''Pinball Dreams'' is a

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 ...

simulation video game developed by Digital Illusions and originally released for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

in 1992. It spawned several sequels, including ''

Pinball Fantasies ''Pinball Fantasies'' is a 1992 pinball video game originally developed by DICE (company), Digital Illusions and published by 21st Century Entertainment in Europe for the Amiga home computers. It is the sequel to ''Pinball Dreams'', which was re ...

'' and '' Pinball Illusions''. The

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 ...

port was digitally released by

Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...

along with its sequel and '' Pinball Mania'' on February 22, 2011 on GOG.com 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 ...

. It received an

OS X 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 ...

build on April 23, 2013; and a

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 ...

build on August 19, 2014.

Gameplay

The game's four tables each had a theme, as do most real-life

& Panchinko machines. The version of Pinball Dreams bundled with the

Amiga 1200 The Amiga 1200, or A1200 (code-named " Channel Z"), is a personal computer in the Amiga computer family released by Commodore International, aimed at the home computer market. It was launched on October 21, 1992, at a base price of £399 in the ...

had a bug which rendered most of Beat Box's advanced features non-functional. *"Ignition", themed around a rocket launch, planets, and space exploration. The Expert Software's ''Pinball 2000'' port of the game renamed this table "Rocket". *"Steel Wheel", themed around steam trains and the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

. *"Beat Box", themed around the music industry, charts, bands and tours. *"Nightmare", themed around a graveyard, ghosts, demons, nightmares and generally evil things. Unlike the other tables in the game, the name of the table in the menu did not reflect the name displayed on the table itself—"Graveyard". Some ports of the game (notably the

GameTek GameTek was an American video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida, known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. GameTek was a trade name for IJE, the owner of electronic publishing ri ...

port to the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

) name this table "Graveyard" in the menu as well.

Development

The ball moves according to reasonably realistic physics, and the game was restricted to using table elements which would also be possible to build in reality. Sound and music were realized with

module file Module file (MOD music, tracker music) is a family of music file formats originating from the MOD file format on Amiga systems used in the late 1980s. Those who produce these files (using the software called music trackers) and listen to them ...

s. With this technology, several music tracks could be included on the limited space of

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

s. Ports: *

Atari Falcon The Atari Falcon030 (usually shortened to Atari Falcon), released in 1992, is the final personal computer from Atari Corporation. A high-end model of the Atari ST line, the machine is based on a Motorola 68030 CPU and a Motorola 56001 digital s ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

: A preview was released at the

Breakpoint demo party Breakpoint was an annual Demoscene#Parties, demoscene party held in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, Germany during Easter from 2003 to 2010. The successor to Mekka & Symposium, an annual German demoscene party that had ended in 2002, Breakpoint grew ...

in April 2006. *

Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth-generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

: Under the title ''Pinball Challenge Deluxe'', with tables added from ''

''. *

GP32 The GP32 (GamePark 32) is a handheld game console developed by the South Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea and distributed in some parts of Europe. History The GP32 was shown at E3 in 1999, 2000, 200 ...

: Released in October 2002. *

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

: A mostly accurate conversion, including all four tables and near-perfect sound. However, the red "blood" under the top bumper in the "Nightmare" table has been changed to blue and the crosses were removed. * PC: A conversion for

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

based systems by Spidersoft. *

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 ...

: Released in January 2009 by Cowboy Rodeo as ''Pinball Dreaming: Pinball Dreams''. *

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

: Released in November 2009 by Cowboy Rodeo. *

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. ...

: Released in July 2011 by Cowboy Rodeo as ''Pinball Dreams HD''. *

: Released in August 2011 by Cowboy Rodeo as ''Pinball Dreams HD''. *

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

: Released in October 2019 by ''BG GAMES''.

Reception

''Pinball Dreams'' was a commercial success, selling more than 650,000 copies in its debut year. ''Pinball Dreams'' was overall received positive by press reviews. ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...

'' gave the Game Gear version a 5.8 out of 10, commenting that "Pinball never really worked well on portable systems and ''Pinball Dreams'' is no exception. The boards are huge, but the game is a little slow." Power Unlimited gave the Game Boy version a score of 85% summarizing: "Sharp graphics, excellent sound and simple controls all contribute to a game that will hardly get boring. And with the three different cabinets there is also variety. In 1993 ''

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 ...

'' criticized the PC version of ''Pinball Dreams'' as having "the worst physical model" of four reviewed games, and disliked the "jerk scrolling. The magazine said in June 1994 that ''Pinball 2000'' "is an average title at a better than average price". In 1996 the magazine ranked ''Pinball Dreams'' as the 119th best game of all time, stating, "Smooth scrolling and great ball physics made this Amiga game a wizard's choice." In 2011,

Wirtualna Polska Wirtualna Polska (WP ) (lit. Virtual Poland) is a group of companies operating in the media and e-commerce sectors. The WP Group owns the Wirtualna Polska horizontal portal founded in 1995 and known for being the first internet portal in Polan ...

ranked it as the fourth best Amiga game.

Sequels and spin-offs

''Pinball Dreams 2''

An alternate PC-only sequel, ''Pinball Dreams 2'', was released in 1995 by 21st Century Entertainment (like ''Pinball Dreams'') but was developed by

Spidersoft Rockstar Lincoln Limited (formerly Spidersoft Limited and Tarantula Studios) is a British video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of ...

. It includes four tables: *"Neptune", themed to underwater exploration. *"Safari", themed to an African

safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

. *"Revenge of the Robot Warriors", themed to a battle against robots. *"Stall Turn", themed to

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

. Composer Andrew Barnabas did not have access to the game while writing its music, and was instead given only a list of song titles and a copy of the original ''Pinball Dreams''. He complained that "I couldn't even see what the game looked like. It was like composing in the dark."

''Pinball Mania''

''Pinball Mania'' is a 1995 DOS game based on Pinball Dreams. While "Digital Illusions was not involved in the fourth title in 21st Century's pinball series" it was instead developed by Spidersoft. The game featured 4 tables: Kick Off, Jail Break, Tarantula, and Jackpot. PC Games (Germany) gave the game a 69 out of 100, while High Score gave it 3 out of 5. A Game Boy port was published by

UK Ltd. Consoles Plus gave it 80 out of 100, while Total! (Germany) gave it 3 out of 6.

''Absolute Pinball''

''Absolute Pinball'' is a 1996 DOS game based on Pinball Dreams. It was developed by Unique Development Studios AB and published by 21st Century Entertainment Ltd. on Sep 01, 1996. Joystick (French) gave it 80 out of 100, Coming Soon Magazine gave it 76 out of 100, PC Games (Germany) gave it 75 out of 100, PC Player (Denmark) gave it 70 out of 100, PC Player (Germany) gave it 3 Stars, High Score gave it 3 out of 5, PC Joker gave it 55 out of 100, and Power Play gave it 54 out of 100.

''Pinball Builder''

''Total Pinball 3D''

''Total Pinball 3D'' is a DOS game released in 1996 by 21st Century Entertainment and developed by Spidersoft. A '' Next Generation'' reviewer criticized that the view of the table in 2D mode is too small due to it being restricted to one side of the screen, and concluded, "There is a lot of variety in play style, difficulty, and theme, and the graphics are sharp, but compared to the high level of detail and originality in recent titles, the tables here look bland. ... much better games like '' Hyper 3-D Pinball'' and '' Pro Pinball: The Web'' now come to mind." He scored it two out of five stars. Coming Soon Magazine gave it 81 out of 100, PC Games (Germany) gave it 68 out of 100, GameSpot gave it 5.8 out of 10, Power Play gave it 42 out of 100, and PC Player (Germany) gave it 1 Stars.

References

External links

* * {{21st Century Entertainment Pinball series 1992 video games 21st Century Entertainment games Amiga games Cowboy Rodeo games Digital Illusions CE games DOS games Game Boy Advance games Game Gear games Games commercially released with DOSBox GameTek games IOS games IPod games MacOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Pinball video games PlayStation Network games Spidersoft games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in Sweden Video games scored by David Lowe Video games scored by Olof Gustafsson