Demon's Tilt

Last updated
Demon's Tilt
DemonsTiltCoverart.png
Developer(s) Adam Ferrando (WIZNWAR) [1]
Publisher(s) Flarb
Composer(s) Charlie Heinrich (ec2151)
Platform(s)
ReleasemacOS, Windows, Xbox One
  • WW: December 13, 2019 [2] [3]
Nintendo Switch
  • WW: December 23, 2019 [4]
PlayStation 4
Genre(s) Pinball
Mode(s) Single-player

Demon's Tilt is a pinball video game by American [7] developer Adam Ferrando under his handle WIZNWAR, released on Steam Early Access in January 2019, [8] with eventual publication on Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in December 2019. The game features occult inspiration pulled from H.P. Lovecraft, tarot and other horror themes. The game has been called a spiritual successor to the Crush Pinball series of pinball video games, namely Devil's Crush . [9] A sequel, Xenotilt, was released on Steam Early Access on August 18th, 2023, with a full release on November 12th, 2024. [10]

Contents

Gameplay

The start of a Demon's Tilt game, showing off the second tier ("Lilith") of the game board. Gameplay elements like the tilt meter, score, and ritual objectives are displayed as overlays DemonsTiltScreenshot.jpg
The start of a Demon's Tilt game, showing off the second tier ("Lilith") of the game board. Gameplay elements like the tilt meter, score, and ritual objectives are displayed as overlays

Demon's Tilt occurs primarily on a pinball board that spans across three separate screens, [11] one for each of the sections: Lilith, Hermit and Zodiac. [12] They contain different objectives or items which help add to the player's multiplier score. The player is given three balls per game and moves the ball around the board by four pairs of flippers (two pairs on the first tier, the remaining two divided up among the other two tiers). By shaking the table, the trajectory of the ball can be shifted with the game's Nudge feature, designed to help the player control the ball. [13] The player will face a number of enemy characters and obstacles around the board, along with boss characters that can cause ball loss. [14] Unlike other pinball games, the tilt mechanics add a "hack 'n slash" gameplay element, allowing the player to use the ball to attack enemies and avoid obstacles. Another gameplay element is the incorporation of bullet hell mechanics, where enemy characters will fill the board with bullets that halt ball progress. [15] A game over is triggered by the player losing all of their three balls.

Development

Development of Demon's Tilt was inspired by an email chain between Adam Ferrando ("WIZNWAR") and Ralph Barbagallo of FLARB, LLC, about their shared love of video pinball games from the early 90s. Discussions between the two brought up their main inspirations for developing the a game heavily inspired by the 16-bit Crush Pinball series of games, drawing heavy inspiration from Alien Crush on the Turbografx-16, Devil's Crush also on the Turbografx-16 and Sega Mega Drive, and Jaki Crush on the Super Famicom, along with KAZe's pinball games for the 32-bit Sega Saturn. [16] Development of the game began some time in 2017, with the prototype of Demon's Tilt being finished in late-2017. Development on the main game began in April 2018 after Barbagallo approached Ferrando about publishing the game. [17] The game was released for Steam Early Access on January 22, 2019, with a full release on December 13, 2019.

Music for the game was composed by ec2151, and tries to emulate 16-bit video game chiptune soundtracks, with the Yamaha YM2612 specifically being a reference for style and sound limitations. [18]

Reception

Demon's Tilt has received generally positive reviews. PC Gamer reviewed the Steam Early Access release positively, praising the game mechanics and bullet hell game mechanics. [15] PC Gamer to date has not given a full review of the commercial release, but featured it on their list "The hidden gems of PC gaming in 2019". [19] Rock, Paper, Shotgun , also reviewing the Early Access release, praised the game's chaotic gameplay along with the chiptune soundtrack [20] and featured it on a "best new indie games" list. [21] Nintendo Life gave the released game an 8/10, praising the visuals, the soundtrack, and the gameplay but noted that the Switch release lacked some of the extra visuals of the PC release. [22]

Related Research Articles

<i>Pinball Fantasies</i> 1992 video game

Pinball Fantasies is a 1992 pinball video game originally developed by Digital Illusions and published by 21st Century Entertainment in Europe for the Amiga home computers. It is the sequel to Pinball Dreams, which was released earlier in the same year on multiple platforms. In the game, players can choose between any of the four available playfields, both of which have their own thematic and main objectives in order to obtain the highest score possible.

<i>Mario Pinball Land</i> 2004 video game

Mario Pinball Land, known in Europe and Japan as Super Mario Ball, is a pinball video game developed by Fuse Games and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance, released in 2004. It is the ninth Mario game for the Game Boy Advance and is considered a spin-off into the Super Mario series of games. The game was later re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console.

<i>Metroid Prime Pinball</i> 2005 video game

Metroid Prime Pinball is a pinball video game themed after the Metroid series. The game uses the graphical style and various story elements from Metroid Prime. It was developed by Fuse Games and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in North America and Australia in 2005, in Japan in 2006, and in Europe in 2007. Metroid Prime Pinball uses the basic mechanics of pinball, along with typical pinball items. New mechanics are introduced, such as wall jumping and the ability to fire weapons. The Nintendo DS's touchscreen can be nudged with a finger to alter the pinball's trajectory while in motion.

<i>Full Tilt! Pinball</i> 1995 video game

Full Tilt! Pinball, known as Pinball 95 in Europe, is a 1995 pinball video game developed by Cinematronics and published by Maxis. It features pre-rendered 3D graphics and three tables: Space Cadet, Skulduggery, and Dragon's Keep. A sequel called Full Tilt! Pinball 2 was released in 1996.

<i>Golf</i> (1984 video game) 1984 video game

Golf is a golf video game developed by Nintendo and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was originally released for the Famicom in Japan in 1984, with a port to the Nintendo VS. System as VS. Golf or Stroke and Match Golf, released in arcades internationally, followed by another arcade version called VS. Ladies Golf. The original was re-released for the NES in North America in 1985, and for the Famicom Disk System in 1986 in Japan.

<i>Alien Crush</i> 1988 video game

Alien Crush is a pinball video game developed by Compile for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. It was released in 1988. The game is the first installment in the Crush Pinball series. It was followed by three sequels, Devil's Crush, Jaki Crush, and Alien Crush Returns. Alien Crush was later re-released via emulation on the Virtual Console for Wii, 3DS, and Wii U, and for PlayStation 3 through PlayStation Network.

<i>The Pinball of the Dead</i> 2002 video game

The Pinball of the Dead is a pinball video game developed by Sega's Wow Entertainment division and published by Sega. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 and 2003. Based on Sega's The House of the Dead series of light gun games, particularly The House of the Dead and The House of the Dead 2, the game contains three tables and includes a "Challenge" mode. Full-motion video sequences and audio samples from previous games were also added. The game was first announced during the 2001 Nintendo Space World. Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto was involved with making the game's music.

<i>Revenge of the Gator</i> 1989 video game

Revenge of the 'Gator, known in Europe as Pinball: Revenge of the 'Gator, is a pinball video game developed and published by HAL Laboratory for the Game Boy. It was released in Japan in October 1989 and North America and Europe by Nintendo in March 1990.. The objective of the game is to score as many points as possible without having the player's pinball eaten by the alligator.

<i>Devils Crush</i> 1990 video game

Devil's Crush is a pinball video game developed by Compile for the TurboGrafx-16 and released in 1990. The second installment in the Crush Pinball series after Alien Crush, the game has an eerie occult theme with skulls, skeletons, and demons. It was later followed by Jaki Crush and Alien Crush Returns.

<i>Alien Crush Returns</i> 2008 video game

Alien Crush Returns is a WiiWare pinball video game developed by Tamsoft and published by Hudson Soft. It is a sequel/remake to 1988's Alien Crush, and is the fourth installment in the Crush Pinball series. It was released in Japan on August 26, 2008, in North America on November 3 and in Europe on November 7.

<i>Pinball Quest</i> 1989 video game

Pinball Quest is a 1989 pinball video game developed by Tose and published by Jaleco. Released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Pinball Quest was unusual at the time of its release for its "unique" mash-up of pinball and role-playing game (RPG) mechanics, and it is considered the "first ever RPG pinball game".

<i>Jaki Crush</i> 1992 video game

Jaki Crush is a pinball video game developed by Compile and published by NAXAT Soft. Jaki Crush was released exclusively in Japan for the Super Famicom in 1992. The game is the third in the Crush Pinball series, and was preceded by Alien Crush and Devil's Crush on the TurboGrafx-16.

<i>Kiss Pinball</i> 2000 video game

KISS Pinball is a video game developed by Wildfire Studios and published by On Deck Interactive for Microsoft Windows in 2000. A port for PlayStation, developed by Tarantula Studios, was released by Take-Two Interactive in 2001.

In the video game industry during 2019, both Sony and Microsoft announced their intent to reveal their next-generation consoles in 2020, while Nintendo introduced a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, and Google announced its streaming game platform Stadia. The controversy over loot boxes as a potential gambling route continued into 2019, with some governments like Belgium and the Netherlands banning games with them under their gambling laws, while the United Kingdom acknowledging their current laws prevent enforcing these as if they were games of chance. The first video cards to support real-time ray tracing were put onto the consumer market, including the first set of games that would take advantage of the new technology. The Epic Games Store continued its growth in challenging the largest digital PC game distribution service Steam, leading to concern and debate about Epic Games' methods to seek games for its service. Dota Auto Chess, a community-created mod for Dota 2, introduced a new subgenre of strategy games called auto battlers, which saw several games in the genre released throughout the year. Blizzard Entertainment faced criticism due to their involvement in the Blitzchung controversy, which began after they had banned a Hearthstone player for making comments during a tournament regarding the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.

<i>Risk of Rain 2</i> 2019 video game

Risk of Rain 2 is a roguelite third-person shooter developed by Hopoo Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. A sequel to 2013's Risk of Rain, it was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2019 before fully releasing in August 2020 with a release for Stadia coming a month later. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S released in August 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuzu (emulator)</span> Discontinued Nintendo Switch emulator

Yuzu is a discontinued free and open-source emulator of the Nintendo Switch, developed in C++. Yuzu was announced to be in development on January 14, 2018, 10 months after the release of the Nintendo Switch.

<i>Little Devil Inside</i> Upcoming action-adventure video game

Little Devil Inside is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed and published by Neostream Interactive. The game's single-player and co-operative multiplayer modes both follow the professional and personal lives of explorers searching for monsters & supernatural events in a 19th-century-inspired world. It is planned for initial release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, with Nintendo Switch and Xbox One versions to come later.

<i>Touhou Luna Nights</i> 2018 video game

Touhou Luna Nights is a Metroidvania action-adventure Touhou Project fangame developed by Team Ladybug and published by Active Gaming Media brand Playism for Windows. First available through Steam Early Access in 2018, the game was fully released in February 2019, and later ported to the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2020. The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 ports were released in January 2024.

Emulators of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo's current eighth-generation video game console, have been in development since 2017, less than a year after the console's release. Multiple emulators have been in development, the most well-known being Yuzu and Ryujinx, both now defunct. Switch emulators have been widely noted by video games journalists for the swift and significant progress of their abilities to accurately emulate the console, as they are already able to run existing and new titles for the console in a playable state, sometimes within days of their release, as well as able to run on a variety of devices, including PCs running Windows and Linux, and the Steam Deck.

<i>Pinball FX</i> (2023 video game) 2023 pinball video game

Pinball FX is the newest installment in the long-running pinball game series from Zen Studios, succeeding the original Pinball FX (2007), Pinball FX2 (2010), and Pinball FX3 (2017).

References

  1. ↑ Fenlon, Wes (9 March 2020). "Demon's Tilt". PC Powerplay . Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  2. ↑ Ferrando, Adam (13 December 2019). "Steam :: DEMON'S TILT :: OUT OF EARLY ACCESS!". Steam .
  3. ↑ Birch, Nathan (December 4, 2019). "Xbox Game Pass December Lineup Headlined by The Division and Age of Wonders: Planetfall". Wccftech. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  4. ↑ McFerran, Damien (December 11, 2019). "Devil's Crush Spiritual Successor Demon's Tilt Is Coming To Switch". Nintendo Life . Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  5. ↑ Reiner, Andrew (August 17, 2020). "Here Are The Games Hitting This Week". Game Informer . Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  6. ↑ Barker, Sammy (November 13, 2020). "Guide: New PS5, PS4 Games This Week (9th November to 15th November)". Push Square . Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  7. ↑ "Adam Ferrando". Twitter . Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  8. ↑ Ferrando, Adam (4 January 2019). "Steam :: DEMON'S TILT :: EARLY ACCESS RELEASE DATE: JAN 22". store.steampowered.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  9. ↑ McFerran, Damien (11 December 2019). "Devil's Crush Spiritual Successor Demon's Tilt Is Coming To Switch". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  10. ↑ Fenlon, Wes (26 January 2023). "Exclusive: The sickest pinball game of 2019 is getting a sequel". PC Gamer . Future plc . Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  11. ↑ "Demon's Tilt". Retro Gamer . 23 January 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  12. ↑ Cunningham, James (22 January 2019). "Reviving an Old Pinball Dream in Demon's Tilt". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Yamachan (1 February 2019). "ハロー！Steam広場 第227回：「エイリアンクラッシュ」を彷彿とさせるオカルト系ピンボール DEMON'S TILT". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  14. ↑ Pear (24 February 2019). "【PCゲーム極☆道】第三十八回：『DEMON'S TILT』 悪魔の弾幕ピンボールゲームは意外にも親切!?". IGN Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  15. 1 2 Fenlon, Wes (12 February 2019). "Demon's Tilt is an insane '80s metal album cover x bullet hell x pinball crossover". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  16. ↑ WIZNWAR (December 13, 2019). Memento for Demon's Tilt: Developer's Scrapbook. FLARB, LLC. p. 3. i know you like pinball but are you into Devil's Crush or Jaki/Alien Crush? (necronomicon/kaze pinball on saturn)
  17. ↑ WIZNWAR (December 13, 2019). Memento for Demon's Tilt: Developer's Scrapbook. FLARB, LLC. p. 29.
  18. ↑ WIZNWAR (December 13, 2019). Memento for Demon's Tilt: Developer's Scrapbook. FLARB, LLC. p. 26. Must have that distinctive dirty/gutteral/round Genesis sound, do not use generic NES sounding chip.
  19. ↑ Gamer, PC (27 December 2019). "The hidden gems of PC gaming in 2019". PC Gamer. Future. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  20. ↑ Tarason, Dominic (22 January 2019). "Demon's Tilt flips into early access today". Rock Paper Shotgun . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  21. ↑ Vega, Sin (4 February 2019). "Unknown Pleasures: The Gang of Five". Rock Paper Shotgun . Gamer Network. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  22. ↑ McFerran, Damien (20 December 2019). "Review: Demon's Tilt - A Worthy Successor To Devil's Crush". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.