Tag: Aerobatics Retro

Aerobatics Retro (Zaccaria Pinball Table Review)

This is our first time using Matt’s +/- idea for ratings. They don’t affect scores at all but rather let readers know if it’s closer to the next rating or the rating under it. Originally I was going to post a massive Zaccaria Retro feature but instead, we’re going to release these in a trickle.

And, because the full eight-person team is here, we’re using Olympic style scoring. The highest rating and lowest rating are not factored into the Final Rating.

AEROBATICS RETRO

Dave the Designer on Aerobatics Retro: Shame about the saucers. Aside from those targets and the top pops being a little far down, everything about Aerobatics Retro is in an appropriate place for the time period. It’s a proper ‘retro’ that’s done its homework and deserves props for it. If they adjusted the eject angles, this might be a winner.

We’ve already reviewed the AtGames Legend build of Aerobatics Retro. The updated Steam build benefits from having a variety of physics options (not to mention tables like this were meant to be played with five balls, not three. Someone please get that memo to MagicPixel and AtGames). Also, we all seem to agree that the saucers don’t seem to dump the ball between the flippers as often. Actually, the right saucer never did it once. Oh, the left saucer still did it enough to Angela that she’s still dumping it in THE PITS. (Dave to Angela: “wait a second, aren’t you the one who defends Jack*Bot?”) Actually, it was pretty funny. In four separate first-to-three duels, Angela only won a single game the entire time, but that one game she won, she set the world record for Aerobatics Retro on 5 Ball Arcade. She basically did it the same way Matt got #2 in 3 Ball Arcade, IE the ball fell into the saucers. So they fell ass-backwards into records. The lack of shooting angles and nearly impossible to defend-against slingshots still shoot down this plane, though Oscar and Jordi felt that there’s SOME satisfaction to be had in the chaotic rebounding. “I think three jet shapes and a slightly wider lane on each side to get back to the top would have been a better layout” said Matt. Hard to disagree.
Set: Zaccaria – 40 Retro Tables
Model: Zaccaria EM
Table Type: Woodrail
Cathy: THE PITS (1 out of 5)
Sasha The Kid: THE PITS
Angela: THE PITS
Oscar: BAD+ (2 out of 5)
Jordi: BAD
Dave: BAD
Matt: BAD+
Dash: BAD +
Scoring Average: 1.65 – BAD
Final Average: 1.6 – BAD
🏆Angela ranks #1 in 5 Ball Arcade – Undisputed World Champion
🏆Matt ranks #2 in 3 Ball Arcade – Post Update Highest Score
🏆Cathy ranks #4 in 90 Second Mode – Post Update Highest Score
🏆Jordi ranks #1 in Time Loop Mode – Undisputed World Champion

Aerobatics Retro (AtGames Legend Pinball Table Review)

AEROBATICS
RETRO

Don’t expect much from the “Retro” tables, which are all based on vintage pre-70s tables that we’d call “boardwalk type” pins. The designs are typically not original and are usually reworked layouts from the era before the modern Italian Bottom was invented. Twenty-seven of these were bundled for Zaccaria Pinball with the low price tag of $1.99 – $2.99. That sounds like an unbelievable value, and in a way, it is. At the Pinball Chick, we place a $15 value on a Certificate of Excellence, and one of the 27 tables (Mystic Star) won it, making the set worth it just for that pin. Good thing too, because a record setting thirteen others in the Retro Pack were declared 💩Certified Turds💩, and even the ones that weren’t had scoring averages well under GOOD. Only three had scoring averages over 2.5. So, they’re pretty bad. Aerobatics makes you appreciate what an incredible “invention” the Italian Bottom was. The flippers are guarded by slingshots that spoon-feed the outlanes (the left one is especially deadly), and the saucers that score 500 points when lit are capable of kicking the ball between the flippers. I’ve never seen us eat as many TILTs as we did competing at Aerobatics Retro, but unlike the stellar authentic version of Aerobatic that’s part of the same AtGames Legends Pinball set, the TILTs are for the wrong reasons. Oscar thinks there’s some morbid value in competitive play, but otherwise, this is pretty awful.
Set: Zaccaria Pinball Pack 1
Type: Electro-Mechanical – Rebuild
Design DNA: Unidentified
Part of Zaccaria Pinball (Console/PC)
Vice Family High: Cathy “IGC” 4,930 (Top 20)
Cathy: THE PITS (1 out of 5)
Angela: THE PITS
Oscar: BAD (2 out of 5)
Sasha: THE PITS
Jordi: BAD*
Dave: THE PITS*
Scoring Average: 1.33 – 💩CERTIFIED TURD💩
*Played on Zaccaria Pinball for Consoles/PC