Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Williams Collection

[DJ_Izumi]

Pinball Hall Of Fame: The Williams Collection is the second in the Pinball Hall Of Fame series, the first being the Gottleib collection. This is actually a value title for PSP, Wii, and PS2 that'll you'll find for $14.99-$19.99 but I feel it's worth mentioning and bringing up.

Unlike the last Pinball HOF title which featured many of Gotteib's much older tables that honestly arn't all that fun or entertaining, The Williams Collection features William's classic tables from the late 70's to early 90s', these are all virtual replicas of popular solid state tables, the arrangement is a LOT more fun. The camera angles and ball following has also improved a great deal which is key in a 3D pinball game, otherwise it's difficult to play the tables well. On a 4:3 or 16:9 screen you really just can't see the whole table at once as you can on a real pinball table. Overall the title is far more enjoyable in terms of controls, tables, and cameras. It's a nice easy pick up and play title I find, especially if you want something portable. I'm thinking I'll also run to EB Games and pick up a PS2 copy to use for pinball at our anime events and use for giving away prizes to high score holders.

The interface is enjoyable as you move left and right threw a virtual arcade and unlike the previous title there are additional small details like characters playing tables and arcade standups and even a DJ playing music in the background which is a nice feature over a simple scrolling list of icons like you would see in Midway's or Capcom's arcade collections for consoles.

The classic tables are as follows:

Black Knight
Firepower
Funhouse
Gorgar
Pin*Bot
Space Shuttle
Taxi
Whirlwind
Jive Time
Sorcerer

However Jive Time and Sorcerer are not featured on the PS2 version I've read.

Simply put, it's 3D virtual pinball but it's actually pretty fun unlike most and worth checking out if you're an arcade or pinball fan with a few bucks to spare.

[Malacus]

I picked this up last night at costco for 17$ for the Wii and I love it, I have the Gottleib collection on PSP, and the table selection alone is far superior to Gottleibs.

What I hated most about the Gottleib version was that it didnt emulate the LEDs correctly, it basically showed your score and a few other select things, but wasnt animated at all (mind you, this was the psp version)

Also, Id never played pinbot before, and now Im loving it along with all the other games on there.

The whole 'no-HD' on the Wii is still apparent, but it still looks great in 16:9

-mal

[DJ_Izumi]

It's still quite enjoyable at 480x272 on the PSP.  But I have to agree the interface between Gottleib and Williams is VASTLY improved.  You're right, the LEDs are better.  The scoring is also better, I like seeing top 5 scores for each table instead of seeing one top score.  All those electromechanical Gottleibs just arn't that fun honestly.

I assume that all the ports are mostly similar, it's a value title so I don't expect much uniqueness really

[jerryjanis]

No Bride of Pinbot?!?  C'mon!

How do the games compare to the same games played in Visual Pinball?

Jake

[Malacus]

The most noticeable thing is that theyre recreated in 3d instead of pinmames 2d.

-mal

[DJ_Izumi]

Yeah, Pinmame is only psudo3D which gets a tad apparent when it comes to the animation of any toys.  Pinball Hall Of Fame consists of full 3D replicas of the tables and the camera can pan around as it wants.  That said, there can easily be such a thing as too much camera work in a virtual pinball table.

Personally, I wanna take my PSP to an arcade with some of these tables and play them side by side to see how the experiance compares.

[MonkeyFracas]

I picked up both of these titles over the weekend and for the price,  they're both great! The older tables on the Gottleib collection are a bit of a drag but they're balanced out by the newer ones. Out of the 7 tables , I like 4 of them.  The Gottleib collection also has a few unlockable novelty games like a 'Big' style fortune teller and a claw machine.

The Williams collections is solid all the way through, I'm really enjoying 7 of the 10 tables on that disc.  I've got the Wii version and it feels very natural to be able to seperate your hands to about the width of a pinball machine and work the flipper buttons.

Both titles feature a great tournament mode which is fun even with as few as 2 people.  What's even better is an 'Instructions' feature that takes you on a narrarted tour of each table and explains the goals and what you need to do to reach them.  I'm not much of a pinball wizard so finally having all these tricks explained has shed some light on how players manage the insane scores I see on tables at my local arcade.

I paid $12 for the gamecube version of the Gottleib collection (used) and $25 for the Williams collection. The visuals are almost identical between the two but they are sharp looking. All the curved table elements actually appear curved (no blockiness) and the playfield art shows no signs of pixelization.

A friend of mine is picking up the PS2 version of the Gottleib collection - if there's any significant differences i'll post them here.

[DJ_Izumi]

Claw machine!?  There was a clawmachine?

I didn't see that in either the Xbox or PSP version of The Gottlieb Collection.  Sorry, but can you offer any evidence to the claw machine?  Or was it exclusive to the Gamecube release?  Sorry but...  I wantie clawie machinie!