Developer: High Voltage Software
Publisher: Atari
Release Date: 11-6-95
One fun thing about the Jaguar is that the library of games is very small and new enough to be well documented. It’s a little tricky doing a chronological run of Odyssey 2, but with Jaguar it’s easy to know which game was released when. Ruiner Pinball was the 34th Jaguar game released, just ahead of Atari Karts. That puts it close to the end of Jaguar’s relevance being released just a few months before Atari’s demise. Six games would officially be released after Atari bowed out, but when you talk about games like Ruiner Pinball you are really starting to look at the end of the original Atari company. By this time things were getting desperate, and people were really hoping some game would come along and change the narrative. That might explain the bad reviews Ruiner Pinball got upon release. They were looking for something bigger and flashier than a humble pinball game with modest graphics and not much to do outside of getting a high score. More recent reviews have been much more positive. Long after the dust has settled, we can look at the library as a whole and appreciate each game without trying to help consumers decide which console to buy for Christmas in 1995. Wait, 1995? That’s when PlayStation came out. It had more games in the first three months than Jaguar had in the first three years. Jaguar really was doomed from the start, wasn’t it?
Of course, I am a modern reviewer who doesn’t have to worry about which mid-90s console people should buy, and I can definitely say that Ruiner Pinball is a pleasant underdog. It might fade a bit behind some other prominent 1995 releases, but it’s a quality pinball game with good replay value. The two tables are interesting and appear to be aimed more at adults. The name Ruiner even comes from a Nine Inch Nails song. Ruiner will also likely appeal to Stanley Kubrick fans as it’s a cold war satire in the vein of Dr. Strangelove. Who knew pinball tables could be satirical? It has a mid-century look complete with pin-up girls and mushroom clouds, and there are frequent barrages of bombs and missiles. A few of these stunts couldn’t be done on a real pinball table, but mostly it does a good job simulating the real thing. There’s not an overabundance of video game gimmicks. The physics are a little bit off, but not so much to ruin the experience. I just wish it was a little slower. It moves faster than an actual pinball machine, and this causes the ball to get lost occasionally.
The second table is called Tower, and for such a generic title it’s a weird machine. In fact, it straight up takes place in Hell. That’s a bit much for a pinball table! They were likely inspired by Devil’s Crush on the Turbografx-16, but Tower goes even further. It’s a multi-leveled table that is full of devilish horrors. It features a buxom demon woman and a poor soul trapped on a torture device among other vivid images. It’s not the most high-definition game on the system, but I like the interesting color palate full of purple and green. Tower is strange looking and very large, but it plays even more like the real thing than Ruiner. It’s focused on familiar pinball goals such as drop targets and rollovers. If you enjoy lighting things up and knocking things over than Tower is a good machine for you. Despite its disturbing appearance it is oddly comforting. My son certainly enjoyed it, and you don’t have to worry about it warping his brain because this game got a K-A rating. This was the early version of the E rating, which means that Ruiner Pinball is appropriate for everyone. I imagine it would get at least an E10+ today because I could see it being a little bit too mature for the younger crowd. It’s like the movie world before PG-13 existed. Sometimes a movie that was a little too violent for little kids would slip through.
So Ruiner Pinball is a low-key game that probably won’t end up on too many “best of” lists, but It’s a fun game for pinball fans. Since I am a pinball fan and the ranker of games that means that we finally have our first good Jaguar game. It’s also the even rarer, good Jaguar game that’s only on Jaguar. Many of the better Jaguar games are familiar titles that were ported to several other systems. NBA Jam TE is a good game, but it’s on about a dozen more popular consoles. My memories are a bit hazy so it will be interesting to see how many good Jaguar games are exclusive to the system. Of course, if you want to play Ruiner Pinball now you can do so on Atari 50. I am ranking it at #68 of 72 good games. That’s not super high, but you have to start somewhere. Here’s to the weird and interesting world of Atari Jaguar. There are plenty of famously bad games, but there are a few hidden gems that you’ve never heard of.
Atari Jaguar Quality Percentage: 1/5 or 20%
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