WAP #Kaneda Don Cengiz Live: Pokemon
WAP hosts review Pokemon Pinball, praise design, note thin code launch, discuss secondary market dynamics.
Here's the audio for our recent livestream. Video is over on the Don's Pinball Podcast youtube channel.
Synopsis
Don, Cengiz, and Kaneda conduct a live review of Stern's Pokemon Pinball Limited Edition and Pro models, discussing artwork, audio, layout, and gameplay. They note the game ships with minimal code compared to typical Stern releases, speculate about licensing delays affecting Insider Connected integration, and observe strong secondary market pricing ($23,000 initial flips declining to $2,500-$3,000 over MSRP). The group praises the satisfying shot layout and theme execution while highlighting gaps in available content.
Highlights
- Stern sent a Google Doc to dealers with Pokemon characters next to LE serial numbers before Stern decided not to include character-specific plaques, causing customer confusion about ordering specific Pokemon editions.
- Pokemon Pinball LE originally had character-specific plaques planned but Pokemon Company rejected the idea because they didn't want certain LE versions to appear more valuable than others.
- Gomez (the designer) has stated that Ash will not appear in Pokemon Pinball because players are cast as the trainer and the game takes place in later Pokemon seasons.
- Gomez has said he is still waiting for approval from Pokemon Company/licensor to enable Insider Connected on Pokemon Pinball.
- Pokemon Pinball shipped with notably less code than typical Stern releases at launch, with only one environment available (forest) out of four planned and limited Pokemon varieties in play.
- The Pokemon Pinball LE art was arranged by Zombie Yeti and his daughter, not designed by Zombie Yeti himself.
- Chris sold a Pokemon Pinball LE for $23,000 on the secondary market; current LE prices have declined to $2,500-$3,000 over MSRP as more units ship.
- Flipper power defaults on Pokemon Pinball allow backhanding both ramps easily on Pro, but some players report needing to adjust flipper power settings.
- The Psyduck shoot-in on Pokemon Pinball uses a triple captive ball mechanism (caroming between three balls) designed by Jack Danger before the project transitioned to Gomez.
- Pokemon Pinball LE stands out visually as one of Stern's nicest LE art packages ever, but lacks foil/embossed decal finishes present on recent premium titles like Batman SLE and Elvira variants.
Notable quotes
“It's uplifting for me.”
“Don, on the sneak-in, what's the guy's name, the sneak-in shot? Psyduck. When it ejects, is it supposed to eject strong enough to hit the captive ball up? Because mine hits the captive ball, but not with enough force to register.”
“I mean, the license of this game wasn't cheap. So I think there will come a lot of more code. But everybody's waiting. Come on, man. Come with the code, right?”
“Gomez has said it. He's not. You play as the trainer, and it's not going to be Ash. And it takes place in later seasons of Pokemon, so he's not in it.”
“I think that's fair. Dude, that's cleverly done. I love it. I mean, if I had the LE, I would have done it also, but yeah. It's a misnomer, right? Well, the Pokemon company didn't want it for that exact reason.”
“$23, 000. Did you hear that, Donnie? I hear it in my dreams. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm not getting that anymore, though.”
“It's barren. It is very barren. I mean, you can literally get to the game in 30 minutes.”
“But if this game was Princess Pony, you wouldn't care. But because of its Pokemon, the colors, the sound, the audio, the combo shots like Chris said, the right orbit with the spinner, it's just so satisfying to shoot.”
Entities
- Pokemon Company· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Batman SLE· game
- Elvira (Blood Red Kiss / 40th Anniversary)· game
- Guns N' Roses· game
- Lord of the Rings Pinball· game
- Medieval Madness· game
- Pokemon Pinball· game
- Walking Dead (remaster)· game
- We Are Pinball· organization
- Brad· person
- Cengiz· person
- Chris· person
- Don· person
- Gomez· person
- Jack Danger· person
- Josh Cox· person
- Kaneda· person
- Monica· person
- Raiden· person
- Travis· person
- Zach· person
- Zombie Yeti· person
- Insider Connected· product
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