information also contributed by Erkan O, Grov, phlux and xxxxxxxxxxx


This entry was contributed by B.L. Stryker (20702), Vesuri (97), Rola (5791), Charly2.0 (30584), Игги Друге (31854), Retron (169) and MAT Bronze Star Contributing Member (53335)
 

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