Zaccaria Deluxe Tables

[wilbers]

First of the Deluxe tables has just been released.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1194440/Zaccaria_Pinball__Red_Show_Deluxe_Pinball_Table/

Not tried it yet (that will change soon enough). Looks like its a music based game, side art has a keyboard and drumsticks added, not sure if the figure left of centre is a bash-toy or not.

 

[Crawley]

Initial impressions of the table are a bit disappointing.

The table looks great, like a modern table. But the ball physics are floaty so feels like their older EM pins. It feels off for this table.

The music/sound is the largest missed opportunity and make me not want to even play the table. I love the girl band theme to it and you would think as soon as the table starts you would be hearing some ear bleeding riffs. Strangely the first thing you hear a sax tooting along with a drum. Then when you play the game the music is very toned down. A guitar and piano noodle around for awhile. Then a piano comes in and plays a few chords. At times the music sounds like something you might hear from the 60s but then morphs in to in to some jam session you might hear amateur elderly musicians play at a country club. It's pretty terrible. They really should have gotten a local band to record a few rock songs and use those.

I can't speak much of the gameplay/rules of the table as I barely dug in to it as the rest was so off putting for me.

 

[trash80]

Initial impressions of the table are a bit disappointing.

The table looks great, like a modern table. But the ball physics are floaty so feels like their older EM pins. It feels off for this table.

The music/sound is the largest missed opportunity and make me not want to even play the table. I love the girl band theme to it and you would think as soon as the table starts you would be hearing some ear bleeding riffs. Strangely the first thing you hear a sax tooting along with a drum. Then when you play the game the music is very toned down. A guitar and piano noodle around for awhile. Then a piano comes in and plays a few chords. At times the music sounds like something you might hear from the 60s but then morphs in to in to some jam session you might hear amateur elderly musicians play at a country club. It's pretty terrible. They really should have gotten a local band to record a few rock songs and use those.

I can't speak much of the gameplay/rules of the table as I barely dug in to it as the rest was so off putting for me.

You can customize the physics, but overall the Zaccaria platform is still not worth the time. With each patch they continue to break other things, and simply due to the underlying engine and how it has been developed, this will never be on a level with even fan-based platforms like VPX. Sad really...

 

[Rayder]

I just bought the entire suite of Zaccaria Pinball a couple days ago and I'm really enjoying it. Kind of a funny story......I recently bought a gaming laptop (Alienware M17 with an RTX 2070 Max-Q) and this was the first game I bought for it. All the games were running like butter and looking good with all the graphics settings slammed (the screen is only 1080p max, so not really pushing a 2070), then I tried this deluxe table and it was running choppy. I was like, ahh really? But then I discovered the game was using the built-in Intel graphics and not the 2070, so I switched preferences to always use the 2070 and then this table was as smooth as the rest of them. It actually looks better too, the colors are more vivid and realistic looking.

But yeah, this deluxe table isn't all that great. It looks too busy and with too many flippers everywhere.


One question I have about this Zaccaria suite....which ones are the tables as they actually existed in the the real world?

 

[Citizen]

One question I have about this Zaccaria suite....which ones are the tables as they actually existed in the the real world?

All of the ones under the Solid State and Electro Mechanical categories. Everything else (Retro, Remake, Award, Deluxe) is pure digital.

 

[FunktionJCB]

I noticed the lack of activity on the Zaccaria Pinball topics.
It's a bit sad, considering how great the game plays at the moment (especially on a 144hz screen).

The Deluxe tables have been increasing in quality, and most of them are quite fun.
The latest Deluxe table released (Combat Deluxe Pinball Table) is really a lot of fun, and has an insanely catchy soundtrack, very 80's synth pop. I keep bopping my head while playing it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1549470/Zaccaria_Pinball__Combat_Deluxe_Pinball_Table/


Here's a couple of gameplay videos for this table. Do check them out, to get an idea about how it plays:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Am7BufqIBM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N18UFIZWJdA

 

[ODB123]

I'm playing zaccaria on android mobile. So. Much. Fun.

The lighting, shadows, colors, and audio quality are friggin' awesome.

I find zaccaria tables more enjoyable to play than williams. Williams has a clear edge in physics, but the sheer beauty as well as the novelty of zaccaria tables make them more fun to play. If they could add more realistic ball trajectories, with greater speed and variability, they could surpass williams mobile, easily.

 

[FunktionJCB]

I'm playing zaccaria on android mobile. So. Much. Fun.

The lighting, shadows, colors, and audio quality are friggin' awesome.

I find zaccaria tables more enjoyable to play than williams. Williams has a clear edge in physics, but the sheer beauty as well as the novelty of zaccaria tables make them more fun to play. If they could add more realistic ball trajectories, with greater speed and variability, they could surpass williams mobile, easily.

I'm not familiar with the mobile app (which, from what I understand, is still lacking many of the latest updates, even in terms of menus, UI, ..., which should be coming in the future).
But, on the PC version, the ball movement is just lovely, fluid, and behaves like the real deal. It feels like pinball to me.

And, ever since I bought a monitor capable of higher frame-rates, the game plays like a dream.
It's hard to go back to anything else.

Clearly, a step above the other pinball offerings currently available, in terms of gameplay, customization options (I mean, you can tweak pretty much everything; I've seen people on Youtube disliking certain default cameras, so they create their own preset, with a view that suits them; I've seen people tweaking the balls physics, ...), and misc. stuff like achievements/leaderboards/different modes/extras/... .

Yes, the game has one problem: Zaccaria is not as well known as other brands, and some of their tables are a bit dated and not as elaborate as the Williams/Bally/Stern/... tables.
But, the developers have cleverly tackled that somewhat, with their Remake and Deluxe tables, which feature some modern touches, and elaborate playfields, that should please those who are looking for something closer to the "big" brands.

When I first bought the game a few years ago (and I went all in straight away, going for the big Platinum Pack), I was kind of somewhat regretting it after my initial experience, since the game felt unpolished, and a bit "amateurish" compared to, say, Pinball Arcade, or even Pinball FX (despite my dislike for most of their original tables, who just don't feel like "real" pinball to me).
But, their continuous work on the game really improved things drastically, and after a particularly big update that came out a couple of years ago, that changed all menus, UI, and made all sorts of improvements and tweaks, the game reached a point where I personally think it's the better product, compared to the competing offerings. It's the one I come back to every day.

I sincerely hope Magic Pixel sticks around making Pinball content for some time more, and hopefully they may be able to do for other pinball brands, what they did with Zaccaria Pinball.

 

[ODB123]

Great review on the PC side.

I'm on android mobile and you can play every single game for free, as far as I can tell. Total customization possible, as you say. Almost too many options.

I'm on snapdragon 821 which is a 2016 flagship processor so I'm sure the games are blazing fast on newer desktop chipsets.

 

[FunktionJCB]

Great review on the PC side.

I'm on android mobile and you can play every single game for free, as far as I can tell. Total customization possible, as you say. Almost too many options.

I'm on snapdragon 821 which is a 2016 flagship processor so I'm sure the games are blazing fast on newer desktop chipsets.

And thanks for the review from the mobile side.

Now that I was forced to replace my broken 10 year old phone (a cheap Samsung Galaxy Ace, which was unable to run anything) for something a bit more modern, I need to try running games on it, so I'll be sure to give the Zaccaria app a try.

 

[yespage]

I just haven't played much pinball on the Switch in a while. I need to dig into the Deluxe tables. Zaccaria tables are really good at that not so modern pinball feel, and Magic Pixels' presentation is very impressive and highly adaptable.

 

[FunktionJCB]

The Zaccaria forums in here sure have been quiet.

People keep mentioning Zen and their games, while ignoring a bit the continuous work Magic Pixel has been putting into their game.

This past weekend, I organized a mini-competition with a few online friends on Steam (on the Combat Deluxe table), many of them who were playing Zaccaria Pinball for the first time, and it was a lot of fun.
I was happy that people seem to like the table and game, and quite a few of them have since bought packs and/or further tables for the game.

Anyway, for those unaware, after Combat Deluxe (a really fun table, with an insanely catchy score), Magic Pixel recently confirmed on their discord channel that the next table in the Deluxe series will be Farfalla Deluxe, out soon.

 

[vfpcoder]

I may sample them out of sheer boredom.

Between Zen shutting down development on FX3; FarSight only releasing two tables since July 2018; and now the VPX community being rocked by the shutdown of the Vpinball.com site; this may be the only game in town for awhile.

I've never played any of their tables on Steam. Do they provide PC Cabinet support?

 

[FunktionJCB]

I've never played any of their tables on Steam. Do they provide PC Cabinet support?

They do. And they also have a VR mode (in case you're interested), a multiplayer mode, and more.
And lots of customization options of every kind, from camera and physics tweaks, to "useless" changes like backgrounds/room decoration/..., although for some of these options you need the "Bronze pack" DLC.
But, since that DLC is part of the following starter pack (which costs less than 5€, and includes 11 tables + a handful of retro variants), it's not a costly investment:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/7514/Zaccaria_Pinball__Starter_Pack/

---

But, two notes on cabinet support:
-one, at the moment, I don't have the necessary hardware to try it, so I can't tell you how it is (although people seem to like it);
-two, from what I see on the Steam forums a bug on their latest update has created a few problems with cabinet support for some people, but they already announced this will be fixed on their next patch (that should be out soon, along with new Deluxe table).

 

[trash80]

I may sample them out of sheer boredom.
Between Zen shutting down development on FX3; FarSight only releasing two tables since July 2018; and now the VPX community being rocked by the shutdown of the Vpinball.com site; this may be the only game in town for awhile.
I've never played any of their tables on Steam. Do they provide PC Cabinet support?

They do have cabinet support but it is currently broken like much of the game. Magic Pixel has a long history of fixing one thing and breaking two in the process. It is fairly inexpensive, but if you are coming over from Zen or Arcooda, you will likely be disappointed.

Vpinball shutting down was a long time coming. Randr had been disenchanted with the pre-installed cabinet sellers and the ridiculous PUP packs for some time now, and the recent DDOS issues were the final breaking point. There are still the other two public sites to get your VPX fix for now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see VPX become a little more "underground" again once the Unity version is playable by the average user and certain entities decide to intervene.

 

[vfpcoder]

They do have cabinet support but it is currently broken like much of the game. Magic Pixel has a long history of fixing one thing and breaking two in the process. It is fairly inexpensive, but if you are coming over from Zen or Arcooda, you will likely be disappointed.

Vpinball shutting down was a long time coming. Randr had been disenchanted with the pre-installed cabinet sellers and the ridiculous PUP packs for some time now, and the recent DDOS issues were the final breaking point. There are still the other two public sites to get your VPX fix for now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see VPX become a little more "underground" again once the Unity version is playable by the average user and certain entities decide to intervene.

Thanks for the info ... I may try the Starter Pack indicated above by "FunktionJCB" and hang around awhile to see if they fix the cab support.

I agree 100% about those PUP packs! I can see them as a means to appropriate emulation of modern pins, but to apply them to classic tables from the 90's is *ridiculous* -- and a needless slap in the face to the proper rights holders. It's almost like they were daring the corporate entities to slap them down. And I can't even begin to imagine the bandwidth eaten up by both the continuous uploading and downloading of those media monsters!

 

[vfpcoder]

So I had some time today, and decided to purchase the Zaccaria "Enhanced Starter Pack" for my two monitor VPCabs "Vertigo" cabinet. This "Enhanced Starter Pack" was about $17 and appeared to be a good deal.

I set it up for "High" Graphics Mode to see how it would do, and proceeded to run "Time Machine". This table looked and sounded great and was having no problem running 1080p 60 FPS on my 32" main monitor. The lighting looked great as well.

Feeling a little adventurous, I decided to go for the Cabinet mode. I switched that mode on and activated the second monitor option for the backglass. (Impressive that this was all built-in and I didn't have to pay extra; or take a picture of the cab and wait for an activation code.) I then ran "Time Machine" again and it worked! The backglass with active scoring appeared on my top monitor. So I played a couple of games of "Time Machine", and then decided to sample the "Locomotion" table. That's when it crashed hard back to the Steam menu. Oh, well: You guys warned me there might be a problem with the cabinet mode. I guess I found out what it was!

Anyway, I'm intrigued enough to "hang" with it a few weeks and see if they fix the issue. I had no trouble remapping my flipper, nudge, and plunger buttons. And I even got the trackball on my top control panel to work as a mouse. So this thing definitely has "potential" ...

 

[FunktionJCB]

So I had some time today, and decided to purchase the Zaccaria "Enhanced Starter Pack" for my two monitor VPCabs "Vertigo" cabinet. This "Enhanced Starter Pack" was about $17 and appeared to be a good deal.

I set it up for "High" Graphics Mode to see how it would do, and proceeded to run "Time Machine". This table looked and sounded great and was having no problem running 1080p 60 FPS on my 32" main monitor. The lighting looked great as well.

Feeling a little adventurous, I decided to go for the Cabinet mode. I switched that mode on and activated the second monitor option for the backglass. (Impressive that this was all built-in and I didn't have to pay extra; or take a picture of the cab and wait for an activation code.) I then ran "Time Machine" again and it worked! The backglass with active scoring appeared on my top monitor. So I played a couple of games of "Time Machine", and then decided to sample the "Locomotion" table. That's when it crashed hard back to the Steam menu. Oh, well: You guys warned me there might be a problem with the cabinet mode. I guess I found out what it was!

Anyway, I'm intrigued enough to "hang" with it a few weeks and see if they fix the issue. I had no trouble remapping my flipper, nudge, and plunger buttons. And I even got the trackball on my top control panel to work as a mouse. So this thing definitely has "potential" ...

I'm happy your impressions were, despite the current bug, positive.
Hopefully, the coming patch (which should be coming very soon, along with the new table) will fix your problems.

Ever since I got a 144hz monitor, that is able to run at higher frame rates than the 60fps I was used, this has been my go to pinball game, since at higher frame rates the ball movement feels a lot like "real" pinball to me. I love how it feels.
And, compared to other offerings, Zaccaria offers a whole bunch of options to customize and tweak the game, so that people may setup things to their preference, making it a very appealing package.

I would love to see this team tackle other licenses.

 

[trash80]

I'm happy your impressions were, despite the current bug, positive.
Hopefully, the coming patch (which should be coming very soon, along with the new table) will fix your problems.

Ever since I got a 144hz monitor, that is able to run at higher frame rates than the 60fps I was used, this has been my go to pinball game, since at higher frame rates the ball movement feels a lot like "real" pinball to me. I love how it feels.
And, compared to other offerings, Zaccaria offers a whole bunch of options to customize and tweak the game, so that people may setup things to their preference, making it a very appealing package.

I would love to see this team tackle other licenses.

The physics calculations and graphics rendering run on separate clocks. This has been an issue with the Zaccaria engine from the beginning and there will always be issues with perceived skipped rendered frames regardless of monitor refresh rates as the physics engine outpaces the graphics output. The closer you get to 240hz the better the ball will "feel," but then the railroads/vacuums become apparent, especially on the early EM tables.

I'd prefer to see Farsight license the Zaccaria engine and update all the Gottlieb tables and provide VR.

 

[Gorgias32]

Zaccaria has gotten so much better over the years, they are on a good trajectory. It used to be harder to aim, but over the last few years they have solved that, now my only complaint about gameplay (I play mostly on Android but a little bit on Steam) is that the slings are a little too "sticky", balls coming in at a slow speed/parallel to the slings don't roll down them like they would in real life. Of course I may be wrong, maybe Zac tables IRL have stickier and/or more sensitive slings than US tables.

The other minor complaint is that the server for high scores for mobile went down for probably 6 months, now it's kind of back up but super slow, and it is not reliably updating with my local high scores.

All in all though I come back to Zaccaria on mobile a lot, I really love the EMs and the Retro pack. Android is two or three Deluxe tables behind the Steam version too, but I expect them to show up one of these days.