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Stern's Star Wars Fall of the Empire Pinball

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 4 min listen
From the creator

Scott and Josh go over the new Star War pinball machine by Stern. From sticker art to interesting gameplay, they cover it all. Want to order a hat? Click here for the form....

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Highlights

  • John Borg has designed three games (Metallica, Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, and Walking Dead) in a 12-month span, with Metallica releasing less than 11 months before Star Wars
  • Star Wars: Fall of the Empire uses a nearly identical layout to John Borg's Austin Powers design
  • Eight different Star Wars pinball machines have been manufactured, all following the original trilogy except Episode I
  • Jaws 50th Anniversary will only have one more production run in December before discontinuation
  • The original Star Wars pinball game had problematic design with a dangerous immediate plunge and ball rejection issues on the Hyperloop ramp
  • Fall of the Empire's playfield art heavily relies on sticker-like artwork rather than integrated design, influenced by Disney approval requirements
  • Ray Day (code designer) is directing the game toward accessibility and straightforward ruleset design, contrasting with Dwight Sullivan's more complex approach

Notable quotes

“metallica released not even 11 months ago right now we have star wars and the rumor is walking dead with borg on it three games that's three games in one year in a 12-month span”
Josh Roop
“i half wonder if there's a commission that is paid towards the design teams for making these games and you would rather make a new game with a designer that's still at stern”
Scott Larson
“i just i looked at this and was like oh please please no my uh the art and i know like it look at this play field you've got it pulled up right... it looks like stickers”
Scott Larson
“why did we not get randy martinez on it he killed it on the comic book edition like he just did fantastic”
Scott Larson
“If you were to buy a lunchbox with Empire Strikes Back on it, you would get this back box. Because it is an artistic representation of the Battle of Hoth, and it actually looks really good.”
Josh Roop
“Ray, I'm guessing, is shooting for that a little bit more on this game... straightforward accessibility thing”
Josh Roop
“This definitely does feel a little bit like Medieval Madness type thing where it's accessible to all probably the elite players may or may not be interested”
Josh Roop
“Star Wars, fall of the Austin powers. Like, okay.”
Scott Larson

Entities

  • Disney· company
  • Flippin' Out Pinball· company
  • Stern Pinball· company
  • Pinball Expo· event
  • Attack from Mars· game
  • Austin Powers· game
  • Jaws 50th Anniversary· game
  • Medieval Madness· game
  • Metallica· game
  • Star Wars: Fall of the Empire· game
  • The Walking Dead· game
  • Loser Kid Pinball Podcast· organization
  • Dwight Sullivan· person
  • George Gomez· person
  • Greg Bone· person
  • John Borg· person
  • Josh Roop· person
  • Ken Cromwell· person
  • Randy Martinez· person
  • Ray Day· person
  • Scott Larson· person
  • Steve Ritchie· person
  • Tom Graff· person
  • Travis Meary· person
  • Zach Nicolmeni· person

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