Page 38 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #1

the box looked like they had 2600- cause instead of utilizing the Atari ratically at times and does not be-
ized it! Oh well, I was sure that it joystick, you must plug in your pad- have properly when you hit it with
would still be a top notch game and I dle controllers! the flippers, making your shots a
was right. SpectraVision realized that by little tougher than they need to be.
Midnight Magic was released by pressing the buttons on your pad- Other than that the game is a blast
Atari in the late 80’s as part of their dles, you are simulating what it to play.
new revitalizing campaign. Their would feel like if you were playing My final score for Bumper Bash
marketing and their games were ab- an actual Pinball machine. is 8 out of 10.
solutely brilliant! Bumper Bash is pretty much a
Even conven- Video Pinball was Atari’s first
though tional attempt at a pinball game for the
the 2600 Pinball 2600. Common sense should tell
version of game you that this game is primitive as
Midnight as it hell. Basically, what we have here
Magic is has all is a very slow and boring game.
totally the They tried to spice it up a bit by
different mak- adding a couple of spinning disks
from the ings of on either side of the pop-bumpers,
same a good throwing your ball in all sorts of un-
game for game. predictable directions. Pretty an-
other Two noying if you ask me.
systems, banks There was a game by Bally
it is a hell of drop- called ‘Fireball’ back in the early
of a lot of targets 70’s which featured a spinning rub-
fun to play. The game fea- Video Pinball (one bank on each side of ber mat that did the same thing and
tures flippers, a few pop-bumpers, a the screen), pop-bumpers, sling- I believe Atari simply copied the
couple of sling-shots and some roll- shots, return lanes, rollovers and a idea for Video Pinball. Other than
overs. This pretty much covers the spinner complement this game’s the spinning disks, you have a cou-
basics. Midnight Magic for the 2600 features. What really makes it dif- ple of pop-bumpers and lanes with
includes several other features which ferent from Midnight Magic are the rollovers, one of which has the
ups the ante for the makers of an ex- lanes on the top of the screen. By Atari logo in the middle of it. That’s
citing game. Not only are there two rolling over a switch in between the it.
flippers at the bottom of the return three lanes, you highlight the let- My final score for Video Pinball
lanes, there are also two more half- ters ‘A’, ‘C’, ‘E’ - spelling ACE! is 3 out of 10.
way up the playing field! They also Each time you spell ACE, you get
threw in a spinner, a bank of drop- rewarded with special bumpers Moving on, we come across an-
targets and one hell of a color pal- other lame Video-Pinball
ette that cycles when you multiply game. Zero Zap was for the
your bonus! This is one of the TI 994/A home computer. I
many features of the later Atari remember getting excited
games that has to be seen to be about this game when I saw it
believed. It seems the program- in a Triton catalog. Of course
mers threw in a little magic of their there were no pics, just a
own for some of these games. The fancy worded ad that made
way that the ball behaves on the Zero Zap sound like the next
playfield is also testament to the best thing to sex. What I really
programmers’ ability. It bounces remember getting excited
the way you would expect it to, and over was the fact that you
the flippers’ interaction is pretty could build your own tables!
much right on. Control is very im- Remember kids, this is a little
portant in a game like this and Mid- before EA’s Pinball Construc-
night Magic is by far the most realis- tion Set.
tic Pinball game for the 2600 - pe- Zero Zap In 1997 I finally landed myself a
riod. which kick the ball back out of the copy of this game. The person I got
My overall score for 2600 Midnight lane that goes down to the out it from warned me and asked ex-
Magic is 9 out of 10. hole. actly why I wanted the game. I
Now onto the gripe. Bumper knew what he meant after just a
Bumper Bash is another Pinball Bash could have been a better few seconds of it booting up. What
game for the Atari 2600 and is one of game had the programmers put a a horrible game! I am so glad I did
the harder-to-find games for the sys- little more thought into the physics not shell out my hard earned cash
tem. This is truly a unique game be- of the ball. It bounces around er- for this piece of garbage when it

Classic Gamer Magazine Fall 1999 38