Another Cunning Development: A Retrospective on the Pro Pinball Series

Digital pinball saw its peak popularity in the mid-90s, as the 5^th generation of gaming started with the launch of consoles like the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Pinball recreations at this time were mostly relegated to PC & Macintosh computer simulations like the famous 3D Pinball (Space Cadet) that came free with Windows 95 and ones created by Amtex & LittleWing, but with the increase in video game console graphics fidelity came a new contender in the digital pinball field; one that prioritized realism whenever possible.

Cunning Developments, a division of British video game developer Empire Interactive, entered the digital pinball scene in the mid-90s with a proposal for a digital recreation of Steve Ritchie’s 1993 pinball machine Star Trek: The Next Generation. Behind the recreation were Adrian Barritt and Richard Horrocks. Though the demo was praised, the license fell through, and the table was reworked into an original table for the first Pro Pinball release.

The four Pro Pinball releases are some of my absolute favorite pinball simulations ever made. Though they’re slightly dated, having released in the mid to late 90s, their tables have depth that compared to the real-life Williams & Sega tables that were released at the time, and their physics account for surprising levels of accuracy – drop catches and live catches are possible with enough practice, even the occasional airball into the playfield glass! The four tables have been well preserved and are available for download on GOG.com for PC, though the second table, Timeshock!, received an updated re-release in the mid-2010s that is still available for purchase.

The Web

The Web was the first Pro Pinball release, in 1995, and was roughly based on the STTNG demo described above. The playfield resembles a mirrored version of that game’s layout, and the overall focus on missions started at the center sinkhole, combined with the multiball structure, take inspiration from that game. Steve Ritchie’s other tables are a common source of inspiration as well; two banks of drop targets like the ones on Black Knight 2000 gate the reactor shot, and the table features a magnet at the upper flipper that behaves akin to the one on Rollergames.

The layout of The Web is awesome, and I might even prefer it to the table that inspired it! Playing this while writing the article, I had a ton of fun making combos on this layout, especially the upper loop–side ramp combos that I’m a big fan of. My only real points of contention are that I’ve never been a fan of this style of bumper area where you can only feed it by shooting the ball directly into them, and the theme is… well, pretty rough; a classic styled “take down an antagonist by doing tasks that may or may not relate to them” theme that feels more befitting of late 80s / early 90s tables than the era of pinball that The Web released in. The cheesy voiceover work contributes to the silliness as well.

All that said, though, The Web proved that Cunning Developments knew what they were doing. I had the least to say about this table for a reason; it’s a really great start for the company but doesn’t have many standout aspects compared to the forward-thinking tables that would follow it. While the table is my least favorite of their releases, it’s still a great table and one that I have a lot of respect for, which will be a common theme throughout this whole retrospective. The team’s next table, though, would go far and beyond this table in the public pinball consciousness and even had an impact on pinball design as a whole!

Timeshock!

If The Web was comparable to a proof of concept for the Cunning team, then 1996’s Timeshock! is that proof of concept’s final draft. Unlike their first table, this one has a more involved story to it; the player assists a scientist in traveling through time, collecting fragments of the time crystal that allows time to flow smoothly. The goal of the table is to collect all four fragments and, optionally, complete eight different modes across the different continents (two per time zone). Changing time zones is linked to hitting the left and right ramps and starting multiball with enough spinner hits.

The layout of this table can best be compared to Terminator 2 and the then-contemporary table Attack from Mars. Both have an emphasis on short, simple shots with the occasional long shot to spice things up – in Timeshock!’s case, the massive side ramp that either feeds the flippers or the bumpers. The scan mystery award is also comparable to “stroke of luck” on Attack from Mars.

Timeshock! is easily my favorite table that the Cunning crew worked on, thanks to feeling incredibly polished and having a lot of the hype that was inherent to pinball machines of this time. The light show & audio for going to a new time zone is incredible and compares favorably to the best multiball intros of its day. But the standout aspect of the table, at least to me, are the rules. Playing this table for score, there are substantial decisions that need to be made and just as many shots that need to be hit as consistently as possible. The game heavily awards you for going in-depth with its rules; mastery of the ultra-combo can practically complete an entire time zone for you, and each quickshot (hurry-up) awards different items that can be combined with others for large awards.

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The impact of Timeshock!’s rules design has been substantial to real life pinball as well. Two early Sterns that Keith Johnson contributed to, Lord of the Rings and The Simpsons Pinball Party, both have comparable depth to Timeshock!; and LOTR’s Two Towers multiball bears a strong resemblance to Timeshock Frenzy which involved repeatedly hitting the two ramps for jackpots as combos, albeit in LOTR accounting for every shot instead of just the ramps. So, in a way, Timeshock! was a precursor to the modern, intricate pinball design associated with companies like Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball, and to say that the Cunning Developments team got it right on the first try would be an understatement.

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This table is so good that there was even an attempt to recreate it in real life, though plans have fallen through; likely due to the high cost of manufacturing (the time crystal toy complete with working diverters and ball locks sounds like a nightmare to recreate!). Thankfully, the table is commercially available to this day and even received a digital re-release around 2016 that updated the table’s graphics while retaining the smooth physics from the original release. Either release receives a strong recommendation from me; without this table, I don’t know where pinball would be today!

Big Race USA

Riding high off of the release of Timeshock!, Cunning wanted to continue to evolve the digital pinball genre and improve upon their physics even further. Big Race USA would release the following year (in 1997) and I like it just as much as Timeshock!, but can understand why others would like it less. This table has a theme comparable to Road Show but instead of causing destruction everywhere you go, you drive a taxi to different locations, evade the police, and eventually wind up taking part in challenges against other cars before taking them all on in a massive road race.

This table’s layout is comparable to Judge Dredd’s large variety of loops and ramps, or for players used to more modern pinball machines, Jersey Jack’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Every flipper has at least two shots intended to be made from it, and every shot is heavily used in game progression. The table also has a multiball mode called Speedway Frenzy that heavily resembles the process of lighting multiball madness on Medieval Madness, but with modes attached to each ladder of shots completed.

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There are a lot of firsts in Big Race USA, a surprising amount for a digital pinball release. The first color-changing LEDs at major shots, the first action button (used here for nitro boosts that substantially help with one mode once per game), and the first online competition mode; all of which are taken for granted in modern Stern releases! These are combined with some mechanics I rarely see used, including a magnet-powered ramp that I only ever remember seeing done in Gottlieb’s Hot Shots, and a center post called the air bag that lifts to serve as a ball saver. And yet the table never feels too cramped, or too indulgent, despite the packed layout and intricate rules. It feels like a table Williams could’ve released at the time, and that’s the strongest praise I could give any digital pinball release.

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The main nitpicks people seem to have with Big Race USA are that the music doesn’t really fit the game’s tone, being soft techno with a focus on drum & bass, but I always felt it gave the table a unique musical identity compared to the hard-rocking The Web and Timeshock! or other real life tables from the era. The cartoony art and voiceovers are also subject to criticism but if you know my taste in tables, the theme doesn’t tend to bother me so long as I can sink my teeth into the table and have fun playing it. It helps that I personally really like this table’s theme!

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Cunning would take a longer gap than usual between the release of Big Race USA and their next table, which released at the start of 1999. Their final table might be their last, and might not be my favorite, but still proves that the company had a lot of steam left in them - in more ways than one.

Fantastic Journey

The theme of Fantastic Journey is the deepest theme the Cunning team came up with and is loosely inspired by the stories of Jules Verne mixed with a steampunk aesthetic. General Yagov (no relation to the Yagov from F-14 Tomcat) has taken the world ransom, and his island base is protected by a shield. As the apprentice to Professor Steam, the player is tasked to complete four adventures using his contraptions to retrieve crystals that will penetrate the island’s shield and save the world from destruction.

The inspirations for this table are less overt than the previous Pro Pinball releases, but comparisons can be made to Junk Yard, which had a similar focus on collecting parts of vehicles to assemble them and then go on adventures using them, and World Cup Soccer’s ultra mode structure. The lack of similarities in this table could be the result of physical pinball being in a massive decline at the time, or Cunning having enough confidence in their own team’s designs that they were fine with looser inspirations with this release.

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Compared to the evolutionary Big Race USA, Fantastic Journey feels slightly safer but also incredibly polished as a result (while still containing a first – the first color DMD!). There are two sets of modes; “simple” modes from the scoop that are comparable to the Twilight Zone door panels in their complexity, and the larger “adventures” that light specific shots at a time but require shots to the spinner to recharge the vehicle if time has run out. As a result, the table feels simpler and more intuitive than the two tables that preceded it, making this my #1 suggestion for people who are new to the Pro Pinball series and want to play an accessible table. Another great table, but its simplicity ranks it below the prior two tables to me.

Where Are They Now?

Following Cunning shutting down in 2002, the creators of the Pro Pinball series, Adrian and Richard, would create their own company known as Fuse Games (later known as Silverball Studios and now known as Barnstorm Games). Interestingly, their pinball games during this 6^th generation of consoles would double down on the video game aspects over the realism that they prioritized with the Pro Pinball series. The company partnered with Nintendo to release Mario Pinball Land for Game Boy Advance, done by a 5-person team, and Metroid Prime Pinball on DS, along with several other minor licensed titles. The final new pinball game released by the company was an attempt to revive the more realistic pinball style called Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon, after which the company shut down due to the company’s shareholders leaving.

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While the company as Barnstorm Games made a brief return to the Pro Pinball series with their remastered release of Timeshock!, they quickly found a niche creating adaptations of UK trivia & game shows for the App Store, which have been massively profitable. And honestly? If that’s what’s making them money, and they enjoy making those games, then I’m happy for them, especially considering that Adrian and Richard are still around at Barnstorm. The Pro Pinball series’ four games were incredible, but sometimes you must move on. I’m glad the series left such a massive impact on physical pinball rules design and still play all four entries on a consistent basis, and I hope I was able to introduce these tables to another generation who might not have heard of them before. There’s a massive world of digital pinball history out there, and I’d be more than willing to dive into some more of it if people are interested!