Theres technically also the Sasega-sonic Star Wars. Too many Star Wars pins and Star Wars has become hella cringe at this point.

I heard the IJ game got scrapped or maybe changed to something else...

I think just how big of a flop the new movie was would be the biggest contributor

I agree, it is a popular franchise and I think another game would be of interest for quite a few people. I think the timing might be a little off though, or perhaps more likely, the game was based on the movie itself and not the entire series. Why not shelf it for a bit, let things cool down a little and maybe make a new one based on the original trilogy which are the only ones people care about

"marvel" isn't a movie. No, I don't think we'll be seeing a Madam Webb game anytime soon. There are other Marvel IP's that can still attract people.

Maybe you guys are right about IJ, that was a really strong rumor for a while, just kinda weird how it disappeared for such a long time.

and a techno soundtrack woooo

Yeah people are kinda burned out on super hero movies and nobody cares about the marvels and madam webb and the other host of characters barely anyone has heard of. The Spiderverse movies have been doing great. Deadpool 3 will probably be a big hit too.

Deadpool, EHOH, Arguably Foo Fighters. Rush if you count the Canadian dad jokes thrown at you every 3 seconds.

Bond is an incredible game now. Its crazy deep and just so good. The wild part is that it still still needs some pretty substantial code updates but its so packed and good right now that its easy to forget about it!

This is the way

John Wick in April

Borg would make sense, but I don't think its him. Maybe though. Could even be Gomez...

Keanu is about to be giving heavy hitters like Arnold a run for their money on pinball appearances soon.

Johnny Mnemonic
BSD
John Wick
Matrix
Does TS4 count?
Will we ever get the wished for Bill and Ted game?

JM is far from the worst game in pinball lmao
OK, so?
I agree the 1st john wick is easily the best and the rest are skippable
Matrix is coming, thats why I mentioned it. Very relevant today. No, I was not talking about the fancy "homebrew" JM matrix
Fine...I guess.
Bill and Ted would probably outsell john wick, yet here we are.

Unfortunately, ignoring the fact that most of your opinions here are mostly out of touch with reality, it doesn't change the fact that Keanu is in these games (arguably TS4, and assuming the matrix), which is all I said. Thanks for playing

Edit- decided not to leave this without a hot take: Bogus Journey > Excellent Adventure. Fight me
(Also I never saw the 3rd one)

"You ave sank my battlesheep"

John Wick is next. Not Borg.

I think his IJ game got shelved. He might be getting a bit unhappy over at Stern, who knows

Its coming from Elwin probably. Not next though.

Absolutely correct. Lots of angry boomers that were mad their grampa rock band didn't get picked instead. Cringe "metalheads" that thought foo fighters was too soft, ect. I was excited from day 1 and that game hasn't let me down a single time. Awesome game!

Soyjak Consoomers can't tell the difference between "for sale" and "an offer was made" but the thought of a private equity firm really scares me. Usually that means less friendliness to the consumer, and in a lot of scenarios just bleeding the company dry until it has nothing left to offer then dumping the empty husk in the gutter. I guess its just the way of the world today, but definitely count on DLC, paid insider versions, and plenty of other things to nickel and dime us to high heaven. 2k toppers are just the beginning.

Spooky is doing Beetlejuice tho...

This would actually be awesome, then there would be an HDMI out and you could have TV screens above the game so people can watch. Obviously you probably wouldn't care about this feature at home, but some locations and tournaments do it and its really awesome. Right now they have to have camera rigs and whatnot. It would be nice to cut all of that out and have it built into the game

I think its just pointing out that Pokemon is an absolutely massive license with worldwide appeal. Do I think a Pokemon game would suddenly make pinball huge in Japan? No. Its huge in other countries where pinball is popular though. Like Huge huge. I don't understand these guys who think just because its a theme they don't like, it isn't a massive phenomenon that tons of other people do. Yes, even to people in the pinball buying demographic. The younger end of that demographic but probably also the fastest growing demographic.

Man, thats way more convenient than on fb marketplace and onlyfans and reddit and other online areas like people do over here! Japan really has it all figured out! I wonder if they have dirty sock ones too or if thats just a USA thing.

lmfao!

I think its somewhere between urban legend and a highly overblown story that westerners tell each other about crazy Japan. I swear every time I hear this story its almost made out to seem like you find these things on every street corner, but it was probably just like a random machine or two one time. They love vending machines in Japan almost as much as gambling! I've seen some interesting vending machines at shadier spots around the US too, I wonder if a Japanese vacationer ever saw one and spread the legendary tale of the dildo claw machine's they have all over the USA

I find the lolicon shirt in the background to be more disturbing

Pokemon is huge with everyone, not just boys and not just girls. I was just slightly too old when it first came out and I wasn't into it much. My younger brother was into it big time. As the years went on, I saw it continue to be big with the younger generation and older alike. Even people my age and older were into it after a while. I'm not some big pokemon stan, I played the classic gameboy games a little, but I was never a big fan. However, I guess I'm just not as out of touch as a lot of people here. Its HUGE. Do you see the prices people pay for some of the classic cards? Even the old games, which they made a ton of and are not considered rare at all, bring way better money than they should. Counterfeiters and scam artists alike work tirelessly to do black market pokemon stuff. Scalpers buy up all the stuff at the stores and resell before the general public can get to it. I mean, this stuff doesn't happen unless theres a gigtantic fanbase and people willing to spend money in said fanbase.

Sadly, I've lost faith in the pokemon rumor, I kind of don't think its happening, but if it does, it will be one of the biggest hits in a long time. Both at home and on location.

OK grampa lets get you to bed

Exactly this. Just turned 39 myself. Like you, old/established enough to buy pinball, know pokemon well might even be a big fan, might have kids or family that also like it. Pretty simple recipe for huge success because theres a ton of people just like us in this hobby.

Unfortunately they all seem to want terrible ideas like Pink Floyd, which while a great band, would make for absolutely awful pinball. You can easily write off anyone's capacity for knowing what makes a good or bad pinball theme as soon as they mention Pink Floyd. Plus, all pinball is already pong if you imagine hard enough.

I don't know, I'm not convinced. I hear some people say that occasionally but I don't buy it. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but I think for the most part people just want to play the video game, and not some weird pinball machine version for 100's of times the price. I do understand the logic though. I'm not as firm on my stance on this one, but I still feel it pretty strongly.

Yeah but a movie isn't a game, and an album isn't a game. I understand pinball and a video game are very different games but they are games none the less. Why would somebody buy dark souls the pinball machine when they could just play dark souls the game, have the full in depth experience that a game like that offers, and only for $60 or whatever the game costs, instead of paying 10k for some dark souls esque pinball experience. I'm sure some would be into it, but I don't think it would be the lure to gamers that many think it would. I say that as I think about how a DND game could probably do decent, but thats also kind of different. Maybe one of the exceptions, I mentioned previously. I think games like fortnight, people are just going to want to play fortnite, not dads weird fortnite pinball machine that isn't much like the fortnight experience nor offers most of the things fortnight has to offer.

OK "John Floyd", I understand Pink Floyd is probably your favorite thing in the entire world other than grumbling about how kids today just don't "get it", but it doesn't make it good for pinball lol. Lets get you to bed too grampa. Covid collector with all brand new band games yes I'm sure your finger is really on the pulse of what makes a hit pinball machine, I have learned my lesson. PS- I said I like Pink Floyd

I'm down to #6 now

You're right though, its not a big deal and it has nothing to do with how much I know about what makes a good pinball theme or not.

Name some and I'll tell you if they are good or not. Its more nuanced than just good or bad too. Like theres some themes that would be good for a company like spooky or AP to make but not stern or JJP. I used to think that knowing what makes a good theme was the easiest thing in the world, then I started seeing horrible takes being thrown out multiple times a day, particularly on FB which is filled with pinball noob casuals.

Vic, I have a ton of respect for you, so I will take any ribbing, criticism, or outright slander with all the grace in the world from you.

I like most of those ideas. I think Hackers is more in the homebrew territory if anything. The thing about it, and the number one thing that really gets under my skin when it comes to themes, is that people can't let go of their biases. If you like something, people automatically think its a good theme. If you don't, then its automatically a bad theme. Like for example, I HATE Harry Potter with a dying passion. HP fans make me cringe like nothing else. But I know that game could be huge. HOWEVER, it could also be so "huge" that it blows up in peoples faces. Expectations are so high, that no game could ever live up to them. Do you make the wizarding world of harry potter pin and risk another TS4 scenario? I don't know.

Daft Punk could be really good, I love the idea from a personal standpoint, but thats like maybe a P3 theme. If there ever was an EDM "band" game to be made, I think Daft Punk is the easy choice. I'd put it in like the soft maybe category.

People always say they are sick of rock band games, but they still continue to be sales hits. Its just like people who say they want original themes and they keep flopping. I have heard Journey tossed around a lot as a rumor, and I love Journey, but I think its a bad idea. I think Motley Crue is probably the most obvious choice if a company wanted to make a hit band game, that or Van Halen. Both bands I consider to be good from my subjective viewpoint but are far from my favorites, but I see them from an objective viewpoint as being good sellers/good bands to have a game based on.

Comic games do seem to be falling out of favor, but we've also had a series of lower tier comic titles. I'm interested to see if Elwin's X-men 97 can buck that trend, I think it will do fairly well. I think another Spiderman game could also do well. If somebody gets some DC rights a Batman game would also be a good choice. Or do a game based on Batman the movie from 1989. That was rumored from Dutch for a while, so who knows. I know theres already fairly recent Batman, xmen, and spiderman games out there, but I think the market will accept more.

Other themes I could see doing well:
Bloodsport
Robocop
Rambo
Magic the Gathering (could be a generic swords and sorcery type game even with the MTG tie in, AP maybe?)
Total Recall
Beverly Hills Cop (particularly interesting with the new one about to drop)

Needs a few more years before its nostalgic enough for the pinball demo but
Adventure Time
Invader Zim

I don't know I'm sure I could come up with plenty more but those are a few I can rattle off the top of my head. Theres other obvious ones too like Die Hard but I just don't think they'd have a chance of getting Bruce Willis' likeness.

Fair enough on Magic, I don't play it, I don't do it. I just know its popular. I think its wrong to compare a magic video game to a pinball but I never thought it would be a blockbuster game either. If AP built it, it would easily smash their sales records though lets be honest.

Why not Journey? I don't know, I just think they tend to be a little too.... ballady I guess? Is that a word? It is now lol. Plus, will it have Steve Perry on it? Or will it have the asian dude (I don't know his name, no disrespect). I kinda think it needs Steve, but I kinda think it wouldn't get Steve. At least with VH you could do either singer or both.

All good man. No hard feelings here. I apologize as well. You called my first statement arrogant, so I decided to really give you an arrogant one after that. Bad habit I have lol. I thought you seemed like a cool guy too to be honest, but ya know...I had to do my thing Cool of you to extend the olive branch, and I hope you will accept mine as well.

You do know John Wick is the next Stern game right?

Yes let me just give you proof of a secret thing that we're not supposed to know about yet. Don't believe me? Fine. Just remember this in a couple weeks.

lol ok

I'm not, I wasn't even born yet. Thats a neat commercial with young Keanu though!

No bro, just as likely as it being Wiggles. Nobody actually knows

You've changed my mind, I think its the wiggles now

Lol wrong and I never said it would be announced at mgc. Nobody really announces games at MGC and Stern in particular doesn't usually announce games at shows so that would be a pretty silly thing to think. I suppose it could be theoretically announced just before MGC and then availible to play there, but I never expected that either. We'll see late April early May

I really like black knight, but I would have a really hard time spending 7k on one. 10k+ for a premium? Forget about it.

Is this the same or different than the slayer post from years ago when everyone thought that was a clue and Stern was going to make Slayer? Actually I think thats 3 Slayer posts in 10 years from Stern. Gonna be any day now right?

I kinda agree but every time theres anything posted related to stern and slayer (its happened a few times over the years) everyone gets their denim panties in a twist with excitement over the possibility of a slayer game.

Dutch has all the assets for BTTF and is working directly with Bob Gale. Theres no excuse for any company that missed out other than not willing to pay most likely.

The sea shanties are the only good part of the Jaws sound package, more sea shanties in Jaws please.

The stupid Motley Crue mockup looks like one of those god awful "conversion kits" that CPR was offering.

He's basically alone on all his island's of thought.

Borg was working on IJ. As far as anyone can tell, the game has been shelved.

Plenty of Jaws LE's still available from distros. The days of LE instant sellouts are long gone.

Mike V or Tim Sexton would be my guess

Lol Ichuckle blocked me after he embarrassed himself and now he does believe its John Wick!? Yikes! Unblock me bro, this isn't a good look.

A while back

Its not so much I care, although I am a firm believer in blocking is for babies. Its more that ol dude talked a big game and then when it became apparent he couldn't back it up anymore he blocked me. I wasn't even going after him, he just knew the jig was up and blocked me out of his own embarrassment I guess, which I find comical.

To be fair, that guy was legit, although I don't blame anyone for being skeptical. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the guy was in africa doing some sort of charity work and wanted the game delivered somewhere in the US. I don't think the Africa guy was the one who ended up looking bad in the end.

Pinsiders are like the library of Alexandria (non burned edition) compared to the idiotic flow of stupidity that is the FB pinball groups.

Lol and yet theres still at least one clown trying to get 14k for his venom LE

You'd think right? But I got a custom coin from Stern twice. I got a black knight one which was cool, and a Stern Insider Connected one which was stupid.

I'm at work but its this one. Might have been made for a show, not from stern, I really don't know. Its got Pin-a-go-go California 2019 on the back side

PPS-BKSOR-CCF_548x560 (resized).jpg

aHR0cHM6Ly9vLnBpbnNpZGUuY29tL2Yv (resized).jpg

I just assumed they came from Stern but I was probably just mistaken. I bought mine from Planetary. The insider connected coin did come from Stern directly though.

The coins are sick man, you did a good job. If I ever need coins made, I know who to hit up!

Maybe the wiggles photoshopped it

Darn, I look like a fool now after I tried to backtrack on my previous statements

Note for idiots: It was then and is now sarcasm.

Lets not forget they didn't get the explorer or jeep license for Jurassic Park either. Not shocking they didn't license the car. Not a huge deal imo

wut?

Its easy to dismiss anyone who calls it pokeman as being completely out of touch with anything that happened after 1995

Its bigger than ever and people spend 100's of thousands to millions of dollars on single cards at the top end.

Yeah like those awesome Zelda and Mario games on the CDI!

Minish Cap was fire, no lies detected

Zero issue with this at all. You're right, that is ok! The annoying people are the ones that are so sure they know that a property thats for "kids" will bomb because they were 40 years old when Pokemon came out and remember all the little kids who are now adults in the pinball buying demo going crazy for it. Or they think people who spend thousands of dollars on pokemon merch wouldn't pop on a pinball machine. Or insert all the other out of touch reasons geezers come up with while they think rocking a denim jacket and a 3rd gen camaro is still the peak of cool.

Thank you for being the 50 billionth person to post this photo on pinside and in this thread

I normally agree with this but Pokemon is different. Theres A TON of crossover with pinball players/gaming and nerd culture/ect that puts Pokemon in a completely different type of category than all the other franchises/bands that people think the super fans will pop for.

Well you probably don't get it because you were already in high school when He-Man came out lol

one small problem 90% of kids go completely gaga for anything that says Pokemon on it.

I think MTG could be a great theme for pinball too from the right company, but then everyone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about.

Right. Theres plenty of people in the pinball demo who would buy the crap out of the game, or would buy it simply because their wife or kids would be into the theme, or operators who will earn a shit load (by pinball standards) on location from men, women, and children who are crazy for pokemon. Not many themes out there that appeal to such a broad audience as pokemon and lend themselves perfectly to pinball/gaming.

Yeah and I should probably be going to the doctor too but here I am going on probably 15-20 years without a check up

Thank you!!! Finally somebody says it. I'm not very impressed by it at all.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the expression lights by any means. Is it an improvement? Yeah. Do I prefer to have expression lights over not having them? Of course! Its not that they look bad. They look...."cool I guess?" I've played em on Zep, Rush, and Foo and while they do offer a mild enhancement that I find nice, the effect is pretty lackluster compared to what other companies offer, plus they cost $500 freakin bucks if you gotta add them on. Some people act like it adds a mind blowing new dimension to gameplay and I just don't find that to be anywhere near the case especially for the price. Even the RGB GI in games like Cactus Canyon when you do a gunfight blow me away a lot more.