Magic Girl Pinball Secrets Revealed!

Kaneda Pinball Podcast YouTube (main)·video·9m 31s·analyzed·Feb 25, 2017

Analysis

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TL;DR

Magic Girl's coded features mostly non-functional due to missing physical mechanisms.

Summary

Kaneda provides an in-depth hardware/software analysis of his Magic Girl pinball machine, revealing that most of the coded features don't work because critical physical mechanisms are missing from the machine. He demonstrates non-functional multiball locks, unclear mode objectives, and broken playfield elements, concluding the game needs significant rework to align software with hardware despite being visually beautiful and fun to play.

Key Claims

Almost nothing that coder Apple Juice (Gin) coded actually works in Magic Girl because John (Papa Duke) didn't install half the required physical elements
high confidence · Kaneda directly examines the game and demonstrates non-functional features; he has the coder's list of implemented features open
The multiball lock mechanism was supposed to use a magnet to lock balls on the ramp, but John installed only plastic that doesn't work instead
high confidence · Kaneda references the prototype and shows the non-functional plastic mechanism in the current machine
Players cannot locate key mode objectives like 'King's Chamber' and 'Potion Room' on the playfield
high confidence · Kaneda attempts modes and cannot find the shots despite the game calling them out with timers
The ball launcher mechanism has a design flaw where any shot speed causes the ball to kick out the outlane
high confidence · Kaneda demonstrates the mechanism repeatedly kicking balls out regardless of speed
The Magnum Flip Chamber ball travel only works during ball search, not in actual gameplay
high confidence · Kaneda explicitly states this and demonstrates the ball search mechanic performing the function

Notable Quotes

“This is Kaneda, one of the only guys in the world with a Magic Girl. You have to come for me for the most uninformed walkthrough of this machine.”
Kaneda@ 0:14 — Self-aware framing of his unique position as one of very few people who own Magic Girl
“I'm here to tell you, world exclusive, that like almost nothing that he coded actually works in the game. Simply because John didn't put half of the elements that are required.”
Kaneda@ 1:07 — Central thesis of the video; major claim about hardware/software mismatch
“I don't know where the fuck the king's chamber is, guys. Where is it?”
Kaneda@ 4:17 — Demonstrates the mode design flaw: objectives are called out but locations are unclear
“I think there's just physical mechanisms that are not in the machine, right? And I think it makes it even more valuable, guys, because I can take this with me anywhere.”
Kaneda@ 3:26 — Humorous commentary on the incomplete nature of the machine; uses sarcasm to highlight the gap between vision and execution
“So, like, look, every once in a while, it'll kick it out. You can totally tell John just went like this with the ball. And it never... It kicked out.”
Kaneda@ 5:37 — Suggests designer didn't properly test or adjust the outlane mechanism
“What the game now needs is someone to code it with the existing mechanisms. There might be some stuff people can add.”
Kaneda@ 8:24 — Proposes a path forward for fixing the game

Entities

Kanedaperson Magic GirlgameJohn Papa DukepersonGin (Apple Juice/Apple Sauce)personJimpersonBrendapersonLevipersonBubbapersonKaneda Pinball Podcastorganization

Signals

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design_philosophy: Multiple design flaws identified: magnet lock replaced with non-functional plastic, playfield shot locations unclear/unmapped, outlane mechanism has broken trajectory physics
high · Kaneda demonstrates each mechanism failing; shows ball launcher kicking balls out regardless of input; notes missing King's Chamber and Potion Room shots
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market_signal: Community narrative consolidating around Magic Girl being a 'beautiful failure' — extraordinary art and vision hampered by incomplete execution and unfixable hardware limitations
medium · Kaneda balances criticism with acknowledgment that game is 'still gorgeous, it's still beautiful, it's actually fun to flip' despite broken mechanics
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community_signal: Designer (John Papa Duke) appears not to have properly playtested or tuned the machine; hardware decisions made without validating coded feature compatibility
medium · Kaneda notes missing mechanisms, suggests designer 'never really flipped it' based on mechanism behavior, references prototype with different design
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product_concern: Magic Girl has fundamental hardware/software misalignment; critical physical mechanisms are missing from the machine despite being coded for in software
high · Kaneda demonstrates non-functional multiball locks, missing playfield shot targets, and broken mechanisms; directly states 'almost nothing that he coded actually works'

Topics

Magic Girl hardware/software mismatchprimaryIncomplete physical mechanisms on Magic GirlprimaryNon-functional coded featuresprimaryPlayfield design and shot recognitionprimaryPinball machine repair and restoration potentialsecondaryDesign/engineering process and prototypingsecondaryRarity and collector value despite playability issuesmentioned

Sentiment

mixed(0.45)— Kaneda is critical of the machine's execution and incomplete state, but acknowledges it's visually beautiful and fun to play. He maintains a humorous, self-deprecating tone throughout while delivering harsh technical criticism. Overall sentiment is negative about the game's current functionality but not hostile.

Transcript

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Would you look at that? It's a one-way gate, Bubba, and not a switch. See? I'm learning something new every day about pinball and Magic Girl. Thanks guys for letting me know. I don't even know what a switch is. But you know what? This is Kaneda, one of the only guys in the world with a Magic Girl. You have to come for me for the most uninformed walkthrough of this machine. So let's do another video where I probably make 15 mistakes about the game and then here for from it every day about you guys. But today we're going to do something magical. We're actually going to see the ball go up and travel from the play field into the Magnum Flip Chamber. Now, it sounds exciting, right? It sounds like, oh, you did that. It worked. You just got your $20,000 plus worth. No, no. It doesn't work. I don't really know how to make it go up there in gameplay. It does it during a ball search. So before we get to that, though, I want to address Apple Sauce's comments about all the stuff he coded in the game. And I have it open here on this, and Brenda's little computer. This is like a list. He's like, this is everything I put into Magic Girl. You should be able to find all this stuff. And I'm here to tell you, world exclusive, that like almost nothing that he coded actually works in the game. Simply because John didn't put half of the elements that are required to make applesauces. Is it applesauce or apple juice? I think it's apple juice. Apple, sorry man, it's gin. His name's gin. The physical things aren't there. So let's just start with like the most important thing, multiball. Like the way that John envisioned it is that, and I'm going to spill like coffee all over this. Let me just put this cup down. I want to thank Levi for getting me this cup. So the way that multiball is supposed to work is that once you go over the locks, right? One, two, three, four. Let's Let's just start a game. Do I have credit? Okay. Let's make sure we go to Arcade. Alright. Alright. So, the way it would work is once you light the locks, it will move. Sorry. Alright let get it going So once you roll over the locks You see? Okay, so now it says Magna Lock is ready. Right? Okay. So at this point, this ball should travel up the ramp. the ramp, and you should be able to lock two balls on the ramp. But here's the thing. You can't lock two balls on the ramp because there's no way to lock any balls. Now, what John was envisioning with this game, you remember back when he showed the prototype, there was this thing, this magic spot. It was sitting here, and that clearly was a magnet where the ball would go up, and it would lock. I'm going to drain so we don't get that ball surge here. It would lock here, right? But now, instead of a magnet, John did something better. He gave you just a piece of plastic that doesn't even work. So this is much like the piece of plastic that's underneath the enchanted hairs area. So there are just physical mechanisms that are not in the machine, right? And I think it makes it even more valuable, guys, because I can take this with me anywhere. I can bring MagiGirl with me to work. In my pocket, John. Five years later, it's going with me everywhere. Alright, let's do this. Let's show you guys, let's see what works when we hit stuff. So, another thing he said is the left loop wizard lane. Let's just see if that works. Alright, look, look, look, lighters are lighting up. Where? Wizard. Alright. Releasing wizard awards. Let's see. We've completed that. Shoot the king's chamber. Are you? Now it's saying shoot the king's chamber. You have 11 seconds to do it. I don't know where the fuck the king's chamber is, guys. Where is it? Where's the king's chamber? Four, three, two, I don't know. I just missed it. I don't know. I may never. I may never know. All right, let's see what else we got here. I think there's potion here. All right, potion. Dragon Breath collected I got Dragon Breath Stop So you can light P I think it's on timer, so like... Collecting potions, jackpot. Look at this, this is riveting. Riveting Saturday morning content. They completed it. Enter the potion room. I got 12 seconds. I can't even read that. Where's the potion room? Where is it? Where's the potion room? All right. I don't know. I think, is that it? I don't know. This thing's flat. Let's see if that's it. What happens there? All right. Something I did find out that works. Look at this thing. Ready? This mechanism here, silly. It always kicks it down the out lane. You can totally tell John just went like this with the ball. And it never... It kicked out. Are you getting this, baby? So, like, look, every once in a while, it'll kick it out. Let's see. I see like that the problem is simple though like John never really flipped it because any speed goes right out any speed all right we get it all right all right so let the moment you've been waiting for I'm going to show you guys how the ball goes from the playfield up into the magnet flip chamber and put the ball on the coil Now, what's going to happen? Watch it. Do it again. When it does the ball search, it's going to kick it up. Right. And I'm going to try and move this away. Should we be kicking it up into the middle plastic area here? Yeah, move that away. Flap away. Watch it. Waiting for the ball search. waiting for the ball search. Any day now. Here we go. Wow it actually came out the top Did you catch that Eh maybe You didn catch it did you I don know It happened really quickly. You were shooting so much. Alright, do it again. Alright, do it again. We're going to pop out. We're going to do it one more time. So I've moved the flap away. And watch, the ball actually... You've got to zoom out a little, Brenda. actually came out of the top of here can you see that mm-hmm all right let's wait for the kick I've had the plunge first here we go Wow so it works Did you break it? No, it was like that. Alright. Alright, so my conclusion on Magic Girl as is, is that it's still gorgeous, it's still beautiful, it's actually fun to flip the way it is. What the game now needs is someone to code it with the existing mechanisms. There might be some stuff people can add. I know that Jim, the coder, was saying he put the magnet back in the enchanted hair area. But right now, as it is, it's a mess. The software and the hardware don't add up together. So it is a game, but there's no game there yet. So I hope you guys appreciate this honest feedback. A lot of you thought I wouldn't open the game up. A lot of you thought I would just flip it. But I'm here to tell you that this game needs work. And even if it doesn't get all the work it deserves, it's still a fun experience to play Magic Girl. So that's your little Saturday morning Canadas Magic Girl Pinball podcast on YouTube. Get out of Bubba here. This is like... Bubba is really the reason why Magic Girl made his living one day. He's going to figure it out. He's been looking at his mission line at work. Alright. Alright, should we do it?