A traditional pinball machine is a box of roughly five bajillion moving parts. If you've ever owned one, you know they can be a maintenance nightmare. Virtual pinball came into its own with the advent of wide-screen LCD displays which can mimic a pinball playfield. As graphical processing power increased over time, virtual pinball became more attractive as a low-hassle alternative to the "real thing." (While playing, your brain doesn't know the difference.)
I'm not being compensated by AtGames for this review. In fact, I long fought the desire to write a time-consuming article about the Legends Pinball! But I couldn't shake it, so here we are. I've had the Legends Pinball in my home arcade for long enough to be objective. It's become the most played of the fifteen machines, the others being classic video games. Maybe the novelty will wear off, but with so much variety available in one unit, it'll be a while. UPDATE: A year has passed, and my AtGames Legends Pinball is still getting almost-daily play.
At just under $700, the AtGames Legends Pinball brings the once technically-imposing and/or expensive virtual pinball to the masses, boasting twenty-two preinstalled Gottleib tables ranging from the fifties to the nineties:
Al's Garage Band Goes on a World Tour
Big Shot
Black Hole
Bone Busters, Inc.
Cactus Jack's
Centigrade 37
Central Park
Class of 1812
Cue Ball Wizard
El Dorado: City of Gold
Genie
Gladiators
Goin' Nuts
Haunted House
Jacks Open
Lights... Camera... Action!
Pistol Poker
Rescue 911
Tee'd Off
TX Sector
Victory
Wipeout
Pop in a user-supplied flash drive to one of the two top-mounted USB ports and download a litany of real and fantasy tables from third-party developer Magic Pixel, including ones based on Taito arcade licenses. The Magic Pixel tables look much better than the pre-installed games, incorporating playfield lighting/shadow effects, backglasses with light sequences and even a reflective pinball! Other virtual pinball applications such as Pinball FX3 work on the Legends Pinball through an optional PC adapter.
The Legends Pinball's haptic feedback lets you feel every pop bumper and slingshot impact, and an accelerometer allows you to physically nudge the machine for ball control. An additional set of side buttons allows for nudging without getting as aggressive.
Surprisingly powerful speakers deliver the ear candy, including subtle sounds like the pinball rolling. The Legends Pinball outputs video at sixty frames per second, with no input lag.
AtGames promotes the machine as being "the world's first connected pinball," but an Internet connection isn't required to enjoy the included tables. Worldwide high scores for every virtual machine are posted in real time. Players can take turns and chat with the worldwide competition via scheduled online parties. Legends Pinball owners also have access to traditional arcade titles via an app called ArcadeNet, which requires a separate controller: I don't get craning your neck down at horizontal video games letterboxed on a vertical monitor, but your mileage may vary.
I purchased my AtGames Legends Pinball from Sam's Club, which included an additional five tables from legendary Italian manufacturer Zaccaria, rendered by Magic Pixel. Also included was a three-month Premium subscription to ArcadeNet, which went unused because I was too cheap to spring for an AtGames controller.
Weighing in at 109 pounds, the AtGames Legends Pinball is no leightweight, about 3/4 the length of a dedicated table. Arcade veterans would refer to the Legends Pinball as cabaret sized. It's shipped in a single box and takes about ten minutes to set up. The Legends Pinball comes stock with plate glass (not plastic) over the 32" HD playfield display, which looks much better in real life than it does here. The glass makes for an easy, dare I say satisfying, dusting. The monitor has eight inches on price-point competitor Arcade1Up's virtual pinball machines, and is recessed under the glass to further sell the illusion of a physical playfield.
I had some initial OCD questions after unboxing, and AtGames' customer service (email only) was always responsive and helpful.
The playfield area is surrounded with real powder-coated metal, and the table is supported by adjustable metal legs which accommodate adult players. The Legends Pinball sideart is a montage of the pre-installed games and has a glossy overlay, so the oils from your hands won't wear off the printing. Scarf down those Ding Dongs!
Pinball gameplay is fast and smooth, even in the heat of multiball, and the machine's award-winning physics are spot on.
While the Legend Pinball's playfield display dimensions are perfect, the backbox contains a 15.6" widescreen LCD, so none of the square backbox artwork of the original machines looks quite right. Some displays are rendered better than others with the stretched-out treatment, but you're always trying to fit a square box in a rectangular hole. There's an option to size the artwork to square, at the cost of making it crazy small. The widescreen doesn't pose sizing issues with the custom tables, as current pinball machines use LCD monitors.
In spite of the sizing woes, this secondary LCD does a remarkable job emulating the dot matrix displays (DMDs), LED displays and even the scoring reels of classic pinball backboxes:
I like the table's start and menu buttons placed where the coin slots would be, but I wish they were sized for a quarter instead of a penny and that they lit up. The Legends Pinball coin door is a non-opening fake, with a convincing lock cam. This presentation is much better than some lame sticker!
My first encounter with AtGames was in 2019 with this review of their Legends Flashback console. AtGames, an industry player since 2001, has upped their game with the Pinball Legends machine, which looks at home with vintage coin-op cabinets.
The AtGames Legends Pinball was described by a YouTube commenter as "the holy grail of low-maintentance pinball." I couldn't agree more, having grappled with NASA-level technical problems on more than one vintage table. There's also an active modding community for the Legends Pinball, with upgrades ranging from five bucks to over a grand.
I love playing this machine, and my ADD appreciates the variety of pinball available through the virtual format. The Legends Pinball doesn't feel like an Arcade1Up toy, and I'm happy to have it in my lineup. When you see "PeterVenkman" on those leaderboards, you'll know who it is.
UPDATE: I've got the world record on Zaccaria Time Machine! Even if you beat it, I won't take down the certificate! MUWAHAHA!
Virtual pinball has come a long way: Read our review of Team17's Addiction Pinball, a PC CD-ROM from 1998. Can't get enough arcade action? You'll want to watch our video tours of The Game Preserve in Texas. Yes, "tours." There's so much gaming goodness that it spans two locations! Also, check out this insane home arcade in Arizona. We've been busy!