Psycho Pinball


Psycho Pinball is a 1994 pinball video game published and developed by Codemasters, released for Mega Drive in the United Kingdom and MS-DOS in the United States and Europe.

Gameplay

There are four differently themed tables: Wild West, Trick or Treat, The Abyss, and Psycho. While the first three are normal tables, Psycho broke new ground; it is connected to the others by activating certain jumpers, then launching the ball into one of the tents. The ball continues on the other table, returning to drop from the tent in Psycho when it drains. It is also the only one with a spring ball launcher and no multiball.
Wild West is an open table with few obstacles; this makes it difficult to achieve high scores, unlike Trick or Treat, that is a much more enclosed table and has more ramp multipliers. The Abyss is the only one with two levels of play, and the multiball is usually reduced to two balls. To activate the multiball, the player has to trap a ball in one of the vent holes, and then knock it out of its trajectory when it is being thrown from one vent to another. It is possible, but tricky, to trap additional balls in the vents to use in the multiball.

Minigames

One of its main features is minigames on each table. They range from simple panel games to full arcade sequences, all activated by hitting certain triggers, and then sending the ball to a particular location on the table. Panel games include Blackjack in Wild West; ''Spook Shoot on Trick or Treat; Cup Confusion on Psycho ; or Fast Fishing in The Abyss.
The arcade minigames are much more elaborate and require more effort. The player is in direct control of
Psycho, an armadillo, and must reach the bonus plaque.
  • Runaway Train : Psycho is at the end of a hijacked train and has to reach the locomotive, dodging through signs, water tanks, gunmen, and tunnels. If Psycho falls, gets trapped when climbing a ladder on the left side of the screen, or is hit by an obstacle or a bullet, no bonus is awarded.
  • Moonsquares : Psycho must travel from one rocket to another using disappearing platforms. There is a 5x5 grid composed of platforms that disappear. If Psycho falls, the bonus is progressively reduced until it boots Psycho back to the table.
  • Whale's Belly : Psycho is trapped inside a whale along with three buoys and an endless supply of crabs. Psycho must capture the crabs and throw them into the whales' ulcers, which eventually pop up and fill its stomach with water and rise. Psycho dies if he takes too much time or falls into the water.
The Trick or Treat table does not have such an arcade minigame, although early magazine previews show a minigame with brooms that never made the final game.
In the PC version there are three different games :
It also adds Big Deal, a higher-or-lower card game, to the casino in Wild West''.