Medieval Madness
 | |
| Manufacturer | Williams |
|---|---|
| Release date | June 1997 |
| System | Williams WPC-95 |
| Design | Brian Eddy |
| Programming | Lyman Sheats |
| Artwork |
|
| Mechanics | Robert C. Friesl |
| Music | Dan Forden |
| Sound | Dan Forden |
| Voices |
|
| Production run | 4,016 (1997 edition) |
Medieval Madness is a Williams pinball machine released in June 1997. Designed by Brian Eddy and programmed by Lyman Sheats, it had a production run of 4,016 units. As of December 7, 2024, the Pinside pinball community lists it as the 2nd highest-ranked pinball machine (behind the 2021 Godzilla machine by Stern); many adherents consider it the greatest of all time.[1][2]
Various remake versions were released from 2015 onwards by Chicago Gaming under license from Planetary Pinball.
There were hopes by Williams that this would help to resurrect the pinball industry as voiced by Steve Kordek.[3]
Playfield
[edit]The centerpiece of the playfield is an animated castle with a solenoid-controlled portcullis and motorized drawbridge. The mechanical design for the castle was finished the night before the deadline for the design of the game; although George Gomez was not part of the design team, he volunteered some of his time and assisted Brian Eddy.[4] One of the game's primary objectives is to "destroy" six castles by hitting the castle's entryway with the pinball. A specific number of hits will lower the drawbridge, exposing the portcullis; additional hits will cause the portcullis to rise, and shooting the ball into the castle entrance generates an explosion effect on the dot matrix display, a lightshow, and a sizable award of points. Medieval Madness also features two Trolls, animated targets that are normally concealed below the playfield, but can pop up during certain gameplay modes. Other objectives can be scored by shooting the left and right ramps, the left and right orbits, and the catapult ramp in the lower left corner of the playfield. The game's ramps introduced a patented feature that would prevent a failed ramp shot from draining straight down the middle between the flippers.[5]
Gameplay
[edit]Missions: In order to get to the wizard mode "Battle for the Kingdom" the player has to achieve the following goals:
- Joust Champion: Shooting the loop(s) advances Joust and finally lights Joust Madness.
- Patron of Peasants: Shooting the left ramp advances the Peasants and finally lights Peasant Madness.
- Catapult Ace: Shoot the catapult to shoot various items at the castle (Catapult Madness).
- Defender of Damsels: Shoot up the right ramp to advance the Damsel. The final shot up the tower lights Damsel Madness.
- Master of Trolls: Light the Trolls by hitting the targets in front of the castle. Collect the Trolls in "Merlin's Magic" and finish them off by three shots at the head each to light Troll Madness.
- Castle Crusher: Destroy the castle.
All these goals have to be repeated several times to get the corresponding insert in front of the castle to light up.
Multiballs:
- Castle Multiball: Light the Lock at the broad side (hole to the left of the castle gate) and lock three balls (same hole). Once activated, the player must shoot either ramp five times to collect the jackpot (denoted by Payne Guards). After all five jackpots have been claimed, the broad side hole lights up, and sinking it scores the Super Jackpot and an Extra Ball. The remaining jackpot ramps light up and the player can continue collecting the Super Jackpots. Once all the Super Jackpots have been claimed, the multiball reverts to the guards.
- Multiball Madness: Each of the sub-missions (except for "Castle Crusher") can light an insert in front of "Merlin's Magic". Collecting at least one can start the Multiball by shooting into "Merlin's Magic": In this phase, all the jackpot ramps are lit and the player can score Jackpots by shooting the lit ramps. If a player hits a ramp that is denoted by a completed sub-mission, the player would score a Super Jackpot instead. If the player shoots the broad side hole, a Double Super Jackpot would be awarded instead. For each madness completed, the number of balls is denoted as follows:
- Single Madness: 2 Balls.
- Two to Four Madnesses: 3 Balls.
- Five Madnesses: 4 Balls.
- Barnyard Multiball: Shoot all catapult items at the castle.
- Battle for the Kingdom This two-phased Wizard Mode starts once the player pockets the ball in the castle, with four balls on the playing field. In the first phase, the player has to score all the Battle Jackpots by hitting the madness targets. Once all the Battle Jackpots have been scored, the second phase of the mode starts and the player must hit the castle gate seven times, and get inside to score the final jackpot. Unless the player has any "Troll Bombs", two trolls will be in the way of the gate making hitting the gate very challenging. If the player succeeds in scoring the final jackpot, all remaining balls are drained and the display shows the King of Payne's demise and Merlin announces you are the new King of the realm, and the game continues, also for the rest of the current ball, all major shots are lit for victory laps.[6]
Music and voices
[edit]The music and sounds for this game were composed by Dan Forden. Much of the game's dialogue was written by Scott Adsit and Kevin Dorff, at the time members of The Second City in Chicago.
Tina Fey and Andrea Farrell provided the voices of the various princesses (one of which has a "valley girl" accent), while Greg Freres provided the voices of the jousting announcer and one of the trolls, and Vince Pontarelli provided the voices of Francois Du Grimm and the other troll. The rest of the male voices, including the various knights and the Wizard were provided by Scott Adsit (King of Payne, Merlin, the Duke of Bourbon, and Sir Psycho) and Kevin Dorff (Lord Howard Hurtz and the Earl of Ego).[4][5]
Dan Forden worked on the Mortal Kombat series of games, and his distinctive "Toasty" first used in Mortal Kombat II, was also used on this machine.[7]
Reception
[edit]It was an immediate critical success, earning well on location and achieving widespread popularity among collectors. Many players consider it to be the greatest pinball machine of all time.[2]
The prototype of the remake consistently outearned all other pinballs at that location over a 6 month period.[8]
Digital versions
[edit]The table was included in the arcade game cabinet UltraPin in 2006.
It released for Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection on several systems between 2008 and 2011. The same developer released the table in season one of The Pinball Arcade in 2012, and it was available until June 30, 2018, when all Williams tables were removed due to licensing issues.[9]
Medieval Madness released for Pinball FX3 released on October 9, 2018 in the first volume of Williams tables, and included optional animations.[10] A remastered version released for Pinball FX on March 31, 2022; and a VR version released for Pinball FX VR on May 15, 2025 which included an animated dragon next to the machine.[11]
Remakes
[edit]In 2015, the Chicago Gaming Company released the first in a series of Williams remakes under license from Planetary Pinball.[8] Medieval Madness and came in a standard edition, and limited edition. The 1,000 machines of the limited edition included all the features of the standard edition, and a shaker motor. The game was announced in October 2013,[8] with preorders for an anticipated 2014 release, the limited edition sold out within a few hours. Before any were shipped to customers a prototype was put on location at Logan's bar in October 2014. LED's were used in place of the originals incandescent bulbs; it also has stereo instead of mono speakers and an LCD screen instead of a DMD.[12] For this release, the games were assembled at the nearby Stern factory.[13]
Medieval Madness was re-released again in 2019, this time with 3 variants. Classic edition was similar to the original. Special edition included an upgrade display with colour animations, RGB lighting, and enhanced sound. Royal edition included all the features of the special edition and a shaker motor, side mirrors and King of Payne topper, and limited in number produced.[14] Following on from Attack from Mars remake, Chicago Gaming manufactured this version at their Cicero factory.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ https://pinside.com/pinball/top-100 Pinside.com's Top 100 List
- ^ a b "Medieval Madness Pinball Machine (Williams, 1997) | Pinside Game Archive". pinside.com.
- ^ Medieval Madness Pinball Promo Video. December 20, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2025 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b Shalhoub, Michael (2012). The pinball compendium: 1982 to present (2nd revised ed.). Atglen, Pa: Schiffer Publishing. pp. 236–237. ISBN 978-0-7643-4107-6.
- ^ a b "Pinball Expo 2004". Pinball News. January 5, 2005.
- ^ Medieval Madness operations manual (PDF). Williams Electronic Games. July 1997.
- ^ Patterson, Jeff (February 3, 2022). "Dan Forden: The Pinterview". Kineticist. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
- ^ a b c Montano, Nick (May 13, 2015). "Chicago Gaming's Medieval Madness Debut Ushers In Modern Pinball Era's Latest Sensation". vendingtimes.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017.
- ^ Lawson, Aurich (May 8, 2018). "The Pinball Arcade is losing its classic tables; grab them while you can". Ars Technica. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
- ^ McWhertor, Michael (September 4, 2018). "Classic Bally/Williams pinball tables coming to Pinball FX3". Polygon. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
- ^ "9 tables have arrived in Pinball FX VR!". Zen Studios. May 15, 2025. Retrieved June 20, 2025.
- ^ "MEDIEVAL MADNESS REMAKE: IN-DEPTH REVIEW". Pinball News. February 10, 2016.
- ^ Sharpe, Zach; Pinball, Stern (May 14, 2014). "PLANETARY PINBALL, CHICAGO GAMING AND STERN PINBALL ANNOUNCE SPECIALTY MANUFACTURING ARRANGEMENT". Stern Pinball -. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
- ^ "Medieval Madness Remake Pinball". Chicago Gaming Company. Archived from the original on March 7, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
- ^ "Chicago Gaming Unveils Attack From Mars Remake Brings Pinball Manufacturing Home". Vending Times. June 1, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2025.