Hercules
An old adage says that bigger is better. This is especially
true in the USA where larger houses, cars and salaries are sure signs of status.
Americans love bigger and Hercules follows that formula to a fault. It was
and still is the biggest pinball table ever made. If you ever seen one in
real life, it is imposing. It takes a decent wingspan to really feel
comfortable playing the game. And even if you a NBA sized wingspan, you
will find the game is just not right. It is a big table but that doesn't
make it a better table.
One of the biggest problems with the table is it just does not feel like real pinball. A big part of this is that it is not real pinball. Sure you have flippers and you are hitting a ball. In theory it is real pinball, but instead of using the traditional pinball, it uses what looks like a cue ball from a pool table. It just does not respond as well and just feels odd. I agree it is neat the first time you play it. But after the thrill of playing the largest table in the world wears off, you are left with an average table that just feels wrong.
The table looks good with a very colorful design. I am not sure if the primarily orange and purple color scheme is the best for a table based on a macho man like Hercules, but I guess when you are half man, you can get away with it. There is not a lot to the table itself. A few targets and switches but overall you can tell the emphasis was put on the novelty.
On a positive note, I must give Eala Dubh credit for really capturing the feel of the original table. Having played this table in real life quite a few times (they have two of them at Cedar Point in the main arcade), I really expected the Visual Pinball version to be a better playing. I really did not think someone would be able to get the odd feeling of hitting around a cue ball with some oversized flippers down. But it feels really authentic and it plays just as bad on Visual Pinball as it does in real life. To be honest, I would like to see someone do it in Visual Pinball but instead of faithfully recreating it, I would like to see them make it like a normal pinball table. I would like to see how the table would play with a real ball and normal sized components.
Hercules is proof that bigger is not always better. The game came out in 1979 as the biggest pinball table in the world and as far as I know, it still is. This more than anything else shows that no one else really was that interested in trying to top it in size. It is neat to play once or twice, but it is just a gimmick attached to an average table.
This is just a review of the pinball machine. If you are looking for the actual pinball machine, you may want to check out ebay. Click below to see if you can find this game.