PaTaank | |
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Developer(s) | PF.Magic |
Publisher(s) | |
Producer(s) | David Feldman Rob Fulop |
Designer(s) | Curtis Norris Joel Dubiner Leslie Hedger |
Programmer(s) | Andre Burgoyne |
Artist(s) | Charles Hacskaylo Lisa Wong |
Composer(s) | Nicolaas tenBroek |
Platform(s) | 3DO Interactive Multiplayer |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Pinball |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (up to four players) |
PaTaank is a 1994 video game developed by PF.Magic for the 3DO.
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2020) |
Pataank is a pinball game where the player steers the pinball, hitting it into targets.
PaTaank was developed by San Francisco-based PF.Magic for affiliate Crystal Dynamics, the latter of which had established itself as a sought-after name early in the life of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. [3] It was the first game signed to the company's publishing partner program for publishing, sales and distribution in early 1994. [4] Producer Rob Fulop suggested that it was the console's manufacturer, The 3DO Company, that paid for the project's production, similar to how Philips funded the developer's Max Magic for the CD-i. "We were drawn to the machines because they would allow you to work with real images and audio and that was a new paradigm which could open us up to new things," he said. [5] When asked about the game's origin, Fulop responded, "We just wanted to do something cool for the 3DO system ... and 3D pinball sounded cool .. so we tried to make it. It came out okay ... certainly not an epic game by any standards." [6] Fulop also stated that the concept of playing as the ball inside of a pinball machine may have been too innovative for its time. [5] BMG Interactive picked up the distribution rights for the European and Japanese releases. The game's title (pronounced "puh-tonk") is the onomatopoeia for the sound a pinball or puck makes when hitting a surface. [3] [7]
Publication | Score |
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Electronic Gaming Monthly | 24/40 [8] |
GamePro | 17.5/20 [9] |
Next Generation | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
3DO Magazine | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Coming Soon Magazine | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Electronic Games | D+ [13] |
Entertainment Weekly | A− [14] |
Génération 4 | 8% [15] |
VideoGames | 7/10 [16] |
Next Generation reviewed the game, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "It's an interesting idea, done badly." [10] Entertainment Weekly gave the game an A−. [14]
Ballz is a two-player 2.5D action fighting video game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, the Super NES (SNES) and the 3DO. It was developed by PF.Magic and published by Accolade in 1994. The 3DO version was released as a director's cut in 1995. Ballz offered three difficulty levels over a total of 21 matches. Its distinguishing quality was that each of the characters were composed completely of spheres, granting a pseudo-3D look.
PF.Magic, Inc. was a video game developer founded in 1991 and located in San Francisco, California, United States. Though it developed other types of video games, it was best known for its virtual pet games, such as Dogz and Catz. The company was able to make extra revenue by selling plush toys under the Petz trademark. It was bought out in 1998 by Mindscape, Inc. After changing hands a few more times, Ubisoft now owns the copyright on its Petz, Oddballz and Babyz titles.
Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, and Gex series.
Crash 'N Burn is a futuristic racing/shooter video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and released for the 3DO in 1993. The game was the launch title for the system and was included as a pack-in game with Panasonic's original 3DO console.
Rob Fulop is an American game programmer who created two of the Atari 2600's biggest hits: the port of arcade game Missile Command and 1982's Demon Attack, which won Electronic Games' Game of the Year award. While at Atari, Fulop also ported Night Driver to the 2600 and Space Invaders to the Atari 8-bit computers.
Gex is a platform game developed by Crystal Dynamics. It was originally released for the 3DO in 1995; ports of the game for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn were later developed by Beam Software, and a Windows version was released by Microsoft. It was a pack-in game for Panasonic models of the 3DO later in the console's life. It is the first in the Gex series of video games, and introduces players to the title character, a wisecracking, television-obsessed gecko voiced by comedian Dana Gould, who must venture through the "Media Dimension" and defeat Rez, the overlord of the dimension who wants to make Gex into his new network mascot.
Guardian War is a console RPG or tactical role-playing game released for the 3DO console. It is notable for its use of 3-D animation which was uncommon for console RPGs at the time. It is also known as Powers Kingdom in Japan and Europe, and is one of the few 3DO games which is region-protected. This only applies to the PAL game and console. Both NTSC versions can play on both US and JP consoles.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Slayer is a fantasy first-person, dungeon crawl / action role-playing game based on the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The game was developed by Lion Entertainment and published by Strategic Simulations in 1994 for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. A Japanese version titled Lost Dungeon (ロストダンジョン) was published by T&E Soft the following year.
Escape from Monster Manor is a first-person shooter video game developed by Studio 3DO and published by Electronic Arts exclusively for the 3DO.
Twisted: The Game Show is a party game released exclusively for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. The game was designed in the form of a fictional game show. The host, Twink Fizzdale, directs the player and up to three friends on their way to the top of the helix-shaped game board by rolling the "Cyber-Die" and taking on any of the eight different mini games. The first contestant to reach the top wins "a trip to reality".
Iron Angel of the Apocalypse is a video game developed by Synergy, Inc. and published by Panasonic for the 3DO.
VR Stalker is a combat flight simulator video game developed by Morpheus Interactive and originally published by American Laser Games for the 3DO.
Club 3DO: Station Invasion is a video game for the 3DO.
Trip'd is a puzzle video game developed by Japanese studio Warp for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Using the falling block puzzle format, Trip'd presents the player with triads of colored, tile-shaped eggs that gradually descend the screen to stack up on the bottom. The objective is to connect four or more matching eggs to eliminate them from the play field. Creatures called Deow'Nz can be formed and destroyed to create various effects depending on the number of players.
Zhadnost: The People's Party is a video game developed and published by British company Studio 3DO for the 3DO.
Blade Force is a 1995 third-person shooter simulation video game developed by Studio 3DO and published by The 3DO Company in North America, Europe and Japan exclusively for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Set on a dystopian sci-fi future in the year 2110, where the fictional city of Meggagrid has been overrun by criminals, the player is equipped with a flight suit created by scientist Dr. Franz Grubert known as the HeliPak in an attempt to overthrow the main criminal organization led by the Pitt family and bring order back to the metropolis. Its gameplay mainly consists of shooting action in third-person with six degrees of freedom using a main five-button configuration.
Scramble Cobra is a video game developed by Genki/Pack-In-Video and published by Panasonic for the 3DO.
Road Rash is a 1994 racing and vehicular combat video game originally published by Electronic Arts (EA) for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. A version for the Sega CD was developed simultaneously and released in 1995 to act as a "bridge" between the 3DO version and the Sega Genesis title Road Rash 3, and the game was subsequently ported to the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Microsoft Windows in 1996. The game is the third installment in the Road Rash series, and is centered around a series of motorcycle races throughout California that the player must win to advance to higher-difficulty races, while engaging in unarmed and armed combat to hinder the other racers.
Gridders is a 1994 puzzle video game developed by Tetragon and published by The 3DO Company for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. It was also included as a pack-in game for the 3DO Blaster, an add-on produced and designed by Creative Labs to allow Microsoft Windows to play 3DO games. The game follows Zack, a worker for the Gridder Corporation run by Lazarus R. Trench, and his dog companion Fidex entering the factory in order to reach a mysterious secret within its basement. The player acts as Zack and must explore 36 floors, navigating squares and collecting pyramid keys by solving puzzles, while avoiding Gridder blocks and obstacles.
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