Reviewed:
08/1996, 12/1996
Where Found: Egghead Software, Arizona, USA, 02/1996
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Pinball Wizzard Controller by ThrustMaster
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Reviewed:
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The ThrustMaster Pinball Wizzard is a PC controller especially designed for
computer pinball games. The two pear-shaped buttons containing sensors for
table nudging attach to the left and right ends of the keyboard via velcro
strips and hook up to a standard 15-pin game port. No drivers are required but
the pinball game must be designed to support the Pinball Wizzard (no software
is provided that e.g. maps keys to the buttons) and there still are few such
games. The games that do support it, the bundled Royal Flush, Hyper 3-D Pinball,
Extreme Pinball (shareware version only), Full Tilt! (Windows 95 only) and Absolute Pinball as of
this writing, definitely make gameplay more fun. It's still not like the real
thing (maybe try standing up at your desk and leaning yourself into the keyboard
ends, drink and ashtray nearby) but it adds to the feel of playing pinball on a
computer. I found the table nudge a bit hard to use. I hate the idea of banging
on my keyboard from the side, the alternative is shifting or shaking the keyboard
where it's easy to rip the velcro off and wipe the desk clean of anything in the
path of the shifting keyboard. Then again it saves the keyboard caps from getting
those nasty cracks... The Wizzard Pinball Controller is definitely a winner though
for the computer pinball enthusiast. The unique idea alone needs to be commended.
Pinball Wizzard no longer comes with Royal Flush but is now bundled with Full Tilt! for
Windows 95. Having owned the Pinball Wizzard for about a year now, I am disappointed in the
lack of support this controller has received from pinball game manufacturers. Surely, they all
must be aware of its existence by now.
Where Found: Egghead Software, Arizona, USA, 02/1996 |