Digital Pinball Help and Recommendations

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Pinball Factoid time:

According to pinball manufacturer Stern, a typical modern-day pinball machine uses about a half mile of wiring inside.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Ruldra]

Bump!

Just bought Zen Pinball after playing the demo over and over again for days. I didn't get to play much yet but I look forward to do some score competition with you guys

[Ruldra]

Just found out a way to do a shitload of points on the V12 table. Current best is 160 millions and I'm sure I can double that.

[silvergunner]

A new Zen Pinball table is out:Mars! A further recommendation!

And the trophy list will show trophies for the upcoming table,I guess it will release next week.
The name of the trophies let hope for a horror-theme based table.That`s what I need!

[Ruldra]

Mars was announced but it isn't out yet (at least not in the US store). Although it shouldn't take long to be released since the new trophies are already in the list. Maybe the paranormal table will be out along with mars.

By the way, are all the extra tables worth buying? I saw some videos on youtube and the only table that really interested me was the ninja gaiden one.

EDIT: The mars table looks great!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

For Ruldra,

Yes, all the Zen Pinball tables on the PS3 platform are worth getting...even the 1950s sci-fi genre based pinball table of "Earth Defense!" has it's charms with the crazy animated LED-lit face featured on the head of the huge blue colored hulking robot. Lots of little neat stuff to discover with that particular table indeed including a novel way to earn a big bonus upon lauching your first ball into play -- watch the crosshairs and fire away at the appropiate time to score big.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[MadScientist]

Just found out a way to do a shitload of points on the V12 table. Current best is 160 millions and I'm sure I can double that.

I'm guessing this involves keeping the crankshaft turning? I think I'm getting the hang of this table now and just got >50 mill.

Looking forward to the new tables. No screens or videos of 'Paranormal' out there yet?

[Ruldra]

Just found out a way to do a shitload of points on the V12 table. Current best is 160 millions and I'm sure I can double that.

I'm guessing this involves keeping the crankshaft turning?

Not at all...it's all about high-speed combos. Shoot one ramp and if you shoot another ramp shortly after, you start a combo. Keep the combo going long enough and you get a high speed combo, where each ramp you shoot scores 1,950,000 points and increases the more you keep going.

And to top it off, that's how you get extra balls on this table. After about 5 high speed combos, the extra ball will lit. Shoot the upgrade hole and you'll get it.

So basically, activate both kickbacks, start ramp grinding and get extra balls when you break the combo. Repeat until you die.

[MadScientist]

Hmm, interesting. I figured it might be the crankshaft thing, since I just started getting the timing for it right - hold both paddles up to catch at the start, then let the ball roll to the edge of the paddle before aiming at the target in far corner, then catch with the other paddle - repeat ad infinitum. An upgrade (which is 10 hits I think) is worth 5 mill. I was thinking maybe you could just keep doing it indefinitely, though I'm not sure what happens when you fully upgrade it.

The suspension mini-game in the bottom left of the play-field is pretty easy as well and is also worth 5 mill. On my >50 mill game I managed to get a ball into each of the 12 cylinders (wohoo, a rare trophy...) which earned 20 mill.

[silvergunner]

the V12 table is really hate me

[Ruldra]

Forgot to mention before, there's a nice trophy guide at the Zen Pinball forums (here). Even if you're not interested about trophies it's a great read to understand how each table works. I'm sure it'll help you score much higher.

[Ruldra]

Alright, the Mars table is now available in the US store. I plan to buy it tomorrow.

By the way, I'm posting my Zen Pinball scores here if anyone wants to compare them:

V12 - 287,300,004
El Dorado - 239,287,444
Shaman - 563,632,863
Tesla - 111,142,640

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 - 225,014,407
Earth Defense - 128,839,885
Mars - 32,465,500
Street Fighter II - 322,410,091
Excalibur - 30,239,900

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Downloaded the cool new Mars table (which weighs in at 55MB) along with an 1.05v upgrade (24MB) to the overall Zen Pinball program off of the USA region PSN site. Zen Studios finally added an all important feature not seen since the Pro Pinball series and that's the high score list and the feature to add your own high score initials for all to see. Lots of cool eye candy/toys to make pinball wizards happy including myself.

Mars - scored 11,758,000 points on my very first Mars table session (which was good enough to rank #373 as of 7/28/2010).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ROBOTRON]

The new Mars Table rocks! I got 6 mil but I'll keep playing this one (take a break from earth defense and V12).

[MadScientist]

I have just over 12.6 mill on Mars so far (all my ZP scores are on the previous page). Seems like a good table so far, though I'm not too keen on the zero gravity event - seems kinda pointless and slows down the game.

[ROBOTRON]

I have just over 12.6 mill on Mars so far (all my ZP scores are on the previous page). Seems like a good table so far, though I'm not too keen on the zero gravity event - seems kinda pointless and slows down the game.

Indeed...when the zero gravity hit, i was like, wtf??? ball went off the table.

[Ruldra]

Is it just me, or is the Mars table much easier than the others? Even though I'm not good at it yet (best score so far is about 10 millions), I can see it's much more forgiving than Shaman or Ninja Gaiden.

If you fail any mission, you can just shoot the appropriate hole to start it again immediately. Compare that to all the stuff you need to do to start the disasters again in Shaman, or the adventures in El Dorado. They really toned down the difficulty in this one.

I also found a bit lazy of them to pick the "watch out" voice clip from the Tesla table and use it here when you nudge the table twice.

They're just minor complaints though, I'm loving the table.

[MadScientist]

Yeah, activating kickbacks and ball saves is very straightforward compared to some of their other tables (e.g. the ball save on Earth Defense which is a bitch). Doesn't seem to be any obvious way to score tons of quick points, though maybe hitting combos on the outer spinner orbits might be one way if you can do it consistently.

Is it possible to hit the drop targets on the left that spell out 'MARS' with a direct shot? You need to light those to complete one mission, but it's kinda tricky.

[Ruldra]

Found a couple more trophy guides. Excalibur / Earth Defense guide here and Ninja Gaiden guide here.

Is it possible to hit the drop targets on the left that spell out 'MARS' with a direct shot? You need to light those to complete one mission, but it's kinda tricky.

I think it's possible if you shoot the ball with the tip of the right flipper, but I'm not sure. Also, I think that's just an optional mission, it's not required to win the table.

[Ruldra]

YES! Managed to beat the Ninja Gaiden table. Final score is 225 millions.

Overall the table isn't hard, you can get really far just by learning to shoot the right and lower left ramps consistently. If anyone needs help beating this one, let me know.

Now, I'm off to beat Shaman

[ROBOTRON]

Mars table is driving me nuts...yellow things appear on the table and when you shoot the ball into one they come out somewhere else on the table....most of the time near the center drain. wtf.

[Ruldra]

I got the explorer trophy for the mars table (complete the main pyramid mission), and holy hell that one is hard.

First of all, hitting the pyramid ramp alone is very tough. You need to shoot the left orbit hard enough to go all the way behind the table and reach the upper right flipper, but it's hard to hit the ramp since the ball is coming so fast.

And once you start the main mission, multiball starts and you have to hit all the ramps, spell MARS on the left and hit 2 targets to the right I didn't even know they existed before this mission. Of course, with 3 balls on the table you can't aim anything, so you just shoot like mad and hope for the best.

After you do everything, you need to shoot all the balls down the pyramid ramp again. If you lose 2 balls at any point, the mission ends and you have to start over.

I must've replayed this mission like 20 times. To think I'll have to do it again to beat the table is nuts.

[Square King]

Oh god, I haven't played pinball in ages. Anyone know of any decent quick-fixes in the app store?

[Shatterhand]

Funny that I just saw this topic now, as I just broke my personal No Good Gofers score from Williams Hall of Fame Collection. 393 million I thought I was going to break 400 million, but couldn't manage to do it :/

[MadScientist]

I need to go back and play No Good Gofers. None of the table views felt ideal to me, so I resorted to just smacking stuff around fairly haphazardly most of the time.

Anyone played Psycho Pinball? It's a Codemasters game that came out on the PC and Genesis/MD. I've been playing it a fair bit recently (since it's an emulated game that I can easily play on my phone...). A couple of the tables take a little getting into as you need to aim shots carefully to access the upper part of the playfield and scoring sometimes seems a bit arbitrary (e.g. there's a bonus on one table which is worth 7 mill points for not much effort), but it's fast, colourful and pretty addictive for the most part.

[Shatterhand]

I remember Psycho Pinball because it was the first Pinball game I played that had Multiball.

Other than that, it was very forgettable. But it's a lot better than previous Codemasters attempt at a pinball game, "Soccer Pinball".


On Hall of Fame, I think No Good Gofers is my favourite table. It has one of the most difficult shots I ever saw in an pinball table (The hole in one shot), and it's always thrilling when I get it . I also love the Whirlwind table.

I can't get the Harem Multiball goal on Arabian Nights, I don't know what I am doing wrong... I can only light up the H on Harem, after that every shot I do in the left loop (with the white arrow flashing) doesn't register... what's weird is that that shot sometimes sends the ball to the bumpers, and other times it loops straight to my right flipper.

Any ideas?

[Shatterhand]

Firepower - 4,683,350

According to Twin Galaxies and the Guinness Book, this is a world record.

My own Firepower score is a World Record too (Its on 2,5 million mark), I've been thinking about submitting this to them somehow.. I can beat the "oficial" world record easily.

[BrianC]

I started playing Super Pinball Behind the Mask for SNES and I'm liking it so far. It has two ball multiball due to the SNES's limitations and the table design, for some odd reason, lacks elevated ramps, but the physics and, despite the lack of elevated ramps, level design are well done. I still need to pick up Last Gladiators and Necronomicon for Saturn.

[MadScientist]

I can't get the Harem Multiball goal on Arabian Nights, I don't know what I am doing wrong...

I (and several other people) had this problem as well. See the previous page in this thread for how best to deal with it.

[Ruldra]

Funny thing, a few days ago me and my brother were messing with our old game boxes in the closet, and we came across a sealed box of 3D Ultra Pinball - Collector's Edition. I remember getting this as a gift exactly ten years ago but for some reason I never opened it.

Not only it has the first 3 games in the series (3D Ultra Pinball, Creep Night and The Lost Continent), but also a VHS tape labeled "The History of Pinball". I really want to watch this but I don't have a VHS player anymore