Pinball Dreams Tactics Discussion


Huxley

Gamera, King of Monsters
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I've had this wonderful little game for a while now, but I've still finding it difficult to get the big scores on a couple of tables. Does anyone have any tactics/strategies to share? And before you post a link to gameFAQs, I find doing it the hard way is much more rewarding :p

This is what I've learned myself:

If the ball drops down the left or right lanes, all is not lost. Keep ahold of the flipper closest to the ball and press select just before the ball drops into oblivion. With a little luck you should find yourself bouncing back in to the play area. This works better on some tables than others.

Most mistakes can be avoided. Don't panic and wildly hammer both flippers! This creates a larger gap for the ball to fall down. Try to predict in which direction the ball is falling and and only use the one flipper.

Ignition - this table remains a mystery to me. I find the lack of objects lets the ball ping around at an amazing speed and makes it really tough to keep the ball in play. If you hit the ramp on the top left you can get up to 2.5 mil every time, and up to 1 mil for the little ball catch next to it. My guess is that lighting all the 'Ignition' letters will score big, but it's so damn tricky I've only ever managed half of them.

Steel Wheels - along with Nightmare, probably the most forgiving table of the four. The ramps are super-easy to hit (if the ball is falling down the left flipper, the right side of the handle of the gun is a good indicator that you're on target) and you can even get 1-3 mil for hitting the flashing icon when you launch the ball (normally a 2x bonus on the other tables)! Not sure how to score big, but the ramps are so easy to hit you can rack up huge scores doing nothing but that.

Beat Box - the fussiest of all the tables. Despite there being so many ramps and other objects right infront of you, some of them are really tricky to hit flush. Obviously getting a US/Euro No.1 will score big, but I've only ever managed a Euro No.1, which gives you a modest score. I've also managed to get 2 extra balls on this table, but that's for another discussion...

Nightmare - getting to 12 midnight can score BIG. I've only managed it a few times and I'm not too sure what exactly you have to do when the timer starts to count down, but it should earn you in excess of 30 mil if you do it correctly. It's probably the easiest of all the big targets because it doesn't reset after every single lost ball like the other tables.


Now, this isn't really a tactic, but has anyone ever encountered any bug in Pinball Dreams? A while back, I was having a torrid time of it, scoring under or just over 1 mil on all four tables. I thought I'd give Ignition one last try in an attempt to save face, and I got a fairly respectable score in return. But then a strange thing started to happen - every time I pulled back on the ball launch mechanism before the bonus multiplier started to count up, I would get anything up to 11x bonus! I tried this on a few more tables and found the same thing happening. I gave Beat Box a go and had a pretty good run, getting myself two extra balls. When I finally lost the fith ball and entered my name in the highscore table, however, I was surprised to find a sixth one pop up! And another. And another. And another. By the time I'd got to my 25th ball and a stupidly high score total, I figured this thing isn't going to end unless I quit it myself. So, no massive score, but that's probably for the best since it was really nothing more than cheating.

Anyway...is the 11x bonus not a bug? Is there some way to get this legit? It was nice while it lasted :p
 
i only got the demo, so i only got experience on the igition pinball, i agree with you it's not an easy pinball, but there are some easy ways to score a lot of points, the very easiest is just continuously shooting the utter left ramp, in no time you'll get 2.5 million each time, it quickly adds up to a big score, and isn't so difficult if you practise a bit
collecting the jackpot is also great, but a bit harder, you have to complete ignition, and in the same ball where you completed it, shoot in the hole next to the left ramp... but if you make it i think you get about 11 million, not bad either :)
to complete ignition, i usually shoot to the three targets with the parts of the flipper closest to point of rotation of the flipper, it's fairly easy to control the balls that way, and they won't fly around the table ending up on the sides, going down the drain...
 
Thanks for the tips...I never could play Ingnition well, even when I had this game on the Amiga <_<

And you should really go and buy the full game from joygp! It's well worth the £5 for the other three tables.
 
to be honest, I had (i actually have) the SNES version of that game, and i didn´t like the Ignition table either. My favourite is the Steel wheels one, right before Beat Box. Then with a little gap, there´s hte nightmare one. I just got the GP32 version today (my mileages got charged after almoust 1 week), so i didnt try it right now, but the DEMO looked promising
 
Thanks for the tips...I never could play Ingnition well, even when I had this game on the Amiga <_<

And you should really go and buy the full game from joygp! It's well worth the £5 for the other three tables.
yeah i know, i should look in to a way of paying it without needing a creditcard :)
 
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well, where a er you from, perhaps paypal is available in your country
Paypal take switch cards, which you should be able to pick up from any bank no problem.

And I'd rate the tables: 1. Nightmare 2. Steel Wheels 3. Ignition 4. Beat Box

The design of the Beatbox table is just far too messy for my liking. Here's hoping that Pinball Fantasies gets a GP32 release...
 
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well, dunno, what switchcards are, perhaps something like prepaid cards. But for Paypal, you dont need a credit card, just a bank account.
 
switch is a form of payment used in the uk

its marketed as a form of paperless cheque payment, it works in the same way as a debit card, you can only spend money that you have in an assigned account.
 
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