I’m talking about the original. It did so well it became a licensed theme. It is also the #1 game on Pinside. My point is it can be done - nothing more.

Double barf!

And when a home buyer is at a dealers show room or looking at their webpage, they are naturally going to gravitate towards licensed themes that they already have some attachment to. Just like a random bar goer might notice a theme they like and try out pinball (vs pinheads that will play whatever)

Licensed themes do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to attracting a purchase/coin-drop

Ultraman is almost an original theme considering how relatively unknown it is in America. But it has the benefit of lots of cheap video assets and a campy kaiju vibe that most people can quickly pick up on. It's not some Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland where you're collecting xenon gas while fighting aliens and dracula on carnival rides and whatever else is on that purple neon pupu platter of nonsense.

I love it when my wife does that for me on my birthday too.

It's obfuscated somewhat by the decline in arcades over the same period, but the latter half of the 90s is also when B/W did a LOT of unlicensed themes.

What was even licensed after 95? Fastbreak? Episode 1?

Scared Stiff was the only other one besides NBA and EP1. Playboy was in whitewood stage for PB2K, but never licensed.

Twister...

Yeah Fastbreak and Scared Stiff. Two of their best selling games of the mid to late nineties. And also Monster Bash, which outsold their other original themes besides MM and AFM (just barely)

I bet Episode I was a pretty expensive license too.

Sega.

Apollo 13
Batman Forever
Baywatch
Godzilla
GoldenEye
Golden Cue
Harley Davidson
Independence Day
Lost in Space
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Maverick
South Park
Space Jam
Star Wars Trilogy
Starship Troopers
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The X-Files
Twister
Viper Night Drivin'

This was about Bally Williams.

Data East/Sega/Stern has barely done any original themes at all. Joe Kamikow knew what got coin drop.

He was made talking about BLY/WMS.

Sega/Stern are almost exclusively licensed themes.

Got me to thinking... How awesome would it have been to have a B/W Independence Day, Twister, etc.

1998 vs. 2021. Two very different market realities. Check reality before you start attacking me.

Is there any news yet on gameplay footage? Besides Luke saying soon?

Project pinball raffle for a CE Halloween or Ultraman on sale again…

https://projectpinball.rallyup.com/ce-halloween-ultraman-pinballmachineraffle-part2/Campaign/Details

I may be in the minority, but I would rather them spend time on building games/finishing code. I’d rather see/experience all the game has to offer first hand vs watching a video.

Me too. That being said, I would like to see short gameplay footage of different shots, how the ramps feed different areas in action, subway shots etc.

Exactly, just seeing how the things Shoots and some actual sounds and display animations is good.

I also don’t want to ruin the experience for myself especially if I’m in on purchasing the game.

Nope. I wanna see and hear how this thing plays. Especially whats in the content of the dmd. Just 5 minutes spooky, please?????

That’s what I meant I want to see some footage but I don’t need the whole game revealed to me with a stream

on the super awesome podcast with Charlie and bug I think they said most of the modes or code was already in the game.

I agree. 5 minutes of gameplay with sound and callouts is all i need.

Ultraman relatively unknown in America?
Im 50 and my girlfriend freaked when the Halloween/Ultraman machines were announced. She asked if we could get one of each! We watched Ultraman and Godzilla growing up in the 70’s and 80’s.
Did you have cable tv growing up?
Maybe it’s an age/location thing.

These games do not have a DMD.

No attack here - perhaps a different opinion. No need for the negative vibes. There is enough of that in the world already.

Same here.

Blew my mind when they announced Ultraman. Didn’t need to see it - didn’t care how much.

Opinions must be based on facts…it’s arguments based in false equivalencies lead to most of the problems in the world. Don’t project…that’s a problem, too. Don’t accuse me of negative vibes when you blurted this at me:

Facts: 2021 pinball is a world where people will buy 500+ units of a game they haven’t played if it’s a theme they have nostalgia or love for. It’s been proven over and over that original themes do not sell well compared to the guaranteed sales of licensed games. If someone made “Castle Craziness” today, it would not move guaranteed units like a good license even if it was an amazing game.

If Spooky made it and it was amazing, it would sell well because Spooky is now a trusted and well-respected brand.

But if it were from an upstart company (Deeproot, Zidware, Suncoast, Skit-B)? Yea, I agree - it would probably fail.

In general I agree with you though - having licensed content that people recognize sells more games.

Well I'm 33 and was only vaguely aware of the character. I was totally unaware of it being an imported show in the 60s. It was not a show on cable TV when I was growing up (at least not to my knowledge). The pretty similar Power Rangers was the flavor of the day.

I mostly learned kaiju movies through MST3K. I was kinda expecting a Gamera pin.

I am 51 and never heard of Ultraman ever. I remember Speed Racer as a kid though.

Yeah, Speed Racer was on for me as well.

Lots of Japanese imports were being brought over as a kid. And I'd love a lot of them to be pinball themes. Dragon Ball Z would be excellent. It's goofy as shit with lots of silly action and pro-wrestling style over the top personalities who often had multiple "stages" that they would change into over a fight. Perfect for pinball!

A lot of anime would translate well to LCD screen animations since they tend to be fairly simple on the actual animation aspect

When do we turn our attention to the NEXT next Spooky game(s)? Ultraman and Halloween have their own threads now.

Well, I do get that they are still "next" right now, and that their concurrent release is a special thing. Carry on!

Just want to get the Beetlejuice hype started back up, I guess.

A Karate Kid pin would be awesome to see from Spooky!

We already did that 2-3 pages ago or more. Halloween and Ultraman are old and janky. We are looking for new and tasty.

I’m not sure. Look how many of the Halloween buyers are saying it’s their favorite horror movie ever, or just love the horror movie genre….or Ultraman buyers loving the theme or at least the Japanese man-in-rubber-suit genre. I think if Spooky only wanted to sell 500 & not sell out day 1, sure - go for an original theme…but now they’re a Day 1 sellout/1750 unit per run company. I bet the next game they’ll wanna do 2000. The need that nostalgic familiarity love bug to bite for those numbers.

Stern’s a trusted and well respected brand. What sells more? “Gary Stern’s Paranormal Peril” or Ghostbusters? “Metalhead Gary & The Headbangers” or AC/DC?

Weird Al seems like the perfect grail for a Pinball Company to pick. Though I'm not sure how the licensing part would work.
This is something I've toyed with as an idea for a home-brew pinball them as the assets are out there and UHF..
I'd like to see it done better by some folks with some experience in this racket. UHF --- poifect.
Drink from the Water Cannon.

Weird All UHF is a cornucopia of sample material itself.

Hell maybe this is my unicorn... Just need more time......

There is just so many paths one could tread even if someone picks up on the niche. It worked for him it would be Elvira huge.
Really surprised it hasn't happened or been prototyped already by Williams and Bally.

Neither. I won't buy a Stern without playing it first...actually 90% of games I would not buy without first playing, let alone not seeing anything other than artwork. This isn't the era of a shortage of pinball, and I certainly don't need to brag about being 'first'.

Point being, we are morons for buying games like this sight unseen at these prices. I tend to prefer original themes over licensed themes. While Spooky knocked it out of the park with R&M - it could have easily went the other way, and each license is going to be different. Expectations are high these new games will knock it out of the park as well. But what if.....guarantee a bunch of these pop up for sale after gameplay/code reveals with people who don't like the direction.

However, I also take into account location. Moving games in this area is harder than Cali or New York. I don't want to hassle with a game I may not like.

Agreed that for a Weird Al pin that doing UHF adds much needed story and structure to the rules beyond being a playable jukebox

A lot of the modes could be very silly in the vein that it's just random stuff trying to fill a TV programming block while Weird Al songs play in the background.

I do kinda wonder what the licensing is like for Weird Al songs. He does get permission and pay a royalty fee to the artists he parodies, but I think he does it out of a professional curtesy than actually being required to do it. He may insist on getting approvals from the various original song artists if the song is in the game.

Weird Al is a really nice & collaborative artist. If someone wanted to do a Weird Al pin, it would not shock me if he WANTED to be super involved...write new exclusive songs just for the game, help come up with features & comedy. He could even wrangle in other comedians for wacky characters & voices. It could really just be a random Rube-Goldberg goofy-as-hell game that's relatively "original" like the Elvira games, and like Elvira - Al would be the "host" of game.

My friend who is massively into anime, some that I can't even pronounce, gave me a blank stare when I mentioned Ultraman or Akira. He hasn't heard of either of them. So it seems to be hit and miss.

How about an original theme?

Original theme's will sell. TNA will also sell more in it's 2.0 run then it did before.

I think it was suggested in another one of the next pin threads but a National Lampoon's Vacation pin could be fun taking advantage of the family roadtrip and could have cross-gen appeal. CGC did a generic "American Vacation" pin but it would be cool to see an officially licensed Vacation pin taking advantage of all the moments from the films, maybe get Chevy to do callouts.. Holiday roooooad!

Chevy chase 2 (resized).jpg

Dang some of you people just love false equivalency. Once again, TNA was a homebrew that gained a following and demand BEFORE it was announced as a boutique run. That normally doesn't happen. As for 2.0 - at this point TNA is now a KNOWN game that's had 3 or 4 years to build a reputation.

This is not the usual path of pinball production. TNA is a rare situation.

If you’re anime loving friend doesn’t know what AKIRA is then...he’s an imposter. It is by far the most important and impressive Japanese animation of all time.

I'm guessing he's young. There is SOOOOOO much anime now on streaming services, I could see someone being into anime, but only knowing series from the last 20 or 30 years & not exploring pre-90's anime.

On the flip side, I consider myself "anime loving" but barely know any series of the past 20 years lol. At this point it's overwhelming to "catch up". It's like walking into a comic book store and wondering "where do I start"....so, I just watch Ranma 1/2 again.

Probably not, but I believe that since AP gives quality service and like Spooky, seem to be getting better with every release, I think they would sell out now doubt. Just not as fast.

Canadians can buy a raffle ticket, but have to pay shipping right?

Bruh, I would DIE. Literally have a heart attack, keel over dead where I stand.