Episode 81 - Die on this Hill: South Park

Wedgehead defends 1999 South Park pinball against PinSide haters, arguing theme and location earnings justify its low ranking.

Synopsis

Wedgehead Pinball Podcast "Die on This Hill" series defends the 1999 Sega South Park pinball machine, widely ranked near the bottom of PinSide's all-time list. Guest Marcus argues the game is a location and casual-player powerhouse despite poor tournament reception, driven by strong theme integration and audio. The hosts and guest respond to negative PinSide reviews, debating playfield design, rules depth, difficulty balance, and the tension between casual accessibility and competitive pinball values.

Highlights

• South Park is the best-earning DMD pinball machine in Marcus's location portfolio, at least doubling the earnings of Whitewater.
• South Park sold 2,200 units compared to Pinball 2000 games selling 9,000 units, but South Park was played more and earned more quarters.
• South Park performs well in locations with casual/non-serious pinball players but poorly among experienced/tournament pinball players.
• The game has five main shots that must be hit four times each (without carrying progress to the next ball) to qualify characters, requiring skill and work.
• Marcus has not completed the wizard mode on his own legally despite frequent play.
• South Park was the final game Sega pinball produced before being bought and repackaged as Stern.
• The game has 13 total stand-ups: 10 for character call-outs and 3 for multiball.
• Serious pinball players avoid or dislike South Park, viewing it as a 'guilty pleasure' if they admit to liking it.
• The 1999 South Park game is based on the first season of South Park, which features lowbrow toilet humor rather than the later show's sharp satire.
• The Kenny scoop and Cartman hole are comically oversized (4-5 pinballs wide), making them easy to hit but thematically appropriate to the show's comedy style.

Entities

• Sega Pinball· company
• Stern Pinball· company
• Ko-fi· organization
• PinSide· organization
• Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
• Alan· person
• Alex· person
• Cam· person
• Joe Balser· person
• Kyle Johnson· person
• Lonnie Rob Hurtado· person
• Marcus· person
• Neil Falconer· person
• Oran Day· person
• Austin Powers· product
• Dead· product
• Family Guy· product
• Godzilla· product
• Pinball 2000· product
• South Park (1999 Sega)· product
• Star Wars Episode I· product
• The Simpsons Pinball Party· product
• Whitewater· product
• Next Level· venue