22 August, 2016

Eight Ball Deluxe

When I received the FarSight newsletter I could not believe my eyes. The new table of the Season Six was one of the greatest classics, a table we have been, for years, waiting for, the fabulous Eight Ball Deluxe.



Eight Ball Deluxe has already existed as a simulation. In fact it was one of the first that existed for the Mac. Produced by Amtex with code by Littlewing, it was a superb digital pinball and one which sadly LIttlewing could not port to newer machines because in the meantime Amtex had gone out of business. I wrote about all this in an old post.

The FarSight version of Eight Ball is graphically gorgeous. Still I find that the realistic table reconstruction and the 3D view is somewhat more difficult to deal with compared to Littlewing's top-down view. To tell the truth I had forgotten that Eight Ball is not an easy game. Or perhaps this is due to the FarSight physics. I find aiming for the bonus-multiplier or the 8-ball lanes rather hard. And then there are those pesky outlanes which give you the impression that they are magnet-equipped in order to suck the ball.

Still I have one major critique concerning FarSight's implementation. Eight Ball Deluxe is an old table and could profit from a five-ball game. Unfortunately FarSight offers a fixed three-ball one. Of course, this does not mean one cannot enjoy playing this great pinball but a five-ball game would increase the pleasure. For me at least Eight Ball will be my favourite pinball over the next months. (And now that Eight Ball is here I will be crossing my fingers for Royal Flush).

6 comments:

  1. I love it. Eight Ball Deluxe was the first pinbal sim I played (on my macintosh LCII). Great memories, but indeed a challenging one. I remember it was already like this in the Amtex/Littlewing version. Sadly I have never played a real life version. Would love to see how that plays.

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  2. Wow! There's been a steady and dedicated group of people (including me) requesting this table on Farsght's facebook blog for over two years now, but I bet none of us ever thought they would actually issue it. Expect the usual chorus of complainers about "old tables" there, but we are thrilled.
    Yes it IS a hard table.. Even on classic Macs.. that makes the 3 ball limit more acceptable. Even so, the classic Mac OS one is actually 5 balls, though, I am positive of that.
    I'm loath to spend my only disposable amount of cash from my pension on a season 5 pack, but they've had some great tables so far, and it's either that or just buy the 8ballDLX...
    So Fireball.. Central park, Haunted house (OK that's not quite mech, I admit), and several other wonderful mechanical tables.. only leaves.. what? Royal Flush.. Even AMTEX never got as far as Fireball before they folded...
    I only wish I had read the blog feed first before spending $ on a rare cassette...
    Well, rice and beans for a while.
    PS, I am absolutely sure there is a top down view available in the settings,, I'll check it out and let you know if it , indeed, does have..
    Unreal. 8 ball dlx.. wow!

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  3. Correction.. it's a season 6 pack it's in! 5 is past already!

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  4. Well, it was only 32$ Canadian.. so natch I sprung for the full season pack ..No "pro", of course.. although I wish there were some way to hide the annoying "Go pro" ad in front of every table.
    So got a good bit of play in the 8 ball dlx table. Everything you said. Wonderful!. And yeah, the missing top down bit was a disappointment.. but I grew up in the AMTEX version that had semiscrolling table so the scrolling bit actually made it feel more familiar.
    "I could not believe my eyes " Inded!

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  5. I found camera setting 3 the best playable. It's almost topdown and does not too much scrolling. 5 balls would be great. Isn't that maybe part of the pro version? I wouldn't be surprised. 3 ball setting is probably the original table setting with perhaps a 5 ball option from the operator's menu. But I am guessing here. Have not looked it up (yet).

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  6. Ball settings are available in the original machine. Here's the manual from ipdb.
    http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/762/Bally_1981_Eight_Ball_Deluxe_English_Manual_includes_paginated_schematics.pdf

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