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Sonic the Hedgehog by Jersey Jack Pinball | Reveal Podcast
3 Playsin 37 minutes
Steve Ritchie joins us today to talk about his latest creation, Sonic the Hedgehog! A game all about speed and fun.
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Transcript
Introduction and Excitement for New Pinball Reveal
00:00:07
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. hi I am Josh Roop. I'm excited for today. New pinball reveal day is always fantastic.
Sonic Pinball Machine Details and Customer Service
00:00:15
Speaker
If you're looking for Sonic the Hedgehog, doesn't matter if it's arcade edition all the up to collector's edition, Flippin' Out is your people to go to. Zach and Nicole, many provide excellent customer service. Greg and Ken will take care of you on the customer service side of things along with tech support. And they are going to take care of you from the second you email them to that pinball machines in through your front door. And even afterwards, if you want Sonic the Hedgehog pinball, hit up Zach and Nicole many at flipping out pinball.com.
Meet Steve Ritchie: Pinball Legend and Iconic Games
00:00:43
Speaker
I have a living legend today. The man created such iconic games that were pivotal to the pinball industry as High Speed, Black Knight, Getaway 2. The list goes on and on and on. Steve has been doing pinball for over 50 years now, and this is another crown jewel in all the games that he, owe the 60 plus games he's created. So thank you, Steve, for taking time out of your but busy schedule to join us today.
00:01:11
Speaker
Hey, glad to be here. I'm looking forward to what you're going to ask me. i I'm looking forward to this too. Wait, wait, wait a second. Should I drink this? Or the big one? Probably the big one. I hear you're all booked out today. Yeah, you need some energy for today. So no, it's, it's awesome having you on. I'm excited for this game.
00:01:33
Speaker
Okay.
Influence of Sonic Theme and Game Design
00:01:34
Speaker
First off, Sonic the Hedgehog. Was it, did it kind of, did the script kind of write itself once you got this theme of, you knew you got to do speed and you are the king of flow. The script didn't write itself.
00:01:46
Speaker
You know, i played Sonic with my son a long, long time ago. I kind of lost touch with it. But we hired this this new young programmer, ah Taylor Snyder, and he's been our our our Sonic guru. And since then, I learned a lot about Sonic. And we applied, you know, everything we could in the game, not going too far away from pinball rules, but...
00:02:10
Speaker
uh i don't know it embodies the whole sonic experience pretty well is it hard to find that balance of because this was a video game so you've got the balance the video game with pinball which can and can't they they might push against each other they don't really at all i mean we we found solutions for any place there was like you know a problem with a difference in the you know, in the format of physical pinball versus video, it isn't a problem. hu it It really never was.
Sega's Role and Artistic Choices
00:02:41
Speaker
when So one of the most iconic things to Sonic is the fact that it's Sega. One of the questions I've been dying to ask is when you turn on this machine, does it do the classic Sega? Sega!
00:02:54
Speaker
As it's starting up? Sadly, no, they wouldn't let us. ah they They didn't want us to put that in there. And I don't know why. i mean, it's like they've been very reasonable about things. They have. I can't, I can't, I've worked with some horrendous people and it's like, they're not, they were very good.
00:03:13
Speaker
i I noticed that you guys kind of base this off of the Sonic Generations game. So it kind of melts the old and the new together. i noticed the art assets are mostly new generation Sonic. Is there any way that you've been able to tie in the old assets and kind of the old Sonic to this pinball machine?
00:03:30
Speaker
No, it's it's not a look that Sega wanted this to present. It's 3D. It's beautiful. it looks spectacular, you know, on the big 27 monitor. And it's it's what they chose. And so, and I'm very happy with it. I had pixelated characters.
00:03:51
Speaker
I mean, I could understand why some people want to see them, but as a ah presentation, no way, this is clean and bitched.
00:04:01
Speaker
It's just beautiful. I love it. I love it. yeah So speaking of video assets, so is this just all kind of from that video game of Sonic Generations? Is there any TV assets that were integrated? What what did you work with there?
00:04:13
Speaker
But yeah, I think it's based on Generations pretty much. Just because that is the, you know, it's great video. It just looks nice. Well, and it's one of the more recent properties in my memory. I remember the game originally came out in 2011, but they remade it for 2024 and added a bunch of stuff. So my understanding is this is the newer remake that has got shadow and all that stuff.
Original Sonic Audio and Recording Insights
00:04:36
Speaker
So on the, on the flyer, it says that you had original sonic audio actors. Who is that? i assume that's from the same video game as well.
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah, all of them. There's 6,000 recordings. 6,000. And we had to do them all at once without a chance of, you know, a redo.
00:04:57
Speaker
we couldn't We couldn't go back and get more. So we threw everything in, including the kitchen sink, and and just made this giant list. And they they did it all. And it's all very nice. I mean,
00:05:10
Speaker
I know speech calls are great. They're great and they're authentic. That's all the original actors. And, uh, well, let's talk about one thing that you do know. Black Knight was the first game to have an upper play field and it's kind of your signature on some
Upper Playfield Design and Gameplay Functionality
00:05:24
Speaker
of your games. And this game is no different. It has that upper play field that just looks fantastic. What made you decide to put an upper play field in this game?
00:05:33
Speaker
The chance to have 18 shots, 19 real shots, not including targets. And it's a clear plastic thing. You lose nothing on the lower play field.
00:05:45
Speaker
Visibility is really important to me. i Successful pinball games are mostly, you know, The ball has to be visible to the player as it approaches you. It just has to be. And if it isn't, it you know, people don't even know what they're missing, but they'll just, they won't be happy with the game. There'll be something, you know, maybe they won't say that out loud or understand it, but it's true. People need to see the ball as much as possible.
00:06:12
Speaker
Well, one of the things that caught my on the eye on this upper play field was the Dr. Eggman Robotnik moving. it's It's like a moving bash toy. Tell me how that works. Yeah, he's great. ah Well, you first of all, you have to complete a level to to to do a boss battle with Dr. Eggman. And we can't say Robotnik. In the United States, they said Eggman. That's it, Dr. Eggman.
00:06:39
Speaker
Anyway, he hides in a garage. That's what we call it. And ah after you make it to the end of a level... He comes out, you have to battle him. and He swings back and forth almost, i don't know, two thirds the width of the game, maybe more left and right.
00:06:57
Speaker
He also has the ability to go up and down. And so he can dodge your your shots. He can, he can, it's a lot of fun. That's the whole thing. And it's, it's been very well tested and it's like, it's durable and it's probably one of the most fun targets on a pinball machine ever. And it's,
00:07:17
Speaker
I'm not patting myself on the back. I have a great team. i mean, these people are awesome. Um, and a new guy, uh, Cam Astoris, uh, he's a mechanical engineer, young into robotics and stuff.
00:07:31
Speaker
It was my, ah my concept to make it, but he just did a bang up job on making it happen and making it durable. And, uh, It lights up so cool too. It's, I mean, it's awesome. It's a great toy. It's a great, great bash toy. It sounds like it. So it is a physical bash toy. Cause my understanding was there's a sensor underneath it that kind of tracks the ball or is that, is that not right?
00:07:56
Speaker
No, that's not correct. the It doesn't track the ball, but he he has, we you know, Bill grew up and the guys have written programs to come, you raise and lower him at times. It gets more difficult the further you get into the game. He'll dodge the ball. I mean, just randomly, it's it's very competitive, you know, to beat him in later levels, no doubt.
00:08:21
Speaker
It's fun. So you said that you have to complete a level to to bring him out.
Chaos Emerald Multiball Feature
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, like Green Hill, you know, you've got to complete one. They call them acts, A-C-T-S, in the Sonic games.
00:08:36
Speaker
But, you know, it's a level. There's seven different levels. And here's the cool part. You don't have to start Green Hill. You can start at the toughest level if you want at the game from the very beginning. It's a nice freedom.
00:08:48
Speaker
If you're bored, you're not going to get bored. I mean... There's a lot to do and a lot to choose from. Awesome. So those levels are all one mode, right? Because you're talking about Axe as well.
00:09:00
Speaker
They're not a mode. Oh, gotcha. So they're not a mode at all. No, they're levels. I mean, they're just levels. Like in the Sonic video game, you have to you know hit a bunch of checkpoints and try to gather as many rings as you can. um you know You try to avoid all these bad things that try to hurt you.
00:09:16
Speaker
And after you've completed it, you know... You have to do a boss battle. So the other thing that really stands out on this play field is the chaos emeralds. I know that's something you can kind of collect as you're going through these levels. How have you incorporated them into this pinball machine?
00:09:34
Speaker
we've incorporated them through multiball. Chaos Emerald multiball is where you start your quest to collect emeralds.
00:09:46
Speaker
So the first thing you do is you start two-ball multiball. The first one is very easy. ah All you have to do is go back into the shot where the balls came out of, where they were locked, and you'll collect the first emerald.
00:10:00
Speaker
There's some like a hint on the play field that tell tells you where to shoot during multiball to collect another emerald. It's a lamp that flashes, shows the color, and you have to hit that shot and then go back in the hole where multiballs come out of.
00:10:18
Speaker
We call it the lockup. Lockup has three single stand-up targets in front of it. It's like an inline three bank, but it's smart.
00:10:28
Speaker
and okay It returns the targets to whatever condition you left them in on your previous ball. um you know It's going to be all different. You four-player game. Everybody's going to have a different situation.
00:10:41
Speaker
That situation will be returned to them as they play their next ball. And like I said, they're smart. It's very nice. That's way cool. Is there at the back of the three target bank? Is it just hold the ball back there? Or is there an actual kicker that's back there? There's there's actually a shot that curves around and it rests against an up post.
00:11:01
Speaker
And the post comes down when it's time to release the balls. I know in the games, once you collect all the emeralds, you get supersonic mode, which I saw was on this play
Sonic's Loop-de-Loop and Slash's Music Integration
00:11:11
Speaker
field. How are you tying that into the gameplay?
00:11:14
Speaker
I'm not telling. all none of your beeswax now just just for the moment it's uh it's under development and it's like I don't want to talk about it I heard because I saw this loop-de-loop on the right side like that's one of the most iconic things in Sonic right because going through the loop-de-loop There's a magnet feeds this.
00:11:37
Speaker
If I understand this correctly, does the ball catch or the magnet catch the ball and you charge up like you would in Sonic and then release the charge so you can go through the loop-de-loop? Actually, you're talking about two different features we have on the pinball machine. Oh, look at me.
00:11:50
Speaker
Yes, there is a magnetic ramp with three magnets. The acceleration is tremendous. Okay. It goes through there and it's, it's a right ramp shot and the ball flies through there and it's, you know, it's sped up very quickly, fed into the loop and thrown to your right flipper. ah like a flash of lightning. It's pretty fun. And the other thing you talked about, which is a spin bash. After you've made that shot a few times, spin bash becomes available.
00:12:23
Speaker
You shoot the ball up there and the ball stops dead on the magnet. You see a bar in the in the display and you start pounding the flipper buttons. There's a little bar that you can move.
00:12:35
Speaker
When that bar hits the first bar, you score. The ball retracts a little bit and comes flinging, flying out again through the loop. That's fun. sounds like it i'm i'm excited to play this i grew up on the 90s sonic so a lot of this just resonates and it just i'm excited to see especially with the king of flow and speed i mean playing f fourteen tomcat and those just those classic 80s bally williams games that you were involved in in the 90s as well i mean getaway iss so iconic right and when you talk about the three magnets my mind automatically gravitates there so
00:13:11
Speaker
Um, I just, I'm excited to play this game because it seems like there is a lot that you've put from your years of experience into this game to make it just the best that it can be. There is. And it's really exciting. Music is good too. I mean, speaking of music, I noticed on the sheet that slash has done some music for this as well. Yeah, he has. He he did some, uh, some lead guitar work on a couple of songs and, uh, the guy's awesome. He's just a great guitar player and a good guy.
00:13:40
Speaker
No, and it's it's great to have someone as cool as Slash willing to rip and shred on a guitar to make this. Sonic is known for rock music. And so to have him bring his signature style of rock to this, love it.
00:13:55
Speaker
Yeah, it worked out great. It really did. We've kind of alluded to this with the rules and the code a little bit. JJP is known for its complex deep rule set. um But with some of that complexity, it's kind of hard to convey what's going on.
00:14:09
Speaker
um How are you guys working on to help simplify the message to the player of what to do in this game?
Color Coding for Simplified Rules
00:14:17
Speaker
Sonic has pretty simple rules until you start getting into the, there's there's one mode that's a wizard mode, but the other three modes are like, they're pretty tough. you Some of the stuff you have to figure out, no question. um The rules on the way there are really simple.
00:14:34
Speaker
It's based on color. Blue, blue arrows, blue LEDs, just single LEDs on the upper play field, all score checkpoints. gold or yellow LEDs. And we can change, you know, the color of any insert. So we can put that goal anywhere we want. We can put a ring here or, ah you know, ah a checkpoint, you know, anywhere we want. So, and then there's green.
00:15:02
Speaker
And that is, that deals with the master emerald and, um, and red when you're, when you're upstairs dealing with, uh, Dr. Eggman. Okay. Those, those are all, uh,
00:15:15
Speaker
jackpots, bonus, that kind of stuff. Very easy. Just like it's easy to play Sonic. Get the rings, stay alive, you know, bash some stuff, beat Dr. Eggman. I mean, that's pretty much it.
00:15:30
Speaker
It sounds like it lends great to pinball. It's great for pinball. It's one of the best. I think it's the best pinball theme ever. Maybe. I don't know. It might not be the best ever, but it's up there.
00:15:41
Speaker
It's pretty great. And the nice part, too, is the the foundations already can be been laid because they made a Sonic pinball game for the original Sega Genesis. Sure. Spinball. Yeah, Spinball. it did Did you take any inspiration from that as well?
00:15:55
Speaker
Not for the play field design because, you know, the video one is a very basic and I can't do that.
00:16:07
Speaker
That's not that I can't do it. I want flow. I want things to happen. And I will say this too. The flow between the lower play field and the upper play field is the best, the the my best effort of all time. you yeah It flows on the upper play field and it flows when it comes back down. and There is no, there's no interruption in play and it is fast.
00:16:34
Speaker
That's what hearing. If you're not paying attention, you hit that left ramp. It's a one 80 ramp that fits flip or feeds right to that left flipper. And it, it comes screaming at you. does There's that and there, well, you know, you get a little bit of time if it goes in through the back of the back panel. from the lower play field into a buck to be kicked up to the upper play field. You get a break because the ball's out of sight, and I don't like that.
00:16:59
Speaker
When it's out of sight, I'm going to let you know, here it comes, and and we do. We warn you very well. The left ramp, nope. You don't get a warning. If you shot up there, be ready to flip with the upper left flipper because it's fast. It's out of sight for half a second. I don't know. Not long.
00:17:17
Speaker
And you know it's coming. So is there only the two ways to get up there is the left ramp and then the the vertical up kicker? Right. The left ramp, though, is always available. The center hole is not always available.
00:17:29
Speaker
Gotcha. Okay. Well, and how do you incorporate an
Innovative Upper Playfield Design
00:17:32
Speaker
upper play field? Because one of the one of the hard parts is is people feel like they're hindrance or they take from the the gameplay. But it sounds like this has been incorporated. that It's just it's part of the game.
00:17:42
Speaker
The upper play field does not encroach the lower play field at all. I had to think about things hanging down from the bottom of the upper play field. And there isn't anything except for, you know, nuts to hold mini posts and ball guides on and and wiring. Okay.
00:17:58
Speaker
But I wanted the target up there, a linear target where you strike it and it, you know, it goes forward it's been tried many times in the business. I mean, I had this thought a while back, a couple years ago, but I didn't do anything with it because I didn't need it. Well, now I needed it. And ah this target, it's really hard to get good rebound off of ah any other design that's ever been done. i mean, they used they a long time ago, they tried flipper buttons. It would hit it. it would It was clicky. You'd hear the click and there would be almost no rebound. And it's like, no, I don't want that.
00:18:37
Speaker
So we built this little, you know, this little target with a like silicone rubber, but stronger ah urethane. Okay. And it's real bouncy. And we've got springs behind it, not the kind like you would get in a stand up target where they do this, you know, smacking into each other.
00:18:58
Speaker
And it's linear and the spring is like kind of like a beehive spring where it compresses, but it doesn't get in its own way. Do you know what I mean? You don't stack wire and we found the right ones and um on they play great and I love them. I love it. They throw it right back at the flipper. They're nice. I mean, it's cool. It's really good. The upper play field is super busy.
00:19:24
Speaker
It is total chaos playing the game. I mean, it it really is the slingshots. There's four of them. There's two up, up in the upper third of the, of the game, just before you get to the bad Nick targets and the hole in the back to go up and, uh, stand up or the, uh, there's a single drop target up there.
00:19:43
Speaker
And, uh, those slingshots are sort of pointed at each other and they get the ball just hauling ass. Is it okay to say? Yeah. Okay. Okay. So the ball is really moving fast. The fastest I've ever seen a ball move between two slingshots. Okay.
00:20:01
Speaker
And it's like, I wonder how long it's going to stay adjusted like that. They stay. i don't know why. Don't know how they just stay adjusted. Just never been a problem. So it's amazing JP, JJP, uh, mechanical engineers, right?
00:20:17
Speaker
It's placement, placement of rubber and where they're, where they are in the angles that they're on. And also there's a big magnet under there. I mean, having a straight shot up the middle invites straight down the middle drains.
00:20:30
Speaker
So we put a magnet underneath the play field up in the upper area and, That magnet always, i mean, it it affects the ball. Sometimes it'll throw it right back up, back into the upper play field.
00:20:45
Speaker
Sometimes it'll throw it back at you, but not down the middle. ah I got a real fast one today. i don't know. It makes it very random and fun.
00:20:55
Speaker
That's
Sonic Pinball Machine Versions
00:20:56
Speaker
it. Love it. And protects protects somewhat from center drains. Yes, love can't guarantee that all of them yeah are going to be saved. They're not. Not all of them are, but... My motto was play better.
00:21:08
Speaker
i love it. Hey, I want to introduce our co-host, Scott Larson. Thanks for coming in and joining us. He he ran from work today to get in, and ah he he left a person on the operating table to be like, I am doing this for JJP. You don't sweat much, Scott.
00:21:24
Speaker
I drive fast. So Steve, um with Harry Potter, you guys brought back the arcade version. You also have, you know, the mid tier and the collector's edition. And so can you tell me about the divisions? Is it going to be a similar approach like you did with Harry Potter to make sure you have the same play field and the same feel for all the different versions?
00:21:45
Speaker
Or are you ah modifying it depending on the level? There are no modifications. There is one play set, one play field, one set of rules, one set of video artwork. Okay. It plays exactly the same between all three models.
00:22:02
Speaker
Oh, okay. So that we're not changing anything, but you do have different, different things that reward people for upgrading to the different levels. So can you, can you talk about what the rewards are for, Hey, spending a little bit extra money, getting more eye candy and, and getting I understand what you want to say. The collector's edition has a a very special topper. That's ah it's mechanical.
00:22:25
Speaker
It's also electronic. It's got a, a Sonic toy and ah ah Dr. Eggman toy. And it's the full width of the back box. They move back and forth. They can turn and face you. They can face away from each other. They can face each other. They can chase each other back and forth behind them is a a long and thin play, uh, display.
Collector's Edition Special Features
00:22:53
Speaker
It's awesome. And, uh, we're putting things like smoke behind the, the egg mobile. Okay. When Sonic starts running, it's dust coming up off the, off the ground. And and when you smack into him, parts fall off of the egg mobile or Sonic, you know, it can be like birds going around his head. Like he's knocked out or at least but dazed.
00:23:18
Speaker
And I do it. You know, we have more work to do on that, but it's going to be awesome. It is awesome now, but it's going to be a lot better. Also, it's a giant, you know, it's ah a very high up big display that tells people your scores, bonuses when you want an extra ball. it's It's awesome. It's like a billboard at the same time as a animated background for our mechanical toys.
00:23:44
Speaker
ah So on the topper, you're saying there's another display up there that has animations. Yeah, a big one. I mean, it's the full width of the back box. And ah yes, that's that's it.
00:23:58
Speaker
it is animmate It animates behind the toys, which when you go into a boss battle, they fight, they move against each other. You see oh you know explosions, stuff like that.
00:24:11
Speaker
oh Okay, so now now let's talk about mid-level. No, no, no. We're not done. yeah We're not done. all done so The c CE has a beautiful sparkle radcals and it the sparkle glitter is, wait till you see it. it's not like It's not like Elton John. Elton John was nice, but this is like I mean, stuff is moving when you walk by, all you have to do is move your head or just walk by the glitter is animated. That's, ah that's the best word I could use. The artwork is beautiful. Um, you know, it comes with a shaker motor. It comes with the camera. It comes with, uh, uh, the CE comes with a ah gold ring shooter knob. It's outstanding. And, uh,
00:24:56
Speaker
And one thing I love is the lower arch decal also with glitter. It's like sparkly. i don't know. It's beautiful. And so, yeah, it it seems like regardless of which version of this game, you're going to be getting a similar playing experience between all the levels.
00:25:14
Speaker
And there are just ways of making it ah brighter, more more interactive, ah more eye candy as you're willing to step up for the different levels. Yeah, that's true.
00:25:26
Speaker
So one of the things I was noticing, we talked about the Dr. Eggman bash toy up top, but below him on the lower play field is a battle zone that looks kind of similar to maybe like the Sandman area on Spider-Man.
00:25:39
Speaker
Is that incorporated with the boss battle or is it its own separate thing? Well, but yeah. Dr. Eggman has his badniks, little robots that try to attack Sonic and other characters. And so the battle zone, that's the beginning of the area. The actual place where you battle Eggman is on the upper play field.
00:25:59
Speaker
But we call it the battle zone and we call the upper area where he is his laboratory. It seems like the upper play field is pretty jam packed and it it seems like it's covering. Wow. It's it's like it's almost coming about A third of the way down, maybe even a slightly past a third of the way down. Yeah. And and it's like, there's eight shots up there and I'm not, you know, there's two flippers. I mean, this is, this is packed and that's going to be a really fast in your face experience when you're shooting two flippers.
00:26:32
Speaker
It totally is. And it's like kind of like new skill developing because the flippers are not at the same angle. they're They're optimized for the shots they face. And because the shots are so widespread, they're, you know, they don't have an angle like this. They have more of a downward angle to to make sure that you can make all the shots. And you can.
00:26:57
Speaker
And there's no loss of flow between the upper and lower play fields. It just... Well, you'll see what happens. it It takes a lot of skill to keep the ball up there. it takes a lot of skill to understand what you're going to get. I mean, but it's very clear as soon as you learn the the color code, what you're going to get. Okay. what One thing that I did notice, though, is you have wire forms that bring it all down to the left flipper when you drink. So, okay. So is there in other games...
00:27:27
Speaker
Like you're in danger when it falls off the upper play field because it can go anywhere. And a lot of times it goes down the middle, but this seems a little more controlled than some of the other upper play fields in the past. The upper play field is uncontrolled.
00:27:41
Speaker
Oh, okay. I mean, that's enough risk. I mean, you know, you're going to, it takes a while to master staying up there. I'll just say that. So one question I have, Harry Potter has been a grand slam for Jersey Jack pinball.
Production Timeline and Strategy Comparison
00:27:55
Speaker
Are you guys going to still be building those while you make Sonic? And how soon can we see Sonics out in the wild? There are Finnish games on the line right now. So I'm not going to talk about when, but not long.
00:28:08
Speaker
Within a few weeks. one One thing they did with Harry Potter, though, was they didn't really limit, it was a it was a time window when you could buy the CE, not necessarily a limited number.
00:28:18
Speaker
And I'm assuming that window's coming to a close for Harry Potter. Are you going to do this, or is Jersey Jack going to do the same thing for the CE on Sonic? Yeah. I mean, why do we, why would any company limit? I don't, I don't understand it. That part of it. If you can sell a pinball machine in the world, you sell it. and I know that's, um I mean, I'm a game designer. I like fun, but I've seen the video, the pinball business do this. You know, I don't want that anymore. I want the pinball business to thrive. So do you, because you're not going to get games if it doesn't.
00:28:55
Speaker
Okay. We got to sell games and that's, and, and yeah, there's not going to be a limit beyond the time. It's going to work exactly like Harry Potter. That's actually something I've been a big proponent of because I would rather have the best version of a game available to everybody who wants to buy it.
00:29:12
Speaker
Yes. there's i know that's different. Yeah. I know that's different. There's no reason not to give that to them. None at all. We're leaving money on the table. Also money powers, pinball development.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yep. No, I absolutely, well, okay, ah Steve, the first time I actually went to one of your seminars, this is probably about, you know, roughly 10 years ago when you signed my Spider-Man. Wait, wait, wait. I remember that. You were annoying. ah Yeah, that's true. Absolutely. you weren't annoying. I'm just kidding.
00:29:39
Speaker
i I had you sign my Spider-Man Translate, and the first thing you did is when you got up, you introduced yourself this way. Hi, I'm Steve Ritchie, and I sell pinball machines.
00:29:52
Speaker
Okay. I try to do my best on every game. And so i i can say that I want to sell pinballs. I do. One thing I saw in this that I really, really love that
Electronic Ring Displays and Visual Appeal
00:30:02
Speaker
I want to talk about is you have the little rings all over the play field from the Sonic game and they have displays in the middle of them. Can you, can you tell me more about those? Yeah. There's, there's like five displays that are electronic. They have the the same kind of, um,
00:30:19
Speaker
Actually, it might be an a little bit smaller LED than the than the piano display in Elton John. But it's that same kind of high-intensity brightness and... um you know, it's, it's kind of low res, but it there's your low res. I mean, if you want to see low res characters, look at the little displays. They're full of information. They tell you where to shoot and what you're going to get. You see a blue arrow pointing this way on the upper play field. It's between two shots, shoot there, and you're going to get a checkpoint.
00:30:51
Speaker
If it's, if you see a ring spinning and it's pointing there, you get a ring or several. And, uh, There's a lot of information there. There really is. Every time you pick up an Emerald, but you know, that's a beautiful display on the game. When you win an admiral an Emerald, it's like, you know, we can actually keep the ball in the lockup for a bit. There could be another ball but in play. There usually is.
00:31:17
Speaker
But at least, I don't know, it's a celebration you can, so you know, you can see for a little longer than other things that happen on the game because they happen fast. They just do.
00:31:29
Speaker
Um, Sonic Heroes is, is another thing. It's like we have Sonic Hero multi-ball. You have to collect, um, three members of a team and there are four different teams with different characters on them and they have names.
00:31:45
Speaker
Uh, When you get a team of three by, well, you spell out hero in the lanes down below ah with lane change or whatever, and that'll light the hero.
00:31:56
Speaker
There's a shot, you know, to start multiball, and there's an up post in there that holds the ball for a minute and lets you know that you're ah you're going to go into multiball. If you want to, if you don't want to,
00:32:11
Speaker
You hit the center action button and you can, you know, risk gathering another team before you play that multiball. And it stacks all the way to all four teams, which is 12 characters. And they've come up with a really cool display feature on the back glass screen.
00:32:29
Speaker
that shows your characters in black and white that you need as soon as you acquire one team member so they're sort of black and white and they fill in with color as you collect them um you can collect like i said up to four teams and the the bonuses and jackpots are huge if you can do it uh I never have. i The most I've ever gotten is two teams. But also when you shoot in that shot, it gives you a letter.
00:33:00
Speaker
It's like scoring a letter in one of the lanes. So it's definitely, yeah, it helps you complete hero often. it It sounds like if you're familiar with the, i guess the the classic era of the Sonic games from the Genesis that you will be familiar with all the background sounds, with the music, with the, uh, with the effects, with everything. ah ah do you lose rings in this game? I know that was a feature of the video games when you were spinning around and you would actually collect rings and then you'd hit a spike and all the rings would go flying.
00:33:33
Speaker
Yeah. That's a subject about, uh, a, uh, internal battle we've been having. That's not a serious battle. We're still thinking about it. But right now, a tilt warning is making you lose rings. I'm not sure I like that because on a tilt warning, why should you lose anything? I don't, yeah you know, it's bad enough. Okay, I've moved it too much. I don't want to move it again like that. know, I don't want to shake the game. i It's probably enough.
00:34:02
Speaker
ah You definitely lose a lot if you tilt the game. If you tilt it, you're going to lose a lot of rings. Maybe not all of them, but a lot. A big percentage. Now, getting back to the little displays, you were talking about them guiding your path. This seems a little bit of a callback to um Jersey Jack's Pirates of the Caribbean, where it had the the compass down below, and it would say, hey, shoot this shot for the most points.
Guiding Players: Comparison with Pirates of the Caribbean
00:34:30
Speaker
Is is there a similar approach to this game?
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, there is, but it's it's not going to be as verbose, okay, because it's tiny. I think there's like 65 elements in each ring. So it's like, it produces nice looking pixelated, you know, vintage sonic look. that does that um It does It does tell you information, but...
00:34:54
Speaker
um You kind of look at all of them and you see bonus at times in big letters broken up between the five displays. But for some reason, your brain reads it as bonus. So that's a good thing. ah You know, ah boss battle, same thing. Things are going on. They're always animated.
00:35:13
Speaker
It's ah very entertaining. You know, Steve, you've been doing this for over 50 years, like I said, the very beginning.
Steve Ritchie's Future in Pinball Design
00:35:21
Speaker
ah how much longer do you got How much gas do you have left in the tank?
00:35:24
Speaker
i'd love to do and i'd I'd love to do a few more games. i just Okay, working here with all these younger people makes me younger. I can't help it. You know, one thing that I did not see in Sonic that is kind of iconic to the games is pop bumpers are actually in the Sonic games. They're these little red, blue with stars on them.
00:35:44
Speaker
they're ah They're They're trampoline things. You jump on the top of them. i didn't I didn't want jets. I wanted that kind of action and you get it on those upper slingshots and their side to side motion.
00:35:57
Speaker
Jets are not missed. I just don't miss them. They take up a lot of room on this play field and I'll go back to using them again. i just, this design, they slow everything down too. Wait you see and play.
00:36:11
Speaker
Your favorite shot and your favorite mode. My favorite shot is right up the center. It's just, it's not as easy as it looks. Got to good huevos on the ball. And
00:36:28
Speaker
upper play, well, there's a a series of fun combos when you can nail them. i like you know I think Sonic would not be ah thematically consistent if it were a safe game.
00:36:40
Speaker
That's right. it's I can't do that. I can't make, you know, like ah an easy game. Somewhere in the middle, I don't want to, I want to be good to the guys that are, as you know, like me, not that good.
00:36:57
Speaker
I'm not that good of a player. I'm around here and some of these guys are incredible. Eric is an incredible player. Joe Katz is an incredible player. Those guys, Keith Johnson, I'm just not that good. So I kind of like, I try to be a champion for average players and,
00:37:15
Speaker
Well, Steve, we appreciate you coming on. It's been wonderful having you talk about Sonic, about your career, working at Jersey Jack Pinball. If someone wants to get a hold of you, what is the best way they can get a hold
Podcast Closure and Contact Information
00:37:26
Speaker
you? Call Jersey Jack. Are you going broadcast my phone number?
00:37:29
Speaker
no, i don't know no. We won't do that. No. no Okay. go Go see the shows, I guess. That's that's the best way. Okay. You can do this. S Richie at Jersey Jack pinball.
00:37:40
Speaker
And if you want to get ahold of us, we are loser kid pinball podcast at gmail.com. We're on all the socials at loser kid pinball. And if you like the swag, if you want to get your eight bit stuff to celebrate Sonic silver ball, swag.com slash loser.
00:37:55
Speaker
Scott, why don't you give us our last words? Okay. And I'll just go with Sonic. Sonic's the name speeds my game.
00:38:06
Speaker
you