The Mandalorian Pinball First Look/First Impressions - Flip N Out Pinball

Flip n Out Pinball·video·18m 35s·analyzed·May 17, 2021

Analysis

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TL;DR

Mandalorian Pinball first impressions: dream team design delivers classic potential with minor nitpicks.

Summary

Zach from Straight Down the Middle provides an enthusiastic first look at the newly announced Stern Pinball Mandalorian machine, praising its art design by Randy Martinez, fresh layout by Brian Eddy, and code by Dwight Sullivan. He highlights innovative mechanics like the tilting helmet upper playfield and discusses both strengths (theme integration, full video assets, Carl Weathers callouts) and minor concerns (static Grogu animatronic, stand-up targets vs drop targets).

Key Claims

Mandalorian Pinball features three completely different art packages across Pro, Premium, and LE trim levels with unique cabinet and backglass designs
high confidence · Zach describes in detail the distinct art packages: Pro/Premium with Western feel (oranges/yellows), LE with mirrored screen-printed backglass featuring bold composition choices
The layout is one of the freshest and most original layouts for any Stern pinball machine in the past decade
medium confidence · Zach states this directly when discussing Brian Eddy's work, comparing it favorably to expected Shadow-style homage
Premium and LE versions feature a tilting Mandalorian helmet upper playfield that changes the slope of the surface; Pro version has the same surface area but non-tilting with one flipper
high confidence · Zach describes this as 'a pinball first' and details the feature differentiation across trim levels
The game includes original score by Ludwig Gorenson and custom callouts by Carl Weathers
high confidence · Zach specifically mentions these assets and praises the decision to include them rather than generic replacements
Grogu on the game is an animatronic that doesn't move, which Zach criticizes as a missed opportunity for interactive animation
high confidence · Zach expresses disappointment that Grogu is static and suggests what he would have preferred (eye movement, force effects)

Notable Quotes

“This might be one of the freshest and most original layouts for any Stern pinball machine in the past decade. A breath of fresh air.”
Zach (Straight Down the Middle)@ 6:17 — High praise for Brian Eddy's layout design, establishing early excitement about gameplay mechanics
“I'm smelling a hybrid between like a Game of Thrones and the subtleties of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Zach@ 7:49 — Zach's prediction about the code/rules complexity based on Dwight Sullivan's design philosophy, indicating expected difficulty balance
“The mirroring and the style choices are bold but the direction is subtle... the more I let it marinate a little bit I fell head over heels with what Randy Martinez was doing here.”
Zach@ 4:49 — Initial skepticism about LE backglass design that converted to enthusiasm, reflecting on iterative appreciation of artistic choices
“Could the Mandalorian be one of Stern Pinball's greatest machines of all time? Could it be one of the greatest machines of all time regardless of manufacturer?”
Zach@ 16:11 — Peak enthusiasm statement questioning whether game could achieve all-time great status
“This isn't only a unique layout for Brian Eddy... we thought this was going to be the shadow. But we were wrong.”
Zach@ 5:57 — Indicates community expectations were subverted by fresh design approach rather than retreading familiar patterns

Entities

Zachperson Straight Down the MiddleorganizationStern PinballcompanyRandy Martinezperson Brian Eddyperson Dwight Sullivanperson Carl WeatherspersonLudwig Gorenson

Signals

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sentiment_shift: Positive reception to designer/programmer combination of Brian Eddy and Dwight Sullivan, with community expectations of high-quality rule integration and staying power based on Sullivan's previous work
high · Zach states: 'his games tend to stay in Greg and I's collections the longest' and 'This is what I wanted to see happen. I wanted the dream team of a Dwight Sullivan and a Brian Eddy'
?
product_concern: Gropu animatronic is static without movement or interactive elements; missed opportunity for animation integration during magnet/force shots or ball routing
high · Zach criticizes: 'some pinball enthusiasts are kind of upset that Gropu is an animatronic he doesn't move and I kind of agree with him I would have loved to have seen Gropu in the back growth...moving his head around'
?
design_philosophy: Brian Eddy creates fresh, original layout distinct from expected Shadow homage pattern; emphasizes shot geometry and layout innovation over repeating established patterns
high · Zach states layout is 'one of the freshest and most original layouts for any Stern pinball machine in the past decade' and notes community expected Shadow-style design but got 'unique' approach instead
?
licensing_signal: Game includes full video assets from source material (Mandalorian TV series), original Ludwig Gorenson score, and custom Carl Weathers callouts rather than generic replacements
high · Zach emphasizes: 'They got full video assets anything that they could want full assets in this game' and 'Instead of creating the world on their own in some universe This is Mandalorian as we see it on our television'
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Transcript

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0:00

Thank you. Alright, let's kick this shit. Ooh, new game releases! I love them! Thanks for clicking on the video, and while you're here, you might as well follow, like, and subscribe there down below. But you must have heard the news. Stern Pinball recently announced and revealed, in partnership with Lucasfilms and Disney, one of the coolest pinball experiences of our time. This new machine is themed after one of your favorite television shows. I'll get to you. It's the Mandalorian. My name is Zach with Straight Down the Middle and I'm here to give you a first look and my first impressions on the Mandalorian Pinball Machine by Stern Pinball. Cue the music! Ba boom! Ba ba boom ba boom. I'm going to break my first impressions down into different categories starting with what the eyeballs see and that is art. This is a Stern Cornerstone release so we have three trim levels, a Pro, Premium, and LE, each coming with their own different art package. Lead artist on this new machine is Randy Martinez, best known in pinball for his work on the Star Wars Comic Edition machines from Stern Pinball. It's pretty cool that he's an approved Lucasfilm artist, but for us enthusiasts, that's not enough. We demand great art and Randy Martinez delivered. Three completely different art packages and each one of them stands on its own. The cabinet artwork on the Pro and Premium models really embody that Western feel. You've got oranges and yellows with that fine hand-illustrated artwork. You get all your favorite characters on the Pro. Look at that back glass. It reminds me of like the Red Dead Redemption composition. Check out the Premium back glass. Mando's walking. He's got his crew behind him. He's calm even though there's a big-ass explosion behind him. I see you, Mando. When Sturm reveals these cornerstone titles, I often will find my favorite pretty easily and pretty quickly amongst the bunch. For this one, Randy Martinez did an impeccable job really filling out the back glass being different on all three models, the cabinet art being different on all three models, the play field pretty similar on all models. I don't know if there's any differences there. But man, it's really tough to pick my favorite Mandalorian trim level. But I will. That's tough, but which one did you go with? Did you go with the Pro? Oh, that's gonna look pretty in your collection. That's gonna look good the premium. Okay, beautiful beautiful premium. That's the badass one, right? Oh, but that Ellie though the limited edition get out of here. That thing is

3:03

Stunning Wow, try not to get turned on with that art package. Check out the cabinet you get different art on each sides both Impeccable so many highlights on this Ellie art package, but just to name a few take a look at the side art cabinet you've got two different illustrations on each side of the cabinet, which us collectors just love. When both sides differ drastically in composition and color, it can be a big fail, but they blend perfectly with reference to the line work and the color work and the composition. Look at the left side here. You've got the razor crest. Beautiful as all get out. And then when you shift to the right side, stop. Look at this. You're going to try to sit there and tell me that you like any of the other cabinet arts better than this one single shot, get out. Mando on the automatic phaser gun? Please. This illustration alone got my excitement level up to a 10. But wait, there's more. Shifting up to this back glass. I didn't say trans light. This isn't a film. This is a truly screen printed mirrored back glass. I'm not going to lie to you. Whenever I first saw pictures of the limited edition trim level when I looked at that back like the cabinet art Forget it, but that when I looked at the back glass I thought This is weird. This is weird That's got like you got the composition of the of the actors and the characters, which is great upfront makes sense I love the symmetry there You got grogu right in the middle You got Mando right there with the reflect loved it all but then like the shapes and the weird flares I thought what is this but the more I studied it the more I let it marinate a little bit I fell head over heels with what Randy Martinez was doing here the mirroring and the style choices are bold but the direction is subtle it's the contour of Mando's mask and it's fully mirrored man this thing sunk its teeth into me and I thought it looked fantastic enough but after talking to my friends at Stern pinball they said I haven't seen anything yet in person this limited edition Mandalorian back glass is to die for I can't wait to get my hands on it on to the shots and layout how does this thing move now we know Brian Eddie is a legendary pinball designer he created the likes of medieval madness I don't know one of the greatest pinball machines ever made. Attack from Mars, again, one of the greatest pinball machines ever made. One of my personal favorites from the 90s, The Shadow. Oh, you like The Shadow? The Shadow knows. And I'm going to say it, Stranger Things pinball. Last year with Stern pinball, yeah, absolutely, yeah, you're turning around. Yeah, back it up, back it up on that one. I was right from the beginning. Brian Eddy comes in. Everybody was thinking we were going to get this homage to The Shadow. Since we've seen the fan layout on Stranger Things, it was akin to Attack for Mars and Medieval Madness, we thought this was going to be the shadow. Maybe a third flipper with a loop, controllable ramp diverters. Us pinball players and collectors were geared up for another shadow. But we were wrong. This isn't only a unique layout for Brian Eddy. People, this might be one of the freshest and most original layouts for any Stern pinball machine in the past decade. A breath of fresh air. Look at the orbit. That orbit looks juicy. The ramps, they look delicious. Especially old lefty there. And the shot geometry surrounding the toys and mechs appear pretty nicely laid out. Pew pew, shots fire because this thing is loaded with them. You've got the upper in-lane rollovers at a funky little spot there. Not to mention the cross ramps, which we don't always see on modern machines. The pro model is sporting some plastic ramps, while the premium LE model has metal wire forms. When new games are revealed, they're always gonna bring up pros and cons, right? But for layout, I have not heard any negatives. Let's jump over to code moment maker himself, Dwight Sullivan, lead programmer on this game. Oh, Stern, thank you, thank you. This is what I wanted to see happen. I wanted the dream team of a Dwight Sullivan and a Brian Eddy. Sprinkle in a little Rainey Martinez and you got yourself a dream team, people. We here at Straight Down the Middle are huge Dwight fans because his games tend to stay in Greg and I's collections the longest, and we're hoping that this title is no exception. What I appreciate is Dwight's vision. He's not afraid to take risks, and his ability to just truly integrate the theme into code of his games, it's difficult to beat. And sure, these are just my first impressions. I haven't put my hands on it yet, so ultimately it's gonna be tough to say what the rules are gonna be like. But, Smell that, guys? I'm smelling a hybrid between like a Game of Thrones and the subtleties of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ah, mmm. Savory. Something else I haven't really heard people criticizing upon this launch was this game doesn't have enough in it. No, because this game is loaded. Let's move over to toys and innovation. When you first look over it, there are two things that just slap you in the face. One being a pinball first. On the premium and LE version, there's a Mandalorian helmet upper playfield. This thing tilts front to back, changing the slope of the surface when you're playing. Pro model owners fear not. Instead of losing the area altogether, the same surface area exists. It just doesn't tilt, and you get one flipper rather than two. Which I think is probably going to offer something unique and different. And you can't create a Mandalorian pinball machine without showing off baby Yoda. without showing off the child without showing off Grogu. I don't even like it. Grogu? The hell's a Grogu? That name makes me mad. Grogu. So stupid. He's like a bald mogwoy. Mogwoy. But still he's cute. Grogu. Grogu feels like he's going to Grogu up and be like Grogu obese. I'm Grogu. I don't know why Grogu turned into Cartman. Respect my fuzzies Grogu Shmogu it a baby Yoda and it big I feel my throat tightening just talking about it now as we look at that big beautiful green glob in the back there some pinball enthusiasts are kind of upset that Grogu is an animatronic he doesn't move and I kind of agree with him I would have loved to have seen Grogu in the back growth why am I even calling a group the baby Yoda in the back, moving his head around, following the ball whenever it hits switches, or even, look, even at minimum, I would have loved, because everybody's like, oh, I wanted to magically have the ball going, oh, stop, that's not going to happen, but at minimum, I would have loved to have seen, whenever the ball is tripped up on that magnet, and he has his force, I would have loved to have seen his eyes closed, and his little three, does he have three, three palm thing come out at least that at least that i'm with you on that now the big old baby yoda is on all three models so that's that's cool it's not like you're losing it on the pro model which okay that makes it not a deal breaker but man if they could have had just like a oh hi buddy chicken nugget you want chicken nugget if they could have had something in there that does something akin to this that'd have been good with that can you believe that the stormtroopers hitch you are a precious little thing you do you do book oh you do pinball mod makers assemble we'll fix it we'll fix it Oh, and speaking of mechs, on the Premium and LE and the Pro, there's a horseshoe loop on the right side of the game. And if there weren't enough shots, the Premium LE version gives you an additional shot. That horseshoe loop flips down and becomes a 180 ramp. Come on! Another new fresh mech that we haven't seen before that looks like a lot of fun is on all three models. It's the Razor Crest Pendulum Standing Target. right it's almost like the acdc pinball uh bell but it doesn't deflect and come back you push through it that looks super fun because when you hit it past this swinging saloon door gate kind of thing uh you can access another ramp another shot in this game you've got stand-up targets on the side what i would have loved to have seen maybe not on the pro but at least on the premium le on that left bank of stand-up targets i would have loved that to be a three bank of drop targets but I'm picking nits at this point the hell's in your hair moving on to music and call-outs we get two super super important pieces to this Mandalorian pinball machine number one is the original score from what is his name Hans Gruber what is his name lud Ludwig Gons Ludwig Gorenson That's Russian. Ludwig Gorenson It's such an iconic score it would have been a really big miss if they would have left that one out. New pinballs come out and a lot of people complain Oh, it doesn't have the original voice actors it doesn't have any of the verbal assets blah blah blah. Not this one. No, no. We get the national treasure that is Carl Mother F'n Weathers to do custom callouts for this game. grief karga himself cue the rocky lines i don't for me for me carl weathers is um it's chubbs man it's chubbs damn alligator bit my hand off cut me to my prime they wouldn't let me play on the pro tour anymore oh i'm sorry because you're black hell no damn alligator bit my hand oh my god yeah hell no damn alligator bit my hand off Cut me down in my prime. Yes, you did. The wait is over. A revolution in LED lighting for your pinball is finally here. Fully customizable, full-spectrum lighting from Penn Stadium Lights. Order yours now at PennStadium.com.

13:32

Your pinball machine deserves the best. At Comet Pinball, you'll find the best variety of LED products with the best quality LEDs, and most importantly, at the best price. Your collection is begging for an upgrade. Order yours now at cometpinball.com. Check out Pin Graphics for the latest and greatest in pinball enhancements power blades blade skins pin blades and even more Visit pingraphics now to see what available for your pinball machine Display and animation, we have not seen a whole lot yet advertised. We're going to see that here soon. But what I can tell you and I'm really excited about is Stern didn't stop with the call outs, didn't stop with the score. They got full video assets anything that they could want full assets in this game You guys know how I love some big ol assets. I love assets So instead of creating the world on their own in some universe This is Mandalorian as we see it on our television. So looking up and seeing those cut sequences of Mando and the gang That's fantastic. It's exciting. I cannot wait to see this and closing it out on theme I mean, but what needs to be said this is the Mandalorian This is one of the most popular series, not only of right now, but of all time. We get season one and season two. We got season three that's getting ready to start. But the theme is dynamite. It's dynamic. Whenever new Star Wars material comes out in animation or film or television series, you see Star Wars nuts come out from their job of the huts to really pound on these things. Route one isn't good enough. The new films aren't good enough. The Star Wars community has come out to say that The Mandalorian was a breath of nostalgic air that takes them back to the original trilogy. It's an A-plus thing. People who don't even like Star Wars love The Mandalorian. So in summary, I'm super excited about this game. You guys know me as, oh, he likes everything flashy, everything new, everything shiny. I'm guilty of it. I'm not going to lie. I'm guilty of it. This particular title, I'm just super, super stoked about because it checks so many boxes all at once. And when you put all of those check boxes together, typically you get a classic, classic game. We've got a killer theme. You've got full assets. Full assets. You've got a killer designer. You've got a killer coder. Killer artwork.