Comparison

Visual Pinball vs Starquake Forever

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Visual Pinball

Experience the full virtual pinball simulator with realistic physics, lighting, and sound. This open-source app offers a redesigned interface, enhanced table management, and the complete desktop experience for mobile devices. Enjoy a vast library of tables without ads or in-app purchases.

Highlights
  • Realistic physics, lighting, and sound
  • Redesigned interface with Liquid Glass
  • Full in-game menu for graphics and controls
  • Support for various backglass and display types
  • Easy table import and management
  • Optimized memory usage
Features
Read full description

The official Visual Pinball app. Built by volunteers since 2000 and open source since 2010, Visual Pinball is the simulator the virtual pinball community has been playing for over two decades. More than 70 people have contributed to it, and this app runs the same engine as the desktop version, so every table plays with the physics, lighting and sound its creator intended. No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Made by volunteers. Two years of work from the Visual Pinball volunteers, in one update. Thank you for your patience, and for playing! A FRESH NEW LOOK • Redesigned for iOS 26 with Liquid Glass • Favorites and recently played tables at the top of your list • Search, sorting and three tile sizes • Light, Dark or System appearance • New loading screen that shows progress THE FULL DESKTOP EXPERIENCE • The complete Visual Pinball in-game menu for graphics, sound, controls and table options • Remap every button on keyboards and game controllers • Save settings for every table, or just the one you're playing MORE TABLES, LOOKING BETTER • Show the backglass and score display (DMD, alphanumeric or reels) on screen, right where you want them • Support for PUP packs, FlexDMD, B2S backglasses, video playback and VNI colorizations • All the latest physics and rendering improvements from the desktop version • Much lower memory use: textures are compressed on first load, then cached EASIER TABLE MANAGEMENT • Import .zip files, along with .vpx and .vpxz • Share any table as a single .vpxz file • The web file manager can now upload whole folders, extract archives, edit scripts and settings, and show the log live AND MORE • Many stability and memory fixes This version requires iOS 26.6 or later.

About

Starquake Forever

Features
Read full description

Starquake is a loving tribute to the 1985 classic, rebuilt from the ground up for mobile. You are BLOB — a maintenance droid dropped onto a dying planet. Deep beneath the surface, the planet's core has shattered into 9 fragments scattered across a vast underground network. Your mission: find them all and restore the core before it's too late. EXPLORE a sprawling world of 512 interconnected rooms filled with hazards, puzzles, and secrets. Every screen holds something new — from crumbling floors to electric barriers. RIDE hover platforms to soar through caverns. TELEPORT between 15 alien outposts. TRADE with mysterious pyramids to acquire the items you need. BLAST through hostile creatures that grow fiercer the deeper you go. The planet won't wait. Can you save it? FEATURES - 512 handcrafted rooms to explore - 9 core fragments to find and deliver - Hover platforms, teleporters, and tunnel networks - Trading system with alien pyramids - 15 named teleport stations - Shooting mechanics — horizontal laser on foot, bouncing energy ball in flight - Touch controls with analog flight pad and D-pad walking. - Gamepad support - 8 original music tracks - 17 achievements - 2 leaderboards — High Score and Exploration - Auto-save — pick up right where you left off - No ads. No in-app purchases. Just the game.

Screenshots

Visual Pinball3 screens
Starquake Forever4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Starquake Forever at 13.0 against Visual Pinball's 26.6. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Visual Pinball versus Starquake Forever: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual PinballStarquake Forever
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (74 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings74 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size134 MB62 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperJason MillardLeonid Khramov

Bugs and requests

Visual Pinball

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Tables don't load for some users
  • Certain complex/intensive tables error out or run at low FPS

Requested features

6 requests
  • List of most played tables
  • Ability to reposition DMD
  • Option to skip startup checks for some tables
  • Ability to edit table scripts on the app
  • Direct link to table depository
Show 1 more
  • iPad version with more screen space

Starquake Forever

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

None

Starquake Forever

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Visual Pinball free?
Visual Pinball is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Starquake Forever free?
Starquake Forever is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Visual Pinball or Starquake Forever have ads?
Neither Visual Pinball nor Starquake Forever shows ads.

Other comparisons