Black Knight was a landmark game is many different ways. Steve Ritchie and his team did a brilliant job on making this game "work". Today it may seem simple, but it is rarely easy. BK is the game that is to many, the epitome of what a 80's pinball game should be. There are a few reviews stating that this game is overrated, all dmd's are better or BK 2000 is better. That's fine, your opinion is yours, it's just that you're wrong. You can say what you want to, but you're wrong. If you still believe the above statements, I believe that there is an AM talk radio station out there that is willing to take your call after Rush is on.
The Pros:
Where do we start... The theme is incredibly well executed. I usually do not care for Ramunni's artwork, but this is very well done. I personally like the pf a bit more than the BG, but that's just me. The Dual PF design flows as a Ritchie game should. The shot from the lower right flipper to the upper left flipper to the lock takes a figure 8 around the PF and reminds me of something that Ted Zale would have thougght of. Multiball is great. The ringer screams at each million points scored. Stealing locked balls from your opponent is always a treat. For the amount of memory in the ROMS , Larry DeMar did a an amazing amount of work with 30kb.
The Cons:
Launching the ball and not hitting it with the upper right flipper can lead to an instant drain. This only happened a few times though. I guess Mr. Ritchie was trying to teach me a lesson. The lower loop can send the ball into the outlanes if not adjusted properly.
The Takeaway:
A game for the ages. These games in good condition can be expensive. Fortunately new PF's and BG's are floating about and with some time and care, you can have a great BK in your collection with a bit of sweat equity! Sometimes people will say that this game is too easy. I say your game is not set up hard enough. Pay attention to function #37. When this is turned on, the multiball lock has to be lit by rolling over the bonus multiplier loop on the lower playfield. Then gitcher' self back up to the upper PF and lock your ball. Try it and see how "easy" this game is now. There are other options to make this game more difficult as well. So wax it up, steepen the angle, freshen your rubbers and make sure that this game is snappy as it should be. Finally, I know that some people will disagree, but this game is the 2nd best out of the Williams double level Fabulous 4. Solar Fire still is a more challenging game for me.
The Black Knight will thhhhlayy you!