
How Space Cadet pinball won the Windows desktop - davidst
http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/headline-story/14948/space-cadet-pinball-windows-history/
======
mrspeaker
In 2005 I started to dabble with reverse engineering, and the first target I
ever attempted was 3D Pinball... and amazingly enough I found a never-before-
found cheat code (and some other bits from Cinematronics).

I wrote up an article that went a bit viral at the time:
[http://www.mrspeaker.net/2006/01/07/hacking-
pinball/](http://www.mrspeaker.net/2006/01/07/hacking-pinball/). 3d-pinball-
related keywords are still among the highest search terms in my logs ;)

~~~
coldpie
You discovered that? Neat! I came here to post this link, which includes info
about the debug mode and other hidden features.
[https://tcrf.net/3D_Pinball:_Space_Cadet](https://tcrf.net/3D_Pinball:_Space_Cadet)

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bluedino
Anyone know the story behind Hover!

Including something like that on the Windows 95 CD was an odd decision. Sure,
on one hand it shows Windows 95 can do 3D graphics/games, but it was such a
terrible game and the performance was so terrible, it just added fuel to
'Windows sucks for games' fire.

~~~
ambiate
I am very thankful for Hover and Pinball. They made me want a faster and less
buggy computer. This resulted in wonderful mishaps -- deleting Win system
files, recovering into Vector Linux, trying Win 3.11 for WG, and finally
ending up in Win98 SE. All the in between is free knowledge. All due to Hover
running at 3FPS on my Cirrus Logic onboard gpu/100mhz cpu.

In my heart, the reason for Hover -- to plant a seed forging low level
algorithm programmers.

------
DDR0
There was an updated version of Space Cadet on the
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Drop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Drop)
I got as a kid. (I somehow played that before I found the standard windows
version, so I might be a bit biased. ;) ) The Marble Drop version is way more
polished windows version, everything 'just works' a little better. Shots line
up better, graphics are better... it feels like a really solid patch. Plus,
two new tables, "pirates" and "dragons"!

~~~
DDR0
Ah, here it is!
[https://tcrf.net/Full_Tilt!_Pinball](https://tcrf.net/Full_Tilt!_Pinball)

------
SeanDav
Available at Majorgeeks:
[http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/microsoft_windows_pi...](http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/microsoft_windows_pinball_space_cadet.html)

Anyone want to comment on how safe this download site is?

~~~
scholia
Majorgeeks is excellent. However, their refusal to accept money to distribute
crapware means they are extremely dependent on donations. ISTR they were
having to lay off staff...

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clamprecht
Does anyone remember Night Mission pinball for the C64 and early PC? Is Space
Cadet related to Night Mission at all?

[http://thehouseofgames.org/index.php?t=10&id=358](http://thehouseofgames.org/index.php?t=10&id=358)

And a video of game play:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ttoAfg7Ehc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ttoAfg7Ehc)

------
greggarious
Ah pinball.

I got banned from all school computers for "hacking" after I started using the
MS Word 97 pinball easter egg to play pinball in typing class when they
removed the "official" pinball game:

[http://www.eeggs.com/items/763.html](http://www.eeggs.com/items/763.html)

------
nsxwolf
I always enjoyed how it would instantly peg the CPU to 100% on every system I
ever ran it on.

~~~
art0rz
[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2005/12/01/49888...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2005/12/01/498882.aspx)

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TazeTSchnitzel
Alongside Windows 95 Plus!, it was also in Windows NT 4, which incorporated
most of the 95 Plus! stuff.

Which is kinda ironic given it's a business OS. Office workers get Pinball
free, home users have to pay extra!

~~~
jon-wood
NT 4 was fantastic. It may not have run games particularly well, but it was so
much more stable than Windows 95, and gave me my first introduction to
networking.

------
tacos
"[David Cole, head of the Windows 95 production team] grumbled… ‘Can’t we just
get a game of pinball or something like that?’"

I can't decide whether to deride the lameness or celebrate the pragmatism of
this statement. It does capture Mr. Cole perfectly, though -- and perhaps
hints why everything he touched after Win95 turned sour.

