Episode 69: Teenage Mutant Ninja Review and Dad Jokes!

TL;DR

TMNT pinball review with art, shots, toys, and rules scored via cheese slices.

Summary

Key Claims

• Zombie Yeti is one of the best artists in pinball, all-time.

  medium confidence · Host Ian discussing artwork: 'Yes. I do too. Because, I mean, yeah, you just, I was watching a pop-up stream the other day with The Shadow. You know, Shadow's a great game. It actually looks pretty good, just some cool art, but you just look at something like that, a great game, compare it to something that Zombie Yeti did, and you just can't.'

• The diverter (center toy) on TMNT doesn't work on the Pro model.

  high confidence · Tim Lee in chat: 'It doesn't work on the pro.' Cary Hardy also confirms: 'He said, what the fuck's the point of having it?'

• The diverter can only be used about one-third to one-half of the time; it changes colors to indicate when it's ready.

  high confidence · Host discussing diverter mechanic: 'There's only, I would say, a third to half of the time you're allowed to switch... It changes colors so you can tell when it's ready to be used.'

• The Krang toy is on pop bumpers in Premium and LE versions, bounces, talks, and taunts players.

  high confidence · Host explaining toy variants: 'Glider, you got the Krang toy on the pro, I'm sorry, the premium and the LE, right? It's on the pop bumpers and he's kind of on like a, not a spring, it's, you know, he, but he, he bounces up and down and he talks and, you know, he taunts you.'

• The premium and LE Turtle Van locks three balls; the Pro locks two balls underneath.

  high confidence · Host: 'The Turtle Van, they all lock three balls underneath, pro premium LE, but then the, I'm sorry, two underneath, and then the premium LE locks three balls in the actual van.'

• The spinning pizza on Pro goes one way; Premium goes two ways.

  high confidence · Host: 'The pros just go one way. Yeah. The premium goes two ways.'

• TMNT has a Technodrome on the back panel with a light that illuminates the eyeball.

  high confidence · Host: 'They have it on the back, you know, what do they call that? Back panel or whatever... And they screen printed it just right so there's a light that goes right into the eyeball.'

Notable Quotes

• “Artists are going to have their strengths, right? Certain artists are going to have bigger strengths than others.”

  Host Ian @ ~15:00 — Contextualizes artistic philosophy in pinball, noting Zombie Yeti doesn't do many straight human characters but excels at monsters/demons.

• “Zombie Yeti... he fills it completely without it being like a complete shit show. I feel like there'd be a super crazy balance there of just throwing a bunch of shit and hoping it sticks versus something where it's spaced out enough, it has enough room to breathe, but it's still everywhere you look you're going to find something really cool.”

  Host Drew @ ~18:00 — Articulates the balance between density and composition in pinball artwork design.

• “I think Zombietti and Franchi are both amazing at that.”

  Host Ian @ ~18:30 — Direct comparison of Zombie Yeti and Christopher Franchi as top-tier pinball artists.

• “You know what I'm saying? Yep. You've all seen shitty collage artwork. If you ever built a MAME cabinet or looked at MAME artwork, it's all shitty collage. Yeah, they just take all the good characters and kind of mash them together.”

  Host Ian / Drew @ ~19:00 — Contrasts professional pinball art with amateur MAME collage work.

• “I fucking hate that [the diverter not being controllable all the time].”

  Host Drew @ ~33:00 — Direct criticism of the diverter mechanic limitation.

• “To be honest, yeah, it doesn't add a lot to the game for me. So the Krang toy honestly adds more because it's just a cool little thing.”

  Host Drew @ ~38:00 — Trades off value between diverter and Krang toys; notes diverter doesn't significantly enhance gameplay.

• “I have no idea how you collect these fucking toppings. You know, just random toppings.”

  Host Drew @ ~53:00 — Points out unclear rule integration between pizza topping collection and Ninja Pizza Multiball.

Entities

Signals

• ?

  gameplay_signal: TMNT playfield praised for fair, non-clunky shot design with nothing brutal; no brick shots mentioned negatively; hosts rate shots 29 cheese slices.

  high · Host Drew: 'it's brutal but it's fair... nothing clunky' and later 'nothing, you know, sometimes you have these games and like you miss a shot in the way of bricks and, you know, it's brutal but it's fair.'

• ?

  product_concern: The diverter toy on TMNT Pro doesn't work or is severely limited; multiple chat users report it as non-functional or point out Pro owners lose this feature.

  high · Tim Lee in chat: 'It doesn't work on the pro.' Cary Hardy: 'what the fuck's the point of having it?' Host acknowledges limitation: 'There's only, I would say, a third to half of the time you're allowed to switch.'

• ?

  design_philosophy: John Borg's mechanical design prioritizes fair, non-punishing shot layouts; hosts note appreciation for this balanced approach.

  medium · Host: 'nothing clunky, nothing, you know, sometimes you have these games and like you miss a shot in the way of bricks and, you know, it's brutal but it's fair.'

• ?

  design_innovation: Zombie Yeti's TMNT art achieves balance between density and white space; described as collage-like but professional, filling space without appearing cluttered.

  high · Host Drew: 'he fills it completely without it being like a complete shit show... it has enough room to breathe, but it's still everywhere you look you're going to find something really cool.'

• ?

  gameplay_signal: TMNT rules by Dwight Sullivan achieve balance: accessible entry-level gameplay but super deep for advanced play; described as a 'one more game' design.