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Episode 118 - Pinball Hindsight Awards 1995

Wedgehead Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·50m 54s·analyzed·May 18, 2026
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

1995 Pinball Hindsight Awards crown Attack from Mars, Theater of Magic as standout games of strong commercial year.

Summary

Wedgehead Pinball Podcast Pinball Hindsight Awards for 1995 evaluates 19 pinball machines released that year across multiple award categories using historical perspective. The episode recognizes standout games like Attack from Mars, Theater of Magic, and Indianapolis 500 across art design, sound, innovation, mechanics, and software categories. Key themes include 1995 as the crest of the '90s pinball wave before industry decline, the competitive emergence of multiple manufacturers (Williams, Sega, Premiere, Capcom), and the departure of legendary designer Steve Ritchie from Williams.

Key Claims

  • 1995 saw 19 new pinball machines released from the major manufacturers plus Capcom as a newcomer

    high confidence · Alan (host) explicitly lists all eligible games from 1995 and notes '19 new pinball machines' at the episode opening

  • Steve Ritchie left Williams after 15 years following No Fear, his final game for the company

    high confidence · Alan states: 'Steve Ritchie leaving Williams after 15 years of redefining pinball' and Alex confirms 'He left the company right after No Fear, right? Yeah.'

  • The pinball market was already declining by 1995 and would experience rapid intensification leading to near-extinction by 1999

    high confidence · Alan: 'The sales are still solid here, but we've already started to decline, and this rapid slide will intensify each year and lead to the very near extinction event just four years later in 1999.'

  • Attack from Mars is ranked as the seventh best pinball game of all time

    medium confidence · Alan references 'the objective list' when claiming Attack from Mars is 'seventh best' but does not elaborate on the list's authority

  • Theater of Magic features a superior art package and theme integration compared to Pinball Magic despite both being magic-themed games released the same year

    high confidence · Both hosts extensively compare the two games, with Alan stating 'theater of magic is superior to it in every other way' and noting the difference in rule sets and overall execution

  • Linda Deal was the lead artist on two games in 1995 (Theater of Magic and Whodunit) and deserves recognition as a working female artist in the era

    high confidence · Alan highlights her dual work and emphasizes: 'it's incredible that Linda Deal was a working female artist in this generation, that she was the lead on two different games in this year'

  • Premiere released several games before the company died the following year (1996)

    high confidence · Alex notes: 'Some really fun premiere games right before they die, you know, because they die the next year.'

Notable Quotes

  • “It's the only award show that actually attempts to get all the awards correct using the mighty telescope of time past to clarify and distinguish what games have actually stood the test of time and what games were merely popular in their day and then promptly forgotten about.”

    Alan @ ~00:02:30 — Defines the core concept and purpose of the Hindsight Awards series

  • “For anyone out there that's putting the Brian Allen fucking translate in this for Theater of Magic, straight to jail, dude. Dude, it's embarrassing shit.”

    Alan @ ~00:21:45 — Strong criticism of alternate backglass artwork on classic games, reflects community sentiment against modifications to original designs

  • “If you took those mechs out of Pinball Magic, that game is nothing. It's dirt.”

    Alex @ ~00:32:15 — Emphasizes how heavily Pinball Magic relies on its mechanical gimmicks as its primary appeal

  • “The only African-American game on this year doesn't get nominated. What else is new?”

    Alex @ ~00:48:30 — Critical commentary on Frank Thomas Big Hurt being overlooked in nominations, suggests systemic bias in game recognition

  • “Attack from Mars is like the game people like talk about the audio package on that, the call-outs... To me, you're like that's the one that people are like impersonating the characters on and shit.”

    Alan @ ~00:43:00 — Highlights the cultural impact and memorability of Attack from Mars' sound design and voice work

  • “Whodunit is the only game where— Same guy. Dwight finally got to, like, follow it up. And it feels like Whodunit was really close to that working out well.”

    Alex @ ~00:37:45 — References Dwight Sullivan's design evolution, noting the connection between Whodunit and later games like Dungeons & Dragons

  • “Steve Ritchie invents the fan. This is a fan layout. I do think No Fear is like a very, very fun, interesting fan with some kind of like goofy, like the little U-turn, and then you have the elevated flipper upper loop and whatever. But the main play field is just a straight up fan.”

Entities

AlanpersonAlexpersonLinda DealpersonSteve RitchiepersonLyman SheatspersonDan HughespersonPaul BarkerpersonKevin O'ConnorpersonBrian Eddyperson

Signals

  • ?

    historical_signal: Discussion of Steve Ritchie's departure from Williams and his design legacy, specifically the fan layout innovation that became standard in competitive play

    high · Alan and Alex discuss Ritchie's 15-year tenure ending with No Fear, and Alan emphasizes 'Steve Ritchie invents the fan' as his lasting contribution to game design

  • $

    market_signal: Clear documentation of pinball market trajectory: 1995 was peak sales volume with 19 releases from major manufacturers, but industry was already in early decline phase leading to near-extinction by 1999

    high · Alan explicitly states: 'The sales are still solid here, but we've already started to decline, and this rapid slide will intensify each year and lead to the very near extinction event just four years later in 1999'

  • ?

    business_signal: Premiere pinball ceased operations in 1996, immediately following 1995 releases; signals competitive pressure and market contraction affecting smaller manufacturers

    high · Alex notes Premiere released 'some really fun premiere games right before they die, you know, because they die the next year'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Detailed comparison between two magic-themed games (Theater of Magic vs Pinball Magic) demonstrates how comprehensive theme integration (art, sound, rules, mechanics) outweighs individual novelty features

    high · Alan and Alex note Theater of Magic superior despite Pinball Magic having 'arguably cooler magic toys,' highlighting importance of cohesive design execution

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Steve Ritchie's departure from Williams marked end of an era and transition of design leadership; No Fear as his final design represents completion of his Williams legacy

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.153

0:00
Who will be the pinball machine? Prince, Kansas, who will be Pinball Machine? Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast. I am Alan, your host and one of the owners of Wedgehead, a pinball bar in Portland, Oregon. I'm in the basement studio of my co-host, Alex, the water boy. How are you doing? I'm doing great, Alan. I'm doing particularly great because for the first time in a while, it's my turn to plug the coffee fundraiser. That's right. For faithful listeners of the show already know, but we've got a little coffee fund, you know, account that if you like the show, you can go leave us a tip, right? You can go leave us like five bucks over at ko-fi.com slash whiteheadpodcast. We appreciate the support. We use it to go play pinball on trips and stuff like that. You know, that's really all we use for. Potentially rare prototype games. Yeah, potentially. I don't know if that's happening, so I don't want to keep promising that one. It's kind of like a little radio silence right now. So we'll see. We'll see. I'm still hopeful, but I don't want to guarantee anything. But I can guarantee that if you donate $5, you'll get an invite to our Discord server where we're always hanging out and talking about stuff and telling you why our opinions are correct and you're misinformed or wrong.
1:51
And, you know, it's a good time. Chopping it up. Yeah, chopping it up as we do. So yeah, go to ko-fi.com slash Wedgehead Podcast. Throw us a few bucks if you want to show support for the show. We appreciate it. Thanks. Well, today is the fourth installment of our Pinball Hindsight Awards. Whoa, we're doing this again, huh? We're doing it again. It's the only award show that actually attempts to get all the awards correct using the mighty telescope of time past to clarify and distinguish what games have actually stood the test of time and what games were merely popular in their day and then promptly forgotten about. In our inaugural Hindsight episodes, episode number 90, we looked at 1990, which was an extremely eventful year for the pinball industry. For the second installment, episode 94, we covered the doldrums of 1985. Yeah, you know, pretty fun year anyway. It was a good time.

Capcom acquired ex-Williams employees who wanted to compete with a magic-themed game, prompting the development of Pinball Magic

medium confidence · Alan speculates: 'some ex-Capcom employees left. They knew there were some ex-Williams employees, went to Capcom. They knew they were going to magic game... they kind of wanted to beat Williams to the punch or whatever'

Alan @ ~01:17:30 — Technical analysis of Steve Ritchie's design legacy and the fan layout innovation in Attack from Mars

  • “With all the boutique companies, I'm always like, why are they all trying to just make a Stern? They're not going to make a Stern game as good as Stern can make a Stern game. They should do something different.”

    Alex @ ~00:52:15 — Commentary on broader industry dynamics and boutique manufacturer strategy versus established manufacturers

  • “The guy falling down the stairs sound effects. Falling down the stairs. Yep. And he's done. He's like, oh, ah, ah, just followed up. It's so good. That's like, that's by far my favorite thing in any DMD game, dude.”

    Alan @ ~00:35:00 — Highlights a specific beloved moment in Theater of Magic's sound design, reflects community appreciation for memorable audio moments

    • John Papadiuk
    person
    Barry Ourslerperson
    Dwight Sullivanperson
    Dan Fordenperson
    Chris Grannerperson
    Dave Zabriskieperson
    Markus Rothkranzperson
    Paul Farisperson
    Attack from Marsgame
    Theatre of Magicgame
    Indianapolis 500game
    Pinball Magicgame
    Whodunitgame
    Williamscompany
    [name withheld pending review]company
    Premierecompany
    Capcomcompany

    high · Hosts frame Ritchie's 15-year tenure as defining era and explicitly connect his departure to market conditions and competitive dynamics

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong community pushback against alternate backglass artwork (Brian Allen translations) on classic games; reflects values of originality and designer intent preservation

    high · Alan's passionate criticism: 'For anyone out there that's putting the Brian Allen fucking translate in this for Theater of Magic, straight to jail, dude' reflects broader community sentiment

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Attack from Mars demonstrates balanced depth: 'pretty deep and wide code' that allows variable approach without being 'overwhelming,' contrasting with modern games' exponential complexity

    medium · Comparison to Godzilla's rule complexity; hosts note Attack allows flexibility ('you can kind of go about it a different way') while remaining intuitive

  • ?

    design_innovation: Pinball Magic's floating wand and disappearing ball mechanics carry game's primary entertainment value; without them the game has minimal appeal, highlighting gimmick-dependent design

    high · Alex states flatly: 'If you took those mechs out of Pinball Magic, that game is nothing. It's dirt.' Alan credits mechs as 'the selling point of the game. It's the whole game.'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Capcom entered pinball market with magic-themed game after hiring ex-Bally Williams employees, attempting to replicate successful formula but ultimately producing inferior game

    medium · Alan speculates Capcom strategy: 'they kind of wanted to beat Valley Williams to the punch or whatever' but both acknowledge Theater of Magic's superior execution

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive recognition of female artist Linda Deal as pioneer in pinball industry; hosts emphasize rarity and significance of her dual-game contribution in 1995

    high · Alan: 'it's incredible that Linda Deal was a working female artist in this generation, that she was the lead on two different games in this year. Both those games look great.'

  • ?

    industry_signal: 1995 game themes reflect industry shift toward arcade and family-friendly content (IP-heavy: Batman, Johnny Mnemonic, Waterworld) versus bar/adult theming, aligned with operator channel strategy

    medium · Hosts note: 'They were moving away from bars and trying to move into arcades hard at this point in time, and that's reflected in these themes' and 'this is a pretty clean year for Pinball'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Whodunit's narrative/crime-solving approach remained unique and didn't spawn lasting competitive meta despite innovation recognition; similar model later successfully executed by Dungeons & Dragons

    medium · Alan notes innovation 'didn't have a lasting impact on the industry' but Alex observes 'I don't think we've seen anything like Whodunit until we got Dungeons & Dragons. Yep. Same guy. Dwight Sullivan.'

    • 2:42
    We got to do another bad year. Yeah. But that we're not today. What else have we done? The third installment, episode 105, explored the birth of the DMD screen, the fan layout, and video modes in the year 1991. But in today's episode, we're looking at the crest of the 90s pinball wave, as we still have all three major manufacturers here releasing 19 new pinball machines, plus a newcomer in Capcom joined the fray. The King Steve Ritchie leaving Williams after 15 years of redefining pinball and selling obscene amounts of games. The sales are still solid here, but we've already started to decline, and this rapid slide will intensify each year and lead to the very near extinction event just four years later in 1999. Without further ado, this is the Pinball Hindsight Awards of 1995, and here's the list of all the eligible games from this year, starting with Apollo 13 from Sega.
    3:47
    Attack from Mars, Bally Williams. Batman Forever from Sega. Baywatch from Sega. Congo from Bally Williams.
    4:13
    Dirty Harry, Bally Williams. Indianapolis 500 from Bally Williams. Frank Thomas Big Hurt from Premier.
    4:33
    Jack Starbot from Bally Williams. Johnny Mnemonic from Bally Williams. Mario Andretti from Premiere. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from Sega.
    5:04
    No Fear, Dangerous Sports from Bally Williams. Pinball Magic from Capcom. Shaq Attack from Premiere.
    5:33
    Stargate from Premiere. Theater of Magic from Bally Williams. Waterworld from Premiere. And Whodunit from Bally Williams.
    6:08
    So lots of games we've talked about in different episodes of the show here. That's a shit ton of games. There's a lot of good games in that list, man. It's still a really good year. 1995 was crazy. I do not remember this year. I was two years old. I don't know what was going on, man. This is some wild shit. They're making good pinball machines. They were. This was sort of as the market's constricting, but they're still firing on all cylinders. Like I said, we still have. It comes up a lot in the show, but when shit hits the fan, like the Bally Williams guys, they do some good stuff. Yeah, they really. They like pull out all the stops. You can just tell it's like, oh, yeah, they're working hard on this. And even here this year, I think we get Sega's best games and, you know, we get. Yeah. Some really fun premiere games right before they die, you know, because they die the next year. Some would argue Godzilla Sega's best game.
    7:02
    But, yeah, no, this is like really is kind of like peaks of all of it could be argued peaks. Yeah. Some good, good stuff. So I'm excited to see what gets the big awards. Dude, I'm along for the ride on this one. I crunched the numbers on this episode. Yeah, we're kind of trying to do like an objective show here. We're removing all of our feelings and we're just delivering straight facts. In the first fact, something that's always easily quantifiable, objective science is best art package. And the nominees are Baywatch with Marcus Rothkrantz. Paul Ferris's work on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Theater of Magic by Linda Deal. And Indianapolis 500, which was Dan Hughes and Paul Barker. And the winner is Indianapolis 500 by Dan Hughes and Paul Barker.
    7:54
    Wow, that's a big, you know, that's a bit of an upset, I think. I think it's a big of an upset, but this is why we're doing it this way, is because this is the Hindsight Awards. I don't think that it would have won in 1995. I think there are other good-looking games in 1995, but I think when you look at Indianapolis 500, it is a gorgeous art package all around, stunning back glass, great play field, great cabinet art, just all around. As good as a racing game could look, I dare you to find one better, particularly this era where we also have Mario Andretti. That's a racing game. Yeah. How good does that one look? I mean, it looks like Mario.
    8:37
    So. Really big. Because they got him, but they didn't get Ferrari, right? Yeah. So it's just Mario Andretti. He's right there. Looking at you in the eyes. You know, or the game you did, best game ever for, NASCAR. How good does that game look? I think old John Yowse has done better. Indianapolis 500 really kind of calibrates for what a good racing game looks like. I think it's a really, really cool package overall. I just love that game in general. That game is so good. But the art package is like, this is a good one. It's like I've got a No Fear, which is the same year, right? Yeah. It could have been theoretically in the running. I don't think anyone's calling No Fear a beautiful game, though. Like Indie 500 has a very cool, very, very cool back glass. I think that's the most notable part of the package. The whole thing's really well done, but I think that back glass is just sick. Yeah, the back glass and the cabinet are perfect. I like it when glasses commit to one scene, but it's like a dynamic scene that doesn't waste space. That's something that's not – we don't see on modern pins so much. No, because they're collages. Because people want – they want to be like, I want to see that guy and that guy and that guy. And they're like counting down. They're like, I have 20 favorite characters in the Avengers or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I'm not buying the game if it only has 19. Yeah. And so it's a lot different when you're making like Indianapolis 500 is going to be cool as hell as Indy 500. That's it. And so it's like different, different criteria. But I just it is a very nice package. So no argument from me. Next award is the Paul Ferris Award for most unnecessarily horny game of the year.
    10:15
    Our nominees are Theater of Magic from Linda Deal. Really? You're nominating that? She's showing a lot of cleavage. That is true. It is weird. A shocking amount of cleavage. It's a little interesting there. And also, if we're considering sound as part of the art package. Oh, that's pretty. It's pretty horny. That's true. Next up is Baywatch, which was Marcus Rothcrans. I think this one doesn't need to be explained. Yeah. Because if you've ever seen the cabinet of Baywatch, it's just butts. Yeah, it's just women's butts. In bikini bottoms. But it's not even their whole. Now, you know, one could argue that is kind of the theme, but I think the cabinet choice of only showing butts was what puts it into this category. And then the last nominee was Jackpot, which is John Yowse and Doug Watson. That one's got to be obvious, too. It's unnecessary. Very unnecessary. Like, you know, isn't he like he's holding another one? He's holding like a sexy female robot in his arms. When I'm thinking about Pinball's playing a robot, I'm thinking about sexy robots. Yeah, that's the Python Angelo influence after all. And the winner is? Gotta be Baywatch, Marcus Rothgrance.
    11:38
    If you've ever seen The Cabinet, The Cabinet alone, Baywatch is such an epic game, and it's such a great, fun Sega game. But it's also one of those games that everyone goes, I don't want that in my house. Like, that's what happens because they have families or they have kids. You don't want to have to justify it. Yeah, you kind of have to be like a certain kind of person to put a Baywatch in your house because it's like pretty like like the back glass is fine, but the cabinet is a lot. It's a lot. Back glass is a really big Hasselhoff on it. Just staring. It's kind of Mario Andretti sized if I had to. Yeah. And it's so that's something. But then, yeah, it's like in the DMD animations and stuff. Yeah. It's just like as many they were just trying to throw. I mean, they knew why why the ratings were good on the show and they were trying to do that. So I it does feel appropriate to the theme, but the whole theme itself is unnecessary. It's unnecessarily. I'm not going to argue it. I'm not going to argue it. You didn think you know Mary Shelley Frankenstein was in here That Frankenstein got a lot of sex appeal Yeah dude I think he hangs dong in the movie if I remember correctly I can't, I've not seen the movie, it would not shock me. Yeah. It is kind of remarkable, looking at this list, this is a pretty, like, outside of a couple here, this is a pretty clean year for Pinball. Very clean by Pinball Sanders. They were moving away from bars and trying to move into arcades hard at this point in time, and that's reflected in these themes. Because it's kind of interesting. It feels a little more like not juvenile, but family friendly. Yes. Agreed. It's notable from where we've been. OK, after this, we go on to the Gordon Morrison Award for Artist of the Year. This is for their overall output this year, all the combined games, what they did. And our nominees are Kevin O'Connor for his work on Dirty Harry and Congo. Dan Hughes and Paul Barker, who took two men to do one game in D500. And Linda Deal for her work on Theater of Magic and Whodunit. She worked on Whodunit? Yeah. That's, dude, Whodunit's a good-looking game. See? And the winner, backing out that, it is Linda Deal.
    13:54
    Linda Deal, I think Kevin O'Connor's also in this. Obviously, I gave the best art package to Dan Hughes and Paul Barker for Indy 500, but I think Theater of Magic of all of these games, if you're talking about the back glass that lives rent free in most people's heads, it's the Theater of Magic back glass from this year. And I think it's incredible that Linda Deal was a working female artist in this generation, that she was the lead on two different games in this year. Both those games look great. Yeah, both those games look awesome. And the thing is, you know, they were hand-painted. They weren't, it wasn't digital. She was using digital tools. Assets around. They're both original themes. Yeah. So you're making shit up, something that, you know, people don't have those imaginations anymore. No, there's some people out there who— You tell me—I can't picture a butler. You tell me to imagine a butler, and I just start popping actors into my head. Linda Deal, you know, I couldn't do it. You know, I think Linda Deal deserves this, and just one more statement. For anyone out there that's putting the Brian Allen fucking translate in this for Theater of Magic, straight to jail, dude. Dude, it's embarrassing shit. Absolutely embarrassing. I know. You say it looks better. We've been beating this drum a lot lately, and that's because we keep talking about, like, big famous games lately, and I'm just so confused why people do this shit. It's disgusting. It's a bit like getting, like, a classic Porsche and swapping an electric motor into it, which was a trend for a while, and now people are buying those EV-swapped Porsches and putting the original motors back in. Because you're like, why did you buy a car that's, like, iconic for its power plant and sound, that's part of the experience, and then you, like, swap out a big piece of it. And that's what the pinball machines, it feels like that. It's kind of like it's like sacrilege. It's also a little bit funny that we have like two women that have worked prominently in pinball ever. And people will just be like, yeah, fuck that. I want this guy because he drew the girl with the big cans on it. Yeah. And also what's funny is Linda put the big cans on the girl here. It's true. It's not like you're missing the big cans. That's true. It's still sexy, dude. She delivered the sexy. People are like, the tiger's not angry enough. Dude, I just, the tiger doesn't have nipple rings. Like, why does it have nipple rings? It just annoys me. There's all of the games, games with the alt translates, just annoy me when the original game looked good. It looked real good. That's all we can say, I suppose. Yeah. Linda Deal, you crushed it. Congratulations. Linda Deal's the real deal, dude. The real deal. She's a real artist. That's the fucking difference. That's the difference. Absolutely. Okay, next award, the John Crutch Award for Best Mech Slash Gimmicks. The nominees are Theater of Magic for the Magic Trunk and Clever Uses of Magnets. Pinball Magic, the Magic Wand and Disappearing Ball. The Floating Ball or Disappearing Ball? The Floating Ball. It disappears. Yeah, okay. I couldn't remember what it does. And Attack from Mars for the Saucer and Jiggling Martians.
    17:03
    Yeah, they do jiggle. Then when you hit them, they stop jiggling. I mean, that's a good, yeah, okay. Okay, the winner, though, the winner of the John Crutch Award for Best Mechs and Gimmicks is? This is splitting hairs, but I give it to Pinball Magic because the mechs that it does have blows people's minds when they see it. And it's pretty much the only reason anyone is interested in Pinball Magic at all, because theater of magic is superior to it in every other way. And it could even be argued that the trunk in Theater of Magic is still the best mech this year and is better than Pinball Magic. The trunk is a lot more consequential of a mech. Like it actually is like used in gameplay, whereas like the levitating wand and the floating ball, disappearing ball are really cute, but they don't. The wand, the wand you have to, it has to roll to the end and you have to drop it on a target. You do have to use it. And it's very, very cool. It's very cool. You're right that those are in like in the floating ball is like those are the things that it's fucking cool. And everyone that plays the pinball magic just talks about those mechs and they're fantastic. That's why I gave it to them. I think it's fair to give it to theater because the trunk is incredible and also has a very a big wow factor. Yeah, to it as well. And sneaking into the trunk from the back when the ball falls in has the best animation. Sound effect of all the pinball, the guy falling down the stairs. Yep. And he's done.
    18:35
    He's like, oh, ah, ah, just followed up. It's so good. That's like, that's by far my favorite thing in any DMV game, dude. It's so funny to me.
    18:48
    I just bring it up anytime I can bring that up. It's like my favorite shit. Yeah, I think that's, I think you're right. I think also Pinball Magic, this is like the selling point of the game. It's the whole game. Because theater, you could make a pro version of theater if it was a Stern, you know? And you could do something. You could just make that a scoop or something. You could do some kind of way. Make that just a static bash toy and you just bash it and then it just starts your modes like that or something. And the game would still be a good game. If you took those mechs out of Theater of Magic, that game would be a piece of shit. You mean pinball magic. Pinball magic. Sorry. Yeah. That game without those mechs is nothing. It's dirt. No, it's okay. It's a fine game, but the mechs are what makes it. So I think that is reason enough to give it the mech of the year. Next category. The Harry Williams Award for Most Innovative Game. The nominees are Pinball Magic. The gimmicks feel like real pinball magic tricks. Whodunit, narrative, storytelling, and crime solving. And Apollo 13 for the biggest goddamn multiball ever. Ever. And still to this day. It remains unbested. I don't know why. Nobody's ever gone for 14 yet. Jersey Jack could. That'd be cool, dude. It's a shame we didn't get deeper if they did like the Noah's Ark game they wanted to do. If you had an Ark just spill out 14 balls. It's definitely cool. But anyway, the winner of the Harry Williams Award for most innovative game of the year goes to... Whodunit.
    20:15
    Because it simply feels so different from what came out during this year, or even before or after this year. It really didn't have a lasting impact on the industry. But it remains a well-loved game for new players, serves as a nice gateway game, and I think Harry himself would have appreciated the audacity of it. I don't think we've seen anything like Whodunit until we got Dungeons & Dragons. Yep. It's the only game where- Same guy. Dwight Sullivan. Dwight finally got to, like, follow it up. And it feels like Whodunit was really close to that working out well. Whodunit's cool. I owned one for a while. I really just wish it didn't have that big center ramp and I would have probably kept it.
    20:58
    I just couldn't get over it. Not animations, dude. Dude, the animations are so good. Not quite at the level of the guy falling down the stair in Theater of Magic, but they're really good. When you get into that rooftop scene, we'll see. Maybe there's a thing in here where we can talk about that.
    21:14
    We'll see. But yeah, I think Whodunit is definitely an innovative game and innovation doesn't always mean lasting impact. It means you did something that stood out in a sea of games. Pinball's been around for 70 years, you know. Yeah, and this is some new shit. And even today, it feels like you play a whodunna now, and you're just like, this is some different shit. Yeah, it is. It is. It really is. And it's cool. Go play one if you can. Yeah, I kind of think it's actually surprising that it's not a Gottlieb game. It's got big Gottlieb energy. It feels like a Gottlieb game, doesn't it? Like, when you think about it, you're like. Gottlieb games of this era do make you choose shit constantly. You, like, shoot a hole, one of the four-inch wide holes on any Gottlieb of this era, and it'll be like, do you want 9,000 points or a multiball? Like, it's funny that this was Barry Ousler and Dwight Sullivan because I felt like this could have been John Norris and John Norris. Like, I bet he could have designed it and then coded it to be this. Like, I could see John Norris making this game. 100%. It is one of the goofier games to come out of Allie Williams. Yeah, it's up there for sure. Barry had a few goofy ones. He did. Okay, next award. It's the Chris Granner Award for Best Sound Package. The nominees are Attack from Mars, Dan Ford. Indy 500 with Chris Granner himself on it. And Theater of Magic, Dave Zabriskie. The winner is Attack from Mars.
    22:49
    All three of these games, though, have incredible sound packages, and these three guys are on the Mount Rushmore of Pinball Sound Designers, and they're all operating at their peak here. So if you disagree, I agree. Like, if you want to say, like, if you want to argue one of these over another. Fair enough. What if they want to argue, like, Frank Thomas Big Hurt? No, that's wrong. I love that game. That game's fun. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Indy 500. Yeah. Indy 500 legitimately. I know that that game didn't sell that well and you still don't see it that much. Maybe a lot of listeners haven't even played that game. Mm hmm. But like definitely a rarer Valley Williams, Chris Granner. That's why the the award is named after this guy. And he fucking crushes the sound package on this game. Yeah. Original music that he composed. And then they got two real race announcers to call the game as you're playing it. And their banter is fucking excellent because you're playing the game. And if you haven't hit the upper shot to lock your ball in the turbo, you know, one of the guys will look at him and be like, I don't even think the driver knows that that flipper's there. You know, like they just it's it's incredible. It is a really, really good audio. Theater of Magic is the same, dude. I remember the sound effects, the call-outs, the music. Falling down the stairs sound effects. Everyone knows it and loves it. But Attack from Mars is like the game people like talk about the audio package on that, the call-outs. The call-outs. It's just – that one's iconic. To me, you're like that's the one that people are like impersonating the characters on and shit. Yeah, everyone's like, they took our hot dogs! You know, all that kind of shit. The loud like trumpets and fanfares and shit that like just sounds like campy patriotism. Like it's this weird game where it's like it totally works. The sound package is immersive. It's one of the greatest games ever made. The sound package is a huge, huge part of why that game is as good as it is. Absolutely. And it's one of the best games of all time. I think seventh best.
    25:05
    You'd have to check the objective list. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that's well-deserved, but I would hear an argument for a lot of these games. Next up is Best Theme Integration. The nominees are Attack from Mars, Theater of Magic, and Baywatch. I got a little bone to pick here with you Okay I think Frank Thomas Big Hurt is excellent theme integration Okay I think it overlooked because it not at the caliber of like game quality that these are We both, I mean, Wedge had a Frank Hurt for a while. I know you actually like that game. I could take it or leave it personally. Well, so you're thinking the theme integration's great. It feels like you're cracking baseballs. Because it feels like a Reebok commercial. Yes. It does. It feels like you're hitting baseballs and Frank Toms is feeling numb, dude. He's got that big mitt going back and forth. It's good. It's hard to hit him over his hand. I think it's got good theme integration. That's the other thing about this year. You're not like making like bases like there's other baseball like it kind of it's hard because it's like I really feel like the baseball rule set just kind of worked better. Like you could play out a full game of baseball on an EM in a way that made actual honest to God sense. Whereas like cracking endless home runs isn't really grand slams. But I guess that is life for Frank Thomas. That's what he used to do. So he used to hit dingers and stuff. I gotta be honest. I mean, Frank Thomas was a good hitter all around. He was a 300 career average hitter, so he did it all. I got a jersey card of him. Yeah, I mean, you know, I was a big I was a big get for me as a child. He's got a really cool nickname. Big Hurt. It's pretty cool. Pretty cool. Because because he puts a big hurting on the ball. Makes sense. He's a big guy. He's a big guy. OK, but anyway, that's not he wasn't nominated for political reasons. A little suspicious. The only African-American game on this year doesn't get nominated. What else is new? So Attack from Mars, Theater of Magic, Baywatch, and the winner is Theater of Magic. Yeah. Yeah, that feels, I mean, it's like his magic game, dude. And I also think that what's very interesting is that we ended up with two magic games in the same fucking year from two different. That's a really weird coincidence. So you really, really get to see the difference in theme integration because you get to be like, oh, here's another cool, pretty cool game. It's magic themed. It's also pretty fun. Well, it's kind of like when Bally Williams did World Cup Soccer and Gottlieb did whatever soccer game we never – World Challenge Soccer. Yeah. I think – and you're like, good God, dude, this is not a good look for Gottlieb. It does not look good. When they try to do the same thing is when it really illustrates. That's what I'm saying. With all the boutique companies, I'm always like, why are they all trying to just make a Stern? They're not going to make a Stern game as good as Stern can make a Stern game. They should do something different. And this is a good example of why.
    28:16
    Capcom tried to make a theater of magic because some ex-Capcom employees left. They knew there were some ex-Balley Williams employees, went to Capcom. They knew they were going to magic game. They kind of wanted to beat Valley Williams to the punch or whatever. That's kind of how the story goes anyway. And they came to market first with Pinball Magic. And it's a game that it's a it's a cool novelty. It's not a bad game. It's just not nearly as good as Theater of Magic. No, not even close. In Theater of Magic, really, it does just execute the magic theme better, despite Pinball Magic arguably having cooler magic toys. It all comes together. Linda Deal's art package, Dave Zabriskie's sound package. The sound is huge on the difference. A better rule set that makes you actually enjoy the magic. And also, you know, it's John Papaduke game and his like curvy, smoothie, whimsy stuff. Yeah, it's like you didn't need the little like tricks for it to feel like magic. You just need the game to feel like magic. Yep. And that's what it does. The whole package does that better than the competition. I think that's a well-deserved win. The next award is the Lyman F. Sheets Jr. Award for Best Software. And the nominees are Jackpot, Larry DeMar and Louis Coziars. Indy 500, Mike Boone and Craig Silla. And Attack from Mars, which was Lyman himself.
    29:39
    And the winner is Attack from Mars by Lyman himself. I mean, it's gotta be, dude. It's one of the best games of all time, seventh best, and it's a very, very good intuitive rule set that does not get old, and I fucking love it, and I still will just play this game over and over, and you can kind of like go in whatever order you want, you do all the different shit, it's a fun wizard mode to get to, it's just, it's really well done. Yeah, it's an excellent game. I think Lyman was really good at an appropriate—we talked—I don't know the order the episodes will come out, but we talked about Godzilla kind of raising the bar for, like, the depth and breadth of code on a modern game, and it's just overwhelmingly deep and wide. And I think Attack is kind of a good example of, like, it's also—it's pretty deep and wide code. Like, you can kind of go about it a different way, but it's not overwhelming in any of that. It's way, way cut back from that, but it is nice. It's not like you're just stacking the same shit in the same order every time. Absolutely. Yeah, I love Attack from Mars. One of the greatest games of all time. The game that got me into pinball. Lyman is the GOAT. That's why he has the award named after him, and this year, he wins his own award. I mean, that's why these awards are named after certain people after all. When we do a year where the namesake is in there, it's not like an obligation to give it to them, but they have pretty good odds. The hots are good. Speaking of, though, we have the Steve Ritchie Award for Game Designer of the Year. And I'm noticing you slighted Mr. Ritchie when he could have been in here for his illustrious work on No Fear. I agree. The last game he made for Williams Pinball. Again, though, political reasons, Steve Ritchie. He left the company right after No Fear, right? Yeah. And so, you know, the committee probably didn't want to nominate him for his work. I love No Fear. I've been on the record since the early days of this show. Yeah. Before Alex even had a No Fear. I've loved this game. I still love this game. You don't think it's you don't think it's eligible for like Game Designer of the Year, though? I think that there's just a better case for our other nominees. I can see it. Which are who are they? Barry Oussler for designing Dirty Harry, Jackpot and Whodunit. I don't know if I would like want to include whodunit on that, but I suppose the output's impressed. He made three games in an era where nobody makes three. It's true. Brian Eddy did just Attack from Mars. And John Papaduke did Theater of Magic. And the winner is...
    32:30
    Brian Eddy. Yeah. I think this is the best kind of just overall game, which the designers get an outsourced amount of credit for when it goes well. Yeah, we kind of give them a little too much credit maybe because it's a whole team that comes together and Attack is definitely a reflection of the whole team working on it. And so is theater and so are the other games, right? This layout just fucking works beautifully though. It's a perfect, perfect fan. And I also want to say, that's the Steve Ritchie fan. That's why he gets the Steve Ritchie award. Steve Ritchie invents the fan. This is a fan layout. I do think No Fear is like a very, very fun, interesting fan with some kind of like goofy, like the little U-turn, and then you have the elevated flipper upper loop and whatever. But the main play field is just a straight up fan. I think Attack is a better one, though. Putting like the center bash toy in there with the dropping three bank, it works really good. Yeah. And it's just fun to rip shots. And you get like that that wraparound shot, the one that loads your multiball, but then it's the ramp behind the main bash toy. And you have like the little ramp that also feeds onto that right flipper return. It just feels good to shoot those. Yeah. And there's really fun combos, which is good. It's a great game to combo and rip. And yeah, it stood the test of time. So yeah, yeah, you could say that it's number seven best of all time. Congratulations, Brian Eddy. You are the Steve Ritchie Award winner for Game Designer of the Year. He'll just be ecstatic. He's like, finally! He's like, yes, I've been waiting for recognition for Attack from Mars.
    34:06
    Okay, next award is the Pat Lawlor Award for Best Original-Themed Game, and the nominees are... Jackpot. Attack from Mars. And Theater of Magic. And the winner is Theater of Magic. I gave this the nod to Theater of Magic mostly because I just think that they both are original themes. Again, I think it's just we get this beautiful moment where Theater of Magic is more fun because of its insane level of detail and its theming feels sometimes not quite like Pinball. Like, it feels like a three-dimensional art project by a crazy person, John Papaduke, and for better and for worse, but I just feel like you're like, the compromises are just like, no, I want it to be magical, and I think it feels magical. And I think Pinball Magic, while having really cool engineering and cool gimmicks, just doesn't deliver in the same way. This year, it's just a horse race between Theater of Magic and Attack from Mars, and I think they both deserve awards, and given this one to Theater of Magic. Yeah, I can see that. I think Attack from Mars is a phenomenal original theme, but I can understand it going to Theater of Magic. You know, I'm a little surprised that, uh, actually, now I'm thinking about it, what were the other original themes this year? Whodunit, Pinball Magic. Yeah, it was a lot of licensed themes this year. Jackpot. Jackpot's a sequel, so I don't know. Sequel, yeah. Yeah, Whodunit would be, I think Whodunits are really, like, a fantastic original theme, too. I think the theme is definitely the coolest part about that game, having owned one. For sure. But yeah, I think Theater of Magic is definitely one that really it's integrated well. That layout feels like Magic. Attack from Mars, you could change the center toy to something else. You know, you could put a teddy bear in there instead of the UFO and call it Paddington. And we'd be like, oh, this game's cool as hell. You know, like that layout, like it all works really well, but it's like it's not the whole package like Theater of Magic is. So I'm like, you couldn't make Theater of Magic a different game without major shifts. Yes. Yeah. So I'm like, yeah, I think Attack from Paddington would be pretty cool, though. People keep clamoring for Paddington game. I know I bring it up a lot because that's my example of I'm like, oh, yeah, that'd be a good theme. Paddington will work. Yeah, man. People will fucking love Paddington. So I think it could pop off. OK, next award. Oh, you're going to like this award. It's your personal hero. The Joe Kamenkao Award for Best Licensed Game. Joe Kamenkao. Cool dude. Just a good. He's my role model. But it's impossible to replicate the success of Joe Cam and Cow. I don't think I can. He's just fucking so cool, though. And he did love licensed themes. He knew that the future was licensed. And so I think it's a good name tick for the award. The nominees for the Joe Cam and Cow Award this year are No Fear, Dirty Harry and Congo. And the winner is Congo, Congo.
    37:21
    We got to talk about Congo a little bit because it this is a stacked year that's going to. It's going to get lost in a lot of categories. Thankfully, the two best games of this year were both licensed games made by Bally Williams, and then this is the best licensed game from this year, I think. I don't want to say it's not close, because I do think No Fear is also an excellent A-list game to me. No, Congo is better. But Congo is so good. I mean, I have some bias, because I've owned a No Fear for a long time now, and so I wouldn't mind swapping it out for Congo. Man, I should try to make that trade because Congo's expensive. I can't remember. They're not that expensive. Keith Elwin said he likes it, so they got more expensive. Yeah then they get the bump Yeah we can say we like shit all day nothing changes but then Keith Elwin says he likes a game and they go up It fucked up dude No one no one respects our opinions No Congo though phenomenal game I kind of like I surprised that it hasn come in here but it didn really it wasn a good fit for a lot of these categories It's just not as good. Like there's the main gimmick or mech that it has is the gorilla under the play field, which is not its strongest suit. I think we've talked about in the past, but we're banning John Trudeau from winning a Designer of the Year award for obvious reasons. So we can't give him Designer of the Year, but he did design very fun playfields to shoot. Absolutely. And Congo is one of the best again. Good monkey sounds and stuff, too. Dude, and Roger Sharpe, it made his it made his career. He was so excited. If you go back and listen to our old Roger Sharpe episode about the 90s golden era, He talks about securing the license for his own personal fascination with Simeon's. Yeah. He loves apes and loved the book. And when they were making the movie, he was like, we got to do this. And he got to go on set. This was also poised to be a gigantic, because it was a huge budget, Michael Crichton, is that his name? Yeah, Michael Crichton book. Yeah, and it was right on the heels of Jurassic Park. Massively, massively successful movie. And so they're like, this is it, dude. We got more animatronics. We got this sick gorilla. She's drinking martinis. We got bad gorillas. We got insane lighting and stage design. And it's I've never seen this movie. And it just looks so cool, though. I love this movie. I really got to watch it at some point. It's like Jurassic Park, but you trim the fat. That's what you trim that, you know, it's like a Jurassic Park game is like, I like Jurassic Park. You watch it and you're like, that's pretty good. And then you watch Congo and you're like, oh shit, they figured it out. Yeah, that makes sense. Everyone thinks that. That makes sense. That's what I've heard from a lot of people, actually. But the game is also kind of like a trimmed fat. Like there's no modes. It's just like it's really kind of like bare bones, kind of old school. It feels like almost like a System 11 rule set. Yeah. And it's just a fun game to shoot and collect jewels. And you don't really got to know what you're doing. You can just smooth brain it like I do and just play a really long game, get a good score. And it's so much fun. Dude, that volcano ramp is one of the coolest fucking ramps. He had a shot through the pops and it wrapped into the volcanoes where the balls pop out of. Just excellent game, well-deserving for the Joe Kamikau Award for Best Licensed Game of the Year. Yep. Okay, next award, Gottlieb Award for Best Knockoff Licensed Game. The nominees are Whodunit, which is Unlicensed Clue. Attack from Mars, which is repeatedly mistaken for Mars Attacks. It's not related to the movie. And Pinball Magic and Theater of Magic for being the prestige and the illusionist of 1995 Pinball. They were really, was there like a big magic kick in 95? I don't know. I mean, they both made these and just like whatever year that was in the 2000s when they made the prestige and the illusionist. I'm just saying like it's the same thing happened. Yeah, they're knocking off each other. Yeah.
    41:20
    And the winner is? Whodunit. Since Attack from Mars actually came out before Mars Attacks, so the relationship was completely unintentional and kind of just dumb luck. Serendipitous. Yeah, that is crazy. And Capcom and Bally were just both hot for magic, inexplicably at the same time. Who done it also, like I said before, just feels like some Gottlieb type shit. And yeah, it's kind of funny. This is a year that Gottlieb at this point has gone fully licensed. They're making like Stargate and kind of like goofy, you know, kind of goofier license themes. Yeah. Big Hurt. And yeah, but they're in Mario Andretti, but it's all licensed. And then Bally Williams is like, I will still do some of these originals every once in a while. Like Barry wants to draw something up for us. Yeah, it's it's it is just interesting. And Whodunit definitely – so it really is, I'd say, the only one that actually is a knockoff of something. And it's so funny because we give this Gottlieb Award because they're really famous through all of their solid-state era, basically. Yeah. Of doing this. Like, they love knockoff themes. And like we said earlier in the episode, I really just think, like, it feels like it could have been a Gottlieb game, dude. It does. So it's well-deserving of this award. Yep, feels very appropriate. Well done, whodunit. Still an interesting, fun game. And finally, we get to Game of the Year. The nominees are... Theater of Magic, Attack from Mars, Congo, and Indy 500. Four phenomenal games. These are the top tier list games of this year. Yeah, I mean, those are all, it's kind of crazy those all came out in one year. Those are four really, really good games. And also, No Fear, and Baywatch, and you know, like, there's a lot of good games here. 95 was a good year for Pinball. But there can only be one winner, and who's that winner, Alan? Attack from Mars, which is a perfect game.
    43:30
    It really, really is. It's a hard one to write. You can't really knock it. I think of a lot of the big, famous, valuable, evergreen, Bally Williams games. This is the one that I probably let go and actually out of my way to play the most. I don't get sick of it at all. It's still like appropriately challenging. I just really like it. It's fantastic. Well deserving. It's got the jiggling Martians. And I think back in the day it probably would have got the award, but it still gets the award. Yeah, I'd be curious. I'd be curious what people in 1995, I can't remember how it sold compared to other the other games. The best selling game of this year was Theater of Magic. But that's interesting. Theater of Magic came out at the beginning of the year and Attack came out later in the year. Yeah, I don't know how that. And like I said, this is the crest of the wave and it's downhill from here. Yeah, it's the rest of the 90s. That's why sales are really hard to compare. Yeah, because it changed very quickly. Like year to year in the 90s, sales change a lot. They also knew this one must have had a good reputation even at the time because they made a sequel to it with Revenge from Mars, the Pinball 2000 game. Absolutely. They knew they needed to do an unlicensed theme. And so they looked back at what had been successful, what they could follow up and build off of. And this was the one they chose. So it's like it must have had a good reputation. It's a perfect game. I don't think there's any argument from them. And it's the number seven best game of all time. So no arguments from the judges on that list. But yeah, that leaves the most important category, the most important award, where people really come to these Hindsight Awards to listen to, and that is the best topper. This is the Waterboy Award for the best topper. Yeah, for those that don't know, toppers, make or break games, as you'll see, there were only two this year.
    45:28
    Two games, you know, one company brave enough to keep sticking to the true art of toppers, and the nominees were Apollo 13 and Baywatch. And who's the winner, Alan? Baywatch, dude. Baywatch has one of the sickest toppers of all time. Baywatch has what I consider to be a perfect topper, which is when it's just a piece of plexiglass. Yes. I love that. I think that's like what toppers should be. I don't know. I'm like, I like like Whitewater is a good topper. There's a lot of good. There's a lot of Fishtail is a phenomenal topper. There are a lot of good ones, but I'm like, dude, just throw on a piece of plexiglass. Call it good. I think that shit's hilarious. In the one that was included on your guys's Baywatch, that's not the only one. There are variations. I know there's variations. But the one that was included on the Baywatch that is currently at Wedgehead just features Sonic, the Sega mascot. And does it just say one to six players can play or up to six? What's it say on it? Doesn't say tournament play one to six players can play? Yeah. It just has some text letting you know that you can play six players when Sega was doing it. No, it says everyone can play one to six players. Yeah. With a big picture of Sonic, it's so good. They were really Sonic forward with the branding on Baywatch, and it just all has very cool design. Both this and Mary Showie's Frankenstein are very – Sonic is all over that shit. Yeah. He's on the flippers. These are the early Sega games. They really were trying to play that up, and then they kind of fell off. Except they never made a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Yeah, it's fucked up, dude. The quickest mistake ever. Did you see that play field that was all just like Sega licenses? There still wasn't a Sonic. That's crazy. I posted – there was like a – there's a play field that came from the factory or something, just key line art. It's not like a finish. It's just the outlines. And it has like Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter. It's all like the AM2 era arcade games from that – like Sega arcade games from that era. But still no Sonic. And I was like, Jesus Christ, dude. Like they're doing everything. They were like trying to do everything but make a Sonic game. It's crazy, man. That would have gone stupid hard. I really think it's like that could have actually – it's one of those ones that you're like, man, if you had done that, you guys could have actually been a real company. Yeah. You know, like it's just – It's crazy that we didn't – They survived. They made it. Joe Kamenka was cranking out 500 units of Godzilla and stuff, so hell yeah, dude. Well, what a year, dude. 1995 was a good year for pinball. Yeah, there were a lot of games that came out this year that we didn't – You want to talk about any of the other ones that we didn't really talk about? There's just a lot of games that came out this year that didn't even get nominated for awards, and they're still cool games. Like, we've done Die on the Sills for Apollo 13. We've done Die on the Sills for No Fear, which... We have not done a Die on the Sills for Apollo 13, but I would do one. We didn't? No. I thought we did one with Tyler. No, but he would love to. Oh, shit. We should bring him back. We should bring Tyler back at some point. Has Frankenstein got it off? No, but I love that game. Yeah, I know. I just love that game. I'm like, it's just kind of crazy. Shaq Attacks on here, that gotta die on this hill. Stargate's widely considered to be the best premiere game. I don't necessarily agree with that. And it's also the only Kurt Russell pinball machine. Yeah, Waterworld, my namesake. Yep. It's kind of a crazy stacked year for pinball and Jackpot. I'm surprised we didn't give anything to Jackpot, but it's kind of, it was one that, it just wasn't quite there in most of these categories. Yeah. Great game though. Great, great. Fun as hell. Jackpot's so good. It's just, you can't call a game. That's a 10-year-old playfield innovative. Yeah, and it's – I just think it's like it's Pinball but more fun. I know that's somewhat controversial, but – It is Pinball but better. It's just more fun because you gamble, dude. It is fun. And you cheat. Casino run is fun as hell. It's fun. That game has ruined Pinball for me. I never even consider buying a Pinball because I'm like, Jackpot's just better. Yeah, dude. Which is true. I just think it's better. Anyway, great game. Great, great games in 1995. Absolutely. You know what you got to do. Use the Pinball map. Go out, find one of these games or all of these games. Go find an Attack from Mars if you can, you know. Rare bird. And go play these games, dude. Use the map. Go out and play these games on location. Support your local operators for putting these games out and making them work. Enjoy Pinball in its natural habitat. And enjoy some of these games from the golden era of the 1990s. And until next time, good luck. Don't suck.
    50:29
    Are they ticklish? Are they jigglish? Can they be tricked? Can they be chucked? Which ones will move? Which ones will talk? But more important, which ones can dance? Who will be Pinball Machine?