Request Swords of Fury - the greatest fantasy-themed pinball you've never played

[JoshuaKadmon]

If there was any doubt about SoF's awesomeness, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHSjgMFwChA

 

[Kolchak357]

Nice video. The LED's look great. Sometimes they overpower, but they look super in Swords. That top left flipper looks like it would mess with your head a little. A flipper that far left that is controlled by the right flipper button is just evil. Sure seems like a great table. Hope we see at some point. Whoever shot that video knew what they were doing. Great picture and sound on that one.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Well, that's a shame. I was totally prepared to buy a pristine Swords of Fury machine that I found for sale online. I made preparations to have it shipped, arranged to have it stored safely until the game room is ready for it, and was on my way to the bank with the necessary deposit when I was notified that someone bought it out from under me.

I swear, one day I will have that game...

I have even started working with the owner of Flightdeck in Lexington, SC to possibly become a licensed operator in his restaurant's arcade. The place is already huge, themed with retro memorabilia, and has some fun park games that don't make much money. The owner and I have discussed the possibility of getting a bank of pinball machines in there and converting that arcade to a real destination for enthusiasts. We don't have anything like that in South Carolina, after all, and both of us love pinball.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

The other day, there was a SoF for sale on the Washington DC Craigslist for, ready?

650 dollars.

It was removed the next day.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

The other day, there was a SoF for sale on the Washington DC Craigslist for, ready?

650 dollars.

It was removed the next day.

Let's hope that FarSight secretly purchased one of the two, right?

 

[Timtubemaster]

Let's hope that FarSight secretly purchased one of the two, right?

Hopefully they did. They also need FishTales

 

[Kolchak357]

It's not going to get easier to find. They were just chatting SOF up on Pinside and many of them are looking for it. They also are high on Catacomb, which I think you also mentioned as a favorite.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/best-fantasydungeons-dragonssword-sorcery-themed-games

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

It's not going to get easier to find. They were just chatting SOF up on Pinside and many of them are looking for it. They also are high on Catacomb, which I think you also mentioned as a favorite.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/best-fantasydungeons-dragonssword-sorcery-themed-games

You recall correctly. Glad to see real collectors showing some love for both. If that love were to resonate with FarSight and lead to its digital "preservation", at least more people would get a chance to see why it's so amazing and ahead of its time. I'd still like to own a real one, though...

 

[Fuseball]

This begs the hypothetical question... If you owned a relatively rare game would you be prepared to loan it to Farsight for them to digitise it and create a TPA version?

Personally, if I lived in the US, I would. Presuming that shipping and insurance was covered by FS.

 

[mmmagnetic]

I really love when the playfield art shows an actual place, with stairs, corridors and such, where it feels like you´re looking at and interacting with a specific little microcosm. A lot of tables from that era had this type of design, and it´s one of these touches I like the most about pinball.

The only TPA example for this is Taxi, where you look at the roads and cars from above, and feel like your ball is the taxi you´re driving to pick up passengers. On this machine here it looks like you´re actually fighting through a dungeon, and the playfield is designed like that! Or, take Cyclone for example, where your ball is a visitor on a gigantic fairground. In High Speed / II your little silver ball is a car on a wild chase. And what was the name of that table where you´re firing a big cannon? It had little knights on it and lots of red bricks everywhere.

On a lot of modern machines I´m always aware that I´m "just" hitting ramps and shooting stuff. They invested a lot of time and care into DMD animations, sound clips and modes... but then just put some random playfield art on top of it without actually trying to incorporate the structure of the playfield itself.

To me it feels like that era between the late 80s and early 90s was where pinball design was at its most creative and playful, though I´m really not qualified to really have a solid viewpoint on this (I´m only into pinball since a few months and only played a handful of real machines), but it looks like that to me.

So yeah, I´m 100% behind that table. And I absolutely agree with your viewpoint that TPA isn´t and shouldn´t be about just the so-called best machines ever - charts and ranking are never a good indicator of what´s actually interesting. For example, the other day I was shooting castle after castle in MM, trapping, shooting, nudging, trapping, shooting, nudging, and after a while it got incredibly boring. CV is a very one-trick pony as well.

Sorry, but while the presentation of these tables is indeed top-notch, the actual playfield design feels like it only takes advantage of a fraction of what pinball is capable of. The actual scoring might be very interesting to veteran players, challenging and deep, but Swords Of Fury looks way more interesting to me.

I´m sure many players will disagree, but to me, pinball isn´t mostly about challenge, it´s about interesting playfields, kinetics that feel good, and great design and atmosphere. If I just wanted pure challenge I´d be playing Tetris The Grandmaster with invisible blocks instead. (Sorry, I got into a little side-rant here... carry on )

 

[bavelb]

This begs the hypothetical question... If you owned a relatively rare game would you be prepared to loan it to Farsight for them to digitise it and create a TPA version?

Personally, if I lived in the US, I would. Presuming that shipping and insurance was covered by FS.

It would ensure you'd get it back in pristine condition, so hell yea.

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

This begs the hypothetical question... If you owned a relatively rare game would you be prepared to loan it to Farsight for them to digitise it and create a TPA version?

Personally, if I lived in the US, I would. Presuming that shipping and insurance was covered by FS.

Yes, definitely. The thought actually crossed my mind when I put an offer on SoF. It would not only make the digital preservation more meaningful to me, it would also be a further demonstration of how players are pitching in on this historically significant project. And which tables would we want more than those we have purchased with our own hard-earned money?

 

[JoshuaKadmon]

Need... More... System 11... Lion-Man!!!

 

[The Iron Goat]

I went to the 1984 Arcade in Springfield, MO last week, and there was a Swords Of Fury machine there. Sadly, both it and Black Knight 2000 were out of order. This made me sad, but I did get to play Grand Lizard, Funhouse, Judge Dredd, and Black Pyramid.


...BTW, if you've never played Black Pyramid, yes, it's as crappy as it looks in pictures.

 

[Brian Clark]

And what was the name of that table where you´re firing a big cannon? It had little knights on it and lots of red bricks everywhere.

Big Guns. Despite the mixed ratings on ipdb (mainly due to the lack of pop bumpers), I found it to be an extremely fun table. I played a Fire recently. That's another fun one that lacks pop bumpers.

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

This video really makes me want it to come to TPA. I love, Love, LOVE, system 11 games! Especially the chiptune style music, and Swords of Fury is no exception, just awesome music and SFX.
Man, I can't wait till the 2013 CAX, I'm going to play the crap out of this if it's there again.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I just bought BIG GUNS my first pin today....system 11 was a MUST for me to fork over my 2 dlc's this month, Its all you fault FS Im teasing, you still get my grapes this month

 

[Russell Bergman]

Big Guns is one of the most underrated pinball machines in all Pinballdom! Lol It's so much fun and is very unique in artwork and gameplay.....plus it has one of the hardest skillshots to boot!

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

The shot across the air never gets old, only the solenoids do I just got it working...I have to say,even though the problem was simple. I feel I accomplished somthing that NO PS3 trophy has ever given me. ITS ALIVE!

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Oh yeah LION MAN looks FUN and sounds amazing. FS should just do a SYSTEM 11A-B GAME oh wait give Josh haunted house and sword of fury....DISC PLEASE!