Mechanic · input & timing · video pinball

Tilt

Shaking a pinball table to move the ball, with or without a penalty for doing it too much.

stubAlso: nudge, nudging, tilt penaltyUpdated 2026-10-22
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A tilt shakes the table to move the ball. Pokémon Pinball has only the nudge: its tilt buttons move the ball a pixel a frame for a few frames, with no warning count1.

  • Nudge onlyPokémon Pinball (1999). Three buttons nudge the ball a pixel a frame for 3 or 4 frames, with no tilt-out.1

See also

Games

GameYearHowNote
Pokémon Pinball1999Nudge onlythree buttons nudge the ball a pixel a frame for 3 or 4 frames, with no tilt-out
Every claim about this mechanic, by game (1)
Pokémon Pinball 1999Pokémon Pinball's tilt is a nudge with no tilt-out: the tilt routines keep no warning count and never end a ball. Holding a tilt button (left, right, or up; D-pad Down, B, and Select by default) runs its counter and screen shake for 3 frames (4 for up), and on each of those frames moves the ball 1 pixel if the ball is visible and gravity and tilt are on. That tilt then waits until the button is released and its counter has run back to 0. While a tilt is pushing, a ball touching a surface gets a velocity from a table for that tilt, read by the normal angle. Left and right together cancel.Code

References

  1. ^ abPokémon Pinball's tilt is a nudge with no tilt-out: the tilt routines keep no warning count and never end a ball. Holding a tilt button (left, right, or up; D-pad Down, B, and Select by default) runs its counter and screen shake for 3 frames (4 for up), and on each of those frames moves the ball 1 pixel if the ball is visible and gravity and tilt are on. That tilt then waits until the button is released and its counter has run back to 0. While a tilt is pushing, a ball touching a surface gets a velocity from a table for that tilt, read by the normal angle. Left and right together cancel.Codepret/pokepinballrevised
    How we know
    1HandleTilts: ; 0x3582
⋮
5	ret
⋮
7HandleLeftTilt: ; 0x358c
8	ld a, [wLeftTiltReset]
9	and a
10	jr nz, .tiltCoolDown
11	ld hl, wKeyConfigLeftTilt
12	call IsKeyPressed2
⋮
14	ld a, [wLeftTiltCounter]
15	cp 3
16	jr z, .startCoolDown
⋮
24	ld a, [wPinballIsVisible]
⋮
    home/tilt.asm lines 1–240 at 0a6f6dc · upstream ↗
    101	ld a, [wIsBallColliding]  ; check for collision flag
102	and a
103	jr z, .moveBallPosition
104	call ApplyTiltForces
    engine/pinball_game.asm lines 101–104 at 0a6f6dc · upstream ↗
    1080DefaultKeyConfigs: ; 0xca55
⋮
1084	db D_DOWN,   $00  ; wKeyConfigLeftTilt
1085	db B_BUTTON, $00  ; wKeyConfigRightTilt
1086	db SELECT,   $00  ; wKeyConfigUpperTilt
    engine/options_screen.asm lines 1080–1087 at 0a6f6dc · upstream ↗

    Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-22.

    Revised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-10-22.

    In the claim ledger

Sources

Code