Since when was Pinball Dreams insanely difficult?
 

I've been playing it a lot on my iPod Touch lately (and flirted with the GP32 version also) and have discovered how almost impossible it is to go above 2 million in a single game full stop.

It certainly doesn't help that there is no way to entitle yourself to five balls instead of three - something that the GP32 version provides as an option. When I asked Cowboy Rodeo about this, they said implementing an 5-ball option would screw up the existing highscore records or something along those lines. I call bullshit really, since from multitudes of playing I've learnt that having two extra balls really doesn't increase your chances of scoring big all that much. It certainly isn't anything resembling a cheat at all. Heck, I always played 5-ball games on the GP32 and I still kept getting thrashed much of the time, particularly as that version expects you to break 5 million at the least before you can enter your initials on any table (iPhone expects a minimum of half-a-million in comparison).

I've also learnt that - unlike virtually every other Pinball game I've ever played - Dreams/Fantasies doesn't have a means of blocking up the side holes through switches on the table. I'm sick to death of seeing my ball go down one of the sides - totally beyond my control and all hopes of saving it - just seconds after I launch the ball in some games. It's these and a lot of other cheap mechanics that make me want to quit and start over again immediately instead of wasting my time trying to play through my current game when I'm losing balls this fast. When I look at the highscore tables on Cowboy Rodeo's website it just fricking depresses me wondering how everyone else can rule so hard on it when the physics are completely against you all the time.

And I used to think this game was the dog's bollocks all these years - in a way I still do, but my happiness is unignorably tarnished by the ridiculous and unfair difficulty in 90% of games I play on it.

:(

Have you ever used a real pinball table?

A few times in the past, but I certainly never remember being made to feel angry by one - I guess that's "being a kid" for you!

I disapprove of any game that pisses me off more than entertains me - and I'm sure the likes of Konami, Capcom et al are the kings of that trope.

Marz, me ole muck, you are just crap at it :D Or just became old and lost your mad youngin' skills! :lol
When I entered this thread, I didn't expect to find someone scoring less points than me in Pinball Dreams! Haha.

Let's also have in mind this possibility: The iPhone version is not 100% equal to the Amiga one. I played the PSP version and it has many differences, specially in ball dynamics. Some shit just doesn't quite work with it like it did in the Amiga version.

Also, the side lanes... You can get out of those situations at times using the tilting.

Ah yes, the tilting - I was wondering if I was supposed to do that more often.

Only problem is that the iPhone version expects you to physically shake the device to tilt. So in other words..... take your focus off the ball for a second while you shake the damn thing and just hope you didn't fudge it up because you couldn't see what you were doing. Considering I'm spending all of my time trying and praying not to lose another fucking ball, I think it's safe to say I can't even think about tilting. I'm willing to bet the PSP version (which I haven't played) makes it so much simpler with a tilt button.

Yeah, in other words, mate, this version is utter shit!
I also bet there are inconsistencies in the scoring and physics system like the PSP version has compared to the Amiga one.

To prove this I will have a go at the original Amiga version now. Will be back tomorrow :D

<wizard>

Oh ah... not going to bother with a second game eh? :lol

</wizard>

Amiga scene thread about a iPod Touch version... god I miss the days when Akira was a GM :D :p

Anyway, the Amiga version isn't that hard and if they f*cked the physics up on the iPod Touch they get a Nelson Ha-Ha from me :cheese

Ah, but the core game we're talking about here was based on the Amiga, so..... :D

Always thought that was what 'Retrogaming General Discussion' is all about ;) We'll see where this thread is tomorrow :D

Me, sometimes, too! :P

Anyway, I played Dreams for a while yesterday night, as I said. It's SO DIFFERENT to the PSP version. They totally RUINED the physics! I can only assume the iPhone version is no different, and the addition of having to actually BUMP the screen to tilt is retarded. These changes alone can add to the difficulty a lot. I find myself clocking the loops etc. a lot easier on the Amiga version, but not because the game is easier, it's because the physics MAKE SENSE. The way the ball falls and also how it flies off the flippers makes sense in the Amiga, it is like if this was a tilted table surface and not like if balls were FALLING down which is what this new version feels like.

In good versions of pinball dreams, you can lift up the one flipper on the side, the ball is going down, and tilt it back into the play field! :D

Sssshhhhhh!!!! ;)

In answer to the question in topic - since you grew old?

Unless you're 16 and have the reflexes of a cobra and the perserverance of Chuck Norris. Have you played the same P.D. table 20 times in one night yet? Then you are not like a 16yo. That's what I'm saying. I'm not. And that's why I don't get 100+million in score on Stones'n'Bones anymore ;)

That said, P.D. is known for requiring input with zero delay, and therefore you should play it on a real Amiga, nothing else will do. It's particular.

You can easily get back into Pinball Dreams (or Fantasies, Illusions, Slam Tilt...) if you give it some time (on the Amiga or WinUAE at least). If you haven't played it for some years you can't expect that you'll score as much as you did when you played it on a daily basis. Just don't expect it to happen after half an hour ;)

Has someone played in highres flicker on a big screen (LCD-TV, Beamer, ...)? I think with a good screen you have some advantages then.

I've played many real pinball tables in my youth, and only a minority of those machines, usually those that were for a younger generation of players, had some kind of option to help you here.

Ah the skill it takes to see your ball go down the side lane and then nudging it back into play... the golden oldie "Star Wars" table is my favorite in that respect, it had perfect balance in my honest opinion.

Yeah, I been clocking some hours on the PSP version and even when the larger screen allows for more precise ball prediction (each ball can last me a lot longer than it did before) I still can't coin any ramps or fucking anything as much as I used to thanks to the awful physics implementation :(

I can play a ball for several minutes but without scoring much!

Since the physics are fucked, the side lane "bring it back up" trick usually doesn't work.

@MethodGit

For me it sounds that iPhone version of PD is completely screwed up. It does not matter that core is Amiga based. It still could have been modifyied.

For fuck's sake, just tried playing the iPhone version of Pinball Fantasies a bit more..... so now you expect me to break 10 fucking million minimum before I can enter my initials?

What the fuck are Cowboy Rodeo playing at? Why have they totally fucked up not just the physics, but the highscores as well?