'Crystal Caliburn' and 'Loony Labyrinth' Pinball Games Coming to iPhone
posted May 25th, 2009 11:13 PM EDT by Blake Patterson in Upcoming Games
In the '90s, a development company called LittleWings's released a number of pinball simulation titles in their "solid state pinball" series of games. The 3rd and 4th releases in the series included Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth.
Crystal Caliburn was the best seller of the series and won multiple awards at the time and aimed to be an authentic pinball simulator.
Appletel reports that both titles will be making their way to the iPhone. Loony Labyrinth appears to be completing development while Crystal Caliburn is scheduled next. The iPhone versions appear to be significantly updated with the incorporation of their Ypsilon pinball engine.
It is not a simple update but a new title in which we put lots of elements we could not inplement due to the machine power and technology in the original Loony. We added a new story of Theseus who lives in the current world as an ordinary dreamy young man. The new story should bring much more excitement.In simple words, it will be a rock’n'roll science fiction pinball. Fujita [the developer] is applying Ypsilon [the gaming engine] for layered graphics with dramatic effects in high speed display. I’m planning to create crisp graphics which combines good parts of American comics and Japanese manga.
No specific release dates have been reported, but long time fans of the series should be pleased with this announcement.
( Screenshots from Mac / PC release )
Keep bringing on the cool pinball games – this looks different than anything we have now…
Man I remember playing Crystal Caliburn back in the day when i was like 10 everday in school. I'm actually pretty excited
Brilliant! Loony Labyrinth is my all-time favourite pinball game, and I was really hoping it and the other LittleWing boards would come along. They're really pretty quiet on their website.
Looking at those pics I'm really hoping they drop the large side area / find a way to incorporate it while also showing the WHOLE board, with no moving camera – that's one thing that has put me off other iPhone pinball games thus far.
Perhaps less detail standard at the top like most of them and then a partly transparent overlay or just words up front? One of the best things about LL is the voice response, so maybe that would even suffice. Can't wait.
Loved these on my Mac. Can't wait for the iPhone version.
Where's Habbakuk?
Hmmm .. These do look interesting. I'm more curious about the Maxis "Full Tilt" pinball games. Specifically Space Cadet – the one bundled on so so many versions of Windows. That's a good pinball table. IMHO it needs some iPhone love.
I know I played these Little Wing pinball tables on my old Mac, but I can't really remember much about that. Not sure if that's because they weren't so interesting or if I just wasn't so interested at the time.
Pinball is the new Sudoku
Never played these before, but they look legit! Please keep the pinball games coming!!
I'm really stoked about these old pinball games returning to the iPhone. First Pinball Dreams now Loony Labyrinth? I loved Loony Labyrinth and Crystal Caliburn and I used to play the crap out of them.
Is it too much to hope for the 3D Ultra Pinball series from Sierra? In particular Creep Night!
Those look Ok, but the screen shots of games like Jinni Zeala or Monster Fair on the LittleWing pinball site look awesome. I wish someone could nail the angled perspective rather than the flat look.
Man, CRYSTAL CALIBURN !!!
I remember playing that whan i was 11…
and also… Route Candle (Peakvox) is a gem…Toucharcade must speak about this game.
Wow, this is awesome news! I really wish though that "8-ball deluxe" could be brought to the iPhone – that game was the bomb on my ancient LC II (man what a slow Mac that was!). Unfortunately I don't think LittleWing has the licence for that since it was based on a real Bally table
Still this is great stuff, loving all the old titles coming back again on the iPhone!
Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth were some of the greatest pinball games released in their time. Despite the flat look, the physics were very good and the games had some good depth. Crystal Caliburn is probably the better game; it's play was typically of late 80's pinball machine. Loony Labyrinth was a little more unrealistic; it wasn't uncommon in my house to have a game go on for more than 1/2 hour. I remember once I had to pause a long game so I could go to a MLB game.
we need a normal pinball game, like a microsoft pinball. It's on windows, but it's good. And now we have a lot of lame pinball games on iphone. c'mon please something good now!!!!
Yeah, these were both among the best pinball games ever on the Mac. it wasn't just the physics — they had great depth and gameplay. I can't wait to try them on my iPod Touch.
Please put Maxis Space Cadet on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. I just love playing that game in Windows. I get so pissed off playing it since it seems to actually try and put the pinball in the drain and the spinning lights are so cool to watch. Please, please, Maxis.
@ asterisq
"lame pinball games" ??? Crystal Caliburn is one of the best pinball games I have ever played on a computer. Period. Everything about it, the physics, sounds, gameplay, challenge, it all rocked.
Microsoft Pinball? You are joking right?
are they packaged as one app, or are they sold individually, they look like the same game, just different levels
I also remember playing this back in the day on my old Mac Performa – these will both be instant buys for me – the best pinball games I've ever played, and chock full of nostalgia. Can't wait.
Those are… square screenshots?
Did anyone click the Appletel link? I looks like it says new version of Loony Labyrinth for Mac/PC (that's what the quoted bit refers to) and then Crystal Caliburn for iPhone. TouchArcade summary wrong imo.
Keep the pinball games coming! I also agree that the sierra 3d ultra pinball games should be ported, they were awesome!
I hope they don't over-do it with the redone graphics. The biggest problem I have with pinball games that exist on the iphone today is that they try to do everything in 3D, which causes the frame rate to drop too much. On a pinball game, you really need the full 60 fps. Since these games were originally done just as 2D games, I hope they keep it that way. Keep the graphics SIMPLE, so the frame rate stays HIGH. That's imperative for a pinball game where the ball can move from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen in a split second.
@ Chad
I was speaking about current pinball games on iPhone. I haven't tried the one you are talking about, hope it's good as you say it is. I've played many many years ago the M$ pinball and I liked it because it was simple, solid game. And now dev's are making fancy pinball games, that looks like they are made for 5 year olds. I want something rock solid, something that would feel like I'm playing the real pinball!
I had a look at the Mac releases and they are pretty good. The physics of "Crystal Caliburn" seem to be perfect. Certainly a welcome addition to the pinball mania for our iDevices.
Sorry but I am bogged down at work these days…
OMG! I LOVE CC. In fact, I STILL have an OS X copy of it on my MacBook. I'm sure I'll buy this ASAP when it comes out!
OH MY GOD.
Loony Labyrinth is one of my favorite games ever. I logged soooooo much time on that. I would kill for a comparable ipod touch version. Such a great game. Very deep with good flow from mode to mode. The music was great, the story gets wicked intense… mmm. Always wanted to try Crystal Caliburn, too… so I'll grab that as well.
I'd like to see the whole LittleWings catalogue for the iPhone — but only if the price is reasonable. With the Japanese/US exchange rate, their current PC games would cost me about $40 a piece!
Pro Pinball: Timeshock. Come onnnnnn, Pro Pinball: Timeshock.
Pro Pinball: Timeshock.