Ranked - Every pinball game released for the Sega Saturn

Please think about supporting the show by subscribing to the channel or becoming my patron. Thank you so much!
/ retrocore
Email at [e-mail]
Facebook - Retro Core BotP
Twitter - @RetroCoreYakumo
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy!
#retrocore
#pinball
#segasaturn

[@videogameobsession]

Huge fan of video pins here. I'm happy to see this and hope you have more video pins on other systems on the way. :) I'm actually a big fan of Kyuutenkai: Fantastic Pinball. Technosoft clearly caught the pinball bug after porting Devil's Crash to the Mega Drive! It is very similar in so many ways. I think this is why I like Kyuutenkai so much. The physics are very similar to Compile Crush/Crash trilogy. KAZe had some great pin games as well. Also doing the Super Pinball games for the SNES/SFC. So yeah, I'd love to see more of these. -Matt

[@RetroCore]

I have two of the Kaze pinball games on the SFC. One is called behind the mask but I can't remember what the other is. Very nice games from what I remember. Maybe I should do a pinball round up on the SFC. It sure has a healthy selection.

[@videogameobsession]

Yeah, that'd be a fun watch! The second Super Pinball is called The Amazing Odyssey. For some reason we didn't get the second one here in the USA. I've been trying to complete sets of console and handheld video pinball for a long while now. I'd love to find some that I've missed. :) For SNES/SFC, I have: Jaki Crush Pinball (which is my favorite on the system), Super Pinball 1 and 2, Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies (they are very good ports of the Amiga gsmes).The music is especially good in these), Battle Pinball (Banpresto brings together tables with Kamen Rider, Gundam, and Ultraman licenses. Seems pretty good from what I recall). Also, the game Firestriker, / Holy Striker (SFC), is a pinball-brickbreaker hybrid adventure game. You can also use the Nintendo Mouse with it. I think that's all I can think of for SNES/SFC. Oh, actually there is a pinball table game in Timon & Pumba Jungle Games, but I've never tried it. :P

[@RetroCore]

Yep, I'm aware of all of those and like you I own the Super Pinball games and Jaki Crush. I've played Dreams and Fantasies on the SFC but can't say I remember that Banpresto one. Holly Striker I am aware of but don't recall playing it much.

[@brazilmugenteam]

I wasn't aware Saturn had so many pinball games

[@johnsimon8457]

A lot of the Saturn library is “What if 16 bit era, but better?”

[@akatsukione2377]

​​​​@@johnsimon8457 It isn't just from the Saturn, the PlayStation also had some "16-bit but better" games, especially in its early years. Check out games like In the Hunt/Kaitei Daisensou and Gunners' Heaven/Rapid Reload

[@sebastienretrogaming4051]

Great vidéo !

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

One of my most embarassing moments in retrogaming was mocking the developers of The Web for what looked like cheap shovelware. A little research later, and I never take a console pinball game for granted again... Even as so many failed to meet that high bar. Ah well, at least their later Metroid Prime pinball was actually designed for the DS's screen.

[@Mamiya645]

Pro Pinball has the most realistically designed table, but Last Gladiators would fit one of the Pinball 2000 sized horrors.

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Excellent Mark. This would make a good idea for a "Ranked" Playlist on each unit onto your channel. Like the idea of the pinball genre to start first brother man. 8^) Anthony...

[@RetroCore]

Thanks Anthony! I'll look into that. There's a lot of great Saturn content to cover. Plus, I may also do a Pinball roundup for the Super Famicom as well.

[@BAKU2K2]

The Web, as with the rest of the Pro Pinball series, are not based on real tables, but are indeed very realistic. They strongly resemble the typical Bally/Williams tables of the era. Someone did make a real life version of another Pro Pinball game: Timeshock.

[@RetroCore]

Thanks for the input. They really did a great job with the Pro-Pinball tables. The fact that they can be mistaken for being based on a real table says a lot.

[@pk.002]

Hyper 3D Pinball is a classic. My first exposure to it was the PC version back in '96 as a child and I loved it. It's been the standard for pinball games for me ever since, and I still play it to this day.

[@RetroCore]

Glad you like it. It's sure one of the better titles in the upper class of Pinball games.

[@WMARUoriginal]

The Gladiators table in Last Gladiator pinball is my all time favorite. The music, sound effects, voices, the pop up graphics, and the feel of the ball keep me playing for hours. The other tables are pretty good too but not quite on the same level. And I agree the Necronomicon follow up just didn’t have the same magic.

[@RetroCore]

Gladiators is a real classic. Probably my favourite table as well.

[@feederunderground]

it's true that the web is not a masterpiece, but it's the first pinball game cunning had developed and it shows, if you try big race usa on the dreamcast, or fantastic journey, you can clearly taste the perfection one table per game, but absolutely nothing came close to that fidelity imho oh and lovely video by the way...

[@crunchinjelly]

At the time I would’ve loved that first-person view in Pinball Graffiti. 😂

[@topofbones]

A large bunch of pinballs. Necronomicon and Gladiators remember me my favorite one in Super Famicom: Super Pinball Behind the Mask Thanks for the show 👏

[@RetroCore]

You're very welcome.

[@GRNDZA108]

Last Gladiators has gotta be my favourite non-Crash series digital pinball game. I haven't played the revision, but if it fixes how often the ball gets hung up at the top of the table then it's on my list to get. I really want to love Kyutenkai, to me its one glaring weakness is how large the centre gutter between the flippers is. It feels like an inordinate number of bounces are outside of your control to save. I love everything else about it though.

[@RetroCore]

The 9.7 update changes the ball physics to match those on Necronomicon. So it should fix the issues you mentioned.

[@GRNDZA108]

@@RetroCore Cool, I'll chase down the rest of the trilogy then!

[@shotgunl]

I don't play many digital pinball games these days, but I have a handful of older titles that I used to quite enjoy. I have True Pinball and Hyper 3-D Pinball on the Saturn, but I haven't played any of the others here. I remember only paying like 2 dollars for Hyper 3-D Pinball in the very late 90s. Both are fun games, and, yeah, I'd probably say Hyper 3-D is the more fun game. My favorite video pinball games remain Epic Pinball and Devil's Crush.

[@patsmalling]

@@shotgunl Epic pinball was the absolute dopest shit ever. That, commander keen 4, and raptor call of the shadows were all i played for a very long time.

[@RetroCore]

I have to agree with you there, Hyper 3-D Pinball is definitely the standout. I'm a big fan of Devil Crush but on the Mega Drive as Devil Crash MD. The western release is censored mind you.

[@AfroRyan]

I made achievement sets on RetroAchievements for Digital Pinball Last Gladiators and Digotal Pinball Necronomicon. Great games; very fun and awesome music.

[@AfroRyan]

Planning on a Pinball Graffiti set too; what a weird game.

[@AfroRyan]

Can't say I agree with the overall rankings. Necronomicon has much better designed table events than its predecessor, and I personally thought the shots were much more consistent to make than Last Gladiators. The Warlock table is infamous in Last Gladiators (especially its multiball) for auto-draining balls (unless you nudge). Version 9.7 fixes these issues, but I still prefer Necronomicon overall. I still like them both a lot, mind you. Also, surprised you didn't mention anything about the bizarre simulation/story mode in Pinball Graffiti...did you just play it in Japanese and skip the English version for some reason? You're missing out on what makes it unique by doing that. There's a basketball minigame hiding in there, too.

[@RetroCore]

Im pretty sure I mentioned the story mode in Pinball Graffiti. I did know there was an English language version of that game.

[@AfroRyan]

@@RetroCore Rewatched that section just to make sure I wasn't distracted. I must have been; you do mention it, but then you say "this is completely lost on non-Japanese speakers, mind you," which is an odd thing to say about a game that got an English release.

[@ilusha88]

I know this is nitpicking, but if there are two games tied for third, the next game should be ranked fifth, not fourth.

[@RetroCore]

Maybe. I never thought of it that way.

[@davy_K]

I'm quite fond of video game pinball - I remember enjoying Video Pinball on the 2600 back in the day but to call that a pinball game is stretching the definition. Last Gladiators on Saturn was the first game that really cracked the problems of the lower res screens and 3D views. The tables were really designed well for the technology of the time and the arrow system made it very clear what had to be done. The sequel is gorgeous too. I have a soft spot for Tilt (aka Hyper 3D pinball) with its in-game 3D-2D selectable view and variety of tables. The Web is quality too but it's very blue! It's a pity it was left out of the Dreamcast Pro Pinball game collection. Dragons Fury/Devil Crash on Megadrive is still my all-timer though. I think Last Gladiators 9.7 has the ball physics tweaked to match the Necronomicon physics.

[@RetroCore]

You're absolutely correct about the ball physics being tweaked in Last Gladiators 9.7. Only a serious player would probably notice though. I'm also a massive fan of Devil Crash. It's one of my all time favourites. Especially the Japanese version which is completely uncensored.

[@Colin_Ames]

Great video, as always.

[@RetroCore]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@SegaCDUniverse]

The Saturn was so awesome, especially with imports

[@RetroCore]

It sure was. Easily my favourite Sega console and around console ever.

[@billcook4768]

Necronomicon is on my list of games to pick-up if I ever get a Saturn. It didn’t do so well on your rankings, but it has style

[@RetroCore]

I agree it has style but I'm not a fan of the tables. You may enjoy it though as it plays just as well as Last Gladiators does.

[@spectrumbots4268]

Digital Pinball: Last Gladiators has a 704x480 resolution and runs at a high framerate. That's very impressive for the Saturn. Hyper 3-D Pinball looks cool!

[@RetroCore]

There are many Saturn games that run at the resolution at 60fps. Many are complicated fighters as well.

[@arcadianlhadattshirotsughW33Z]

i really like Kyuutenkai's art and music, and its fun to play... Technosoft is great...im no pinball expert... i havent played most of the games mentioned in this video so i should try them..

[@RetroCore]

It's a good game but not if you're looking for a pinball fix. I'd rather play Technosoft's port of Devil Crash. Love that game.

[@arcadianlhadattshirotsughW33Z]

@@RetroCore oh yeah i agree Technosoft's MD port of Devil's Crush is fantastic.. for some reason its disliked by the "general internet consensus" but i always loved it.. not the shitty Tengen psuedo sequel though.. whatever its called, Dragon's Revenge i think... ooph

[@RetroCore]

Oh my God, yeah that Tengen game is total bollocks! I really don't get why the Internet prefers the PC Engine version of Devil Crash over the Mega Drive. I own both and really do think the Mega Drive version is the superior version.

[@dodgykebaab]

That’s what they say about you mark; you’re a right ranker!

[@RetroCore]

It depends on who you ask 😁

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Wow, I wished for this video and you made it happen!!!!!

[@RetroCore]

Wishes sometimes do come true ☺️

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

@@RetroCore I kinda wish there were more Saturn pinball games! And you kinda might already guess what I will wish for next christmas. Every Pinball game for the [it starts with a P and it ends in n] And I am realy curious about the number. 11 maybe?

[@daniel_lucio]

Cool video Mark, was this inspired by the latest Battle of the Ports? I never thought of the Saturn as a virtual pinball machine, what a pleasant surprise. I remember having a hard time with "Pro Pinball The Web" on the PC, it was a very buggy game.

[@RetroCore]

Yes it was 👍. I started playing some. Last Gladiators after making that video only to remember just home many Saturn Pinball games I actually owned.

[@joeyjojojunior4886]

I had Thunder Balls but antibiotics helped clear it up in a few days.

[@RetroCore]

🤣That's a good thing!

[@NeoGeoNinja81]

@RetroCore Re: Hyper 3D Pinball This was released here in the UK under the title of "Tilt". IIRC, there is an option in the menus somewhere so you can disable those 3D CG FMV sequences 👍 Tilt is a good game but both the Digital Pinball games will always be the absolute best on Saturn imo ❤

[@RetroCore]

Ah, I thought I'd seen it back when I was still living in the UK. Yeah, now I do remember the box art. It's the same as the Japanese releast but with TILT written using pinball machine parts.

[@evilfreak7]

pinball graffiti has a european release with a translated story mode. haven't played much of it at all, but it's there

[@RetroCore]

Wow, that crap got a PAL release? And here I was thinking it was Japanese only.

[@evilfreak7]

@RetroCore JVC also had Sea Bass Fishing and of course Keio 2 as PAL exclusive translations on Saturn. kind of a shame there's been no NTSC conversion hacks for them (that I'm aware of)

[@RetroCore]

Thatbis a big shame. Playing in PAL, especially these days is horrible.

[@forcedfeedbackclassicgamer5499]

This video is so my jam. I'm a total sucker for pinball games.

[@RetroCore]

Hope you enjoyed the video.

[@zanegandini5350]

I have the PS1 version of Pro Pinball, and it definitely feels like a real pinball table. Unfortunately that's both a blessing and a curse: It plays very well but lacks variety since there's only one table. They omitted "The Web" subtitle here in the US, which is why I don't recognize that bad art. As for the differences... well it looks to be the same game on both platforms. I don't remember if the PS1 uses an interlaced mode though.

[@RetroCore]

I wonder if they dropped the Web sub title as it sounded like an online game?

[@PopeTheRevXXVIII]

I've been playing a lot of Demon's tilt on Switch lately and now I'm Tempted to pop my Copy of Necronomicon in my Saturn, I have Last Gladiator too, but not the .97 version or what the rare version is

[@RetroCore]

I've not have the opportunity to play Demon's Tilt. Some day I'll get around to playing it.

[@PopeTheRevXXVIII]

@RetroCore there's a sequel too Xeno tilt which I guess is the developer's take on Alien Crush. Demon's tilt is fantastic though enough that I double dipped. Xbox digitally and Physically on Switch

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

😂 Did my naxat comment start a weird craving?

[@RetroCore]

Quite possibly 😁

[@ilusha88]

I think the stereo sound was reversed on one or two games. Funny how pinball makes it the most noticeable.

[@RetroCore]

It shouldn't be. Maybe just a side effect of things moving so quickly on many of the games.

[@KISSbestfan]

My favourite console? Check Underrated but fun pinball games? Check Retro Core? Check Now its going to be good! How did you know?

[@Idelacio]

And not one has a horizontal orientation mode... T_T I mean I get why but as a number of shooters have it, it just seems like a lost opportunity.

[@RetroCore]

So very true.

[@bhirawamaylana466]

so True Pinball is from Pinball Illusions, talk about irony.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, it's the same game.

[@joeyjojojunior4886]

Love VP but noting beats the real thing.

[@akatsukione2377]

You should also try the PlayStation library of pinball games One of my favorites is Power Rangers Zeo: Full Tilt Battle Pinball, by KAZe

[@RetroCore]

KAZe did a power rangers pinball game? I need to check that out.

[@Kumimono]

None of these are based on real life tables, I suppose? Also, do any have, Tate mode?

[@RetroCore]

Nope, all digital only tables and sadly no tate mode. A massive missed opportunity.

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

Balls of Steel 😅

[@RetroCore]

very useful in later life ;)

[@Handlebar-MustDash]

My first console Pinball game was Pinbot on the NES, man that was awful.

[@RetroCore]

Oh yes, that one is a stinker

[@CasperEgas]

Pinball Graffiti also has a PAL version. The game is still horrible though.

[@RetroCore]

I never knew that got a PAL release. Surprised.

[@CasperEgas]

@RetroCore it is quite rare.

[@NeoGeoNinja81]

​@RetroCore Yeah. There's a PAL release. I'm sorry that you had to find out. Find out it exists, that is 🤭 On the positive(?) side; it's wholly unoptimised so plays 'perfectly' at 60hz 🤣