Inside Zen Studios’ Bethesda Pinball for Nintendo Switch

Good news for all you pinball junkies looking to take your skills on the go with the Nintendo Switch – Bethesda Pinball has made its way to Pinball FX3 for Nintendo’s handheld/console combo, containing three exciting tables inspired by The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and DOOM all in one pack!

Face off against dragons and join familiar factions in Skyrim, customize your character and battle Super Mutants across the treacherous Wasteland, and become the DOOM Slayer and tackle multiballs in Hell while striving for combos, skill shots and that coveted new high score.

To celebrate Bethesda Pinball’s release on Nintendo Switch, we spoke with Imre “Emeric” Szigeti, Lead Designer at Pinball FX3 developer Zen Studios, to learn more about the process, starting with how they first brought Bethesda’s franchises to the world of pinball.

What was it like adapting brands like DOOM, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout for pinball? Were some design choices easier or more challenging to tackle than others?

The chance to be part of this experience and reproduce each IP’s look and feel within the confines of a virtual pinball cabinet was humbling and a real challenge – albeit a very pleasant one! Usually, with every new IP, the very first step is extensive research so we get the IPs right – a step this time we could do without, as we all knew these games by heart.

It was only natural that we centered Skyrim's pinball table around the loot system and player customization, focused Fallout on the radiation and weather effects, and strived to retain as many of the weapons and intense moments of DOOM as possible.

What’s the trick to designing a table that’s both compelling as a pinball experience and an authentic tie-in for fans of the original properties?

It all boils down to decades of expertise in building compelling virtual pinball games. You have to strike a measured balance between the flow of the table, the complexity of missions, the moments, events, and features lifted or reimagined from the original IPs, and the refined character animations so characteristic of our virtual pinball tables.

The secret is to create a table equally enjoyable to die-hard pinball fans, so the underlying layout and pinball mechanics have to be super robust, yet compelling and accessible enough for fans of the original IPs who may be playing pinball for the very first time.

Using authentic visuals – such as characters and their animations, as well as sound effects and familiar voiceovers – enhances the immersion. Players especially love the way we tie in recognizable high-level game mechanics from the original properties.

What makes the Nintendo Switch such a great platform for these tables?

With the unique HD Rumble feature, no other platform emulates the haptic feeling of playing an actual pinball machine this well. Couple it with the option of vertical play in handheld mode, and it turns out that playing on the Nintendo Switch gets you as close to playing a real machine as possible.

What aspects of these brands do you think appeal to pinball fans?

Even if someone has never played these franchises, Skyrim's dungeons below the playfield, Fallout's Zeta Invaders dot matrix minigame and DOOM's Hell mini-playfield will all feel at once familiar and brand new, even for hardcore pinball fans.

Add to that the immense monstrosity of DOOM's Cyberdemon, the fire-breathing dragon of Skyrim or the unrelenting radiation storm of Fallout, and we believe these tables will appeal to anyone.

Any special details or secret features on the tables that can help people out?

There are many "secrets" on the tables players can discover. On DOOM, for example, there are several ways you can unlock a secret just like in the original game. This will turn the ball into a 2D sprite and grant you a big score.

On Skyrim you can buy a horse in the shop, which will let you travel faster via shooting the side target banks so you can explore more places, get more points and visit more towns.

On Fallout the antenna will always point at the area where the Eyebot will arrive. If it is pointing at the sky, prepare for the radiation storm. There are lots of other secrets, but these should definitely give players an edge.

Bethesda Pinball for Pinball FX3 on the Nintendo Switch brings a new way to enjoy DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout for pinball and Bethesda fans alike. Even if you don’t have a Switch, don’t tilt just yet - Bethesda Pinball is also available for Pinball FX3 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam!