Ep 37: Talkin' Turtles with Dwight Sullivan
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the hot new reveal and we have Dwight Sullivan to talk about it! We cover how TMNT came to be and everything it entails but we also dive into Dwight tenured history in pinball. Fun time with a fun guy!
Kineticist’s take
Dwight Sullivan details TMNT pinball design: turtle mechanics, Nickelodeon collab, and balancing casual vs tournament play.
Synopsis
Loser Kid Pinball Podcast interviews Dwight Sullivan, code designer for Stern's new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball machine. Sullivan discusses the collaborative design process with mechanical engineer John Borg and animator Elliot Eastman, the development of turtle-specific rule variations, the decision-making between Pro/Premium/LE feature sets, voice acting and licensing with Nickelodeon, and the philosophy behind balancing tournament-ready gameplay with casual appeal. The episode covers gameplay mechanics including the spinning disc multiball, turtle selection system, episode progression tied to storyline unlocks, and April O'Neill's modernized portrayal as a story-driven character rather than a damsel-in-distress trope.
Entities
- Stern Pinball· company
- Deadpool· game
- Game of Thrones· game
- Star Wars· game
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles· game
- Loser Kid Pinball Podcast· media
- Nickelodeon· organization
- Brad Hunter· person
- Brothers Kizzabat· person
- Dwight Sullivan· person
- Elliot Eastman· person
- Gary Stern· person
- John Borg· person
- Josh Sharp· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Mark Silk· person
- Raymond Davidson· person
- Zach Menny· person