Cactus Canyon Continued

Before I start this post I want to give a big shout out to Eric who commented in the last post. He's working on the new Color DMD Display for Cactus Canyon Continued and from what I got to see, it looks really nice. Much better then a few of the other Color DMD's I've seen yet. He also gave me a link to the main site for CCC so if you want some more information, you can find it here at this link.

http://soldmy.org/pin/ccc/index.php?title=Main_Page

So now on with the post! At the 2013 Allentown Pinfest I ran into non other then Captain Kirk! Who you might remember from episode 7 of Arcade Hunters when we visited Castle Video in New Jersey. Still one of the very best places I ever visited to play pinball. I ended up bumping into him again near the Cactus Canyon Continued they had set up next to Predator so I quickly got the camera out to get some gameplay and also a look at the Color DMD that Eric is working on that was set up on top of the machine.

As I've said before, since Williams wanted to hurry up and start production on the new Pinball 2000 machines so Cactus Canyon was rushed and the game's code never got to be finished. The game is still playable, I still think it's a lot of fun and while it does have some shortcomings and it's a shame not many were made. This new version of the game uses the famous P-Roc board to power all of the new features in the game. Eric has added in a lot of great stuff and even with a 10 minute long video of two playthroughs I couldn't show all of what he added in. There's a new Super Skill Shot, a Martians Vs. Cowboys mode, a Drunk Multiball where the flippers are reversed, a showdown with Bionic Bart and all new high score boards. I wasn't expecting them to pop up after my game so I ended up missing showing that part of the game off. I ended up getting second place on the machine and also scored "Undertaker" for taking down the yellow drop targets.

For anybody that owns a machine of Cactus Canyon for their home I highly suggest you check out the site above, get yourself a P-Roc board and try it out. There's a lot of great features and their well worth checking out!

It's Cactus Canyon Week!

This week we're celebrating the very last "traditional" pinball machine that Bally/Williams made back in 1998. Cactus Canyon. A little over 900 units of the game were ever made and sadly the game was rushed through production to get ready for the new Pinball 2000 that would be coming out the following year. Because it was rushed out the game only has two music tracks and the software has bugs galore so people don't use the game for competitive tournaments. I happen to love the game and throughout the year's I've shot video of the one that's at PAPA in Pittsburgh. The first video is from PAPA 11 in 2008 with the crappy digital camera I had, then the second is a "review" we did in 2011 when I had my newfangled iPod.

This week we'll have two more videos dedicated to Cactus Canyon. The first coming up on Wednesday is a look at the upcoming Cactus Canyon: Continued P-Roc mod that adds in a boatload of new features as well as an early look at the new Color DMD for the game. You'll also see an old friend return in the video as well! Then on Saturday I'll be reviewing the Pinball Arcade version of Cactus Canyon on the iPad. So be sure to stay tuned here for more Cactus Canyon goodness!

Skit-B Pinball's Predator Prototype

One of the other new games to check out at the Allentown Pinfest was Skit-B Pinball's new Predator pinball machine. The guys at Skit-B have been working on this game for a while now and they've been documenting their progress of making the game on their website and YouTube channel. http://www.skitbpinball.com/

However at the Allentown Pinfest it was the very first time the game was show off with it's new playfield artwork. I have to say it looks really nice. It feels like if they made it back in the 80's, no cut and paste Photoshop here folks. Real honest to goodness artwork. Sadly I didn't get the flipper portion of the playfield that has the Predator holding a bloody skull which looked really cool. As you can see from the video it's still a prototype. There's a shot on the far right side of the table were the ball doesn't roll in all the way if you don't hit it just right. I had to shake the table so the ball would go back down.

Sadly I wasn't able to play a game with the team members. I had wanted to record as soon as I got there on Friday after they set up but I guess they were trying to enjoy the rest of the show. The only thing I could show off on the current version of the table was one of the game's "Hunts". The machine has four flipper buttons. The two other buttons will start "Hunt Mode" if press it while the ball's in play. The whole machine turns blue and you have to hit a shot followed by another to a flashing target. Surprisingly I was able to pull that off on camera as you can see at the end of the video.

The other thing I've noticed that's different on this version of the prototype is the new plastic ramps they have installed. If you look at some of the first versions of the game they used darker colored plastic so it got hard to see the ball when it went underneath the ramp. They put in a new clear plastic and it's much easier to see where the ball is going.

Hope you enjoyed this early look at Predator. Check the Skit-B guy's out on their website. I can't wait to play this again when they get it finished!

Sega's Dream Raiders

Last weekend my friends and I took a visit to the local Dave and Busters were the famous walkthrough video was shot. Seriously, I have no idea why that one video has over 77,000 hits on YouTube. I shot back in 2008 with my "new" digital camera and I keep getting people that comment on the video like it's brand new. I've wanted to get another updated video since I've gotten better cameras over the years but there's always more people walking around the Islandia Dave and Busters with suits and earpieces on then a presidential motorcade. Plus I think what's funniest about that video is right after I was done taking it, one of the suits walked over to me and said, "Hey guys, no more taking videos in here...OKAY!?"

Now that's out of the way..the very first game that caught my eye when we walked in was Sega's newest arcade game, Dream Raiders. Not Dream Riders like I said in the video...guess it must be the sinus infection.  As you can see from the video the cab is gigantic. It really takes me back to the days when Sega would make their arcade games larger then life. The game feels like they took a current shooter like Let's Go! Jungle and crossed it with Typhoon motion chair ride. The whole seat shimmy and shakes from side to side and up and down and really starts to rock when you take damage. Since there's a lot to talk about I'm going to break it here. So if you'd like to read more about the game, just hit the jump!

Wizard of Oz with Jersey Jack! (May 2013)

As promised here's a brand new look at a production model of Jersey Jack Pinball's new Wizard of Oz pinball machine. Even though Jack and Pinball Star brought three tables of the game you still had to wait on a giant line if you wanted to play it. So sorry for not trying to start up another game after I played so lousy in the video. I also tacked on a bonus bit of Jack delivering a machine to a very lucky customer, Bill getting his machine after a very long wait.

They've added in a couple of new modes into this game and yes, more music too! As I said in the video I had a chance to play the game a few months back at Two-Bits Retro Arcade in New York City. While the machine was one of the prototypes it was running different software that the games at the Jersey Jack Factory didn't have. They have added in the RESCUE targets and music in the upper left playfield. The bonus X rollovers now work and give you a bonus. They've also added in the very tough skill shot as well as the melting witch toy now works. The other thing I noticed watching others play the game is the main Multiball has changed from the previous versions. Rather then all three balls spitting out at the same time the game will now spit them out after a second so you can fan the balls out rather then having them screaming back towards you.

I'll be checking back in with more of the Wizard of Oz in the coming weeks and months as the game makes it out into the wild. I know Jon at the skate shop and my buddy Allen will be getting the machine so be on the lookout for more videos as the game gets updated and turned into a fully fledged working machine!

We've got a lot of new stuff coming soon! Including a look at Cactus Canyon Continued, Skit-B Pinball's new Predator Pinball Machine and Sega's brand new arcade game, Dream Raiders! (Not Dream Riders as I say in the video) Plus the end of May means only one thing...FUNSPOT! So keep checking back here, subscribe on YouTube, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr!