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S02E43: Perilously Playing Star Wars Pinball, Part One
19 Plays4 days ago
Star Wars and Pinball... two great tastes that taste great together! Does the new Fall of the Empire machine from Stern deserve a medal from Princess Leia, or does it belong in the garbage chute? Join Bob and Harrison as we actually play the game together live on location and then share our thoughts.
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Transcript
Introduction to Star Wars Pinball Machine
00:00:00
Speaker
We are deep diving into the new Star Wars Pinball Machine and we're doing it real fast. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a Star Trooper?
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper where I am just back from Chicago and Pinball Expo 25.
Excitement for Star Wars and Pinball
00:00:22
Speaker
So today I get to combine two of my favorite hobbies, Star Wars and Pinball.
00:00:27
Speaker
As I've been mentioning on this show, Stern Pinball, which is the major manufacturer of pinball machines, just released a new machine called Star Wars Fall of the Empire.
00:00:38
Speaker
And while I was out in Chicago with my son Harrison, got the chance to really dive into it and explore it.
Visit to Interium Arcade
00:00:45
Speaker
So we're going to start off our little adventure exploring the Star Wars Fall of the Empire machine with at some actual play. So I took some microphones out to Interium, which is a big arcade at Woodfield Mall,
00:01:04
Speaker
When I was a kid, it was the upper storeroom at the now defunct Sears, but now it's a restaurant and arcade and they have an incredible pinball section. We went and we played Star Wars Fall of the Empire. This is Harrison's first game. It's about my 50th game.
00:01:22
Speaker
And let's go ahead and listen and hear what we experienced live in action.
Gameplay Experience with Harrison
00:01:29
Speaker
All right, we are at Interium in Chicago, and we are playing Star Wars Follow the Empire for Harrison's first time, right? Say something.
00:01:36
Speaker
Something. OK, good. can hear you. All right, so here's the layout. To make a skill shot, it's really simple. You just plunge it, and then any of those flashing yellow shots, which is any shot on there, you hit that, you get a skill shot.
00:01:50
Speaker
OK. So just try to get a shot. Then I'll keep explaining it to you. All right, good. You got it. You hit the bumper. All right, now what you're trying to do is if you catch the ball, there you go. It's coming back.
00:02:10
Speaker
Those white targets that say force, you just hit one. hu You want to hit all those. Every time you hit one, it advances a letter in F-O-R-C-E.
00:02:21
Speaker
And that was a drink, that's okay. Hey, this game sucks. It's the worst game all time. It is not either. I intend to own this game. All right, let's see how I do. all right, I'm gonna plunge.
00:02:34
Speaker
And I just drained up the middle, because the ramp didn't work very well. Oh boy. It's a very fast game. Okay, so now see how the characters' faces are lit up?
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah. So i hit any of those lines, and I will start a mode related to that character. So I just did the droids. Now any of the blue shots are gonna advance the story.
00:02:58
Speaker
So I just advance the story a little bit. Let's try to hit it right up the middle up that Millennium Falcon ramp. I missed it. And I almost tilted. You got to get this under control or you're going to be very sad.
00:03:11
Speaker
okay we're going to go right up the middle. There we go And let's see if I do the droids again. That's a dangerous shot, but it's easy to get. almost. great recent alcohol before oh i'm how much time do I have left? 16 seconds, all right.
00:03:30
Speaker
So i'm to go for Obi-Wan again, and miss. do And I drained. What do you think so far, Harry?
Reflections on Game Experience
00:03:40
Speaker
I think that there's all these thumb prints and smudges on the glass. so he just cleaned off the glass. Some little kid.
00:03:46
Speaker
Oh, there you go. got right up that Millennium Falcon ramp. I like the little spinny. Yeah, now you got it into the Sarlacc pit. This is great. So you got into the Sarlacc pit, so you started in a Java mode.
00:04:00
Speaker
It's the Rancor mode. Everything just went red. And what you want to do is hit the orange shot. You'll get a hang of it.
00:04:10
Speaker
Oh, nice nice juggling. all right. right End of the ball. I think it is one of those games that has a big wide open play field and everything is right at the end.
00:04:28
Speaker
That's what we call a fan layout. Yeah. And just see, I just dreamed that was terrible. It's very fast. Things bounce around like crazy and. The flippers are far apart. It does feel that way, doesn't it? No, you get it back.
00:04:43
Speaker
If Yoda's eyes are flashing, that means their ball save is on. If his eyes are flashing, he's tweaking. It looks that way, doesn't it? All right, nice. You got the TIE Fighter ramp. And now you got the, yeah, good job. You got it right up the Millennium Falcon.
00:04:57
Speaker
Do that a couple more times. <unk> pre teach just want us to be like mr You hit the Death Star. Oh, it'll drain.
00:05:08
Speaker
Can I go up there? Yeah. What did I hit? So he hit the Death Star. He went up the ramp and he he hit like the front of the the Death Star. And that's a bash target. And that makes Oh, see. didn't realize that. And then if you get three more in there, it's a multi-ball.
00:05:22
Speaker
All right. So this is my ball three. And
00:05:27
Speaker
and I'm trying to be tricky with the skill shot. And it's not working. I'm going to try again. There we go. and i'm gonna try again there we go I got Luke. That's actually a ball lock up there.
00:05:39
Speaker
So if I get three up there, I do the cost battle of Hoth multiball.
00:05:45
Speaker
There's another one.
00:05:48
Speaker
So I lock the ball, although it didn't advance the story at all. I've got to get it up that Lando ramp, which goes right to the Death Star. I miss.
00:05:59
Speaker
And it drained. i will All right, so that's our first game. All right, let's see who wins. I think I'm gonna come out on top. you're Oh my gosh, Harrison beat me by what, 304,000 points, which is like nothing?
00:06:15
Speaker
Very good. Well done, you beat me. You're a neck and neck. Good job. Okay, now it was a little too loud for us to discuss the game, so we went back to Harrison's apartment and we recorded our thoughts.
00:06:29
Speaker
Okay, we are back from the arcade. It's much quieter here, so we can talk about Star Wars. Yeah, we've lost the empire time to think about our experiences and kind of process through them.
Analysis of Pinball Features
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah. So I am, gosh, I've probably paid played 70 games on that so far in the last week since it came out. It's nice to be a member of a pinball club where it's all free play all the time.
00:06:55
Speaker
Yeah, that makes a big difference. So i've I've not yet put coins into that machine. but Well, this is my question for you. yeah Do you think if that machine was like Star Trek branded, yeah would you like it?
00:07:10
Speaker
I honestly would not like it as much, I'm sure, if it wasn't Star Wars themed. Yeah. um I do really like it. here's Well, actually, like before I get into that, let's get into your reactions. because so Let's focus on me.
00:07:23
Speaker
For sure, as always. I mean, you are named after an actor from Star Wars. Yeah, but because of Indiana Jones. Correct. So let's not it twisted. We've established that already on this show. That's fine.
00:07:35
Speaker
So um ah tell me what your general thoughts are. My thoughts were... I thought after my first game, i was like, I don't think I'd like this machine. After my second game, I was like, okay, I think this is like a medium machine for me in that I would not, um it wouldn't be my first choice to play, but in a situation like tonight or in a free play kind of situation where there's a bunch of machines, like I would definitely play it. I wouldn't leave it to the wayside like I would the Pulp Fiction game.
00:08:12
Speaker
machine. Yeah, which you really don't like. um Well, I thought about it overall was, well, I'll tell you the things I liked about it first. I liked ah that center ramp that kind of like goes out the back of the machine. like That's the Millennium Falcon ramp. It's supposed to be like going into hyperspace. so Yeah, that was really cool. You shoot the ball up the ramp and then it goes into a hole into the backboard and loops around. Yeah, totally. That's actually pretty cool.
00:08:37
Speaker
yeah I liked the... there's like that Darth Vader mechanism where there's like a little pocket in the side and if it goes in there, he shoots it back out at you really fast. yeah um Which the first couple of times, like it just drained for me immediately, but ah it's always the same timing. And so you're able to figure out like how to do it.
00:08:59
Speaker
And after like the second time I was like, I had a 99% accuracy of catching it, but it was really satisfying. you know ah Can I interrupt you for a second? want to ask you about that. Because so you also played the Harry Potter pinball machine for the first time. Yeah, and that does that too. Yeah, you you hit it into the Death Eater.
00:09:15
Speaker
Yeah. And you got that rocket down. Yeah, totally. Yeah. that That one to me is even scarier than the Darth Vader mode. Yeah, I would 100% agree with that. And the other mechanic I really liked is the...
00:09:28
Speaker
uh siphon like the clear plastic siphon yeah ah it's the sarlacc pit yeah it's supposed to be yeah like we were playing the we were playing the pro edition which is like the bottom tier okay um on the premium edition and the limited edition there actually is like a job of the hut that sits on top of that that makes sense so yeah i like that and i like that it's in that um the Western theme game too, from the Monster Bash people. Oh, yeah like the Cactus Canyon. Yeah, yeah there's one of those. Same
Challenges and Skillful Play
00:10:01
Speaker
lasso kind of thing.
00:10:02
Speaker
Okay, so those are the things I like. Well, I did not like, and a lot of this is my personal bias, is I don't like a game that has like a big, empty play field. Yeah. um Which this definitely does.
00:10:16
Speaker
And I don't like, you called it like a fan layout. Yeah, that's what that's called. Which is just like, I don't like that. I like when there is more stuff around the sides. Um,
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's called a fan layout because if you imagine a fan, like a hand fan. Yeah, totally. Yeah, you're you're basically, you're just shooting at ramps or shooting in slots that are arranged around the top third of the machine in a fan layout.
00:10:44
Speaker
and Yeah, it is like that. Yeah. ah all Also, i felt like the flippers were... far apart.
00:10:55
Speaker
And I don't know if that, is that accurate or is that like an optical illusion? I think it's optical illusion. I like different machines, like sometimes they're closer together and sometimes they're further apart. No, I think it's is a standard distance and I don't think it's, it was farther. can look it up after that. Yeah. I'm going to be right.
00:11:09
Speaker
Write that down. Um, uh, yeah. Well, regardless of if they actually were more distant or not, like it's definitely fast. And this is what I don't like about the, that kind of layout, right. Is because you're shooting it up there, it's really easy to have the ball start going really fast and then you drain out of it.
00:11:29
Speaker
right Or if you're trying to shoot that center ah piece, if you like ricochet off the side, then it'll send it like just shooting right down the middle, and it's really easy to have it drain.
00:11:41
Speaker
um And I did feel like this machine was trickier to get up the ramps than some other ones. like And there were a lot of times where...
00:11:52
Speaker
Like even the steepness of the ramp seems like a higher gradation where I would get it and it would go like three quarters up and then come back down without actually yeah clearing. And because if you think about it, because those are designed that you're shooting it from the flipper to get up that ramp.
00:12:10
Speaker
If it doesn't get all the way up, then it's going to come rocketing right down, right back at the flippers. Yeah, exactly. And I'll usually right in between the two of them. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. That game, the Star Wars game, it is very fast.
00:12:24
Speaker
You really have to keep it under control. If you're just flailing around and just hitting the ball and keeping it going, you're going to lose it.
Preview of Next Episode
00:12:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think it has a high base skill level. Yeah, you've got to really be able to catch the ball and trap the ball so that you can take your shots. And then you've got to make your shots.
00:12:42
Speaker
Okay, we're running out of time, so I am in a pause it right there. Now, we're gonna come back next week for the final part of our exploration of this pinball machine. I've got the rest of our thoughts between me and Harrison, what we thought of the machine, and then a real special treat.
00:12:56
Speaker
We got to go out to the Stern Pinball Factory and meet the designers of the game, and we have a little fun surprise to share with you. So hopefully that will bring you back next week.
00:13:09
Speaker
Hey, thank you for being here. If you are one of my new pinball friends who I told about my my Star Wars podcast and you're checking this out for the first time, hope you liked it. Hope that you follow and subscribe and review and all of those good things.
00:13:24
Speaker
But mostly i hope that you enjoy this and that you can share your love of pinball and your love of Star Wars with me In the meantime, may the force be with you.
Concluding Remarks
00:13:35
Speaker
We'll see you back next week.
00:13:36
Speaker
Bye-bye. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a smorn trooper? Aren't you a little short for a smorn trooper?