Comparison

Visual Pinball vs Starflight X

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

Head to head
About

Visual Pinball

Enjoy a realistic pinball simulation with hundreds of community-created tables. Experience immersive haptic feedback and customize your gameplay with intuitive settings and controller support. Advanced options are available for power users.

Highlights
  • Hundreds of community-developed tables
  • Haptic feedback for immersive gameplay
  • Customizable settings and POV adjustments
  • Game controller support
  • External DMD and AltColor/AltSound support
  • Touch overlay and instructions
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

Starflight X

Read full description

One ship. One life left. One more sector. Starflight X is a fast portrait arcade shooter built around readable attack lanes, precise movement, and the pressure to push one sector farther. Drag anywhere to steer while your fighter auto-fires, then focus on dodging, targeting, and the next opening. Every sortie rotates through different operations: • Break through escalating asteroid patrols • Destroy coordinated enemy attack waves • Chase the horizon through a high-speed ocean rift • Survive a two-minute pursuit while your hyperdrive charges • Face the multi-phase Void Reaver flagship every tenth sector Kills and close projectile evades charge Ace Drive, a six-second combat surge that boosts speed, fire rate, and scoring. Spend it under pressure, but take a hit and the advantage ends. Unlock four ships with distinct combat identities: • Interceptor: faster movement and recovery • Bomber: stronger missile volleys • Railwing: more powerful rail shots • Tank: extra hull with slower handling Build a permanent loadout between sectors, complete rotating sortie contracts and Daily Operations, raise your pilot rank, and chase new sector records. Every run makes progress, even when the ship does not make it home. Starflight X includes original music and sound effects, haptic combat feedback, no ads, no accounts, no tracking, and no in-app purchases.

Screenshots

Visual Pinball3 screens
Starflight X4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Starflight X at 16.0 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 Starflight X: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual PinballStarflight X
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (73 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews78.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings73 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 12 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size120 MB11 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperJason MillardOscar Castillo

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

Starflight X

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Visual Pinball

No in-app purchases

None

Starflight X

No in-app purchases

Questions

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

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