The Making of Star Wars: Fall of the Empire Pinball

Stern Pinball·video·11m 8s·analyzed·Dec 29, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.024

TL;DR

Star Wars: Fall of the Empire production doc showcases Spike 3 platform, redesigned modes, and iconic movie toys.

Summary

Official Stern Pinball production documentary on Star Wars: Fall of the Empire, featuring designer John Borg and development team discussing the new Spike 3 platform release. The game reimagines the original 1992 Star Wars with modernized playfield features, character-based modes, iconic toys (Death Star, AT-AT), and audiovisual enhancements including 25+ original compositions blended with John Williams' soundtrack. Emphasis placed on broad accessibility while maintaining competitive depth for tournament players.

Key Claims

John Borg has designed 50-60 games across his career, with the original Data East Star Wars (1992) being his first major title.
high confidence · John Borg directly states this in opening segment of documentary
Fall of the Empire uses scenes from the original trilogy that were NOT featured in the 1992 Star Wars game, providing a wholly new experience.
high confidence · Development team explicitly states focus on new scenes to differentiate from previous release
The game features 25+ original compositions designed to blend with John Williams' two featured soundtrack pieces (Imperial March, Main Theme).
high confidence · Sound designer discusses composition approach and team effort
Chris Bartlett voices C-3PO in the game using a processing technique revealed by original Ben Bert (original sound designer).
high confidence · Sound designer explains casting and voice processing methodology
Death Star toy was modified from the actual Disney model, with damage added to represent rebuilding; Death Star II model was unavailable.
high confidence · Borg explains acquisition and modification of actual Disney props
AT-AT toy features motorized collapse with compound-angle spiral ramp requiring significant mechanical engineering challenge.
high confidence · Borg details AT-AT construction including cast iron model modification with jointed legs and motor-driven crank arm
Game uses magnetic ball save mechanic with Yoda-themed Force save feature allowing up to three levels of completion.
high confidence · Borg demonstrates Yoda magnetic save mechanism with ball routing explanation
Sarlacc pit feature is a teacup-style vacuum form ramp with drop target gate preventing overuse.
high confidence · Borg explains Sarlacc pit design rationale and drop target interaction

Notable Quotes

“I love John Borg's original Star Wars game from 1992. I own one and I think this game carries a lot of similarities.”
Unknown team member @ Early in documentary — Establishes continuity between 1992 classic and 2025 redesign; validates legacy
“So for this Star Wars game, we really brought it into the modern times. More playfield features, more lighting, better sound, better visuals. We really stepped it up in every way to make it feel like a much more fresh modern game while revisiting this classic franchise.”
Unknown producer/designer @ Mid-introduction — Core design philosophy: modernize while respecting original
“I never thought as a kid that someday as a middle-aged man I would get paid to watch Star Wars.”
Development team member (likely George Gomez or sound designer) @ During movie clip selection discussion — Humanizing moment illustrating passion for IP and work
“Over 25 original tunes that all blend in well with the John Williams world and just sound like they could have been on the soundtrack.”
Sound designer @ Soundtrack composition section — Demonstrates ambitious audio design scope and compositional quality target
“One of the things that was a little challenging was Borg had his layout and he had a couple of shots that he didn't quite know what to do with... there was a real collaborative effort to try to make the layout as cool as possible.”
Mechanical/design collaborator (likely George Gomez or rules designer) @ Playfield layout discussion — Reveals Borg received design support, contradicts narrative of solo designer work
“It's a shooter. I mean, it's a fun game to shoot. It's challenging. It's very open, too, where novice players aren't intimidated by it. They don't have the ball right back in their face.”
Tournament player/competitive evaluator @ Final assessment section — Confirms accessibility + depth design goal achieved in testing
“There's been a lot of Star Wars games over the years, but I really feel that this one has taken it to the next level, both in the playfield layout and the rule design and all the audiovisual effects.”

Entities

John Borgperson Fall of the Empiregame Spike 3product Chris Bartlettperson Ben Bertperson George GomezpersonStern Pinballcompany

Signals

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community_signal: Official documentary format indicates Stern's commitment to transparent game development communication and community engagement
medium · Extended production documentary featuring designer interviews, technical explanations, and player perspectives; contrasts with previous limited disclosure
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design_philosophy: Game deliberately designed with broad accessibility (easy shots available) while maintaining competitive depth (challenging shots and complex combos) for tournament play
high · Tournament player states 'fun to shoot,' 'challenging,' 'very open,' 'novice players aren't intimidated'; character-based progression structure enables skill progression
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licensing_signal: Disney provided actual Star Wars props (Death Star model) and enforced specific mechanical requirements (AT-AT guns); licensed two John Williams soundtrack pieces
high · Borg discusses acquiring 'original models from Disney'; Disney required AT-AT guns; Williams' Imperial March and Main Theme licensed for game
$
market_signal: Spike 3 platform investment and flagship game status indicates Stern's ongoing hardware evolution and competitive positioning against boutique manufacturers
medium · Major platform upgrade (display, sound) indicates significant R&D investment; Fall of the Empire positioned as showcase title for new capabilities
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community_signal: John Borg returns to Star Wars franchise after 33 years, explicitly motivated by opportunity to design original trilogy game vs. sequel content
high · Borg states 'That's why I was really glad to get, you know, go back and do the original trilogy' after referencing previous Star Wars work

Topics

Spike 3 platform capabilitiesprimaryPlayfield toy design and engineeringprimaryAudio design and soundtrack compositionprimaryAccessibility vs. competitive depth balanceprimaryCharacter-based mode progression structureprimaryDisney IP licensing and prop usagesecondaryJohn Borg's design philosophy and careersecondaryContinuity with 1992 Star Wars gamesecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Documentary presents highly positive view of game throughout. Development team expresses pride in work, enthusiasm for IP, and confidence in execution. No criticism or controversy mentioned. Tone celebratory of modernization while respecting legacy. Official Stern production ensures branded positivity.

Transcript

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You know, you learn things along the way. You're like, "Don't do this or don't do that or don't let the player make a bad shot." After a while, you uh you just start to look at things and go, "That's going to work. In my long past, I believe I've probably um brought 50 to 60 games uh to production. First game that I designed was DD Star Wars. That's why I was really glad to get, you know, go back and do the original trilogy. You've taken your first step into a larger world. I love John Borg's original Star Wars game from 1992. I own one and I think this game carries a lot of similarities. So for this Star Wars game, we really brought it into the modern times. More playfield features, more lighting, better sound, better visuals. We really stepped it up in every way to make it feel like a much more fresh modern game while revisiting this classic franchise. It's cool to see Borg's perspective now after all these years and how he wants to approach the trilogy again. New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, just great classic movies. This Star Wars game is on our brand new Spike 3 hardware. So, we feature a bigger, higher res display. We have better sound. As you're playing the game, you'll progress character missions. So, there'll be different shots lit to kind of progress the story. And when you hit those shots, the next chronological clip will play. to choose the clips for the from the movies for this game. We had to watch it with a different eye and think about it in the way of like what would make for exciting pinball modes. We really focused heavily on using scenes from the original trilogy that we didn't feature in our previous Star Wars game. So, it'll be a whole new experience seeing different parts of the universe that we didn't touch on last time. I never thought as a kid that someday as a middle-aged man I would get paid to watch Star Wars. Laugh it up, Fuzzball. The new Spike 3 system with the increased size of the display is absolutely stunning. It's It's beautiful. The sound system is what really separates it from Spike 2. It was super exciting to work on another Star Wars game. I want it to be totally immersive and you know part of that world, a giant part is John Williams soundtrack. So, we have those two tunes from the soundtrack, Imperial March, and the main theme. And then it's my job to make sure everything else in the game sounds like it lives in that world, so it doesn't take you out of the experience. [screaming] I have a great team of composers. I'm really proud of all the work they did. over 25 original tunes that all blend in well with the John Williams world and just sound like they they could have been on the soundtrack. So for Star Wars Follow of the Empire, we used a lot of the iconic sounds. These are the sound effects from the movies. You can't really replicate those TIE fighter sounds and all that stuff. You'll hear Chewbacca when you go in the Starlac pit. You'll hear R2-D2 as you exit the lanes. It's all there in the game. A lot of the voices that you'll hear in the game are actually cut from the original films. Remember, a Jedi can feel the force flowing through him. But we do have a C-3PO sound alike. Pinball. Why? It's my primary function. So Chris Chris Bartlett is the voice of C3PO in the game, and he's been doing it for 20 years or so for Lucas Film. And he told me Ben Bert, the original sound designer's secret for how he processed the uh C3PO voice. So, um, hopefully I I, uh, got close enough to make Ben Bert proud. All this excitement is freezing up my joints. We tried to make this game appeal to the broadest audience possible. The playfield's got some pretty easy to make shots along with some challenging ones. John provided a great layout with all the different character shots. Each of eight shots has different characters. So, that's going to be eight different types of scenes you can play prominently featuring those characters. who's scruffy looking. What you're trying to do is you're trying to complete all the character based modes to get to the bigger features, the mini wizard modes and the wizard mode itself. The big scenes in the movie are kind of reserved for the multiballs. So, there's the main toys of the game, which is the Death Star and the Adat that can crash down and those correspond to the big moments in the movies. One of the things that was a little challenging was Borg had his layout and he had a couple of shots that he didn't quite know what to do with. They were just kind of deadending and I was able to kind of help work with him. And I was like, "Hey, what if we put an upkicker? That would give us some real estate." Then Borg would be like, "Yeah." Cuz then I wanted to have like a spiral ramp, you know, go around the AT8. I'm like, "Yeah, you could kick up and then do the spiral." So, there was a real collaborative effort to try to, you know, make the layout as cool as possible. Do or do not. There is no try. It's always a challenge to do spiral ramps, you know, helico ramps. This one was even more of a challenge because a lot of compound angles to get to the exit of the ramp was very challenging because it was going into another ramp which was at a different angle. So you shoot the ball into the upkicker. The ball goes circles around the add at you have to do that three times to start add at multiball and you're trying to knock the addat at down and then after you do that the addat crashes down to the playfield. So when I started to work on the AT-AT, I found a cast iron model that didn't have any movable joints. So I took this model and I brought it into work and I cut the legs off and I made little jointed legs, attached it to a motor with a with a crank arm on it and I made the thing pivot from, you know, it's up to its down position. Disney required that we put the the little uh the guns that come out of the bottom edge of the head and we knew that those would break off. George looked at the model and he added a feature to allow the head to pivot. So, as the thing comes to its crashed position, the head actually hits a bracket and it lifts up a little bit, keeping the head out of harm's way. The playfield on this game is super exciting where we have a physical Death Star that locks balls. It was really awesome to get the uh original models from Disney to work with the actual Death Star model. They didn't have a a Death Star 2 model. So, we took the Death Star one model, we put some damage on it and made it look like it was being rebuilt and then we molded it that way. It's a square tube and the balls fly over the hatch, fall inside, and they stack up inside, one on top of the other, and there's a set of optos that detect it each position. So, the Death Star device is really cool because it can hold up to three balls and when you start the Death Star multiball, it just fires them all out at you. and it feels like you're really in battle. 1 2 3. They all come out and they're boom, they're right on your right flipper. The Millennium Falcon model, we've tilted it at an angle going into that big opening in the back panel where the hyperspace shot is. So to use the hyperspace ramp, players will either start different modes or they'll bash the ramp while it's down to raise it up. So then you can make the jump to hyperspace. Flies through the air, goes into a ramp through the back panel, and you get to circle around. You get to go back and forth. And you can also criss-cross the ramps and do a lot of really cool combo shots. The game is programmed with a lot of combos to try to keep you hitting, you know, jump ramp, right ramp, the Luke Vuck, the right orbit. One of my favorite shots is the Sarlac pit. Job of the Hut was not well represented, I don't think, in the original game that I made in the '90s. So, we decided we wanted to add a Sarlac pit feature to the game. So, I made a teacup style vacuum form ramp. And the ball spins around in there. I'll put up a bunch of jackpot values on the display. 5 million, 10 million, 50 million. And you can actually get different awards depending on the timing and how fast it's spinning. And it just feels satisfying to hit that Sarlac pit. I wanted to bring salacious crumb into the picture. So, we did want to put a drop target out in front of the Sarlac pit just to keep the player from being in there too often because it's going to kind of tanalize you. is you hit the drop target, it's going to come right back up and then you got to hit it again and it's going to come right back up and then it'll open up and then you can go in there and rack up some points and start some features. So, what I've got is I'm going to do this thing where there's a magnet in the middle of the playfield below the flippers. When the ball drains, you hit the action button and the ball comes down here, travels around the magnet, and it goes right back up into the shoot. Isn't that magical? You spell Jedi by spinning the spinners. And when you've completed the Jedi, you've now got the power of the Force to save your ball. If you've got your Jedi built up a little bit of the way, you can try to fling the ball into the in lane. If you save your Jedi letters up all the way though, then it'll hold the ball and Yoda will help you by grabbing it and then chucking it out. Oh. Uh, no. The art at the bottom of the playfield shows Yoda and it feels like Yoda's grabbing the ball. We tried to base it around making you feel like you did when you watched Yoda raise the X-wing out of the swamp on Degoa. So now he's raising your ball by using the force. There's no hard rule book you have to learn to play this game. It's just fun. you know, the movies and love the sounds and the scenes and it's just all there. There's been a lot of Star Wars games over the years, but I really feel that this one has taken it to the next level, both in the playfield layout and the rule design and all the audiovisisual effects. It's a great way to revisit a familiar franchise and maybe help look at it with new eyes. As a tournament player, you know, I'm always having that in the back of my head of I want to make things accessible but also interesting for the advanced player. It's a shooter. I mean, it's a it's a fun game to shoot. It's challenging. It's very open, too, where novice players aren't intimidated by it. They don't have the ball right back in their face. And it was just really, really a lot of fun to bring it to 2025 pinball. It's a tough question, but R2-D2 is probably my favorite character of the bunch. R2-D2 is really really cool.