Black Knight. Not the sequel, not the sequels sequel or the sequels sequel sequel. Just Black Knight.
Oh no! This one doesn’t sing the Black Knight song!
Thank goodness!
If your original idea spawns this many spin-offs, it has to be good, right?
There are negatives. Like accidentally hitting the lane save buttons instead of the flippers the first time I played it as a kid. That may have just been me.
I LOVE GAMES THAT SHOUT AT YOU IN MONOTONE!
I think that was the only real downfall, Bally had Xenon talking dirty to us and Black Knight sounded like an old Tom and Jerry cartoon when Tom gets blown up and says “Don’t you believe it!”
At least that’s how I heard it. It made me laugh back then but I’m sure that others would say the voice was good and spooky.
Is that it’s only fault? I’d be hard pressed to find another. From a modern point of view I’d say the wear on the Bonus ladder sword area is a sad situation, and most have fair to poor repairs in this area. I’ve seen some excellent touch ups to the art but most times someone slaps a reproduction art sticker over it and they never look quite right do they?
If there’s a Steve Ritchie game that screams “Perfect! You nailed it!” This is it. You can argue that he had better game designs, but Black Knight comes together like no other. They even reused the playfield for sequels, that’s got to be perfection… or laziness? (Jackbot anyone?)
Still, if you are going to look into buying one, and you have only played DMD machines, you are going to whine like a baby. There’s no hand holding easy gameplay like modern machines, no baby settings, and it was made to gobble quarters. I hear the term drain monster about a lot of old pinball machines. Here’s a hint people: learn how to play or get out of the hobby, you aren’t wanted or needed, nobody loves you, go home.
That felt good! Now I’m off to insult my mother.
Seriously though, I do understand how a game handing you your ass a few times and saying “Is this yours?” In a condescending manner can make you frustrated. That makes most of us aggressive. You will show it who the boss is. It’s not Springsteen, it’s your supple wrists you pinball wizard you!
Lastly, I’d like to point out that the ruleset learning curve on older games is a lot easier. You know what you did right away and want to do it again, like Black Knight’s multiball. As time went on pinball got more complicated rules and multi stage rewards for doing certain things. I appreciate those games a lot, but once in a while it’s nice to go back to something like this where two or three perfectly placed shots make the main feature happen, and you can do it multiple times in one game if you are really good.
I am (toots own horn, pats self on back) and love the fact that I can get three ball multiball numerous times on ball one.
You can too! That’s the beauty of it! The rewards may not be a wizard mode, but they are very satisfying!
“Why don’t I own one?” you may ask. Good question.
Every time one comes up for sale, I think about it too long, and then it sells to someone else. I have my want list and it falls below some “pretty bad games” in most peoples opinion. I have played Black Knight a lot in my life and still enjoy it immensely, but fear that I would grow tired of it if it was in my home.
I know I wouldn’t. Pinbot proved that theory wrong, so it must be the awful playfield reproduction stickers on every one I’ve looked at that was for sale.
That’s my excuse. I’m sticking to it!
Ha!
Seriously, try one and buy one. If you like a challenge, it won’t disappoint you.
Atlanta, GA
Mississauga, ON