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S02E44: Perilously Playing Star Wars Pinball, Part Two
29 Plays14 days ago
We're back at the arcade to wrap up our deep dive on Star Wars: Fall of the Empire... a game I achieved my high score on yesterday, then came in to look at this episode posting and realized I forgot to hit "publish" on Monday night, which is why this is late! Does anyone read these liner notes anyway? Oh, and stay tuned at the end of today's episode for a funny appearance by an actual pinball legend.
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Transcript
Introduction and Previous Discussion Recap
00:00:01
Speaker
wrapping up our look at the new Star Wars Pinball Machine and we're doing it real quick. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a Star Trooper?
Playing Experience and Initial Impressions
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper and part two of our in-depth look at the new pinball machine from Stern Pinball called Star Wars Fall of the Empire.
00:00:26
Speaker
If you were with us last week, you know that my son Harrison and I spent a good bunch of time playing pinball last week at Pinball Expo outside of Chicago. And we got a chance to play the Star Wars Pinball Machine a little bit before Pinball Expo actually started.
00:00:42
Speaker
And then we had a conversation about it. So last week was part one. We're going to jump back in with part two and we're going to talk about the layout of this machine, the fan layout and and what that means for pinball machines. So here we go.
Pinball Mechanics and Gameplay
00:00:57
Speaker
So with those fan layouts, if you hit a shot and you make it, then it will you know it'll go down a wire form and it will usually return the ball like right into your flipper and be very safe if you're making your shots. yes If you don't make your shots, then it's just bouncing all over the place and you are you are in trouble.
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah, or it'll bounce straight down yeah into the center. Yeah, and like the Dungeons & Dragons machine, which... you know we've agreed we don't really like that much but it's very much in that same layout yeah totally now here's the thing that's interesting is attack from mars yeah which we both like yeah i like a lot and theater of magic which i think we both say is our best yeah my hands down those are also fan layouts totally and so what are you seeing about that when we were talking about it i think
00:01:47
Speaker
The differences for Theater of Magic are couple things. One is the actual fan spread of shoots for Theater of Magic is a lot lower on the play field. Like, yeah, the ramps and stuff start about halfway down.
00:02:02
Speaker
And I think the entrances for the skill shots in Theater of Magic are like pretty equally placed.
Storytelling and Visuals in Pinball
00:02:12
Speaker
Or, I don't know, I'm not looking at a picture of it, but the long and short of it is, I think you spend a lot less time kind of bouncing off the bumper edges of the ramps than you do in Star Wars and in Theater of Magic.
00:02:28
Speaker
Uh... a lot of times like you want to hit those. like To open the trap door, you need to bounce off. like so They have, I don't know any of the words, they'll have like the two little bumper targets on either side of the ramp to open the trap door. So even if you are like missing the shots, it still feels good from a player perspective because you see what's happening and going on. yeah And on that same point, what I think Theater of Magic does really well is...
00:02:56
Speaker
says explicitly like, okay, you're doing this magic trick. And you know, the girl's like, shoot the center ramp. And the center ramp thing is like flashing. Like, even if you don't know anything, you know exactly what is going on. And I feel like the Star Wars one, I wish communicated a little clearer in that way. yeah And we were playing in a loud place. So maybe it is doing that.
00:03:20
Speaker
But it didn't have the clarity of theater of magic in that way Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Well, since this is a Star Wars podcast and not a pinball podcast, although maybe going to turn into a pinball podcast at some point. i don't know um Did you notice like the clips, the Star Wars clips, did you notice that the screen was bigger and better?
00:03:43
Speaker
Like this is the new version of the Stern hardware. So the screen is actually bigger. didn't probably because I was really focused on like winning and beating my dad, which I which he did handily. Yeah, both that played. Very, very good. um ah Where I did notice it was on the Harry Potter machine.
00:03:59
Speaker
Oh, okay. I saw like, you can just tell like the visuals of it. Yeah. It is interesting. You can tell when you pay attention to the screen in Star Wars how they really needed to live by Disney's rules of licensing. Like, they could not put any text or any graphics over the Star Wars content. That was always completely isolated. Yeah, which I don't mind. like yeah I like that. And I think like the original trilogy of Star Wars is ah beautiful...
00:04:33
Speaker
like a beautiful
Music and Design Critiques
00:04:34
Speaker
series and the cinematography and stuff is great and the visuals of it are great and the color grading and I did like that it did not feel like they were trying to jack it up or change the colors to make it more vibrant or stuff it felt like straight out of yeah like yeah like look and yeah I thought that was nice yeah they um they did a really great job I think with the different modes so that's you know when you kind of go into the little mini games to accomplish your mission like you're talking with theater of magic you're doing a magic trick and yeah hit a few sequences of shots in Star Wars
00:05:13
Speaker
there are like the seven main characters, the seven main rebel characters. Each one of them has three different modes that you can get into, which are a different chunk of the story from the original trilogy.
00:05:25
Speaker
Okay. You know, it's a little different sequence. And I think they did a really good job with the storytelling of that, that, um, you, you know, it kind of feels like you are, what's a good example. Like with the droids, the first one that you get into with them is the rebel ship.
00:05:41
Speaker
And so it starts with, ah That opening sequence with R2 and 3PO in the Rebel Blockade Runner talking and it ends with them getting into the escape pod if you accomplish everything you need to do in the mode.
00:05:53
Speaker
So I think those are cool. My one complaint, I've got a couple complaints with the game, but I still do love it. But my biggest complaint with it is the music that isn't the John Williams music.
00:06:05
Speaker
So... They clearly got the license for the main title suite. So with that, you've got Luke's theme, the main theme. You've got Princess Leia's theme in there. You've got the rebellion theme. So some of the motifs are all represented in there.
00:06:21
Speaker
And then they have the Imperial March. But... That's all they got. And they wind up filling in with other original music that I just don't think is very good. It doesn't feel like John Williams music. It doesn't feel like Star Wars music. Yeah, it's weird that they have like Alanis Morissette. They have all jagged little pill in there.
00:06:42
Speaker
That would actually be funny. Somebody's going to hack that. Well, I was going to say is um they should have just had the cantina music over and over. Some space jizz. Am I right, folks? That's absolutely correct. 100% some jizz.
00:06:54
Speaker
hello Very unfortunate name. um What I was going to say, my other complaint of that pinball table is the visual icon to represent if...
00:07:07
Speaker
when a ball drains, you will get it back, is that Yoda is at the bottom of the play field and his eyes yeah flash, but not his whole eyes. the The white sclera of his eyes flash on and off and then his black soulless pupils remain pitch black like a doll's eyes and uh that i don't know who approved that but it's so weird and off-putting it's a little i don't remember you're you're the star wars expert maybe i'm forgetting when yoda's eyes flash in the movie well it's a subliminal thing
00:07:41
Speaker
Yeah. It's in that whole tree sequence where he's fighting Darth Vader. You remember it was in Empire, and he just revealed that he's actually Yoda, and Luke figured it out. And Luke says, I'm not scared. And he goes, you will be. You should be. You will be. Let me show you everybody's space, Jim. It's like when he says, you will be.
Cost, Sales, and Market Reception
00:08:01
Speaker
And then his eyes go like that. Yeah, that happened. Flash bulb goes off. Yeah, you need to watch Empire Strikes Back a couple more hundred times, and you'll it.
00:08:08
Speaker
love that. Yeah. Well, how would you feel if i actually owned the Star Wars machine and had it in my office? um I would say if it cost more than Theater of Magic, huge mistake. And you should just get Theater of Magic.
00:08:21
Speaker
It costs less than Theater of Magic? um then i hold my tongue knowing knowing i have a huge ally in my court called sherry gerard we'll have to see how it goes um is it really there's no way that theater of magic is more than nine grand right now oh yeah really yeah i just looked the last time i looked was years ago i just looked and somebody had it for uh i think it was 14 or 15 for oh my god that's correct well didn't you say maybe that they were going to re-release it or something yeah there's been stories about that and you know i don't know well here's the thing is if i do buy that star wars machine i won't pay have it forever you know you're smoking crack because here's one for 12. oh well that's still less than i was going to spend for star here's one for 9 500.
00:09:07
Speaker
Oh, that's a little more reasonable. don't have to look at it. All right. Well, we better wrap up this discussion. So thanks. I'm glad that you played with me. I'm glad that you beat me twice. So it's not just a sour grapes thing. Totally.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I would say if you see the Star Wars Bimbo Machine, you should check it out as I'm sure anyone who listens to this podcast would. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, well, actually, this is the last thing I want to say about it.
00:09:30
Speaker
I really, really like this game, but the 2017 Star Wars, the most recent Star Wars version before this from Stern. I hate that game. Yeah, I don't like that one at all. Yeah, that has all the bad things.
00:09:43
Speaker
um A great game based on a terrible movie, Congo, which we played this. We played this morning. You should play Congo based on Michael Crichton's weird 1990s book about a talking gorilla.
00:09:54
Speaker
yeah there are a few pinball machines that are based on 90s movies are from the 90s that are actually much better than the movie congo is one of them uh johnny mnemonic is one of them the inverse of that is the adam's family machine which i do not like you oh of that movie that is a very popular pinball machine really absolutely yeah okay save it for an next episode All right, thanks to Harrison for joining me for a lot of pinball during Pinball Expo, but also for his unbridled thoughts on Star Wars Fall of the Empire.
00:10:27
Speaker
So where am I at? Do I think I'm gonna get this machine? i don't know, I really don't know. I will tell you all that it doesn't seem to be selling super great, which is very interesting because usually a Star Wars pinball machine would just print money.
00:10:44
Speaker
but it doesn't seem to be selling that well, which kind of concerns me from the franchise fatigue point of view, which maybe we'll get in and we will talk about that a little bit more next week.
00:11:02
Speaker
i But i I do want to say this, I'm still trying to figure it out. What I might do is just wait a little bit and see if I might be able to get it secondhand from somebody who will be you know playing it for a while and then selling it and could potentially get it at a little bit of a discount.
00:11:19
Speaker
But I don't know. We'll just have to see. a lot of factors will go into my decision.
Behind the Scenes: Stern Pinball Factory Tour
00:11:25
Speaker
However, there is one more thing that I wanted to share with you about this is we recorded that discussion on Thursday, I believe, of last week.
00:11:37
Speaker
And on Friday, we got the chance to actually go to the Stern Pinball Factory and get a tour of the factory, which was Mildly interesting, i would have to say.
00:11:50
Speaker
I think we were both a little bit disappointed that they spent a little bit too much time taking us through the back warehouse where they have, you know, big racks with cardboard boxes.
00:12:02
Speaker
ah that store all the parts. And I wish that there was more time talking about not just the production of the machine, but the actual design process. That would have been fascinating for us to hear more about that and to kind of see where that happens.
00:12:17
Speaker
It was super cool to see the people making the machines. They weren't making the Star Wars pinball machine that day. They were actually making the Dungeons and Dragons machine that we were talking about earlier. But You know, just the the craft that goes into the people working on that assembly line in producing these machines is really outstanding. But here's where this becomes relevant to this discussion is at the very end of the tour, they had a little room set up on the side and they had the limited edition of Star Wars Fall of the Empire.
00:12:49
Speaker
And John Borg, who is the designer of the machine, and Raymond Davidson, who was the programming lead. So he's the guy who, once the actual machine is designed, he's the one who creates all the rules and does the software coding and you know really makes it a Star Wars game.
00:13:12
Speaker
The two of them were there and they kind of took us through a little bit of a tour of the machine and pointed out the features and all of that kind of stuff. And I thought, what an amazing opportunity to get a little bit of a boost in my case for actually buying this
Designer Endorsement and Conclusion
00:13:29
Speaker
pinball machine. As Harrison mentioned earlier, he's got an ally on the don't buy side in my wife, Sherry.
00:13:36
Speaker
i And so I grabbed John Borg and I asked him to do me a little bit of a favor, made a video, and I wanted to share with you the audio of that video. So here goes. This is John Borg, honey, who designed this game. Will you tell her why I need to buy one of these?
00:13:53
Speaker
Oh, this is a must have. It's the best Star Wars game that's ever produced. Exactly. And you just, and you look at it. It's beautiful. You have to have this.
00:14:03
Speaker
Thank you, sir. So thanks to John Borg and Raymond Davidson, who you heard snicker a little bit at the beginning of that for helping sell my wife on this machine. Okay, that's enough for Star Wars Pinball.
00:14:15
Speaker
Next week, we are going to dive into a little bit of the controversy of the season, which is this mysterious hunt for Ben Solo movie that was proposed. And we'll dive into that a little bit with some thoughts. But in the meantime, please hit like, please subscribe, you know, all that stuff.
00:14:32
Speaker
May the force be with you. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Who's that mindless choice to do? Podcasts, hope you see them through. Star Wars is your favorite unit. Let's chat for 15 minutes.
00:14:43
Speaker
Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for sporn trooper? Aren't you a little short for a slur?