Stern Pinball Godzilla is Out!

Cary Hardy·video·14m 30s·analyzed·Sep 15, 2021

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

Stern Godzilla announced with major price increases and significant Pro/Premium/LE feature cuts.

Summary

Cary Hardy analyzes the newly announced Stern Pinball Godzilla machine, detailing feature differences across Pro/Premium/LE tiers, significant price increases ($700-$1,300 per tier), and the inclusion of new Stern Insider Connected technology. Hardy highlights the dynamic motorized collapsing building toy as a key differentiator and expresses concerns about the single promotional video, powder coating color choice, and anticipates extensive aftermarket modifications.

Key Claims

Godzilla Pro price increased to $6,899.99 (up from $6,199.99) — a $700 increase
high confidence · Hardy cites official specs from Jeff Patterson's deep dive documentation
Godzilla Premium price increased to $8,999.99 (up from $7,800) — a $1,200 increase
high confidence · Official pricing from Stern announcement
Godzilla LE price increased to $10,500 (up from $9,200) — a $1,300 increase
high confidence · Official pricing from Stern announcement
All Godzilla models include six pinballs, MagnaGrab Newton ball, and metal ramps/wire forms
high confidence · Official specs from Stern deep dive documentation
The motorized collapsing building/tower mechanic functions similarly to Doctor Who's animated bridge ramp
high confidence · Hardy's mechanical analysis comparing game mechanics
Stern released only one ~1 minute 23 second promotional video instead of the typical 3-4 videos for cornerstone titles
high confidence · Hardy's direct observation of Stern's YouTube channel release pattern
The Pro model excludes the motorized collapsing building toy, vertical upkicking skyway ramp, Mechagodzilla motorized target bank, custom sculptures, and animated breakaway bridge ramp
high confidence · Official feature list comparison provided by Hardy with visual documentation
Keith Elwin designed Godzilla and Avengers, with Avengers being praised as 'a really fun shooter'
high confidence · Hardy's personal experience and designer attribution from official credits

Notable Quotes

“Praise to thee, thank you very much Keith Elwood for giving us what the majority of the people in this hobby like, and that is metal ramps and wire forms.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:00 — Positive acknowledgment of designer Keith Elwin maintaining metal ramps across all tiers as a community preference
“This is not Led Zeppelin bad, guys. This is just safe. That's what this is...I just think that some color with it would have been better.”
Cary Hardy@ 10:12 — Criticism of the silver powder coating choice as overly conservative and not complementing the artwork well
“I foresee that this game is going to be heavily modded...you're gonna see somebody get you a good 3d modded sculpted version of Godzilla...as well as having like a UFO on that pop bumper instead of just an image of one.”
Cary Hardy@ 11:31 — Prediction of significant community aftermarket modification activity, suggesting Pro/Premium features seen as suboptimal
“It's a Keith Elwin game...I'm pretty sure this game is going to shoot great, and it's going to be fun.”
Cary Hardy@ 9:42 — Confident prediction based on designer's track record with prior games like Avengers
“I feel like this premium is the way to go for this game because that tower mech that's pretty damn awesome guys that adds a lot of cool stuff to the game.”
Cary Hardy@ 13:01 — Recommendation favoring Premium tier due to motorized building mechanic being a key differentiator
“They have lights over the game guys and it floods the play field and it just makes it look much duller than these colors actually will pop in front of you.”

Entities

Stern PinballcompanyKeith Elwinperson Cary Hardyperson Jeremy PackerpersonRick NigelpersonHarrison Drakeperson Jerry Thompsonperson Chuck Ernstperson

Signals

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community_signal: Cary Hardy's YouTube community predictions on pricing/features missed significantly; indicates either poor visibility into Stern's plans or surprising feature/cost decisions
medium · Hardy notes no community members came close to actual specs despite prior video requesting predictions
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competitive_signal: Godzilla anticipated to be 'a fun shooter' without bingo card drop target section, potentially less code-convoluted than prior releases
medium · Hardy's prediction based on Keith Elwin's game design philosophy and Avengers comparison
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design_philosophy: Metal ramps and wire forms prioritized across all tiers due to community preference; Keith Elwin explicitly praised for maintaining this feature despite price increases
high · Hardy's analysis notes this as deliberate design choice reflecting hobby preferences
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market_signal: Stern released only one ~1:23 promotional video vs. typical 3-4 videos for cornerstone titles; unusually brief and lacks detailed gameplay footage
high · Hardy's direct comparison of Stern's YouTube release patterns; notes this as 'peculiar' deviation from established strategy
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market_signal: Across-the-board price increases: Pro +$700, Premium +$1,200, LE +$1,300; attributed to Stern Insider Connected technology addition, COVID material/shipping costs
high · Hardy cites official Stern pricing announcement; notes this exceeds his earlier prediction of $600 increase

Topics

Godzilla announcement and specificationsprimaryPro/Premium/LE feature differentiation and tier strategyprimaryPrice increases across all tiersprimaryMotorized collapsing building mechanic designprimaryStern promotional video release strategysecondaryArtwork and powder coating aestheticssecondaryAnticipated aftermarket modificationssecondaryComparison to Avengers and Keith Elwin's design philosophysecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Hardy is optimistic about gameplay and mechanics (Keith Elwin design pedigree, fun shooter potential, metal ramps) but expresses concerns about feature-cutting in Pro tier, conservative powder coating, minimal promotional effort by Stern, and anticipated necessity for community modifications. Recommendation of Premium tier suggests qualified approval despite reservations.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.043

Please wait for me! Isn't it lovely? Do you like it? Do you think it will do? Give that here! Oh no! Oh look that's my sash wearing my sash! You what? Oh god please stop! Oh you ribbon! You take kitchen ring! You are straight for the girls! Girls girls! That's quite enough. Enough. Hurry along now, both of you. I won't have you upsetting yourselves. Good night. What's up, guys, and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So, if that sounds interesting to you, then hit that subscribe button down below. The day is upon us. Stern Pinball has partnered with Toho to bring us Godzilla. In this game, you will be playing as Godzilla and defending Earth against the Zillions. Your lead game designer is Keith Elwin. Lead game developer is Rick Nigel. Lead mechanical engineer, Harrison Drake. Lead artist, Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti), aka Zombie Yeti. Lead sound designer, Jerry Thompson. Computer graphics art director, Chuck Ernst. Now, if you look over the deep dive that Jeff Patterson was so kind enough to divulge to all of us out there, you will see that there's a list of everything when it comes to what is in and not in each of these games. And the thing is, the list of what's in all of these games is quite long, but not relevant to a lot of us. So, I mean, the main features that you need to know about that are going to be in all games, meaning the Pro, Premium, and obviously the LE, is going to be that there's six pinballs, that there is a MagnaGrab Newton ball, and metal on everything. So, metal ramps, all your wire forms are metal. Praise to thee, thank you very much Keith Elwin for giving us what the majority of the people in this hobby like, and that is metal ramps and wire forms. But as per usual, Stern Pinball has taken the liberty of removing quite a lot of items in the Premium LE in comparison to the Pro. Strike that. Reverse it. And we're going to be going over those items mainly in this video because it's not just two or three, guys. It's quite a lot of things have been pulled out of this game. So we're just going to start from the top of this list and then work our way down. and obviously I will be showing you images of what exactly will be removed. As a matter of fact, the good thing about my monitor that I have here is that it's in the landscape mode, so I'm able to actually see the play field in its entirety without having to scroll. I've taken the liberty of putting a red X on everything that is going to be different or not included in your pro model. Here you go. So on the list of things that will be in the premium and not in your pro are Dynamic Mechanical Motorized Collapsing Skyscraper Building Bash Toy diverts path of shots to intersecting ramps based on floor position. Vertical Upkicking Skyway Ramp Capable of Physically Locking Three Pinballs on Roof of Building. Chrome right helix wire form return... Fucking shit. Chrome right helix wire form ramp return from left subway half pipe ramp or right cityscape ramp through building diverter based on floor position jeez that is a freaking mouthful my god that what she said and then it has chrome lift wire form ramp return from left subway half pipe ramp or right cityscape ramp through building diverter based on floor position the reason why this is a mouthful we got the guys is because that center mech that city not city the building that goes up and down which by all means is very similar to the doctor who mech that you would see in the top of the game animated breakaway bridge ramp can animate animated breakaway bridge ramp can collapse and drop pinballs onto the playfield or divert pinballs back to the flipper mecha godzilla motorized rotating three bank stand-up targets reveal a spinning target and jump ramp magnetic ball catching custom molded mecha godzilla sculpture custom molded godzilla sculpture three building custom lit up cityscape vacuum form back panel once again quite a mouthful there too that's what she said and of course all models will include the new technology that they're bringing into all of their titles and that is their stern insider connected i believe that's what it's called stern insider connected is basically a way to connect and keep your scores and a bunch of other stuff online by using your mobile device and scanning a barcode that you see at the very beginning of the trailer and that's going to be included in all models going forward so that's obviously included in the new price jump so let's go over that right now also your pro model is $68.99 now this is going up from their previous titles that used to be $61.99 that's a $700 jump now I know what you're saying you're like hey Kerry um didn't you say in your previous video that there was going to be a $600 price jump across the board like over all three tiers like that would be yeah that is what I said and I was wrong so it's $700 increase on your pro but stick with me my story gets better because the premium model is going to $899.99 it's going to $9,000 up from $7,800 that's a $1,200 increase for you LE buyers out there you're going from what used to be $9,200 up to $10,500 so it's a $1,300 dollar increase now their price increase they are going to be stating that obviously since they're putting in the insider connected technology into the game as well as the covid when it comes to getting their materials and shipping cost and all of that stuff that has affected the ability for them to get their parts and machines and everything out to all of you this price evidently reflects all the negative aspects of covid19 i put up on my youtube community page asking all of you out there just to give me a prediction from you on what you think this game is going to be like the day before its actual release now i was thinking that there was going to be at least somebody that was going to be somewhat close nobody was even close obviously i think a couple of them were just jokingly around and just very broad strokes but none of you actually came anywhere close to what it was everyone was uh saying like more than one pop bumper obviously that was like someone said four pop bumpers and stuff like that and uh no there was only one pop bumper so going through these images and through the video there's a couple of little things that i want to talk about and one of the main things that i think i need to discuss is that has anybody else noticed that stern only released one video look at their other cornerstone titles releases go through their youtube channel you would see at least three videos, sometimes even four, going over all the tier models, accessories, and stuff like that. This time around, a one minute and 23 second video going over all tiers very quickly, might I add, as well as the upcoming accessories when it comes to side art blades, as well as the Polar Rod, the Godzilla egg. So, I thought that was a little peculiar. I was anticipating multiple videos to come out, but it's just the one. But I don't know it's different in a good way because we're used to seeing more gameplay footage of just kind of where you can really get a good idea of what the shot layout is. And I think that was part of why I did not get a video out to you guys going over the shot layout. Because honestly, it's a little convoluted when it comes to that moving tower. and from what footage that we have and going over the pictures alone, it would be very difficult for me to get it correct. And I could have always put a video about just a bunch of throwing spaghetti at the wall, but I'd rather give you more accurate information. So I'm skipping out on giving you shots and layout. We're going to be seeing a stream from Deadflip slash Jack Danger on Friday, 6 o'clock Central Standard Time. I have no doubts that this game is going to shoot very well. It's a Keith Elwin game. I mean, I want to say when Keith last year came out with Avengers, I didn't so much crap on it. It's just that I guess the theme alone and what I saw didn't excite me. That's what it was mainly, is just that I wasn't excited about the game. I played the game, and honestly, Avengers was great. I really enjoyed it. It was a really fun shooter. I've only played it on location, obviously, and I had a lot of fun shooting the game. The code was a little bit over my head. I didn't know what I was doing, but damn it, I was having fun while I was doing whatever it was. But definitely, Avengers is a fun shooter. I mean, every game that I've played of L1's, I consider fun. So without a doubt, I'm going to just throw something out there and state that I'm pretty sure this game is going to shoot great, and it's going to be fun. And since we don't have a bingo card drop target section anywhere on this game, this might be a little less convoluted when it comes to code. Something else to note is that the choice of powder coating, whose job is it to choose what color for this powder coating? By all means, I want to know because it's not like it's bad. This is not Led Zeppelin bad, guys. This is just safe. That's what this is. And that's fine. You played it safe with the silver color. I just don't feel like it meshes well with the art. I think it's a safe, like you're just playing it safe, you don't want to have any issues with contrast or anything like that. And so if that's what you're going for is safe, you accomplished your goal. I just think that some color with it would have been better. When it comes to the art, obviously Zombie Yeti has once again given us an amazing looking art piece. And it one of those things where the 1 minute and 23 second video doesn do the art justice it is not they have they have lights over the game guys and it floods the play field and it just makes it look much duller than these colors actually will pop in front of you or whoever's doing the post work on this video should have added saturation to the friggin footage send it to me next time guys it's a quick little click click doesn't take very much effort to add a little saturation to the video to make that game pop a little bit more but whatever i foresee that this game is going to be heavily modded i mean so for those of you out there that get the pro i'm i'm pretty dang sure you're gonna see somebody get you a good 3d modded sculpted version of Godzilla to put in the place as well as a Mechagodzilla to put in the place of just the plastic little stand-ups they have in place of the actual sculpted ones in the premium LE as well as having like a UFO on that pop bumper instead of just an image of one you're this game is gonna have mods I can already see it so my initial thoughts and impressions on this game right now was that it looks great it looks like it's gonna be a fun shooter and by all means if you get the premium you're going to be getting the everything and i think it's definitely going to be the preferred out of the tiers because it's got so much more than the pro but i feel like you're at least still going to get on the pro the shots you're still going to get your wire forms you still got your metal ramps all that your shots are still going to be good it's still going to be fun it's just that you're not going to have the cool little mechs and toys and 3d sculpted stuff on the pro which is a bummer but i feel that if you i'm going to use the word settle people don't like me using that word but if you settle for the pro i think you're still going to be pretty happy with what you get there are some games by all means that i would tell you that the premium is not worth it or to settle for the pro like my teenage mutant turtles for instance if you want to come after me when it comes to going for a pro instead of a premium bring it on i have my argument for but the fact remains is that I feel like this premium is the way to go for this game because that tower mech that's pretty damn awesome guys that adds a lot of uh cool stuff to the game when it comes to where the ball is going and how the multiball adds up and everything and I know that they don't go down the middle but when the multiball releases on that video it looks like they're going to be headed straight down the middle between your flippers and I'm pretty sure that's not how Keith would want it to go but I'm just going by the video alone it looks like it's just going to release and just feed right down the middle that'd be pretty funny so tell me what do you feel about this Stern game I know there's a lot of you out there that just do not like Stern titles does this game interest you at all if you're getting one of the tiers let me know which one you're getting in the comments down below give me the thumbs up hit the subscribe button ding my dong guys ding it so hard that way you can be notified of whenever i upload something for your viewing pleasure and until next time peace out