Never played TPA on a game console but for mobile apps it's the best pinball simulation out there. I play constantly on my iPhone 5 and ipad mini and it's as close to the real games as you can get. I think this app has actually turned non pinheads into pinheads and is a great part of why pinball has been getting more popular.

Thing about simulated pinball is... well, the only real way to do it is on a PC. Televisions just don't have the resolution you need to be able to see text on inserts and such. Also, modern televisions are subject to terrible lag - there can sometimes be up to 100ms between command and realisation of that command.

(one of the reasons why games are so much easier now. Compare the enemy movement in Bioshock Infinite's "1999 mode" to the standard "Hard" mode on the original Bioshock - enemies can't move around as much these days because they move, then you shoot, then your tv shows that they moved.)

On phones, touchscreen input lag can be just as bad. It's not too bad for most games - designers work around lag. But with pinball, a 50ms delay between physical touch and realisation can be the difference between a jackpot and the ball falling between the flippers. After a while you get somewhat used to it and start flipping before you need to flip, but there's definitely a learning curve involved.

As for the lighting... well, in a video game you can light up a thing you've never seen before using typical video game lighting engines, and it'll look pretty good because you've no baseline for comparison. Use the same techniques with a real-world object you have some experience using, and it's never gonna look right - even if you could make it look right, nobody's got the computing horsepower to do that in real time.

This is why the TimeShock remake is going with 2D, pre-rendered graphics:

(yeah. TimeShock is the only game that I've been steadily playing on-again-off-again for over fifteen years. I'm a bit excited about the remake)

(having said all that, I do think it's great what the TPA guys are doing, even if I don't agree with how they're doing it)

I almost started a thread today about TPA. I tweaked it on my PC to the point that there is very little flipper delay. I had every intention to buy 1 or more seasons, but the physics... man, the physics. The ball feels too light and floaty on most of the games, and the bounces are just not right. The way the ball interacts with the flippers is just unnatural to me.

For a video game, it's fine, but it just does not feel like pinball to me.

I have to commend the creators of TPA for recreating all those tables, though. The selection is varied and very few stinkers in the bunch IMHO. If nothing else, TPA creates more pinball exposure to the masses.

I really enjoy it on my Samsung Tab 10.1 Picked up about 12 tables so far. I liked Scared Stiff so much more than EATPM at 1st. Now, I think EATPM is much better than Scared Stiff. It's a great way to check out tables you know nothing about. You get to know the sounds, the layout, gameplay etc.. without breaking the bank 1st. Great for killing time IMO.

Played on ipad. Never touched my consoles again.

I love it on my 10" android tablet - I play constantly. Right now my tablet is in the shop and I am going into withdrawl...

Same here. Resulted in me buying a real EATPM.

I play on an iPad. I buy the tables on Xbox and PC mostly to support the development.

I usually only play TBA on my daughters iPad mini. I've noticed that on Twilight Zone, the software gets sluggish when the ball rolls down the inlanes toward the flippers, making the game almost unplayable.

All other games seem smooth.

Love it! There's no better way to learn the rule sets without playing the actual game than from these instructions they have...which they give out for FREE! You don't even need to purchase the game to read the entire rule set which I think is crazy, but I'm not complaining.

If you're playing enough pinball irl then these things can be a great help. They're not going to make you that much better at being a pinball player, but they will help you with strategy and game knowledge for sure!

this is a feature you get if you buy the "Pro" version of the table, along with the ability to "remove the glass" and put the ball wherever you want, open the coin door and mess around with the operator settings. (obviously, if you change the game settings, your high scores won't be posted to the leaderboards)

this is an issue with your TV. The game itself on PS4 doesn't have flipper delay, but most TVs have a tiny to moderate amount of lag that is only noticeable in games that require very precise timing. If your TV has a "game" setting, enable it. Also disable any post-processing options like "smoothing" or "noise reduction" or "realMotion". make sure it's set to 60hz as opposed to 120hz or 240hz. turn off anything that claims to improve the picture -- they all introduce delay.

TPA is a great game. They've done a fantastic job preserving and digitizing these machines. I can walk up to any machine in TPA in real life now and know exactly what the rules are and how it works, and almost always the dangerous shots and optimal strategies are very similar to what they are in TPA. There are advanced techniques that aren't reproducible in TPA, and there are sometimes strategies that work in-game that wouldn't work as well in real life due to the predictability of the simulation, but overall it's a great game and a lot of fun, especially if you don't happen to have access to many different machines in real life.

no video game will ever totally reproduce the physicality or the analog nature of real pinball. no screen can convey what it's like to propel a real steel ball through a playfield of ramps, bumpers and flashing lights. no controller can simulate the subtleties of nudging and bumping, unless they make a 300-pound controller and stick a little steel ball in it!

But hey, on the other hand, I love the fact that I can bring 40 of the top pinball machines of all time to the doctor's waiting room with me.

I enjoy it on the iPad for games that I don't normally come across in my travels. Some are better than others as far as how they play versus real life but for a couple bucks its worth it usually. I tried mirroring on the tv and the lag was impossible to deal with so i'm not sure if that's the issue the console would also have.

The best versions of these tables Farsight did was the disc based games they made, The PHOF: The Gottlieb Collection and The PHOF: The Williams Collection. If they had jsut figured out a way to add DLC onto these games for the extra titles, everything would've probably worked out ok since it's just DLC.

Like others have said, there's a lot to like about TPA. Great way to learn the rules of tables you may not be familiar with.
I've had virtually no problems on a Kindle Fire HD 8.9. Art looks great and the developer, Farsight Studios, has made improvements to many of the tables after their initial release.
But it's just not pinball. Nice simulation though.

i have both of these and loaded them up recently. i remembered them fondly but UGH what a difference a generation of development makes! the physics is light-years better in TPA. in the PHOF collections, the ball moves so slow it is like you are playing underwater, and the bounces are very unnatural. TPA may not be perfect but it's come a long way since the PHOF days.

I can put it in landscape or portrait orientation. There's camera angle choices for ball launch, gameplay, and you can toggle camera movement.

I wish I could give more than one thumbs up. I completely agree with you.

I found the app when it first came out and played those first four tables nonstop. I assumed they didn't exist in the wild since I never saw them in my wanderings. Found this website one day when googling for pinball locations to play and realized that these things do exist!

I hate the lag on my monitors, I could go with traditional computer screens but I really like using multiple TV's at my desk for displays. The lag kills me but then I think, hey dummy... get off the computer and go play MM for real! problem solved!

Sort of, but you can choose your view (one of four cameras, typically).

The games look pretty good on iPad Air.

However, my main gripe is with the playfield contrast. It becomes really hard to see the ball--even though it is relatively large--simply because all of the playfield art doesn't have proper shadowing and lighting.

MM, for instance, has few to no shadows in it... making the entire lower playfield confusing to look at when a ball is zipping through there at 100 miles per hour. More lighting cues/contrast would go a long way, IMO.

Nudging, of course, isn't nearly the same.

That said... it's fun to play TPA simply to become familiar with the strategy of each game, and the rulesets. And you also get the great sounds and callouts.

Many of the shots are probably made too easy by the game in comparison to the real thing... but for less than $100 for a ton of great games, you can't really complain.

I loved "Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection" on PS3 before Pinball Arcade came out. When it came time to decide to buy pinball tables for my tablet or the console, I had a very tough time.. but I thought it was cool I could take them anywhere so I started buying for the tablet. Then something happened.. I got very used to playing on my tablet.. I could see most of the table in detail and controls just seemed tighter. Over the last few years I've almost bought Pinball Arcade on my PS3 a few times, but installed the trial versions first.. and I just can't do it. For me playing on the PS3 makes it feel much less like pinball versus the tablet.. I just can't get into it on a console now. I know some people are totally against virtual pinball since "it's not the real thing" but playing on a tablet seems a lot more realistic to me. Love that I can play some very expensive games and get a feel for them to know if I would ever want to own the real thing.. and at least have some games that I don't have to maintain

I have found on some of the tables, where the ball is hard to see or keep track of, it helps to change the ball from the default silver to something with more contrast.

WOW!!!-- I hadn't seen this updated lighting demo. Holy cow that's IMPRESSIVE.....drooollll......can't wait to add that to my VirtuaPin!

You can download a lighting simulation app and play about with the general illumination and flashers. It is, indeed, pretty damn impressive.

PS4 no problems and bloody beautifull to boot.

I never played it on PS3, but I have it on PS4 and Vita. I can say that the PS4 version is a WAY better upgrade. You can control the lighting and the physics are better (although still weird at times). The ball is definitely still "floaty." I just wish they would hurry up and get CP on PS4 version.

I bought a real EATPM also. I hated it at 1st on the Tablet. Not anymore! Love it

TPA mentioned that they are first going to get the Season 3 tables up for PS4 (Fish Tales, Black Rose, Black Knight 2K at the moment). At some point, probably halfway through the releases, they will put up the complete Season 2 which contains Champion Pub in it.

I really like the Pinball Arcade app on the iPad. I don't have many of these games locally to play, so the app is the only way I get to experience them more than once or twice a year.

It makes the experience of getting to play them in person that much better, because I already understand the rules.

I love what Pinball Arcade has done for virtual pinball. I have gotten a feel for games I otherwise had not spent any time on. Very cool, and very fun to play on iOS. It's not perfect, but I find myself becoming very immersed in the gameplay so that's gotta mean it's good enough! I will continue to support their efforts with my money.

It runs perfectly on my iPhone 5 but I get the lag when playing on my Mac. Seems to be a problem with some platforms but not iOS.

Consoles - suck
iPhone - great
Ipad - awesome
New ipad mini with retina display - unreal

But it is a simulation after all. Never as good as the real thing.
Just my opinion...

Visual Pinball > TPA. Especially on a simulator:

IMAG0565.jpg

Hard to tote that along on my lunch break.

I appreciate what they are doing but the physics are incredibly bad. The ball doesn't seem to be rolling and drop catches are beyond the capability of the simulation. Zen Pinball gets the physics right, so it is possible.

Simulation is not to do what you can in real life. It's to do what you can't.. like crash a plane or a million dollar sports car. Or race on a track.

The real question is how immersive the simulation is. With force feedback and analog nudging, a simulator is extremely immersive. And I've played them side by side with the real thing. There are major weaknesses with simulation.. and there are major weaknesses with the real thing like cost, space required and availability to play specific games that you have no access to. The purists can whine, but they don't or won't understand the specific itch a simulator scratches.

According to FS ball physics are in the list to do. It would only make these tables better and I fully support their efforts by spending my money on every table that comes out that I like. Stick with the dmd titles and you'll have my cash.

I run the PC version with a 39" monitor in portrait mode (monitor hangs on the wall), and use an xbox controller.

Love it.

I also run visual pinball on the setup.

Very pleased with it.

When not playing, it makes great interactive wall art.

you need this...

index.jpg

That's a pretty cool idea, post a pic!

(I find myself watching the attack mode in Pinball Arcade from time to time)

I'd also like to see a pic. I've been thinking about doing something similar for a mame setup. I wanted to have a swivel mount so I could go from portrait to landscape. I thought it would be cool to get it setup with some cameras over my pins for tourneys/parties.

That light engine demonstration was out of this World. Why cant Farsight replicate that? Physics, Cabinet Mode, Lighting, Textures... get ALL my money. :O

+1

Just try and do a dead pass on MB, for example. "LOL... what's a dead pass," the machine seems to say. The ball bounces off weirdly and goes up the opposite orbit.

TPA got me into pinball collecting. It and VP are a great way to test drive machines you've never seen. I own 2 machines that I test drove in TPA, and I test drove BK2K in VP before buying it, and now BK2K is in TPA. (The VP version of BK2K on my machine which I have fixed a few bugs in is pretty identical to TPA's simulation, and both are not as fun as the real thing of course but still very well done).

Even though they are very different mechanically, my experience has been that a machine I find enjoyable in the virtual space is enjoyable in real life, and I have about the same skill at scoring or draining in the virtual machines as the real ones. This doesn't hold true for everyone from what I hear.

I've never played a FT in real life... But I am already pretty sure I'm not interested in owning one.

* Note: VP quality varies highly from machine to machine. The VPs for Junk Yard and SF2 are unplayably bad. BK2K and SC are near TPA quality.

** (sorry I meant to hit edit, not quote.)

TPA sucks on the Emulation part next to pinmame

* settings menu is a DLC??? and they trun on family modes on games (not the default settings)
* tournament play does not use the rom's build in tournament modes
* there rom hooks seem to lead to some bugs
* no home roms
* default EB for replay and it's not fixed points
* can't get to the WPC hidden menu due to the way it's UI is setup.
* rom sound voulme control does not work (can lead to you missing out on stuff like modes that boost the sound voulme that newer stern games have)

I was going to start another thread until I saw this.
I'm also curious what the general opinon is.

I found PA to be an essential tool. Is it the same as the real thing? No, of course not.

But, it's a great way to hone my skills and learn more about what I like and don't like. My PA experience greatly influenced my decision about buying my first table.

It plays wonderfully on my ipad air, no discernable lag.

the most recent update did a lot to improve framerate performance on older devices.

they are up to about 46 machines now. pretty amazing. I hope they have something special planned for their 50th. It'd be cool to see some of the newer Sterns, such as Metallica or STLE.

the thing that bothers me most are the sling plastics on the TZ are reversed, i cant stop looking at them and saying, WTH happened here. its worth it to be able to play games like goin nutz, most of us will never play one of these in real life

TZ's plastics are fixed in this month's update with WHO dunnit?.