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Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection

Got Crazy Flipper Fingers? Travel back in time for vintage fun with some of yesterday’s best pinball tables merged with today’s technology. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection lets you play on eleven Gottlieb classic tables spanning the glorious history of pinball, including “Central Park” (1966) and “Ace High” (1957). Utilize the Wiimote to bump and manipulate the table, but be careful-bump too hard and you’ll tilt it!

The first release in Crave Entertainment’s highly praised Pinball Hall of Fame collection of games, and the second released in the U.S. overall, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection for Wii is packed with a wide selection of classic upright pinball machine designs by famed arcade game manufacturer Gottlieb. Featuring intuative flipper, ball launch and tilt functionality utilizing the Wii Remote, as well as multiplayer pinball games for up to four players, The Gottlieb Collection is a retro gaming party that is tailor-made for play on Wii. Classic Pinball Reborn Get ready to relive the days when the pinball table was king, but play like you have unlimited quarters. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection resurrects eleven of Gottlieb’s greatest pinball machines spanning decades of arcade pinball’s golden age. Recreated in a stunning 3D environment, the game play, visuals and sound effects are so authentic, you’ll feel like you’re in a real arcade standing in front of your favorite machine. Players can choose from such classic Gottlieb tables as Ace High, Central Park, Big Shot, Genie, Black Hole, Victory, and Tee’d Off. The golden age of pinball play reborn for Wii. View larger. Tables and Gameplay Just as with real pinball action, the play found within Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection is simple, yet addictively fun. The 11 tables included range from classic mechanical designs, to more recent digital versions, and even include a few non-pinball machines from Gottlieb’s manufacturing history, like the bowling game “Strikes ‘n’ Spares”, “Xolten the Fortune Teller” and the “Love Meter.” Machines are housed and selected from a realistic-looking in-game arcade and action is easily controlled via the triggers of the Wii Remote/Nunchuk controller configuration, with tilts accomplished with a shake of the Wii Remote. Key Game Features In-game art and fun facts about the history of each table. Tutorial fly-through of each table which allow you to plan your strategy and make every shot count. A deep selection of eleven tables with unlockable bonus table. Scoring options including per-player and per-table high scores. Easy to master flipper controls utilizing the Wii Remote/Nunchuk controller configuration. Multiplayer game option for up to four players. Additional Screenshots: 11 classic Gottlieb tables. View larger. Timeless 4-player fun. View larger. Tutorials for each game. View larger. Fun table history. View larger.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Gottleib more fun than Williams
After having played both the Williams and Gottleib collections for awhile now, in my opinion the Gottleib is more enjoyable. There are some differences in the graphics, flipper play, sound effects, between the two collections, but most of these are inconsequential. The big thing for me is that the Gottleib collection has a greater variety of game types and I feel the best games here are more fun than anything in Williams. Specifically, ‘Goin Nuts’, ‘Black Hole’, and ‘Tee’d Off’ are more entertaining than anything in the Williams collection. I’ve been a pinball afficiando for 40 plus years and also appreciate the background on each game and photos of the Gottleib factory that are included in this package. Both the Williams and Gottleib collections are great fun and worth owning, but for my money I give the edge to Gottleib for overall game play and enjoyment.

3 Stars Pinball game
This game is okay but hard to get credits needed to play most of the tables. Wish they were all FREE play tables so I could play on the tables I want to play on and just not the ones “FREE”. Guess I am just not a good pinball player.

2 Stars Gottlieb not as good as Williams collection
We have both the Gottlieb Collection and the original Williams Collection and have found that the William collection has much more challenging games as well as being very addictive. We expected that the Gottlieb Collection would be much faster and more interactive than the Williams game, however, it is not. For example, in the Tournament mode, you can only see the active players score on the screen and the other player’s scores are hidden from view so the excitement of the competition is delayed until the game ends. The screens on the Gottlieb collection are not as clear as the Williams collection and some of the field of play is obstructed by the game score panel. You have to guess where the ball is sometimes because of that blocked view. None of the tables on the Gottlieb collection are memorable but all of the games for the Williams coolection are very addictive just like the real tables were many years ago. If I were to walk through a Pinball hall with the two collections, I would have played every game at least once and then go back to the tables that were the most challenging. I have not wanted to replay the Gottlieb collection like I do the Williams collection. We have bought two Williams games as gifts but would not give the Gottlieb collection. The only good thing about Gottlieb is the price, which means that we don’t feel like we lost much by buying it.

4 Stars Virginia’s Pinball Wizard
I LIKE it!With this Wii App, I am on my way to becoming the Pinball Wizard!

3 Stars Comparing Gottlieb Pinball to Williams Pinball
The main reason why this game doesn’t seem as fun as the Williams version of this game is just that for most people, especially the casual pinball player, Williams games were easier and just more fun to play. Half of the Gottlieb games in this group, mostly older games, are a giant luckfest. Pull the handle, watch the ball go down the outside pocket. Insert another virtual quarter. The other half of the games have some insane requirements like skill shots in certain a order only. Very difficult. Personally I avoided Gottlieb games when I was growing up and only bought this game to see if my advanced age would give me increased patience for them. Nope! Adjectives like ‘historic’ and ‘classic’ are used to describe these tables. Classic in the way of an Edsel, maybe.

One nice thing that Gottlieb has that Williams doesn’t is the ability to switch from 3 to 5 balls. I hated having only 3 balls available in Williams games since most merchants were generous enough to give us five balls a game. Gottlieb fans will not be disappointed with this virtual recreation, though, especially the skill-shot games like “Big Shot” but I still don’t understand why anyone would like it or “Central Park” unless they were serious players because they’re are some of the toughest games to play.

Another thing, someone complained about the way the ball looked. I agree it’s a dumb idea not to have the standard ball but I suppose the creators figured it was a bonus to be worked off. Another new feature about this game is you can use the credits you’ve earned to buy special options like custom balls, turning the tilt on and off, etc. Each special code could be purchased with 100 credit increments. Unfortunately even the custom balls don’t seem to include the reflective silver which is really disappointing.

Finally, turning off table reflections is a must in the options so you can see what you’re doing. Also, the table views have changed. Be aware the 1 button switches between smart cam and full view cam only, while the number 2 button switches between smart cam 1-4 or full table cam 1-4 if I recall correctly. Whatever the case, camera views are different than the Williams game in that respect so be aware.

** Spoiler alert **

Enter the code ‘CKF’ in the codes section in ‘Options’ for custom balls.

Enter the code ‘BZZ’ to turn on/off tilt so you’ll be able to slam the tables around.

The remaining codes simply unlock the various tables so they don’t cost credits to play. Of course you shouldn’t need these codes as this you will also be able to unlock other tables once you meet the table goals of each game you play. You should be able to do that, right?

Hope the review helped.

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