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The Mandalorian Pinball Machine First Look & First Impressions (Stern Pinball, 2021) SDTM

Straight Down the Middle·video·18m 35s·analyzed·May 16, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Zach Sharp delivers enthusiastic first impressions of Stern's Star Wars Mandalorian pinball with praise for design, art, and theme execution.

Summary

Zach Sharp from Straight Down the Middle provides a comprehensive first-look review of Stern Pinball's Star Wars: The Mandalorian machine, announced as a partnership with Lucasfilm and Disney. Sharp praises the three-tier art packages by Randy Martinez, the fresh layout designed by Brian Eddy, the code by Dwight Sullivan, and the inclusion of original score and Carl Weathers voice work. While noting minor criticisms (static Grogu animatronic, lack of drop targets), Sharp concludes the game checks all boxes for a potential classic.

Key Claims

  • Star Wars: The Mandalorian is a Stern Pinball cornerstone release with three trim levels (Pro, Premium, Limited Edition)

    high confidence · Zach Sharp directly states this in opening segment of first impressions

  • Randy Martinez is the lead artist and is an approved Lucasfilm artist

    high confidence · Sharp explicitly identifies Martinez as lead artist and notes his Lucasfilm approval status

  • Brian Eddy designed the layout, described as one of the freshest and most original Stern layouts in the past decade

    high confidence · Sharp directly credits Eddy and provides detailed layout commentary

  • Dwight Sullivan is the lead programmer on the Mandalorian machine

    high confidence · Sharp introduces him as 'Code Moment Maker himself, Dwight Sullivan, lead programmer on this game'

  • The Premium and Limited Edition versions feature a motorized Mandalorian helmet upper playfield that tilts front to back

    high confidence · Sharp describes this as 'a pinball first' exclusive to Premium/LE models, while Pro has static version

  • Grogu (Baby Yoda) is a static animatronic that does not move, which some enthusiasts found disappointing

    high confidence · Sharp explicitly states 'some pinball enthusiasts are kind of upset that Grogu is an animatronic. He doesn't move' and expresses this criticism himself

  • Carl Weathers provides custom call-outs for the game as the character Greef Karga

    high confidence · Sharp states 'We get the national treasure that is Carl Weathers to do custom call-outs' and references the character

  • The game includes original score by Ludwig Göransson and full video assets from the TV series

    high confidence · Sharp identifies Göransson as the composer and notes 'They got full video assets, anything that they could want, full assets in this game'

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 Sharp@ 6:16 — Core praise for Brian Eddy's layout design philosophy and differentiation from recent Stern releases

  • “I wanted the dream team of a Dwight Sullivan and a Brian Eddy. Sprinkle in a little Randy Martinez and you've got yourself a dream team, people.”

    Zach Sharp@ 7:11 — Identifies the creative team composition and expresses confidence in their combined track record

  • “The mirroring and the style choices are bold but the direction is subtle. It's the contour of the Mandalorian's mask and it's fully mirrored. Man, this thing sunk its teeth into me.”

    Zach Sharp@ 4:54 — Detailed aesthetic appreciation for Limited Edition back glass design despite initial skepticism

  • “I would have loved to have seen Grogu in the back...moving his head around, following the ball whenever it hits switches...At least that. At least that.”

    Zach Sharp@ 9:32 — Articulates specific design criticism about missed opportunity for Grogu interactivity

  • “This game doesn't have enough depth to it. No, because this game is loaded.”

    Zach Sharp@ 8:02 — Directly addresses and refutes anticipated criticism about game depth, noting extensive shot/mode complexity

  • “Could Star Wars: 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 Sharp — Positions game as potentially canonical classic despite reservations

Entities

Zach SharppersonRandy MartinezpersonBrian EddypersonDwight SullivanpersonCarl WeatherspersonLudwig GöranssonpersonStar Wars: The MandaloriangameStern Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Sharp anticipates community response and addresses potential criticisms preemptively (e.g., game depth, lack of original voice actors), positioning positive reception

    medium · Sharp states: 'Something else I haven't really heard people criticizing upon this launch was, this game doesn't have enough depth to it. No, because this game is loaded'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Grogu animatronic is static and non-interactive despite being prominent toy feature; community expressed disappointment about lack of motion or mechanical interactivity during gameplay

    high · Sharp states: 'some pinball enthusiasts are kind of upset that Grogu is an animatronic. He doesn't move' and expresses personal agreement with criticism

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Brian Eddy's layout for Mandalorian represents deliberate departure from expected Shadow-style design, positioning fresh and original approach rather than homage to his own classics

    high · Sharp states: 'This isn't only a unique layout for Brian Eddy...this might be one of the freshest and most original layouts for any Stern Pinball machine in the past decade'

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Full video assets and cut sequences from The Mandalorian TV series integrated into game; original Ludwig Göransson score and Carl Weathers voice work secured

    high · Sharp notes: 'They got full video assets, anything that they could want' and 'We get the national treasure that is Carl Weathers to do custom call-outs for this game'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Three-tier trim structure explicitly distributes features by model: Mandalorian helmet upper playfield (Premium/LE only with motorization vs Pro static), plastic vs metal ramps, additional horseshoe loop conversion shot on Premium/LE

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.056

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! 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 Stern 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 the Ellie though the limited edition get out of here. That thing is
@ 16:11

  • “The pros really outweigh all of these cons. Some of them we're picking nits again.”

    Zach Sharp@ 16:05 — Summarizes overall assessment that minor criticisms do not materially impact game quality perception

    • Lucasfilm
    company
    Disneycompany
    Straight Down the Middleorganization
    Flippin' Out Pinballcompany
    Razorcrestgame
    Grogugame
    Medieval Madnessgame
    Attack from Marsgame
    The Shadowgame
    Stranger Thingsgame
    Gregperson
    Dennis Krieselperson
    Pinball Networkorganization
    Penn Stadium Lightscompany
    Comet Pinballcompany
    Pin Graphicscompany

    high · Sharp details: 'Pro Edition is sporting some plastic ramps, while the Premium Edition and Limited Edition model has metal wire forms' and describes helmet flipper variations across tiers

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Star Wars: The Mandalorian theme selected based on IP cultural moment; described as 'one of the most popular series, not only of right now, but of all time' with A-plus approval from Star Wars community

    high · Sharp states: 'The Star Wars community has come out to say that Star Wars: The Mandalorian was a breath of nostalgic air that takes them back to the original trilogy'

    • 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 gonna 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 but when i looked at the back glass i thought this is weird this is weird it's got like you got the composition of the of the actors and the characters which is great up front makes sense i love the symmetry there you got grogu right in the middle you got mando right there with the 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 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 Eddy 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 gonna say it stranger things pinball last year with Stern pinball. Yeah
    5:44
    Absolutely. Yeah, you're turning around. Yeah back it up back it up on that one I was right from the beginning Brian Eddie comes in everybody was thinking we were gonna get this homage to the shadow Since we've seen the fan layout on stranger things that was akin to attack from Mars a 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 going to 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. 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 Rainy 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
    7:47
    Smell that guys I'm smelling a hybrid between like a Game of Thrones. Mmm 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.
    8:42
    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 but still he's cute groga grogu feels like he's gonna grow goo up and be like grogu obese i grogu i don know why grogu turned into cartman respect my fushes 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 poem 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.
    11:48
    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?
    12:06
    Ludwig Gorns... Ludwig Gornsson. That's Russian. Ludwig Gornsson. Ludwig Gordonson. 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. 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-Effin' Weathers to do custom call-outs for this game. Grief Karga himself. Cue the Rocky lines. I don't care. For me, Carl Weathers is Chubbs, man. It's Chubbs. Damn alligator bit my hand off. Cut me to my prime.
    12:53
    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 off. Oh, my God. Yeah. Hell no. Damn alligator bit my hand off. Cut me down to my prime. Yes, he 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. Chrome it, brass it, black nickel it, candy chrome it, powder coat it. The possibilities are endless at PinballPlating.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 scores. They got full video assets, anything that they could want, full assets in this game. You guys know how I love some big old 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, it's fantastic. It's exciting. I cannot wait to see this. And closing it out on theme, I mean, 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 am 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.
    15:58
    It's all there. And as we just went through, there are some cons. There are some things I'm kind of worried about in this game. Things that I would have loved to have seen maybe a little bit different. But boy, oh boy, the pros really outweigh all of these cons. Some of them we're picking nits again. Beep. 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? I don't know. Go out there, put your hands on it, play the heck out of it, enjoy it, because that's what pinball is all about. It's about fun. It's about excitement. It's about nostalgia. It's about artwork. It's about lights. It's about code. It's about strategy. It's about people. It's about you. It's about me. I'm getting corny, but I've spoken. If you guys are looking for a Mandalorian pinball machine, go to your nearest location or your nearest dealer and play one for yourselves. Or you can just Mando up, buy one for yourself and I will ship it free of charge through Flippin' Out Pinball. 812-457-9711, FlippinOutPinball.com. Buy buy buy! This is the way. Make sure to like and subscribe down below to Straight Down the Middle. Also follow Flippin' Out Pinball on social media and YouTube as well as the Pinball Network. I'm over there as well doing a podcast called the pinball show with Dennis Creasel. Check out some of our other SDTM videos. Greg and I are going to be back very soon with something new, something shiny, something very cool to play with. But until then, damn alligator dumb bit my hand off. Yeah.
    17:40
    Want to play some Pitbull? Well. Ooh. Ooh, do you not love new game releases? He does. Ooh. Come on. Hey, how's it going there, pal? wait for it it's such come the f*** on