Pinball FX Now Available On Xbox and Playstation Game Consoles

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Words by

Jose Irizarry

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Published on

February 16, 2023

Updated on

February 16, 2023

Read time:

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Zen Studios’ digital pinball collection has officially left early access today and is now available on Playstation 4/5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X in addition to the Epic Games Store. A Nintendo Switch version is also in the works, with release planned for later this year. The game is free to play, but features paid content as well

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Here at Kineticist, we’re particularly excited about this release, even though it strays from our focus on purely physical gaming. The Pinball FX series (and FarSight’s Pinball Arcade collection from a few console generations ago) offer an important gateway into the pinball hobby, often serving as many players first exposure to the game. It can also be invaluable for learning game rules for older titles that may be difficult to access locally. Having these games available on the latest console generation helps get pinball in any form in front of a much broader gaming audience.

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This the fourth iteration of Pinball FX. The original game was released in 2007 via the Xbox Live Arcade. This was followed by two sequels. Pinball FX2 and FX3, then a remake of the first game which just released on February 16th after a year of early access. The original game and Pinball FX2 are no longer supported, but Pinball FX3 remains available alongside the current reboot of Pinball FX.

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The developer, Zen Studios, is mainly known for their pinball titles. Outside of the FX series, they have also produced many standalone digital tables, often based on popular IPs like Star Wars. Pinball FX collects many of these tables, along with digital recreations of iconic Bally/Williams physical cabinets like Medieval Madness and Monster Bash. Relative to similar titles, Pinball FX touts realistic “Pro Physics” and an emphasis on cinematics to replicate an “authentic” arcade experience as closely as possible. Some tables will be free to play as part of a rotating pool with the rest being available as paid DLC or through a subscription.

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The tables a player currently has in their collection are displayed in The Pinhall: a customizable virtual arcade room. Getting high scores unlocks collectibles you can use to decorate your room and give it more atmosphere. Each table has four playable modes - Classic, Arcade, Hotseat and Challenge. Classic gives the most authentic experience, arcade mode applies power-ups and Hotseat is the local multiplayer mode. Pinball FX also has most of the standard features you’d expect like leaderboards, achievements, tournaments and events.

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Another interesting feature is the highly popular “Cabinet Mode”. Cabinet Mode optimizes Pinball FX for running on a physical cabinet by allowing users to reposition the dot-matrix display and add a backglass, either of which can be displayed on a second screen. This feature is currently only available for the Epic Games version.

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Pinball FX is currently rated 4 out of 5 stars on the Epic Games store. Their website lists over eighty tables as part of their current line-up, with many more planned for the future.