Let's Talk About Zankor...

IGoFirstIndy

IGoFirstIndy

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Jul 12, 2014
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Wanted to start a separate thread for this and not mire down the bugs and feed back one.

Let's talk about Zankor --

Zankor is probably my least favorite Zacc. i want to like it. i just don't get it. its so super weird even for Zaccs. A dude that looks like Rambo trying to rescue his friend smashes giant spiders and bugs on a rope bridge in a jungle with a prehistoric hammer wheel cudgel, all with 80's action movie type music samples you activate with the ball. obviously I like the insanity of it, but the play is just not even remotely there for me. what am i missing? what is the upper playfield for? Why are there no sensors or skill shots? is it weird nothing carries over from ball to ball? is there a speech sound byte for getting a special like on black belt or Mexico 86? because it has speech in the opening.

i've started nudging the table a lot which really helps. I almost feel that's primarily what the game is for. especially with placement of the pop numbers and right secret lane.

has anyone figured out this table? i just feel like i'm missing something.
 
Reagan Dow

Reagan Dow

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Jul 23, 2014
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IGoFirstIndy said:
Wanted to start a separate thread for this and not mire down the bugs and feed back one.

Let's talk about Zankor --

Zankor is probably my least favorite Zacc. i want to like it. i just don't get it. its so super weird even for Zaccs. A dude that looks like Rambo trying to rescue his friend smashes giant spiders and bugs on a rope bridge in a jungle with a prehistoric hammer wheel cudgel, all with 80's action movie type music samples you activate with the ball. obviously I like the insanity of it, but the play is just not even remotely there for me. what am i missing? what is the upper playfield for? Why are there no sensors or skill shots? is it weird nothing carries over from ball to ball? is there a speech sound byte for getting a special like on black belt or Mexico 86? because it has speech in the opening.

i've started nudging the table a lot which really helps. I almost feel that's primarily what the game is for. especially with placement of the pop numbers and right secret lane.

has anyone figured out this table? i just feel like i'm missing something.
Click to expand...

Glad you posted this. Ive been trying to figure out what the upper play field is for as well.
 
night

night

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May 18, 2012
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It is just a failed attemt, something that didn't worked out that well. It's a bit of a mess.
 
IGoFirstIndy

IGoFirstIndy

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night said:
It is just a failed attemt, something that didn't worked out that well. It's a bit of a mess.
Click to expand...

It's weird that the pillars on the top align with the lanes below them but aren't connected anyhow. Given it came out towards the end of their run I could see Zaccaria having grander plans they couldn't implement.

Too bad. The table is just so weird. I want to like it like the rest of the Zaccs.
 
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night

night

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May 18, 2012
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But that's why it's great also, because it does not make sense. It didn't wroked out, it's obscure and weird therefore. It is the end of a little Italian pinball history, and this is how their end looks like!
 
M

mikehg

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Feb 5, 2014
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In the red corner, the reigning champion, undefeatable (not to mention unplayable) since February 1983: Goin' Nuts!

And in the blue corner, with fewer balls but *all of* the balls to the wall insanity: the contender and surrealist masterpiece, Zankor!

Let's get ready to... PLAY SOMETHING LESS WEIRD!!!
 
74-89

74-89

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May 2, 2014
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A mess it is. Roughly the result of someone with no idea what they were doing arranging table elements seemingly at random and calling that a playfield design. According to what I've read, this can be attributed to the passing of Lorenzo Rimondini, as the last machine he worked on for Zaccaria was Mexico '86 and this is the next one they produced. Someone else obviously took a crack at table design for Zankor. Spooky shows signs of intelligent construction so I assume it was designed by yet another someone else. Star's Phoenix looks to me like the two of them collaborated. And then it was over.

For some reason, this reminds me... do the other Zaccs with mechanical backboxes besides Devil Riders have working simulations in the ASK Homework versions? Magic Castle and Spooky are both tables I haven't played a million times so I don't really know, but I haven't seen anything happen on those tables. I don't know what they are supposed to do.

Time Machine was designed with a mechanical backbox in mind, the inside of the tunnel was meant to rotate when the platform rose and fell, but they had some problems with its functioning and decided to do without it.
 
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smbhax

smbhax

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Apr 24, 2012
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While the dead upper playfield is a bit bizarre, I actually kinda like the lower playfield. It's got a lot of unusual angles, and some fun shots and lanes.
 
Reagan Dow

Reagan Dow

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Jul 23, 2014
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I like the table, the music is pretty good, especially when it speeds up briefly. I guess you could say it's a jungle themed tune? It's a very hard table to describe for sure but as night said "but that's why it's so great" and I agree. It's also strange as it's a very low scoring table compared to the other Zaccaria tables. Maybe the designers all took acid together and Zankor was the result! ;)
 
IGoFirstIndy

IGoFirstIndy

New member
Jul 12, 2014
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74-89 said:
A mess it is. Roughly the result of someone with no idea what they were doing arranging table elements seemingly at random and calling that a playfield design. According to what I've read, this can be attributed to the passing of Lorenzo Rimondini, as the last machine he worked on for Zaccaria was Mexico '86 and this is the next one they produced. Someone else obviously took a crack at table design for Zankor. Spooky shows signs of intelligent construction so I assume it was designed by yet another someone else. Star's Phoenix looks to me like the two of them collaborated. And then it was over.

For some reason, this reminds me... do the other Zaccs with mechanical backboxes besides Devil Riders have working simulations in the ASK Homework versions? Magic Castle and Spooky are both tables I haven't played a million times so I don't really know, but I haven't seen anything happen on those tables. I don't know what they are supposed to do.

Time Machine was designed with a mechanical backbox in mind, the inside of the tunnel was meant to rotate when the platform rose and fell, but they had some problems with its functioning and decided to do without it.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info about Zankor. that makes sense. i'm forcing the table into my rotation so i can figure it out. it's just too weird for me to ignore. and maybe that's the whole point.

I think the fenced gate in Magic Castle goes up and down. not sure what triggers it or if there's anything behind it. Getting the time wheel spinning on Time Machine would be epic with the glass reflection.
 

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