Pinball / Pinball - Standard Table · 1982

David's Midnight Magic

Published by Brøderbund Software

atarimania.com — atari-400-800-xl-xe-games-david-s-midnight-magic-5979

Information

Genre: Pinball - Standard Table
Language: Machine Language
Controls: Joystick, Paddles
Players: 1, 2 (alt.), 2+
Programmer(s): Snider, David
Year: 1982
Publisher: Brøderbund Software
Country: USA
License: Commercial
Medium: Disk
Rarity: 7

Votes / Statistics

Rating: 6.6/10 · Votes: 37 · Downloads: 2,579 · Hits: 10,562

Screenshots (2)

Cover Art (4)

Ads (1)

Our games are worlds apart from the ordinary · 1983

Book / Magazine Reviews (1)

Electronic Fun · June, 1983 · Rating: 2,5 / 4

David's Midnight Magic is a faithful simulation of a pinball game. The question is, who wants to play pinball in this age of crazed robots and monster aliens who spirit pathetic humans away to fates far worse than death? On the other hand, if you feel that pinball was treated unjustly, then this game is for you.

The game provides you with a very sharply drawn pinball field on which you have a bumper, a ball trap, two sets of flippers and multiple targets to hit. You can control the tension of the spring when you hit the ball, and determine which flipper you want to use. The ball even changes direction if you hit it with the tip of the flipper as opposed to hitting it with the middle.

Although David's Midnight Magic promises a lot of things, it unfortunately has some trouble delivering on them. For example, it says that you can apply 'body english' by pressing the space bar but if you press the space bar nothing happens except that you might see a pretty red sign saying "Tilt." That's about it.

The game is especially disappointing to anyone who's played the version for the Apple II. The biggest problem with the Atari 800 edition is that you have to control the game by using two paddles. While it's terrific that there's a game besides Breakout which uses paddles, two Atari paddles at the same time just don't work. Apple paddles are slim, but holding two stubby Atari paddles causes what can be mildly termed "discomfort."

When hitting the boll, set the spring a bit above medium tension. This will let you rock up a lot of points on the upper half of the field.

Comments (4)

the big m — 22 Jul 2025
Excellent Ports of Apple Classic The Good 2 excellent ports in the 800 and the 64. The 800 seems to take a lot of unwarranted flack for being outdated. Not so for the 64. For 1982-1983, game was considered to be an excellent simulator with very good ball physics. The ability to nudge the ball is cool too. The Bad Personally, I find the ball physics a little too jumpy, making it tricky to control. But, it’s a matter of practice and udjusting. The Bottom Line Gets mixed reviews in modern times….the outdated thing. But for retro fans, a fun, very early pinball simulation.
estoy loco — 27 Apr 2016
In this screenshot (Atari cart) there's one pixel missing from the middle of five white balls stacked vertically, must be corrupt because the Bro disk ver doesn't do this, and there ain't no other diffs on screens. This display is artifacts so it's worse than pictured here, you get a smear of color where the missing pixel is. For every corrupt bit seen on screen probably a bunch more you don't see, like 90% of an iceberg is below the waterline.
Bill Angove — 3 Oct 2012
I used to load this up when I was young, and I could never get the ball to enter the field of play! On replay in the emulator, it turns out to be a good game for the time, but nothing special compared to modern games of course.
Jim Kuchera — 16 Dec 2006
It's hard to knock a game that plays so naturally and uses the paddle buttons. This game had the look and feel of the real thing, and for an old pinball freak like yours truly, I was lost in 'cyber fantasyland'. What fun. I miss this one, and wish I could scarf up a copy that would run on the old 800! A real cutting edge game.