This game is UNIQUE! No wonder Williams attempted to rip off the design to create ToM, which is, by far, the inferior machine.
I acquired this machine on a trade+ for a WW, and I am happy with my decision.
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DESIGN & TOYS
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— Capcom hit the pinball market running: they sought innovation!
— You want toys? Well this game has two firsts for pinball: the wand and levitating ball.
— The trunk lock is very cool.
— There are great ramp diversion choices with the wand guiding the ball
— The ball drop into the critics is EPIC FUN! I cannot stress this enough!
— Excellent sewer system and theatre kickout.
— Captive ball is great. It can be really tough and punishing, yet you can light xb, which can also be tough to hit.
— The single theatre bumper works well if switches are adjusted properly.
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THEME/LIGHTING/SOUND
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— Theme of "evil female magician (witch?) sending magicians after you is original and cool.
— I love the almost monotone, scripted callouts from the woman. They make me laugh. "Behold, real magic" lol.
— The insults from the woman and critics are funny. "Loop this, pal."
— The various voices and for the magicians are integrated well.
— Really good DMD work on this machine, particularly the closing animation after your game ends.
— Lighting is pretty good with an OCD card and LEDs. Bummer that you can't add LED flashers.
— Music is okay. I have played the game for long sessions and do not get annoyed. It doesn't stand out either.
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GAMEPLAY
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— I was very concerned about the linear style of the game, but it somehow works great.
— Scoring "levels" by defeating the magicians gets progressively more difficult, which is great.
— Having to silence the critics to end level one is a perfect amount of difficulty.
— Later modes that require drops etc. add tremendous danger and pressure.
— It's awesome that you can't use the captive ball to complete end-of-level modes.
— This game can be very fast with spurts of great flow.
— If flow was non-stop, it would be too much as it is sooo fast if well tuned and waxed.
— The potential to start a two ball via skill shot after lock is great for balancing difficulty.
— Three ball multiball adds clever scoring options.
— Completing the game is pretty difficult and EPIC when you get there.
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CRITICISMS
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— It is very linear, so it is better in larger collections I would think.
— Two ball multiball could be considered a little on the easy side to obtain.
— Hat shot from the left flipper rejects quite a bit. It likely needs some padding to prevent bounce-outs
— Flipper strength needs to be pretty high (I think I'm two points lower than default), which means the pf can take a beating.
— As others have mentioned, parts can be a bitch, but I've been able to find most without much trouble. This may change.
— The backglass could be a little better, but there is far worse.
In the end, Pinball Magic is an excellent game. It is leaps and bounds better than Theatre of Magic, the game that attempted to outperform it. The innovation, great ruleset, and great gameplay make this game a winner. The price has gone up, but I still see this game as priced below its actual value. Get out and play this game!
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