I love Pinball Hall Of Fame: Williams Collection for the Wii. There is something very unique about holding the Wiimote and the Nunchuck is separate hands to control the flippers that simply feels more like you are playing the silver ball on a solid-state machine. My favorite part of the game was The Williams Challenge, where you had to play each game in succession, trying to reach a certain score before you could proceed to the next. All the games were familiar from the arcades, and playing felt very comfortable
I also have Pinball Hall Of Fame: Gottlieb Collection for the PS2. I got it a couple years before the Williams collection was released, and it was always disappointing to me. Pinball games in the 70’s and early 80’s we mostly regional, with distribution companies “owning” certain areas to the “exclusion” of others. My area had very few if any Gottlieb machines, so most of the tables were new to me, and frankly not very interesting. Common features from Bally/Midway and Williams games like using the flippers to light-up bonus lanes, and capture-style multi-ball were completely absent. It was interesting, but really not anything I played very often.
I picked up the Wii version of the Gottlieb Collection yesterday, and I pleasantly surprised by it. The viewing angle of the table is better, and the Nunchuck/Wiimote controls improve the game for me very much over the gamepad. The Gottlieb Challenge (like the Williams Challenge) is very enjoyable too (but a bit easier). The most interesting thing though, are the new games that were not in the PS2 version. My favorite is the prototype, “Goin’ Nuts” which starts each “ball” as a multi-ball (not a catch multi-ball though) with 3 balls. You earn time for keeping at least 2 balls in play, then use the time up for the final ball. Then you do it again on your next balls. It’s very innovative and challenging. It reminds me of how challenging Firepower was on the Williams collection before I got the hang of it. I’ve even come to appreciate the unique designs of the Gottlieb games, especially how some of the ramps and chutes appear to be “carved out” of the machine, unlike the metal ramps and rails on the Williams machines.
Now, who do I petition to get a Bally/Midway or Atari Pinball version of this collection?