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Capcom had a chip on their shoulder going into the launch of Pinball Magic. They had been stalled with injunctions from WMS over the defection of Mark Ritchie, Python, and other talent. When Magic launched they felt ready for a fight against big bad Willy at the 1995 AMOA trade show in New Orleans.

I'd always heard Pinball Magic was actually Mark Ritchie's game but he couldn't put his name on it, per the litigation. FWIW, I've owned Theatre of Magic and, other than the theme, there isn't really much in common (as I recall).

It's totally possible. They were very careful around all the legal stuff being rained down upon them by Nicastro. I was at the 1994 trade show in Chicago and asked the Romstar rep directly if Python worked on this game and he just shook his head back and forth without saying a word. You decide.

There were also constant rumors about Bryan Hansen's magic theme vs Popadiuk's Theatre of Magic, which had launched six months earlier. I've always been curious why PM's plastic hid a little artwork of someone (Ritchie?) sneaking out of a trap door with "plans".