Michael “DRI374” Mattsson is a pinball and arcade game ambassador who streams games on Twitch, mainly from his home arcade, “Raccoon City Pinball” in Santa Cruz California. You can also catch him streaming at venues and events around the San Francisco Bay Area.
Why pinball matters and the top 5 games by DRI374
Stern Pinball Foo Fighters: I WANT TO BELIEVE react stream from Raccoon City Pinball
Barrels of Fun Labyrinth Pinball: Intro and first flips!
"DRI374 has one of the best rigs and is a huge part of the West Coast pinball scene, not to mention pinball as a whole. Great content, great enthusiasm, and straight talk."
Streamer plays Avatar CE by JJP, showcasing mechanics and ranking it among best JJP games.
Testing out a direct capture kit I can bring to venues that have modern games with HDMI and line-out. I got a game on the board. Bonus camera for shits and giggles. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
Gameplay stream of The Shadow (Bally) featuring mode progression and wizard mode attempts.
Well, I got Final Battle lit. A ton of extra balls though, so I don't know if it counts. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
Attack from Mars gameplay with flipper/ramp mechanical issues at Raccoon City Pinball
I haven't even removed all the factory high scores on this one. Embarrassing. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
Gameplay stream of Dirty Harry with mechanical problems noted.
An hour and a half of 1-5 minute games. Only two or so games went north of 500M. So fun once you can actually hit what you're aiming for, but not today. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
Twilight Zone gameplay with commentary on modes and shot difficulty.
Just a quick game of TZ I thought to myself. I did not expect LITZ on ball one. My GC had two LITZ in one game. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
DRI374VideoSonic The Hedgehog CE by Jersey Jack Pinball: Last game and a review. Streamed from Pinball Pirate.2mo agoDRI374VideoSonic The Hedgehog CE by Jersey Jack Pinball: More level discovery. Streamed from Pinball Pirate.2mo agoDRI374VideoSonic The Hedgehog CE by Jersey Jack Pinball: Game 1. Streamed from Pinball Pirate.2mo agoFirst-person gameplay demo of Transformers Pro with mechanical observations and layout impressions.
Since they had a TF Pro stood up in the lobby I thought I'd just give it whirl while I was heading out. Shoots and feeds like dream. A lot of holy shit moments. Music, callouts and UX are dialed to 11. My premium is more than welcome to show up. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
Live gameplay stream of Stern's Pokémon Premium pinball machine
I hit most of the content in the game at the moment (v0.83) on one long-ass ball two. The game is sold and moves out on Thursday. So, what's the verdict anyway? The shots don't falter on this game. It's Gomez's golden fan and shots are exactly where you expect them. On-the-fly play has never been more fun. The basic rules work as-is but they need to work on callouts and how things stack etc. I mean, I got the Pikachu hurry-up when I had my add-a-ball lit during a multiball. That's not very practical. Having battles as an exclusive mode without anything else running may seem like fun at the time but the lock-out part is sometimes not what you want if you've been building towards something else. Having the ability to cancel/postpone the battle should be available if the ball dribbles into the scoop on accident. Anyhow, this game can only get better code-wise. After seeing Sonic I just wonder where the hell all the money goes for the prices Stern charge. The left vacuum form ramp is the laziest thing I've seen coming out of the factory on a premium game since the Stranger Things ramp returns. It's clearly a project milestone that shows exactly where they ran out of either time or money. The whirlpool is a good idea but how well is it executed when balls come down on a dribble? A ball accelerator chamber (like the one on HSII or Stern Wars premium/LE) would've been awesome. This game does not work in a 10+ game collection if you have a better fan layout game, like AFM etc. The childish toons and vibes does not sit well with my 50yo self that was too old when Pokémon first came out and became mainstream. The LE is way overpriced on the market and I would rather have three Bally/WMS games for that money and triple the fun. Also, the flippers get insanely sluggish once warmed up. You can barely hit the left orbit and halfsies are frequent and annoying. Coil coolers are highly recommend. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
DRI374 breaks down Jersey Jack's Sonic announcement: dual playfield, Slash soundtrack, $10k–$15k pricing.
In hindsight, the bottom line here is that Sonic is Pokémon 2.0 with 2X value. The Special Edition is a grand less than the Pokémon LE (retail) and packs a whole lot more hardware. It doesn't look like JJP ran out of time and money that Stern did with Pokémon, where Stern put a poorly designed vacuum formed ramp for pennies over the problem to catch up. Anyhow, hot takes. Look out for some Sonic gameplay on the channel in the coming weeks and I'll get you a review. Want to know what gear I stream pinball and arcade games with?
Beetlejuice gameplay stream from The Flipper Room showing multiball modes and rules exploration.
TLDR; Beetlejuice is an original and will become a true modern classic. I feel for the folks who didn't get the opportunity to even see the game before making up their minds if they wanted a Beetlejuice or not. Sold on theme and theme alone. Maybe on some rumors from the few that were in the know. Business practices aside, the game is phenomenal. I watched the film not long ago to understand the references. I probably watched it as a kid but didn't appreciate it enough to even remember it. Trust me, you can hate the film but if you're even remotely into pinball, you'll enjoy this game. I only played one or two games at GSPF and it was complete sensory overload. This time around I put in a two hour session to explore the game a bit deeper. I glance over the rules on TILT forums but I honest forgot most of it by the time I got to The Flipper Room so I mostly shot what was lit. I was taken. Instinctively you want to battle the sandworm as it's such a prominent toy in the game but I found it way too dangerous to go three sandworms down before getting results so I stayed clear from it in later games and that paid off. Another thing I did not explore was the camera as that too was very risky to shoot for. The layout feels very original overall. The left ramp/right ramp is of course there with some "orbit" type shots and a side scoop, but that's about it. I absolutely love to nail the left orbit around the "now serving" for lighting the lock and some skillful juggling you could get a few loops in and complete all lock lights. The Simpson style lock which now have been used on several Spooky games is nothing short of brilliant. The ramp lift to expose the lock shot, the sequence of lighting the ramp diverter during MB, and using the spinner to tip the couch over is an absolute masterclass in pinball design. The modes, THE MODES. One mode is crazier than the other, the multiballs in some of the modes are even crazier.
Beetlejuice by Spooky gameplay stream from The Flipper Room with score attempts.
Going deep in the modes and keeping things afloat seems to be the best scoring strategy. I kind of kept the sandworm and camera alone as I felt those were way to risky to shoot for. Want to know what gear streamed this game? Checkout
Streamer explores Beetlejuice gameplay at Flipper Room; tests name-saying and sandworm mechanics.
I tried the Spooky speech, multiple times, during the showtime MB as well. I'd say I hit it 1 in 10. This was an absolute trash game 1 and I kind figured out where some points and safe shots were towards the end. I'm gonna summarize my thoughts on a different video. Want to know what gear streamed this game? Checkout
Raw Pokémon Premium gameplay stream with feature highlights and technical observations.
We got the ability to switch biome, a bunch of hurry-ups and an alleged Team Rocket MB 2. I'll deal with the MB on the next stream. Want to know what gear streamed this game? Checkout
Pokémon Premium gameplay stream showing mixed play, rule modes, and equipment observations.
Pokémon surely is fun to shoot but the gameplay feels so linear with the wafer thin code the game is currently on. Want to know what gear streamed this game? Checkout
James Cameron's Avatar gameplay showcase with multiball modes and technical commentary from Raccoon City Pinball location.
I didn't think I had it in me today but here's the new GC. Pandora obviously drained 2 seconds after ball save was over and Ball 3 drain goes to the history book of shittiest drain ever. GG. Watch...
Streamer plays The Shadow on RAR platform, demonstrates Vengeance mode and gameplay mechanics.
New game alert at Lynn's Arcade. A The Shadow with only 500 original plays(!). It looks brand new. The inner loop opto was ghost activating so I had to unplug it. The lower left ramp diverter switch...
Input lag test shows Reignite vs OG DoDonPachi have immeasurable latency differences.
Not much to shout about but since I spent all night building the LED circuit I thought I'd take it for a spin. - Sanwa stick - Brook UFB - Aimos USB switcher - Genki Covert Dock...
Streamer plays CSI (Stern 2008), explores multiball modes and crime-solving mechanics.
50M on the board without a single Super Jackpot. Quite the feat. Want to know what gear streamed this game? Checkout...
