Page 54 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #2

talkin’ about! Do you remember package deserves pened.
Devil’s Crush for the TG-16? Well, some attention. Gottlieb, king
this is that game and more. It’s ba- When it came out, of the hill at
sically identical to its TG-16 coun- it retailed for $30 one point, now
terpart, but with a couple of differ- but can now be the laughing
ent bonus screens. The screen had for $20-$25 in stock (literally)
resolution is also a little different as some stores. Way of every ar-
is the sound, but most people to go Microsoft! cade owner
would never notice. Dragon’s Fury This high quality and operator.
has you battling the dark forces of package includes Anyway, the
a supernatural world, so prepare seven authentic second reason
yourself for the most fantastic time arcade Gottlieb I don’t like
of your life! Like ‘Tower’ for the pinball games from Haunted
Jaguar, this game has 3 levels of the 30s to the 90s! House is be-
pinball playing fun to be had. But Highlights include cause there
unlike the Jag pinball, they did this ‘Baffle Ball,’ are 3 levels of
one right. On top of the massive ‘Humpty Dumpty,’ and ‘Haunted playing fields here! Sounds “cool,”
scrolling playfield, there are 6 bo- House.’ Baffle Ball is not the pin- right? Wrong. Since there are so
nus rounds where you will “battle” ball most people think of when they many different levels to the game
dragons, vampire bats, live skulls, think pinball. Pinball games from (a “basement,” “main floor,” and
and other evil monsters. You do that era did not have flippers, tar- “attic”), it leaves little to no room for
have creatures gets, etc. You shot the any type of real game play. The
(targets) walking ball onto the playfield and game’s “main floor” layout is almost
around the play- hoped that it fell into the non-existent, which is pretty boring
field, but some- most “point scoring” sau- if you ask me. One of the only
how they seem cers. By the time Humpty games that could get away with the
to fit and do not Dumpty came out, they multiple level playing field was Wil-
come off as be- had introduced us to the liams’ Black Knight; that game
ing cheesy. concept of flippers (6 of kicks ass, but that goes to show
Game play is top them!) to gain better con- you the difference between a prop-
notch. No jittery trol of the ball. Even erly designed game and a poorly
ball movement, though these early flipper designed one. I guess I should
great flipper to games existed, they were mention that Black Knight does not
ball physics, and not used the way they are have a “basement,” which is a
you can see a lot today. The old games’ flip- good thing. I guess I can see why
of the screen at pers were installed some people actually like Haunted
once (even though it does scroll). “backwards.” Very unique and quite House. It does have a cool theme
Tengen did us all a favor by porting challenging! and sound ef-
this over for the Genesis. If you Remember, fects and for the
only have a TG-16, chances are these older time, was very
you already have it or at least know games were different than
about it. If you do not have this not designed any other game.
game for either system, get it! You to have the As it sits as an
won’t be disappointed. ball blasting arcade game,
It should also be noted that Ten- around at 90 Haunted House
gen made a sequel of Dragon’s mph like they is better left to
Fury called Dragon’s Revenge for are today! pinball mechanic
the Genesis. It is an original game Haunted wizards than pin-
and was not part of the TG-16 House was, ball playing wiz-
lineup of video pinball games. I do and still is, ards.
not currently own Dragon’s Re- pretty popular Onto the prob-
venge but vaguely remember play- among pinball collectors, lems now of shrinking real
ing it back in the day. I remember although I cannot under- Baffle Ball arcade games down to the
it not being as fun as Dragon’s stand why. Two negative issues PC CD-ROM format. While an
Fury/Devil’s Crush. Bottom line: I come to mind. The first and most overall great package, Microsoft
give Dragon’s Fury or Devil’s important is the fact that by the literally dropped the ball on a few
Crush a 9.5 out of 10. time Gottlieb was making electronic important aspects of the real pin-
games, they were the bane of the ball arcade experience. First and
Microsoft’s Pinball Arcade was arcade industry. This was partly foremost, you cannot change the
featured as a sidebar in my previ- due to Gottlieb selling their pinball tilt or angle of the games! I find
ous pinball column, but I did not division to Columbia Pictures. All that they are a little too slow for my
talk about it. This really unique hell broke loose when that hap- tastes. You would think that they

Classic Gamer Magazine Winter 2000 54