lol, using Teams, but same here

It would be interesting,when you say a random theme to also include the mech or toy your imaging would go with it.

It's almost as if video games themes just don't seem to lend themselves too well to pinball?

Will you do one for both games?

Season 2 Episode 7 used "Bloody Tears"

If i had to guess it has more to do with the people tasked with designing such games are not fans and have few ideas because of that. Keep in mind the age frames at the time those games came out. They are more 'our' (more likely mine than yours as I think you are younger than me) age range than the people designing at the time.

There are plenty of non-videogame licensed pinballs that suck. I think it all has very little to do with source material and very much on whoever is tasked with designing and their grasp or love of the source material. That doesn't mean some themes aren't more suited to pinball than others though. But video games are task oriented, just like video games. It should translate just fine when done right.

I don't know. The few homebrews that people have built seem to implement the IP pretty well (Metroid, Sonic, Castlevania, Cup Head to name a few). Like mentioned earlier, it's not the material, it's how it's done.

I think a fan of a game would be able to do it justice. You just need that intersection between a video game enthusiast and a pinball enthusiast.

This guy is pretty damn good too if you like the contra soundtrack:

Contra: Turrets, tanks, the giant shooting wall thing from the first level, mortars, moving platforms, etc...Maybe an LCD screen perpendicular to the surface and at the rear of the pf that renders the various bosses for variety. Tons of stuff to pick from.

Red Pinballs...if thats possible?

So many fun things!

Level 1 (resized).png

Level 3 boss (resized).png

penis boss (resized).png

Very much a thing and surprising no one has ever done anything since TZ powerball...

False, Defender is awesome.

How about an original theme? No license to pay....more toys....

Hah...while I agree with your sentiment, unfortunately, people are stupid and don't care for originality, no matter how much they claim to be bored with the same ol same ol.

The last original I played and thoroughly enjoyed was the latest installment of Black Knight. Other than that, TNA.

I believe rolling thunder was a knock off of 007. Fun game! A classic!

I'm not sure that's true. I think those picking original themes just seem to be a bit out of touch: Dialed In? Octoberfest? I'll be honest, I don't hate the theme of Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland. I don't think it was the theme that doomed that game. Spooky also already had success with Total Nuclear Annihilation.

yeah, you could be right, but I would be surprised if you see Spooky release any original games in the future. As for RAZA, yeah, didn't hate it, the company killed that one, but I can't help but think if it had been a popular licensed theme, they would have suckered way more people into it.

It would be pretty niche at this point, but Contra would be a dream theme for me. The nes version is one of my favorite games of all time. Been playing that off and on since I was in grade school. I can finish it multiple times no deaths at this point. Castlevania would be amazing also, but I think Contra would be a better fit for pinball.

I'd imagine it would be a cheap and easy license compared to most properties.

Reminds me of the Office scene. "Jan's baby came from a sperm bank. It could be anyone's baby... Except Michael's"

If they decide to do another dual themed layout they could do a licensed theme/original theme

Pokemon would lend itself so easily to a pinball adventure. Go around the world, fight 8 gym leaders then take on the elite 4, collect and trade monsters, swap them out during battles for advantages/disadvantages. The game writes itself. I have a lot of scribbled down notes somewhere about my ideas for a Pokemon game.

Mario would crush it on location (case in point the old shitty Gottlieb version still crushes on location). I'm not sure how good of a game it could be since the source is just jump, run to the right, and have different power up suits as you go through 8 maps and castles. There's not a lot there that would translate itself well to a pinball ruleset like Pokemon could.

Castlevania could be fun. ACNC reminds me a bit of a Metroidvania. A map to explore and get items to make certain things easier.

A Zelda pin would need a cash box that takes up the entire bottom of the cabinet.

Avatar LE has a powerball

Colored balls and a game that could tell what color is hitting what. It would probably need to use a camera(s) with image recognition to actually work right. Not sure what kind of theme that would work well with.

Bally made Gold Ball, but it kinda cheats by only having either a silver ball or a gold ball in play and never both. (It has a neat trough to figure out which is which)

Pottery Smash switch hit scoring mode with animation could be really funny

Have you played any hacks of Contra? They are all ridiculously hard. Has all the nostalgic value, but is significantly more challenging.

The Revenge of the Red Falcon
Annihilation of the Green Falcon
Attack of the Blue Falcon

But back to the point, niche, yes, but would make for one hell of a pin.

Okay Spooky. Bruce Campbell just confirmed he's willing to do Ash voice work, just doesn't want to live action Ash due to age.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bruce-campbell-announces-return-evil-160000946.html

"You previously announced that you've retired from playing Ash onscreen. So you won't be appearing in it?"

Bruce: "I won't be appearing in it, no. I will be in the upcoming Evil Dead game, which I think is due for February 2022. I just finished the voice for that. The nice thing is, your voice doesn't age as much as your body, so I can milk that for a few more years. "

Get on it

Anyone else still have their down payment with Spooky still pending? Mine is still pending from the 10th?

Mine went through today but it was pending from Wednesday the 7th.

Might went through last night!

Tilt clip: Well Excuuuuuuuse me Princess!

f95aa239bd5eb056ea20479d3c00913f2f90cf6e_hq (resized).png

No way. That's the tilt callout.

I haven't, Ill check them out. I was into the emulation scene pretty early and at the time most of the romhacks were pretty lame, so had a bad impression of them and probably missed a lot of great ones over the years.

Totally. My bad.

Just wanted to take a moment to thank Spooky for creating a pin that I feel was long overdue and my personal grail theme...the 1978 film, Halloween. Thanks to everyone at Spooky that made this happen and congrats to all of you on selling out your direct sales allotment on that crazy day...it sure was stressful!

As a tribute to the original Halloween, what I feel is the greatest all around horror film and my favorite movie from any genre, it was time to update my avatar. Two years ago I made the pilgrimage to South Pasadena, California to visit some of the original locations they shot the film. My wife took this photo of me recreating the iconic hedge scene...

397D4383-189E-43F6-87E3-9B0EF62BC276.jpeg

I was clearly not the only one to visit those hedges as the grass behind the hedges near the sidewalk was worn down to dirt!

See you in the Halloween hype thread...can’t wait!!!

...and no sales!

Thought game time on a lord of the rings was long....
Playing a Zelda you be flipping flippers for hours trying to find and solve anything.

Love the game, just hated the backseat game person telling what to try and do.

The Legend of Zelda would without a doubt be the best selling of the video game licenses. So much material to work with: collect rupees, bash Bokoblins, explore dungeons, restore the Triforce, defeat Ganon, and save the princess.

I think that's a fair concern, but that has more to do with game layout. Almost every shot feeds safely back to the flippers.

MM retheme would be appropriate.

just because there is no license holder doesn't mean it will be any cheaper. In fact, i would argue that it will be more expensive to build since someone will have to create every asset (video, callouts, music, story, etc), there is no help in advertising like you get with a license, and the exposure for people is hit and miss. Every claims they want an original theme, but in fact they only want THEIR orginal theme (space cowboys that are in a demo derby or somthing like that). Every modern company has tried this orginal theme game, and while some are good, (dialed in and tna come to mind), the others would be considered production failures by most standards. the reality is that people are drawn to themes. "hey, i love that show, movie, music group, whatever..."

Not sure if anyone ever suggested it but what about an 80’s Clash of the Titans? You can throw water balloons or small rocks at me for suggesting but no bricks please. Defeat the Kraken wizard mode etc? The toys would be sick

When I think of Zelda, I think of puzzle solving and I'm not sure how well that translates to pinball. (I was also never really into Zelda, so I'm not very imaginative of what it could be.) Maybe it's like a Metroidvania approach of go do the thing to earn key items and then play the "you solved it" tune as part of the fanfare of finishing the mode. That then opens up other modes to attempt.

Anyhow I could envision the main playfield as the world map with a few different entrances to go to a lower playfield for dungeons or an upper playfield for temples.

I don't think action video games lend themselves well to pinball rules. That's why I think Pokemon works best. It's already coming from a JRPG turn based system, so stop and go is built right into the experience. It's also a series meant for kids, so it never gets that complex. But rule nerds could still really make it elaborate while keeping it simple enough for non Pokemon fans to follow along (eg anyone can understand that a water monster has advantage over a fire monster)

Don't worry, there have been hundreds of suggestions much worse than yours in this thread. And they are all still breathing.

I’ve read a few myself but sometimes an idea seems like a good one in your head but doesn’t go well on a thread!

Loved that sooo much in my youth.
It was placed in a fast-food restaurant in my village, and it swallowed a lot of my rare coins in these days.
But it's a priceless memory at all.

Pretty cool... I live local to SoCal and they film everything around here all the time, so I never visit any of these places. But I didn't even know that Halloween was shot in South Pasadena, so it led me down this little rabbit hole... Interesting read and photos: https://www.lamag.com/article/halloween-locations-40/

worth repeating .. the people have spoken for EVIL DEAD!