King Kong Pinball Reaction

Pinball Pursuit·video·9m 27s·analyzed·May 5, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Pinball Pursuit hosts praise Kong's design but express art direction concerns about its video-game cartoon style.

Summary

Two Pinball Pursuit hosts discuss their excitement for Stern Pinball's King Kong: Myth of Terror Island, a Keith Elwin-designed game based on the public domain 1933 King Kong story. They praise the playfield design, mechanical features (spider, gong, ramps, river diverter), and packed layout, while expressing reservations about the art direction—particularly the video game-style cartoon aesthetic and color palette (yellows and purples) which diverges from their expectations of a more jungle-themed or vintage aesthetic. Both are hyped about the game despite art concerns and are waiting to play it in person.

Key Claims

King Kong is based on the public domain 1933 book, not a licensed movie, giving Stern creative freedom
high confidence · Host explicitly states this as fact during theme discussion
Keith Elwin designed King Kong and has not delivered a bad game to date
high confidence · Both hosts agree on Elwin's track record; confirmed in KB context
The playfield design includes a spider toy, gong mechanism, helical ramp with biplane, river diverter with upper flipper play, and bashing car mechanic
high confidence · Detailed playfield feature discussion with visual confirmation from trailer
The moving monkey toy reacts to player actions (punching glass, growling) as a design feature
high confidence · Second host attributes this detail to Loser Kid podcast preview coverage
People who have played Kong think it might be a 'Godzilla killer' in terms of quality/appeal
medium confidence · Second host cites unattributed player feedback; speculation on competitive positioning
The original King Kong game design by Data East was never manufactured, and Kong's playfield borrows design elements from that unreleased game
medium confidence · Second host provides historical context but sources are vague ('from what I understand')
Kong's art uses 3D video game cartoon style cutscenes and playfield rendering rather than traditional pinball illustration
high confidence · First host describes visual style after viewing trailer; second host confirms alignment with 3D animation
Pro Edition does not include the spider toy or real gong; these are Premium-only features
high confidence · Detailed tier comparison during equipment discussion; matches KB context on product differentiation

Notable Quotes

“I feel like this game people are hyped about it not because they love King Kong, but because they love Keith Elwin. He's becoming like the monster pinball guy.”
First host@ 3:03 — Identifies designer reputation as primary hype driver over theme familiarity; labels Elwin as 'monster guy' positioning
“Keith can't go wrong right now at this point. Golden Child. The hype is worth it, I think.”
Second host@ 7:10 — Describes Elwin as in a 'golden child' phase; validates hype as justified by his design track record
“It looks very cartoonish. I just was expecting something different. Maybe something a little more Godzilla-like.”
First host@ 7:55 — Articulates core art direction disappointment; reveals expectation mismatch between theme and visual execution
“This is more like video game cartoon. Because all the cutscenes and everything are like 3D animated cartoons. And I feel like that's the way the playfield and things look, too.”
Second host@ 8:05 — Explains rationale for video game aesthetic; clarifies that art style is intentional and consistent across media
“I thought it would be a lot of like people in monkey suits. And I'm out. I need to see it first before I have a solid opinion.”
First host@ 8:15 — Reveals that rumor of classic movie footage usage shaped expectations; honest about needing in-person evaluation before final judgment
“I think the playfield looks kind of cool. It was kind of 70s-ish. From what I understand, they took there was a King Kong original game that was made for Data East back in the day, and they never actually ended up making it full scale, and they copied some stuff from the playfield of that.”

Entities

Keith ElwinpersonStern PinballcompanyKing Kong: Myth of Terror Islandgame Godzillagame Jurassic Parkgame Jawsgame

Signals

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competitive_signal: Kong is positioned as potential 'Godzilla killer'—speculation that it may rival or exceed Godzilla (currently #1 on Pinside) in quality and appeal.
medium · Second host: 'From what I've seen, people who have played it, they think this might be a Godzilla killer.' Hosts acknowledge Godzilla's top ranking but express openness to Kong potentially surpassing it.
?
design_philosophy: Kong's art direction criticized as excessively cartoonish and video-game-like, diverging from expected jungle theme or vintage 1933 aesthetic. First host expected 'people in monkey suits' (classic movie aesthetic) rather than 3D animated cartoon style.
high · Direct quotes: 'It looks very cartoonish. I just was expecting something different' and 'This is more like video game cartoon' and 'I thought it would be a lot of like people in monkey suits.'
?
design_philosophy: Keith Elwin's signature design approach identified as creating innovative, non-standard ramps and complex shot variety. Hosts note this across multiple Elwin games (Avengers, Jurassic Park, Jaws).
high · Discussion of helical ramps, 180-degree turns, wave ramps: 'And that's something that Keith does in all his games' and 'I feel like a lot of times ramps are just kind of like, oh, standard... Not this one.'
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event_signal: Stern provided formal trailer and presentation materials for Kong preview; early player feedback sourced from Loser Kid podcast coverage.
high · Hosts reference watching 'the trailer and the little presentation thing' and cite Loser Kid podcast as source for reactive monkey details and player reactions.
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Topics

Keith Elwin's design philosophy and track recordprimaryKing Kong playfield mechanics and featuresprimaryArt direction and visual aesthetic of KongprimaryPro vs Premium edition feature differentiationprimaryCommunity reception and hype surrounding KongsecondaryComparison to other Elwin games (Godzilla, Jaws, Jurassic Park)secondaryPublic domain licensing strategy vs movie licensingsecondaryHistorical King Kong IP and Data East prototype connectionmentioned

Sentiment

mixed(0.72)— Hosts are genuinely excited about Kong's mechanical design, playfield layout, and Elwin's involvement, evidenced by detailed praise of ramps, toys, and packed playfield. However, significant reservation about art direction creates tangible concern. First host explicitly states hesitation and needs in-person evaluation; second host is more positive overall but acknowledges art direction as legitimately surprising/different. No negativity toward designer or fundamental game design—only aesthetic execution question.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.028

Let's start with the company that is the 800 pound gorilla in the room, pun intended, Stern, and their newest pinball machine, King Kong Myth of Terror Islands. Very exciting. Very excited. all the previews. I personally watched the Loser Kid podcast. Shout out to you guys about it. Nice. Lots of other stuff. How familiar are you with King Kong? Like overall? Yeah, overall. Not just the machine? Not just the machine. Just the character. I mean, I think it looks super fun. I'm not super familiar with King Kong the theme itself. I know that there was a movie that just came out not too long ago and it did not just come out. It was probably like 10 years ago. He has like a metal hand in it, right? No idea. I didn't watch it. I didn't see it. I know that there's an older one. I haven't seen that one either. I know there's a big monkey. Did you see the one with Jack Black in it? I had no idea there was one with Jack Black in it. Oh, yeah. Peter Jackson, who made The Lord of the Rings. When did that come out? Like 2008 or 9. Oh, geez. That's probably the one that I'm thinking of that no, I did not see. I know that he sometimes hangs out on the Empire State Building. True. airplanes um yep this this is as far as my king kong knowledge okay um and king kong is based on a book which is fun i did not know that yes and this machine is based on the book king kong oh not the movie so it doesn't even matter that i haven't seen it no it doesn't uh because they have taken and made this their own original interpretation of the book because the book is in the public domain very cool very cool right i think that's cool so um that's a little bit about at least the theme of King Kong. The theme of it. Yeah. And this is a Keith Elwin game, right? This is a Keith Elwin game, yes. Okay, love that. Of the Keith Elwin games, which one is your favorite? Oh my gosh. That's hard. I mean, this could be a new favorite. We'll see. I don't know. So, we've had Jurassic Park in the house, right? That was our first machine. Love Jurassic Park. I love Godzilla whenever I get to play it on location Yeah you do It fantastic I feel like that in your top five Yeah probably It so good And it no surprise to anybody It number one on Pinside right Yeah And our current rental that I'm working on the script for and everything is Jaws. I did not know that that was also a Keith Elwin. It's Keith Elwin as well. Love Jaws. So it's hard. I even like Avengers. I know it's like people's least favorite game that he's done. But I played in leagues. that playing a league right now and uh i had like my best score ever during league man on an avengers game it was great nice so very fun he also did iron maiden oh that's what i didn't know yeah so i like iron maiden um so yeah that's kind of where Keith Elwin experiences i think people were really anticipating this i i feel like this game people are hyped about it not because they love King Kong, but because they love Keith Kelly. Uh-huh. I think he's becoming like the monster pinball guy. Right? The monster man. Yeah, the monster man. And, I mean, he has yet to deliver really a bad game. There you go. So, yeah. You've seen the trailer now? Yeah. And the little presentation thing. Yeah. Initial thoughts. Give it to me. Initial thoughts. I have notes because I watched the trailer and I took notes. there are a lot of cool things do you want me just to go over do you want me to start with a certain category no just just go with it okay now i may you know feel free to chime in on this one but from what i can see pro versus premium i think the premium looks so cool oh yeah and i am many a time team go with the pro because i'm not a big fan of the upper playfields i like to see what's going on at the top yep and i feel like that's what a lot of premiums offer is just oh an upper play And maybe some like cool, you know bash toys or something I feel like this one offers so many cool things from the giant moving monkey the giant movie monkeys awesome I am so sad that on the pro they don't have the big spider Yeah, yeah, do you like the big spider? I like I don't like spiders I think the spider on the machine is cool. So I would say I like the spider It's a little controversial people don't like the spider. Why they think it looks cheesy. Oh, I thought it was cool I think I just think I mean, I guess I didn't analyze the way the spider looked but I just like the fact that it was like guarding yeah and it like attacks it and it kind of shakes I like the spider so I feel bad As a spider person myself yeah I like the spider Good work Keith I like the spider I'm trying to figure out the gong. The gong on the pro isn't like a real gong. No, it's just a piece of plastic. Exactly. I think we would need the premium. Sorry. Sorry, Cam. And the gong bashing it seems really cool. Really cool. Yeah. Love that. Moving on to other things. The ramps are really cool. Yeah, the helical one with the biplane on it? Yes, yes. Very cool. Love that. I feel like a lot of times ramps are just kind of like, oh, standard. You know, seen it before, but still fun. No. No. And that's something that Keith does in all his games. Avengers has the crazy ones. Yeah. It has the weird helical one on Jurassic Park. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. The Jaws one we have right now has the quick 180 and the wave one on the other side. Yeah. I'm a fan of the cool ramps. Yeah. So we'll just throw that out there. I just think that when you look at the play field in general, it's packed with so many things. Oh, yeah. And I feel like sometimes I look at other machines and I'm like, oh, it seems kind of boring. No, this one, I want to look everywhere. There are so many different cool things. I really like the train car. I think that's cool that you can. Yeah, that he like bashes it down. Yeah, he bashes it down after you build up the balls in there. Yeah. And the zigzag path return. Yeah. Yeah. The river, right? The river. Yes, yes, yes. the river yeah it's very cool so those are my thoughts of what i thought looked really cool i got excited you're hyped for this i'm hyped for this i don't know if you could tell i can i can tell i can tell you're hyped for this game so those are my thoughts what are your thoughts um i agree with everything you just said i'm really hyped for this game i think it looks fantastic i think i've watched a little bit more and the whole like river where it has a diverter that comes in and allows you to shoot with the upper flipper over and then you can hit the other upper back and you can keep things with the upper flipper going going i think it's so cool one detail that they shared on like i think it was a loser kid podcast that had this was that while the monkey is going around um he'll react to things you're doing right oh he'll like punch the glass yeah he'll like make a noise by punching the glass which i think is a fun cool little detail It different It different And I have no doubt that this is going to be an incredible game Yeah I mean Keith can go wrong right now at this point Golden Child. The hype is worth it, I think. From what I've seen, people who have played it, they think this might be a Godzilla killer. Really? And you love Godzilla. I love Godzilla. I like Godzilla, too. Don't get me wrong. I'm just not as good at it as you are. I really, yeah. Yeah. So can't wait to get my hands on it. we're waiting to see where it's going to be at to play we're kind of keeping our eye out on that Stern app find some arcade near us so we'll let you guys know once we finally get our hands on it but yeah last question about it that's been a little controversial art the art? how do you like the art? I was a little surprised by the art I'm not going to lie okay tell me why it looks I mean this is going to sound dumb but like very cartoonish yes it does a little bit yeah I just was expecting something different. Maybe something a little more Godzilla-like, if that makes sense. Because I feel like Godzilla's a little cartoony, too. It is, but it's a different type of cartoon. This is more like video game cartoon. Because all the cutscenes and everything are like 3D animated cartoons. Yeah, and I feel like that's the way the playfield and things look, too. So, I'm out. I need to see it first before I have a solid opinion. All I'm going to say is it surprised me. It's very different. I don't know if I'm a fan or not. I have to see it in real life. People are complaining about the color palette. I actually like how colorful the game is. It feels very yellow. There's a lot of purples in there, too. I am actually a fan. I think that it... Oh, our dog just hit the tripod. Sorry about that. I'm actually a fan of how the art package looks. So I'm excited to see. I think the play field looks kind of cool. It's a throwback kind of play field. It was kind of 70s-ish. From what I understand, they took... There was a King Kong original game that was like... They made 10 of for Data East, back in the day and they never actually ended up making it full scale and they copied some stuff from the play field of that. Kind of like on that. So pretty cool. And I guess I just expected it in my head to be more jungly. Mm, that makes sense. More green, I guess. And I thought when they, because it's been rumored for a long time, they were gonna use footage from like the black and white things. I thought it would be a lot of like people in monkey suits. You know? Is that what the old King Kong is? There are some of, yeah. I had no idea.