• I am in Detroit and have played both machines. I agree with others, the pin playability is average to less than average. The 3d effects, lights and darkspots make the ball unseeable for about 1/4 of the playfield. They where kind of novelty fun, but not serious pinball machines.

• REally a good documentary. And if your local video store doesn't have it for rent, check out netflix, they have it.

• I'd heard about these "unreleased" machines before, so when I spotted Revenge from Mars on honeymoon, I got my wife to take a couple of pics... Having just seen this story come around again, I've uploaded the photos to my flickr, a <A href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38207823@N02/3867145542/">blurry one</A> and a <A href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38207823@N02/3867145542/">not-so-blurry one</A>! As others have said, the gameplay is fairly average, but it's worth a play if you're in Portland!

• too bad the guys in the film did what was asked only to be betrayed by their bosses and the machine did not get to wind up saving the industry the one machine looked a head of its time.

• Revenge from Mars not seeing the light of day? Bullshit. I've a total of three different RfM machines at various arcades. It's pretty freaking awesome, and the same technology was used in a Star Wars pinball game, which I've also played. I don't even go to that many arcades, so I'm sure these things aren't even close to rare.

• Actually most of those did see the light of day. in fact, I have played the star wars one and the attack from mars lots of times. how has no one seen these before? they have been around for like ten years.

• This is Greg Maletic, the guy who made the "TILT" film. Glad to see that people are interested in the film, and more importantly, pinball. TILT is definitely a sad story. One of my reviewers said that it's a "fascinating portrait of how there are many, many more factors at play in 'success' than being the best at what you do and developing a great product." I think that's a useful lesson to understand. Slightly OT, but anyone in the Bay Area looking to play some pinball, there are a couple of great options. The Lucky Ju Ju in Alameda, CA is open every weekend and is just a great pinball arcade. And the first weekend in October is the world's largest pinball show, the Pacific Pinball Expo, with nearly 400 games available to play. You can find out about both at http://pacificpinball.org.

• I remember playing the SW epi 1 one. It was ok for its time. I am still a fan of old fashion pinball games. What I hate is playing in a place that has to much light around and you cant see anything, or there is to little light and there is A) flashing lights above you. b) neon lights right above you. You never can see anything because of the glass reflecting everything else. All in all I miss Pinball games. They are dieing out like the Arcades. -__-

• pinball 2000 sucked. which is weird because you had George Gomez and Pat Lawlor and others working on it, and they were some of the best designers in the industry. maybe the 'glimpse' you are talking about is the magic themed 'Wizard Blocks' table that they only show for a second in the clip. It never got past the whitewood stage, but it did look pretty fun, and different than RFM and SW Episode I. Wizard Blocks and then yet another Playboy machine were next in the pipe when Williams canned their pinball department...

• Actually, this seems to embody what was wrong with pinball in the arcade era. They kept trying to make them hybrid video games, when the whole appeal of pinball was that it was very, very analog.

• Like a few people I played one or two of them. The one where it's a screen blocking your view of the back of the table was annoying because you couldn't see were the ball was going to come out. I still enjoy a good game of old fashioned pinball.

• We had both machines in our break room at work back when they came out, one at a time. I really enjoyed both. I definitely plunked in enough quarters make it profitable there. It's a damn shame Williams pulled the rug out from under the program.

• That story right there, my friends, is a GODDAMN SHAME!!! Pinball still rocks no matter how you look at it. I would have loved to see that holo-pinball game.

• Funny I just saw the movie the other day on: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001297.html

• The 25th annual pinball expo in Wheeling, IL is coming up in October. Can't wait. http://www.pinballexpo.net/

• Both have been in the rotation at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. (<B>Worth visiting!</B>) http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ Frankly, I really enjoyed the gameplay of both. The video element coupled with clever physical devices made for what was effectively a variable playfield. How many times to you want to shoot the same plastic ramp with a TMNT or South Park figure screwed to it? More interestingly, there's a shot in that trailer of a machine with a circus theme - clip shows an elephant passing the ball to "Ring 3." The Pinball Hall of Fame has this machine, one of two prototypes made, and it stands vertically, like an arcade game. It was another, earlier attempt that was *supposed* to reignite the pinball industry by letting arcade operators that are working with limited space in mall food courts fit more pinball games. The machine is really cool, but apparently it tested poorly in Chicago, so it never got put into production. It's like they took lessons from TV executives. "If it's good, cancel it!" IIRC, Stern is the only remaining modern pinball manufacturer. They've been putting out about 2 new machines a year for a while now, which are pretty decent, too.

• If anyone wants one, there's a Revenge From Mars machine for sale here. http://www.pinballuniverse.com/RevengeFromMars.htm Looks like it would be fun - never got to play it though. J

• Do you ever do your research? Many of these games were available as the commenters above have mentioned: http://www.pinball.com/Williams/games/revenge/homepage.html http://www.pinball.com/Williams/games/starwars/

• First of all, I have to say that I used to be an arcade maniac, so seeing anything arcadey these days makes me a little sad. I miss those havens of electrical lights and bleeps. Second, I did actually play that Revenge from Mars game. It obviously looked awesome, but wasn't as fun as it looked. It wasn't bad by any streach of the imagination, but it just wasn't as good as the classic pinball machine or a video game machine. However, I wish I could go back and play it today as a lover of innovation, as opposed to a child that needed his video game fix.

• Sorry, make that http://www.Tilt-Movie.com (no comma). (Your URL parser should know that commas aren't part of URLs!) Merle, the Star Wars Episode I game was the second (and final) game in the Pinball 2000 series.

• Sounds very similar to the Star Wars pinball machine that was made for episode I: http://www.pinball.com/games/starwars/gameindex.html

• The official documentary site is http://www.Tilt-Movie.com, where you can purchase the film on DVD and also find links to watch it on iTunes. But the iTunes version doesn't have the content found on the DVD Extras Disc, which a lot of people swear is the best part of the whole package: 3+ hours of interviews with the best pinball designers of all time.

• I interviewed in Chicago at WMS, which is essentially what's left of Williams. They had a few pinball machines in the lounge, but for the most part pinball it utterly dead. They don't even manufacture parts for them anymore, so all the machines out there are going to start getting cannibalized by other machines. Now all they make is Video Slot Machines.

• It was destroyed because the pinball game was too good. It was forged not in plastic and steel, but in nightmare and hate. Anyone who played it was driven mad, tormented by the screams of the lost and forgotten pinball makers. And buddy, you better pray you don't get the multiball.

• I am pretty sure Revenge from Mars 3D was in the arcades. I swear I've played it (and my memory is that it was way to busy. Impressive... but not really that fun. Pinball meets FPS. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3112777/revenge_from_mars_pinball_promo_video/ I still miss pinball.

• The pins actually did see the light of day. Both of them were manufactured and are available. While they looked revolutionary, the gameplay is so-so. Very pretty to look at but just meh to play. Too bad, they probably could have done big things with it had they had the time to develop it further.

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