Age rating tilts classic tables
Zen Studios has releasedWilliams Pinball Volume 1,bringing four classic ’90s pinball machines to their excellent simulatorPinball FX 3. The first pack featuresFish Tales, Junk Yard, The Getawayand one of the most popular machines of all time, Medieval Madness.
The pack costs around $8, althoughFish Talesis free-for-allPinball FX 3owners. Each table has been painstakingly recreated in thePinball FX 3engine, and even features optional new special effects, adding tabletop characters and bringing some of the game’s ornaments to life with new animations. The Bally/Williams licence and Zen Studios are truly a match made in heaven.
Unfortunately, in order to secure an “E” rating, Zen have chosen to make alterations to the games’ backglass, playfield and cabinet art, as well as some changes to Dot Matrix animations. All reference to tobacco and alcohol (such as cans of beer or a troll smoking a cigar) have been removed from the artwork and bloody weapons have been scrubbed cleaned. Mild innuendo also felt the airbrush, asFish Tales’mermaids have had their midriffs covered, and a bikini-clad girl inMedieval Madnessis now rocking a suit of armour.
“In order to meet our age range obligations,” reads an in-game message. “We were compelled to tone down or adjust the following pertinent contents of the table.” This is followed by a list of changes made toMedieval Madness, Fish TalesandJunk Yard,examples of which you can read in the gallery below.
Considering these tables have been released prior in their uncensored form – in titles such asThe Pinball ArcadeandWilliams’ Pinball Classics– this is disappointing. Censorship is an enemy of preservation, and whilst it’s understandablewhyZen Studios has chosen this option, I think they’re doing themselves, and these games, an unnecessary disservice.
For whatever it’s worth, all four tables look fantastic and play great, as is to be expected from the highly-talented Zen Pinball crew. None of these small changes affect gameplay, they’re purely egregious from an aesthetic standpoint. But to be dodging mild risque images for the sake of not getting a “T” rating (and in theory, asWilliams Pinball Classicsgot away with “E10”) raises questions about possible future titles such asElvira: Scared Stiff, Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, Tales of the Arabian Nights, Xenon, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and other games that feature mild violence, booze, sexuality and gambling content.
Williams Pinball Volume 1is available now forPinball FX 3on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
