Pinball Illusions
Pinball Illusions is a pinball video game developed by Digital Illusions CE (DICE) and published by 21st Century Entertainment in 1995 for the Amiga and MS-DOS. It is a sequel to DICE's Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies. A remake of Pinball Illusions with 3D graphics was released in 1996 as True Pinball. The Amiga version features three pinball tables, while the CD-ROM release for MS-DOS featured a fourth table, higher resolution, and redbook audio.
Pinball Illusions
- Date
- 1995
- Publisher
- DICE
- Genre
- pinball machine game
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Pinball Illusions is a pinball video game developed by Digital Illusions CE (DICE) and published by 21st Century Entertainment in 1995 for the Amiga and MS-DOS. It is a sequel to DICE's Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies. A remake of Pinball Illusions with 3D graphics was released in 1996 as True Pinball. The Amiga version features three pinball tables, while the CD-ROM release for MS-DOS featured a fourth table, higher resolution, and redbook audio.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q3905146 · wikipedia · Pinball Illusions
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Pinball Illusions • Developer — Digital Illusions CE • Publisher — 21st Century Entertainment • Programmer — Andreas Axelsson • Artist — Markus Nyström • Composer — Olof Gustafsson • Platforms — Amiga 1200 / 4000, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS • Released — October 1, 1995 • Genre — Pinball • Modes — Single-player
Gameplay
Gameplay
Players can choose between playing with 3 or 5 balls, adjust the slope of the table, the maximum number of multiballs allowed, and the number of nudges before tilting. One of the views shows players the entire table on screen. The LED-style display includes animations such as coppers chasing robbers.
Tables
Tables
"Law n'Justice" is based on police in a future city. "Babewatch" is based on performing a variety of tasks to attract women, and includes a jukebox with a choice of music. "Extreme Sports" includes bungee jumping, free-fall, cliff-diving, and off-piste. "The Vikings" involves collecting various Viking themed objects, and the Norse Gods Odin and Wotan.
Development
Development
As with prior pinball games developed by DICE, Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies, the game was designed to have four tables, but The Vikings was unfinished for the Amiga versions and only appears in the PC CD-ROM version. This is the only one of DICE's three pinball games to require an AGA chipset, supporting 256 colours. The PC version had support for 800x600 resolution with the floppy disk release otherwise similar to the Amiga version. The CD-ROM release in addition to having the fourth table uses redbook audio instead of the MOD music in the other versions. Unlike the two earlier games, it features multiball. It also had a later 1996 MS-DOS release as one of five games in the Pinball Gold compilation.
True Pinball
True Pinball
The same four tables were used for True Pinball which released in 1996 on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation.
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Pinball Illusions, revision 1352910829 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Reception
PC Gamer said "The four tables may not be enough variety for some gamers, but this is as good as pinball gets on the PC -- and you don't need quarters, so you won't even have to take a hammer to your piggy bank" Maximum scored the PC version three out of five stars. They said the four tables are "all excellent in their own way" but that the game lacks the imagination and innovation of other pinball video games. They concluded it to be "solid, if uninspiring, entertainment." Amiga Power enjoyed the multiballs and all three tables, although disliked the music on Extreme Sports. PC Power found the graphics to be immaculate and the ball behaved realistically, with the tables "fiendishly addictive". The game was ranked the 23rd best game of all time by Amiga Power in 1996.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3905146: Pinball Illusions
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Pinball Illusions”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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