Atari has each introduced and launched the 1997 classic-ish, Balls of Metal onto Steam right this moment. The port was dealt with by Massive Boat Interactive.

So, I’ve unhealthy information. The Duke Nukem desk seems to have been eliminated. I’ll get to that. Nonetheless, as a replacement, there’s the spin-off desk (Satan’s Island) and two model new tables primarily based on Missile Command and Centipede. Not a foul deal.

Balls of Metal was developed by Wildfire Studios (with assist from Apogee/3D Realms/The Pinball Wizard) and printed by GT Interactive in 1997. If we monitor the lineage, GT Interactive was acquired by Infogrames in 1999, which later turned the modern-day Atari. That will be why it’s Atari releasing a remaster of it. That’s, assuming everybody has the rights possession discovered.

As for why the Duke Nukem desk was eliminated, that property is now owned by Gearbox in a “worst timeline” sort of scenario. It does really feel bizarre for the character to not be in it. I’m fairly certain it was named Balls of Metal due to him and the truth that pinball tables that includes his visage appeared all through Duke Nukem 3D.

I by no means performed Balls of Metal, however I wished to again in my youth. I wished to play something with Duke Nukem in it. It obtained some fairly respectable evaluations, however whether or not or not it’s price enjoying now’s going to rely in your tolerance for ‘90s Home windows pinball video games.

The port is ok. Massive Boat Interactive beforehand did the Battlezone remasters, which have been unbelievable. This is a little more bare-bones. You begin in a launcher, and every desk appears to be its personal executable. What sort of bothers me is that they disabled “scrolling mode,” which might zoom in on the desk. As a substitute, your solely possibility is viewing the entire discipline and the marquee proper subsequent to one another, and this leads to the desk itself being crammed into the left aspect of the show. Relying in your monitor dimension, it’s nonetheless simply legible, however its placement offers me nervousness, and there doesn’t appear to be an possibility to alter it.

The brand new Atari tables show in a different way, being instantly within the center and having a background that appears prefer it’s in an arcade. I want they did that for all of the tables.

Balls of Metal is out there now on PC through Steam.