Full Tilt Pinball - Space Cadet - Fleet Admiral 118,043,000

This is the Space Cadet pinball table as it appeared in the 1995 release Full Tilt Pinball, a collection of three tables for Windows 3.1 and 95. It was developed by Cinematronics and published by Maxis, which would later acquire the former company. This video depicts a complete run achieving the Fleet Admiral rank with the help of the Time Warp mission, save for 40 minutes of inactivity which were cut from this video. No Maelstrom is present here, but maybe that's something to consider trying again if I feel like it. I've accessed the mission exactly once, never cleared it though. For a game that was positioned to garner most of its revenue through a lesser version found in the Microsoft Plus expansion for Windows 95, Space Cadet is a shockingly well designed table which has plenty of tricks waiting to be discovered. There's very little dead space in the table, and the game demonstrates a great level of depth while respecting the constraints of a realistic pinball table. It contrasts Sierra's competing 3D Ultra Pinball series, which opted to feel more like a fantasy of pinball. Coincidentally, the first installment was also set in space. The Full Tilt version of Space Cadet is the superior release. It includes a multiball feature, higher resolutions, and some small tweaks to make advancing through the ranks more attainable, especially to counteract the cheap drains you're sure to face along the way. As Windows 98 did not come with Space Cadet Pinball (despite including other 95 Plus features and Windows NT 4.0 including the game), my first experience with this game took place on this operating system with this same computer you see working here via Marble Drop, which happens to include an installer for Full Tilt Pinball as a pack-in bonus. Learning how, when, and where to nudge the table can do great wonders in helping you survive and get the ball where you want it, far more than it would seem. You might also notice the flippers being used for making very exacting shots; by holding the ball to bring it to a halt, you can fairly consistently get it to hit certain targets as you time the ball rolling down the flipper. Some other tips: activating the bonus via the drop targets on the right can do great wonders in increasing your score. It's most easily attainable with multiball, and it just so happens the yellow wormhole is right there. Entering a wormhole with its own color lit locks the ball and grants some extra invulnerability, and locking three balls activates multiball. It can really save you a lot of trouble with a variety of things... assuming you don't lose everything so quickly, which can happen with bad luck and/or improper management. It helps a great deal to have the center post raised for that. Always try to avoid the secret mission if at all possible. It's horrible. It's really tough to enter each wormhole in order, and while it's active, you simply cannot lock balls, stripping you of the very tool you could be using to make your life easier.