Halloween vs Ultraman Pinball

Cary Hardy·video·9m 58s·analyzed·Aug 10, 2021

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.017

TL;DR

Cary Hardy reviews Spooky's Halloween vs Ultraman stream, praising Ultraman's audio/visuals while criticizing Halloween's annoying high-pitched tones.

Summary

Cary Hardy reviews Jack Danger's two-hour Spooky Pinball stream featuring Halloween and Ultraman gameplay. While acknowledging both games have fixable issues, Hardy criticizes Halloween's audio design—particularly an annoying high-pitched tone during top playfield modes and inconsistent sound effects—and praises Ultraman's superior aesthetics, lighting, and music. Hardy concludes Ultraman is the stronger game based on stream presentation, though notes secondary market data suggests more Halloween machines are for sale.

Key Claims

Halloween has an annoying high-pitched tone that plays repeatedly during top playfield modes and builds tension in a way that causes migraine-like discomfort
high confidence · Hardy's detailed audio criticism of Halloween's servo motor sound and top playfield soundtrack
Both Halloween and Ultraman share the same servo motor sound effect when the ball returns to play, which Hardy believes is misplaced in Ultraman's context
high confidence · Hardy explicitly identifies identical sound effect in both games and questions its appropriateness in Ultraman
Ultraman has superior lighting effects described as 'psychedelic' compared to Halloween
high confidence · Hardy praises Ultraman's light show and agrees with the 'psychedelic' description from the stream
More Halloween machines are currently listed for sale on Pinside than Ultraman machines (which are limited to 500 units)
medium confidence · Hardy looked up secondary market data on Pinside showing more Halloween listings than Ultraman's three current listings
The stream experienced technical issues due to poor internet connectivity at Spooky Pinball's Benton, Wisconsin location
high confidence · Hardy mentions Jack Danger's stream had finicky internet issues and references technical difficulties in the broadcast

Notable Quotes

“The thing is I sure you gonna say Carrie, it's there to build tension. As true as that might be, the only thing it was building was a fucking migraine.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:38 — Strongest criticism of Halloween's audio design; Hardy's visceral reaction to the high-pitched tone
“I found myself cheering for Jack as well as Corwin to make the particular shot at the top, not just because I wanted them to succeed, it's because I wanted it to stop.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:45 — Illustrates how intrusive the Halloween sound effect is—Hardy wanted the audio to stop rather than enjoying the gameplay
“I think there's a lot more people out there that agree that Ultraman looks and sounds better than what Halloween does.”
Cary Hardy@ 5:59 — Hardy's assertion that community opinion favors Ultraman over Halloween
“Ultraman is definitely going to win the battle between Halloween and Ultraman. Ultraman takes the cake when we're going by the stream content.”
Cary Hardy@ 8:05 — Hardy's clear conclusion that Ultraman is the superior game based on presentation
“Obviously, I have not played these games, but I definitely find Ultraman much more interesting to watch and listen to than Halloween.”
Cary Hardy@ 8:13 — Hardy establishes his limitation—reviewing based on stream presentation rather than hands-on play

Entities

Cary Hardyperson Jack DangerpersonSpooky PinballcompanyHalloweengame UltramangameCorwinpersonBenton, WisconsineventPinsideorganization

Signals

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community_signal: Jack Danger's live stream at Spooky Pinball serves as community engagement and content generation for new game releases
high · Two-hour official stream at manufacturer location with gameplay from both Halloween and Ultraman
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design_philosophy: Halloween's high-pitched servo tone during top playfield modes is perceived as annoying and tension-building in an unintended way; same tone reused in Ultraman where it feels contextually inappropriate
high · Hardy's extended criticism of the tone causing 'migraine' and explicitly stating it should be a drain sound, not a ball-return warning
$
market_signal: Secondary market shows more Halloween machines listed for sale on Pinside than Ultraman (3 current listings for Ultraman vs more for Halloween)
medium · Hardy checked Pinside data and notes 'Halloween has more people that are selling their spots than the three that are currently on the market for Ultraman'
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product_concern: Both games acknowledged by developers as needing code tweaks and refinement post-release
high · Hardy notes 'they already specified that the game is obviously going to need a little bit more work when it comes to the code'
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sentiment_shift: Ultraman appears to be resonating stronger with at least this segment of the community based on stream presentation and audio/visual quality compared to Halloween
medium · Hardy states 'I think there's a lot more people out there that agree that Ultraman looks and sounds better' and concludes Ultraman 'takes the cake' between the two

Topics

Audio/sound design quality and appropriatenessprimaryComparison between Halloween and Ultraman as Spooky Pinball releasesprimaryVisual aesthetics and lighting effectsprimarySecondary market demand and sales trendssecondaryCode maturity and post-release tweakssecondaryCommunity sentiment and game preference polarizationsecondary

Sentiment

mixed(0.55)— Hardy is positive about Ultraman's presentation but notably critical of Halloween's audio design. He maintains a constructive tone, acknowledging both games are fixable and congratulating Spooky, but his detailed complaints about Halloween's sound design and clear preference for Ultraman create a net-negative impression of Halloween compared to its sister release.

Transcript

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Well, the good thing about these two games is that the things that I do not like can be fixed. What's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So, if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below. So, Jack Danger went up to Spooky Pinball in Benton, Wisconsin and put on a two hour show giving us one hour of Halloween and one hour of Ultraman. I was in fact unable to watch the stream live and I'm kind of glad that I wasn't able to watch it live because evidently there were some technical issues due to the finicky internet that is at Spooky Pinball. So instead I watched the VOD available on YouTube. I will put a link down in the description below for those of you out there that would like to see it in its entirety. So let's start with Halloween because that's the game that they started out with. And we're going to go with, first off, the callouts were a little bit low on volume, but they said that they could hear it just fine on their end, so that could have been a stream issue. There may be just some little tweaks that need to be done there, but I wish the callouts were a little bit more audible when it comes to the VOD. Now, that is not to say that the music was plenty loud, and maybe there was a particular sound effect or musical note that had plenty of volume and went on forever, it seems. What are you doing? Hey, my recommendation? Yes. So if you let it drain down through that, it's going to give it to your right flipper right now, and you can put it straight back up to the top playfield. So if you fall off that top playfield, it's pretty easy to get back to it because it's going to feed directly to your right flipper if you just let it fall. Love it. In the future though, we will have more... I think I actually got a tilt animation. A few minutes later. Me, for better Wi-Fi in Benton, Wisconsin. Get spooky better internet. So there are like three different methods and ways to go about enabling the top house play field for this particular game. And when you do, it starts up a particular soundtrack. and it starts out with that low dun dun dun dun piano sound and then you start getting this high twinge II sound effects that goes and goes and goes until you drain or you finally get it across the balcony at the very top of the playfield The thing is I sure you gonna say Carrie, it's there to build tension. As true as that might be, the only thing it was building was a fucking migraine. I found myself cheering for Jack as well as Corwin to make the particular shot at the top, not just because I wanted them to succeed, it's because I wanted it to stop. Someone's got to be house mode. Oh, hi David. How are you? Everything's fine here. So you have that particular sound that wants to be going and going and going like the Energizer bunny as well as the particular sound effect that plays whenever you make the scoop shot it's just once again the high-pitched tone of it and you hear it quite often in the game oh yeah Campos please Fix cold wings. There's also a sound effect that is in Halloween that is also the same exact sound effect that is in Ultraman. So as if having the same layout wasn't enough, we're going to take some audio from Halloween and also put it in Ultraman. Or it could have been the other way around, but since we had the first hour with Halloween, that is the game that identify with this particular sound and that is when the servo motors bring the ball back into play to the end lane you have a particular sound that plays every time to give you an audible warning of when a ball is going to go towards your flipper the thing is it just that particular sound and the way it is it doesn't seem to fit when it comes to Ultraman that may be just a filler note for the time being on Ultraman. But with the way that note sounds, it feels like that should be playing whenever you lose a ball on your out lane. Not to give you a heads up that a ball is coming to your flipper from the in lane. It just doesn't fit. And that really my only complaints I want to say when it comes to Halloween is just needs a little bit of tweaking when it comes to the audio and they already specified that the game is obviously going to need a little bit more work when it comes to the code So hopefully for the owners out there those tweaks can get made But chances are, it might just be me that only hears these. But I'm hypersensitive to certain audio things. So that could just be sensitivity and a little bit of OCD on my end. If you agree or disagree with it, by all means, put a comment down below to let Spooky know whether or not I'm crazy or you feel the same. Moving over to Ultraman. This is when I feel like the stream got so much better. And I think that's mainly because I highly enjoyed Ultraman much more than I did Halloween. Now, obviously, this is going to be very polarizing for two different types of crowns. So you have your horror-themed people that are going to be praising Halloween for how awesome it is, and you have the other group of people that are going to be praising Ultraman. The thing is, I think there's a lot more people out there that agree that Ultraman looks and sounds better than what Halloween does. I really enjoyed the light show on this. The lights, whenever they went off, it just looked very psychedelic is the word that was used in the stream, and I'm going to concur with that. is that I really enjoyed the music. That is just me. I know there's some of you out there that probably don't like the 60s tones. I personally am like a 60s, I don't want to say fanatic, but I just kind of like that time and era. For instance, like the show Mad Men. I don't know why, but I really enjoyed that show. I'm re-watching it again, actually. But I really believe that Ultraman was the show stealer for the stream. The music, the audio, everything looks a lot better. And when you get to the top tier play field for Ultraman, you don't have an annoying tone that plays over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. You have an actual kind of upbeat song that begins to play. so that was also very good when it comes to that but for some reason when it comes to the ball going back into play from the subways from underneath whenever the servo motors bring the ball back into your inlanes you get the same note that plays in Halloween Once again that feels like it should be a drain sound effect not a warning that a ball is about to be at your flipper. So when it comes to Ultraman that's really my only I guess I don't want to even call to complain, but that was my only stickler, and the thing that really stuck out to me was just that note that plays whenever the ball returns on the in-lane. And if that's all I've got to complain about, then hell praise it to be that I want to say that Ultraman is definitely going to win the battle between Halloween and Ultraman. Ultraman takes the cake when we're going by the stream content. Obviously, I have not played these games, but I definitely find Ultraman much more interesting to watch and listen to than Halloween. Something to note also I got a little curious here and I decided to look on pin side to see if the amount of Halloween's or Ultraman's for sale have gone up or been reduced and it looks like Halloween has more people that are selling their spots than the three that are currently on the market for Ultraman. Now that may not be a very good comparison because obviously there's you know a lot more halloweens that are going to be sold versus the 500 of ultramans just thought i'll throw that bit of information out there just so you're aware of it so let me know down below guys which one did you feel resonated more within you was it ultraman or was it halloween i know there's plenty of you out there that have a halloween or an ultraman on order but did this stream change any of your minds and how you feel about one or the other. Congratulations Spooky to your two games. Hopefully I've given some information out there to you that may be beneficial and maybe some tweaks that can be done. Or maybe I'm just crazy. It's whatever. Give me the thumbs up guys and don't forget to hit the subscribe button down below and until next time, peace out. Someone's gotta beat House Mode.