Episode 26 - Die on this Hill: Space Jam

Space Jam defender argues fun factor and operator success outweigh harsh critical consensus.

Synopsis

John Dozier from Inner Orbit Pinball defends Space Jam (Sega, 1996) on the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast 'Die on this Hill' series, arguing it's a fun, approachable game with cool toys and theming despite its low Pinside ranking (280/290). Host Alan and John counter negative reviews citing nostalgia, operator revenue performance, and design merit while acknowledging legitimate criticisms like the saucer kicker design and repetitive gameplay.

Highlights

• Space Jam sold approximately 800 units; NBA Fast Break (spiritual successor) sold 250 units
• Space Jam has a Pinside average rating of 6.624, ranking 280 out of 290 ranked machines
• The center saucer kicker is poorly designed and should have been a scoop; ramps on machines get torn up
• Sega games from this era had less development time/resources than Williams/Bally due to lower market share
• Space Jam's skill shot (launch into basketball hoop) is extremely easy and doesn't require much skill
• John Dozier created/colored the DMD (dot matrix display) for Space Jam
• NBA Fast Break uses a similar layout to Space Jam with modifications (removed skill shot basket but kept ramp-into-hoop mechanic)
• Lonnie Rapp and Oren Day (Space Jam programmers) continue coding games at Stern and are skilled developers

Entities

• Sega Pinball· company
• Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball· game
• Gottlieb System 3 games· game
• Guardians of the Galaxy· game
• Iron Man· game
• NBA Fast Break· game
• Sega Star Wars (Trilogy)· game
• Space Jam· game
• Spooky Pinball Looney Tunes game· game
• Tron· game
• Inner Orbit Pinball· organization
• Next Level· organization
• Pinside· organization
• Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
• Alan· person
• Gary Stern· person
• Joe Kamenkow· person
• John Dozier· person
• Lonnie Rapp· person
• Michael Jordan· person
• Oren Day· person