''Epic Pinball'' is a 1993

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

video game developed by James Schmalz and published by Epic MegaGames. The initial release pre-dated Schmalz'

Digital Extremes Digital Extremes Ltd. is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating ''Warframe'', a free-to-play cooperative online action game, and co-creating Epic Games' ''Unreal'' series of games. Digi ...

name. The game is played seen from a 2D top-down view within a scrollable window with plain raster graphics in 320x240. It was noted for being programmed entirely in

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

assembly language In computing, assembly language (alternatively assembler language or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence bet ...

for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

systems.

Tables

The game was originally distributed on floppy disks in 3 separate packs of 4 tables each. The original

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. ...

version (and an early retail version) included only the original "Android" table. Later shareware versions and retail versions contained an updated version called "Super Android" (although it is still referred to as "Android" in the game, the table was changed to say "Super Android"). Another table, "African Safari", was included in the "Full Edition" (the CD-ROM version), in addition to the tables from the three packs above.

Development

Tim Sweeney saw some impressive 3D demos done by a group of Finnish developers that were members of the PC demogroup

Future Crew Future Crew was a Finnish demogroup that created PC demos and software, active mostly between 1987 and 1994. History The group was founded in 1986 by PSI (Sami Tammilehto) and JPM (Jussi Markula) as a Commodore 64 group, before moving to the ...

and sent Mark Rein to Finland to recruit them. They declined except for

Misko Iho Misko Iho (born Mikko Iho; May 9, 1975) is a Finnish film director. In the mid 1990s, he was part of the computer demo group Future Crew, and later worked designing computer game graphics in the United States. He also worked in organizing a nu ...

who travelled to the US with Mark, bringing back an unfinished version of a pinball game. Unable to convince them to allow Epic MegaGames to finish the game, Tim showed the unfinished game to James Schmalz in Canada. James developed Epic Pinball (with six pinball tables) from scratch in nine months while he was in college. Tim and Mark kept in touch with James to ensure he was on the right track. The graphics were created using Deluxe Paint II and the music was composed using

Scream Tracker ''Scream Tracker'' is a tracker (an integrated multi-track step sequencer and sampler as a software application). It was created by Psi (Sami Tammilehto), one of the founders of the Finnish demogroup Future Crew. It was written in C and assem ...

Releases

In 1993, the first registered game included only the first two pinball packs. The following year, xLand Games distributed that very version under the title "Fliper". In 1994, the "Crash & Burn", "Jungle Pinball", "Enigma", "Cyborgirl" and "Deep Sea" tables were released as individual games by B&N Software and its child company Strange Ranger. In 1995, all three packs plus the exclusive "African Safari" were released on CD. In the mid to late 1990s, individual tables were given away as free floppy diskettes to customers of

Blockbuster Video Blockbuster may refer to: Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a former video rental chain * Blockbuster (Bend, Oregon), remaining store Arts and entertainment * Blockbuster (entertainment) a very successful movie * Blockbuster (DC Comics ...

upon renting 2 or more items. The promotion lasted only for a few months. In 2011, the game was partially re-made by Fuse Powered Inc. for Apple's

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...

and

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

platforms. The game, re-titled as "Retro Pinball", features updated versions of three tables from the original game. The game was re-released on GOG.com on November 30, 2017, with support for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

, and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

pre-packed with

DOSBox DOSBox is a free and open-source MS-DOS emulator. It supports running programs primarily video games that are otherwise inaccessible since hardware for running a compatible disk operating system (DOS) is obsolete and generally unavailab ...

Reception

''Epic Pinball'' was a major commercial success for its creators, whose internal figures placed it as the third-best-selling shareware product of all time. Designer James Schmalz said in 1999 that ''Epic Pinball'' was more successful than anyone imagined it could be. According to Epic's Tim Sweeney, it was the publisher's top-selling shareware game, and Schmalz earned "more than a million dollars from the shareware royalties" in its first year. Ultimately the game sold more than 200,000 copies. ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' in 1994 stated that ''Epic Pinball'' was superior to the development team's commercial '' Silverball'' and "overall quality is very high". The magazine concluded that the $45 registration fee was a good value for eight boards, as "very few commercial alternatives offer as much without causing your wallet to Tilt!"

References

External links