Microsoft Pinball Arcade

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a game by	Microsoft
Platforms:	PC, GameBoy Color (1997)
Editor Rating:	6/10, based on 1 review
User Rating:	8.5/10 - 4 votes
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See also:	Pinball Games

I have played a ton of virtual pinball games over the years and Microsoft Pinball Arcade is one of the more forgotten ones out there. This is a rather old game and features some classic real tables so I thought that it would be fun to go back and see how virtual pinball was back in the late 90s. This is pretty basic by today's standards; I mean we have stuff like Arcade 1Up making virtual pinball machines these days, but I still wanted to have a bit of fun by looking back at this.

From Gottlieb

One of the coolest things about Microsoft Pinball Arcade is that it is based around real pinball tables from Gottlieb. They managed to get a license for seven tables which are, Baffle Ball, Knock Out, Slick Chick, Spirt of 76, Haunted House, and Cue Ball Wizard. What is cool about this is that starting with Baffle Ball which was released in the 40s, each of these tables are from a different decade. So, you get a pretty decent progression of how Gottlieb progressed over the years.

Better Than Others

I have to say that the seven tables are all decent virtual representations of these classics. Microsoft Pinball Arcade has one star though and that is Haunted House which to this day is a firm favorite of mine. It is replicated pretty well here, but I have to be honest and say that it has been released virtually many times after this, and I would say that it has been done a lot better. Toy Shock actually makes a really cool virtual pinball machine based around Haunted House. The other tables are ok and it is pretty awesome from a historical point of view to have these old tables, but apart from the historical aspect of them, they do not hold up all that well in my opinion.

Taking It On The Road

While I am talking about the PC version of Microsoft Pinball Arcade, I do want to also point out that there is a Game Boy Color version of this game too. I think that this one even though it has very basic graphics has a bit more charm to it. Granted the physics, as well as the visuals, are not anywhere near as solid as what you get on the PC, but I think it is a decent enough virtual pinball game considering what the Game Boy Color was. Also, having this pixel art version of Haunted House is pretty damn awesome and the sole reason as to why I have the GBC version of this game in my collection.

Look, there are far better virtual pinball experiences out there than this one now. I think the way that Microsoft Pinball Arcade takes you from the early days of Gottlieb all the way to the 90s is pretty interesting and having Haunted House on here is pretty cool. However, I have to say that there is no way I would recommend this over any of the virtual pinball experiences we have these days such as the offerings from Zen Pinball and Pinball FX.

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