Virtual Pinball
From Sega Retro
| Virtual Pinball | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Electronic Arts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer: BudgeCo, Nu Romantic Productions (sound) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sound driver: GEMS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: Action | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1-4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Virtual Pinball is a pinball game developed by BudgeCo and published by Electronic Arts. It acts as a spiritual sequel to the 1983 computer program Pinball Construction Set, being designed and programmed by the same man, Bill Budge.
Contents
Gameplay
Virtual Pinball is a pinball table construction toolkit, allowing players to create pinball tables from a set of objects, choose graphics and audio, and adjust speed settings. The table can then be tested by up to four players, tournament-style, saved or recalled into memory, or adjusted further. The "Skill" setting adjusts the game speed (Easy, Fast, and Super Fast), and the "Action" setting changes the ball physics (Normal, Manic, or Psychotic).
During gameplay, 
plunges the ball, the D-Pad activates any left flippers, while 
activates any right flippers (although tables can be constructed without plungers or flippers). 
nudges the table in a random direction (which is required if the ball gets stuck), though it is not possible to tilt. If the ball drops below the playfield, this is registered as having drained. Players start each table with four balls.
Virtual Pinball contains 22 pre-made tables and slots for saving 10 player-made tables (which are retained on the cartridge with a battery backup, along with high scores). Tables are saved with names up to 12 characters long. One of the pre-made tables was designed by the editors of GamePro magazine.
Additional tables can be loaded by selecting "Enter Code" and entering the name of a hidden table. These codes are revealed by playing three special tables (Compulsion, Your Break, and Flip In), which start progression games that unlock additional tables after achieving high scores or solving puzzles.
Workshop
Selecting "Workshop" on the main menu opens the editor for constructing tables. It is possible to either alter an existing table in the game or make a new one. The D-Pad moves the cursor, selects a part type from the list, cycles between parts of a particular type, and places the part. With the "Blaster" selected, press to delete an item on the table, while with the "Grabber" selected, press to pick up an item (to move it). Press START to bring up a menu where the table can be saved in one of ten possible save slots.
Tables are 512x512 pixels in size (although only 511x511 of the map is rendered on-screen), and each table can consist of no more than 256 "parts". Score values for hitting parts also cannot be changed, and there are no elaborate gameplay modes as was common in real pinball machines of the era.
There are six part themes, twelve board backgrounds, and eight music selections (including "no music").
Parts
| Part | Point value |
|---|---|
| Small bumper | 100 |
| Large bumper | 200 |
| Sling shots | 100 |
| Kick walls | 100 |
| Drop targets | 5,000 |
| Moving targets | 5,000 |
| Pegs | 5,000 |
| Rollovers | 100 |
| Tracks | 5,000 on entry |
| Springs | 100 top surface |
| Ghost ball | 1,000 on release |
| Kick hole | 10,000 on entry |
| Spinner | 1,000 for each revolution |
| Worm hole | 5,000 on entry |
| One-way gate | 100 top surface |
| Jackpot | 1,000,000 when active |
Production credits
- Concept and Program: Bill Budge
- Graphics: Nick Corea
- Music and Sound: Nu Romantic
- Producer: Nick Simmons
- Game Design: Bill Budge, Nick Corea, Jim Simmons
- Producer: Jim Simmons
- Assistant Producer: Jeff Glazier
- Technical Director: Tim Brengle
- Product Manager: David Sze
- Package Design: E. J. Sarraille Design Group
- Illustration: Jean-Francois Podevin
- Art Direction: Nancy Waisanen
- Documentation: Valerie Hanscom
- Documentation Layout, Illustration: Tom Peters
- Testing Manager: Randy Delucchi
- Product Testing: Tony Iuppa, Yun Shin, Mike Lopez
- Quality Assurance: Bill Scheppler
- Public Relations: Fiona Murphy
- Original Game Concept: Bill Budge
- Board Design: Bill Budge, Mike Lopez, Tony Iuppa, Jordan Maynard, Bryan Beckstrand and the incredible mystery pinball guru genius.
Magazine articles
- Main article: Virtual Pinball/Magazine articles.
Physical scans
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67 |
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| Based on 27 reviews | |
| Mega Drive, US |
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 Cover
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 Cart  Manual |
| Mega Drive, EU (4 Language Manual) |
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 Cover
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Cart  Manual |
| Mega Drive, EU (5 Language Manual) |
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 Cover
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Cart  Manual |
| Mega Drive, GCC |
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 Cover
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Cart  Manual |
Technical information
- Main article: Virtual Pinball/Technical information.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 GamePro, "December 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 71
- ↑ VideoGames, "December 1993" (US; 1993-1x-xx), page 61
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 4 April 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 77
- ↑ Mega, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-16), page 107
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Computer & Video Games, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-15), page 72
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 MegaTech, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-20), page 82
- ↑ File:Virtual Pinball MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Virtual Pinball MD US Manual.pdf, page 9
- ↑ GamesMaster, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 99
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 331
- ↑ Aktueller Software Markt, "Januar 1994" (DE; 1993-12-06), page 63
- ↑ Console Mania, "Febbraio 1994" (IT; 1994-0x-xx), page 131
- ↑ Digitiser (UK) (1994-01-28)
- ↑ Gamers, "März/April 1994" (DE; 1994-03-04), page 55
- ↑ Joypad, "Novembre 1993" (FR; 1993-1x-xx), page 118
- ↑ Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 30
- ↑ Mega, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 46
- ↑ Mega Action, "Christmas 1993" (UK; 1993-12-02), page 18
- ↑ Mega Force, "Novembre 1993" (FR; 1993-11-10), page 96
- ↑ Mega Machines, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-09), page 28
- ↑ Magazina Igrushek, "4/1995" (RU; 1995-xx-xx), page 61
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-10-xx), page 116
- ↑ Player One, "Novembre 1993" (FR; 1993-1x-xx), page 138
- ↑ Sega Power, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-xx), page 74
- ↑ Sega Pro, "Xmas Special 1993" (UK; 1993-12-02), page 40
- ↑ Sega Zone, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-25), page 84
- ↑ SuperGamePower, "Abril 1994" (BR; 1994-0x-xx), page 33
- ↑ Sonic the Comic, "April 29th 1994" (UK; 1994-04-16), page 11
- ↑ Todo Sega, "Diciembre 1993" (ES; 1993-1x-xx), page 70
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 220
- ↑ Video Games, "2/94" (DE; 1994-01-26), page 82
- ↑ VideoGames, "January 1994" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 87
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