Episode 1196: "Stern's Surprise Pokemon Stream & Beetlejuice Scoop-Gate?"
Pokemon stream analysis & Beetlejuice early feedback on scoop design concerns.
Happy Friday!
Synopsis
Kaneda discusses Stern's surprise unannounced Pokemon gameplay stream featuring George Gomez, Jack Danger, and Tanya Kleiss, noting the lack of promotion and concerns about Pokemon Company's protective licensing limiting code updates. He expresses skepticism about Pokemon's basic gameplay depth and competitive appeal versus recent releases like Godzilla and Foo Fighters, while predicting code quality will be critical to the game's long-term success. He also addresses emerging early feedback on Beetlejuice regarding excessive scoops and upper flipper design issues, arguing these are fixable calibration problems and recommending players avoid spoiler streams.
Highlights
- Stern did not advertise or promote the Pokemon gameplay stream; it just appeared on Friday.
- Pokemon Company is one of the most protective license holders on the planet, expected to limit code update frequency.
- Walking Dead Remastered has gone three months without a single code update due to licensor approval delays.
- Pokemon LE secondary market prices have already dropped from aspirational $20,000 asks to $17,000-$18,000 unsold listings.
- Pokemon's gameplay is basic and will not excite players accustomed to recent flagship releases like Godzilla, Foo Fighters, Jurassic Park, and Steve Ritchie games.
- Beetlejuice has three scoops, which is excessive and breaks flow compared to designs by Keith Elwin and Steve Ritchie.
- Beetlejuice's upper flipper is under-designed and lacks the kinetic satisfaction of upper flippers in Harry Potter and Elton John.
- Pokemon requires Premium or LE features (magnet, secret entrance, ramp, moving Pikachu) to be compelling; the Pro version would be boring.
- Sonic the Hedgehog is expected to ship with complete code, unlike Pokemon's early code state.
- Transformers is coming in approximately four months with G1 Transformer cartoon clips and is expected to connect emotionally for many players.
Notable quotes
“Really weird that they didn't like advertise this. They didn't promote it. It was just like up on Friday.”
“It's starting to make people feel a little bit nervous that a lot of this is being controlled by somebody called the Pokemon Company.”
“Will the code be enough to make this game that has a very basic layout exciting enough and enticing enough for the pinball community?”
“The games aren't even out yet. What will happen when the games get made? I still think there are a lot of question marks when it comes to this game.”
“This game needs more depth than just collecting Pokemon. That can't be it. They just can't have you do the same thing over and over and over again.”
“I think this is the one where you need to go above the pro. If you strip out the magnet, strip out the secret entrance, strip out the ramp, strip out Pikachu moving, then I think you've got the most boring, barren game of all time.”
“You don't really see many scoops in anything that Keith Elwin makes. You don't really see many scoops in games that Steve Ritchie makes. It's just a design decision.”
“The less you pay attention to Beetlejuice threads, the less you read other people's reactions, the less you watch of the streams, the more enjoyment you will have when your Beetlejuice arrives.”
“Your product is a good year and a half away from being completed.”
“This is George Gomez's game. And this is a huge game for Stern Pinball. I can't underscore how important that is.”
Entities
- Pokemon Company· company
- Spooky Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Beetlejuice· game
- Elton John· game
- Foo Fighters· game
- Godzilla· game
- Goonies· game
- Guns N' Roses· game
- Harry Potter· game
- Pokemon Pinball· game
- Sonic the Hedgehog· game
- Transformers· game
- Walking Dead Remastered· game
- Winchester· game
- Carrie Hardy· person
- George Gomez· person
- Jack Danger· person
- Kaneda· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Kelly Daniel· person
- Killian· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Tanya Kleiss· person
- Pinball Palace· venue
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