David's Midnight Magic
| David's Midnight Magic | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) | Broderbund Ariolasoft (EU) Atari Corp. (cartridge) |
| Programmer(s) | David Snider[2] Martin Kahn (C64)[1] |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 |
| Release | 1982: Apple, Atari 8-bit 1983: C64[1] 1987: Atari 8-bit cartridge |
| Genre(s) | Pinball |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, 2-3 players alternating |
David's Midnight Magic is an Apple II pinball simulation written by David Snider and released by Broderbund in 1982.[2] The game was published in Europe by Ariolasoft. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 and in 1987 Atari Corporation published it in cartridge form for the then-new Atari XEGS. The box art is by illustrator Marc Ericksen.[citation needed]
Gameplay
David's Midnight Magic is closely modeled after the popular real-life pinball table Black Knight, released by Williams in 1980.[citation needed]
Reception
Softline stated that David's Midnight Magic "ratifies Bill Budge's extraordinary program as a programming tour de force", as it was only equal to Budge's Raster Blaster despite being released nine months later. The magazine concluded that "the fact that [David is] second should not dull the glitter of this effort".[3] Computer Gaming World stated that Midnight Magic was a better game than Raster Blaster, but lamented the requirement of removing write protection from the floppy, thus voiding the warranty, in order to save high scores.[4] The Commodore 64 Home Companion called the game "extraordinarily realistic ... complete with all the features that make pinball so seductive".[5]
David's Midnight Magic won "Computer Game of the Year" at the 4th annual Arkie Awards, where judges described it as "a program that is both an exciting video game and a fairly faithful evocation of pinball mystique".[6]: 32
Legacy
Atari Corporation released a pinball game called Midnight Magic for the Atari 2600 that plays differently from the similarly named David's Midnight Magic.
David Snider's brother Eric later used his first name in the title of Eric's Ultimate Solitaire.[citation needed]
In 2005, a Visual Pinball recreation of David's Midnight Magic was created called David's Midnight Magic 2005 which is rendered with modern 3D graphics.
See also
- Raster Blaster, 1981 Apple II pinball game
References
- ^ a b David's Midnight Magic at Lemon 64
- ^ a b Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
- ^ Tommervik, Al (January 1982). "David's Midnight Magic". Softline. p. 32. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- ^ Greenlaw, Stanley (March–April 1982), "Pinball Mania", Computer Gaming World, pp. 35, 38
- ^ "Broderbund Software". The Commodore 64 Home Companion. 1984. pp. 166–167. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
- ^ Kunkel, Bill; Katz, Arnie (March 1983). "Arcade Alley: The Best Computer Games". Video. 6 (12). Reese Communications: 32–33. ISSN 0147-8907.