Is this the BEST version of Godzilla Pinball?!

RetroRalph·video·18m 26s·analyzed·Aug 23, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

RetroRalph reviews modded Godzilla 70th Anniversary black/white edition with mods tour and gameplay.

Summary

RetroRalph showcases his newly acquired Stern Godzilla 70th Anniversary black and white edition, explaining his decision to trade in his heavily modded original color version. He demonstrates multiple aftermarket modifications including custom powder-coated art blade, Tokyo Neon LED mod, ball diverter, custom saucer, and upgraded speakers, then plays through gameplay focusing on the Harrison Drake building multiball sequence. He notes a potential backbox LED color inconsistency issue and minor quality control concerns while expressing overall satisfaction with the purchase and teasing upcoming black and white themed mods.

Key Claims

The Godzilla 70th Anniversary black and white version has a potential backbox sepia tone LED color difference compared to the rest of the machine, though the speaker is uncertain if it's real or a perception/camera white balance issue
medium confidence · Ralph observed the backbox appearing to have a different tone, read about it on Pinside, speculates it could be different color LEDs on the CPU board, but later questions whether it's actually real after reviewing his own footage
Modded pinball machines typically don't retain full value of the modifications when resold
medium confidence · Ralph states: 'You're not really going to get full value back for the things you put in there' when discussing his decision to trade heavily modded original for new 70th Anniversary version despite lack of financial sense
The stock Stern power supply fan is extremely loud and can be heard in other rooms
high confidence · Ralph describes it as sounding 'like an airplane or helicopter taking off' and recommends the power supply mod from Pinball Life to reduce noise
Godzilla pinball has broad appeal across skill levels from beginners to expert players
high confidence · Ralph states: 'It's a really fun game for both beginners, intermediate players, and experts. There's something in there for everyone'
Ralph's Godzilla 70th Anniversary arrived with a missing pin in the coin box that holds it in place
high confidence · Ralph reports: 'The other thing that's really weird is my coin box didn't come with the pin that holds it in' and plans to contact distributor Game Room Goodies about the quality control issue

Notable Quotes

“Does it make financial sense? Absolutely not. And that's the thing you have to worry about nowadays with pinball prices. You're not necessarily getting back what you put into it, especially when you have modded machines.”
RetroRalph@ 0:34 — Highlights growing market concern about pricing sustainability and depreciation of modded machines in the collector market
“The fan just is super duper loud on these Sam Stern machines and for me it annoys the heck out of me... it literally sounds like a airplane or helicopter taking off in your game room”
RetroRalph@ 7:12 — Quality of life criticism of Stern's standard power supply design that's driving aftermarket demand
“You don't expect something like that when you spend this much on a pinball machine... It's not like it totally bums me out, but it is something of concern.”
RetroRalph@ 16:40 — Expresses expectation of higher quality standards for premium-priced pinball machines; signals community concern about QC at price point
“The real limiting factor in these Sam Stern machines isn't necessarily the speakers, although the speakers aren't great, the stock ones. But when you put new ones in there, your limiting factor is the stock Sam Stern amplifier.”
RetroRalph@ 17:37 — Identifies amplifier as bottleneck for audio upgrades, indicating interest in Pinwoofer collaboration solution
“I'm going to try to get the Atomic Godzilla, the black and white version. I am on the list for it, so hopefully that will really make this pop.”
RetroRalph@ 5:13 — References existence of black and white version of Atomic Godzilla topper mod, demonstrating demand for themed aesthetic consistency

Entities

RetroRalphpersonStern PinballcompanyGodzilla 70th AnniversarygameGodzillagameStumblerpersonTokyo Neonproduct PinsideorganizationGame Room Goodiescompany

Signals

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sentiment_shift: Godzilla 70th Anniversary black and white edition receiving positive reception with aesthetic appeal driving collector purchases; community embracing themed mod variants
high · Ralph chose black/white version for aesthetic appeal despite no financial advantage; references it as 'awesome' and can't help buying it; positive about replay value and broad appeal
?
community_signal: Extensive aftermarket mod ecosystem continues to thrive for Godzilla with multiple vendors releasing black and white themed variants (Tokyo Neon black/white insert, Atomic Godzilla grayscale topper, strike tower red tips, custom saucer)
high · Ralph documents multiple mod installations: Tokyo Neon with black/white insert, Atomic Godzilla topper on list, Stumbler creating metal grayscale surround, Diddy's strike towers with red tips, custom ball diverter
$
market_signal: Modded pinball machines face significant depreciation and resale value loss despite substantial mod investment, creating financial disincentive for upgrades while aesthetic appeal drives purchase decisions
high · Ralph acknowledges trading heavily modded original for 70th Anniversary 'doesn't make a whole lot of financial sense' and notes 'You're not really going to get full value back for the things you put in there'
?
product_strategy: Stern creating intentional aesthetic variants (black/white edition) to differentiate product lines and drive collector demand; aftermarket community creating coordinated black/white mod variants to support variant theme
high · Multiple vendors releasing black/white themed mods specifically for 70th Anniversary: Stumbler grayscale surrounds, Atomic Godzilla black/white topper, custom saucer variants, strike tower color variations

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.055

0:00

I don't know what to say. I had to do it. I got rid of my heavily modded Godzilla original color version for the 70th anniversary black and white. Now, why would I even do this?

0:16

Is this awesome or what? Honestly, it doesn't make a whole lot of financial sense, but the thing is, I saw this one and the black and white just did it for me. The splashes of red on the playfield against the black and white. The side, I put this nice custom powder-coated armor on it. It just did it for me. I couldn't help myself. Does it make financial sense? Absolutely not. And that's the thing you have to worry about nowadays with pinball prices. You're not necessarily getting back what you put into it, especially when you have modded machines. It's just you're not really going to get full value back for the things you put in. But I'm having a fun time taking all the new mods, the new black and white versions of the mods, and putting them in here. We're going to get to that in a second, but I'm very, very happy with this purchase. The only thing that kind of trips me out is I'm not really sure what's going on with the back box. Back box almost has a different tone than the rest of it. I read a couple things on Pinside and it seems like maybe they use different color LEDs in this CPU board or maybe they didn't even know that that happened, but if you were to take this back box, translate, and move it to another machine, any one of them in this row actually you'd find it looks black and white but if you look behind me you might be seeing a little bit of a sepia tone and it's really caused by the leds in the cpu anyways what we're going to do is take a little tour of the machine i'll show you what i did so far to it i did do a couple mods we'll do some gameplay and i'll give you some final thoughts okay i thought it'd be fun to get behind the camera and do this live so there you can see that is the armor so i took the armor that it came with and then I brought it to a local company that does powder coating and they did it for me. It looks really great. I'll have a link in the description to the color that I used. I believe it was called Illusion Red or something like that. I think it looks really good up against the rest of the game and especially that foiled, you know, that foil shiny artwork that they use. I think it looks really, really good. So this is something that I had kind of planned when I thought about doing this and I feel like it just makes the machine look great. So that's one thing that I did. A little bit of a pain in the ass to do but you know you just have to take the legs off and take everything off. The hardest part is probably these hinges in the back. They're kind of a pain in the butt to get off. So anyways once you get them off and put them on it's no big deal. All right so let me show you the things on the game that I changed so far. So you can see like with the black and white artwork. The pops of color come from the lights and from the little pieces of red that they use. So like everything's kind of labeled in red, but for the most part, it's all black and white. So the, I think it's called the Nagle building. I always forget this guy's name, but this is actually not a stock item. This is something I added to it. I love this. So what happens is the ball goes over the bridge, it goes through this building and then down to this ramp and it feeds it to the left flipper. So pretty cool. You can see sort of the way the ball path goes. It goes through there and it ends up at your left flipper. So that's a really cool addition. Now the saucer, this is, I can't remember the name of the guy that does this, but this has been around for a while. He made a black and white version of the mod. So I put that in here. It matches the artwork for the most part. So it looks very similar and I like it way better. than the stock plastic one it came with. So this is the Tokyo sign. So this one was a really, really popular mod that a lot of people did. But on this one, what I did was, it comes with a black and white little insert that you can add. So I added that. And to me, this is great. So I know Stumbler, who makes this, is actually making a metal surround that looks grayscale, sort of. So, but I think this looks awesome. This was one where I did take this from my old machine and moved it over. All right, next you got the Diddy Mods Tesla strike coils. These things are awesome, or the strike towers. This is basically almost the same as the one I had on my old Godzilla, except the tips are red instead of blue. So anyways, I think that's really cool. They're a little bit of a pain, because you gotta take this whole entire wire ramp off to put on but I think it worth it and I think it makes it look really nice in that back half of the game Moving on I did put the ball diverter mod on the top of the Drake building This is because if you keep it stock what happens is when you get a multi ball it actually sends the ball straight down the middle and it drains. Now you get your balls back but this was a mod that's been around since the original Godzilla, and I feel like it's a slight modification, but it really makes the game a lot better when you get the multi-ball, in my opinion. Now, I still have derpy Godzilla back here. Man, I just wish Stern would have put more emphasis on the Godzilla model they used here, but I get it. I'm going to try to get the Atomic Godzilla, the black and white version. I am on the list for it, so hopefully that will really make this pop. So it's going to be the same one I had in my original Godzilla, except it's going to be a grayscale black and white one that they do, so that should be awesome and look great. I am a little spoiled because the back buildings are all stock, and I wish I had some cool modded back buildings, but that'll come later. An accessory I add to all my machines is the Stern headphone jack kit. I do this for two reasons. One, so that I can feed audio right from here to my mixer for when I'm live streaming, or if I'm just capturing gameplay. The other reason is you can use this knob to adjust the overall game volume which is really cool so you don't have to open up the coin door to adjust the game volume. Typically you'd have to open up the door and you'd adjust it right here but you don't have to do that now. If you install this kit you could simply just turn this knob right here and make the game louder or make the game softer which is really cool. The only other reason why I do this is sometimes I just want to play pinball and I don't want to disturb everybody in the house. Okay, another modification that I tend to do on all my machines is I replace the back box speakers with better speakers, the five and a quarter ones that they use on the LE versions of the game. So you can see I did that here. I didn't use speaker light kits this time. I just put this really cool mirrored red accent there. And I also did the same thing here on the badge. And you can see if I open this up, you'll see it's just a more upgraded speaker. the 4-inch generic speaker that Stern uses. These are the same Kenwoods that they use on the LE versions of the game. So it's a simple upgrade and it kind of gives you a little bit of a better sound output for the gameplay. I like it. I think it's a small marginal improvement and it makes the game sound a bit better. Okay, a mod that is not as exciting is the power supply mod. The fan just is super duper loud on these stern machines and for me it annoys the heck out of me so this is a simple upgrade it reduces the fan noise a ton and you won't hear your games in the other room just going off because it literally sounds like a airplane or helicopter taking off in your game room so this is an easy upgrade for you to do you can get it at pinball life and it'll make your machine a lot quieter when you're just not playing it and the fan kicks on or when you're playing it. So cool improvement and super easy to do. Okay, here's a closer look at the playfield. Now you'll notice everything is going to look really, really clear and it's because I'm using anti-glare glass on my playfield. This is something that several vendors sell. This one is the Invisiglass version by Jersey Jack. There's a Stern HD version as well as Voodoo Glass and several other ones. I tend to really like the Invisiglass one, but you can see the Zombie Yeti artwork is awesome. I really like it with the red accents. Some people may not. I know it's not going to be for everyone, but if you didn't have a Godzilla, I think you should seriously consider this one. But, you know, the color version is also available and you can find it out there, so don't think that this is what you have to get, but I definitely feel like it's a really cool one. And if this is something that a game you've never had before and you're into this whole black and white theme and idea I don't think you can go wrong. I think it looks really really cool and Yeah, it's Godzilla. It's one of the greatest games of all time So you can't really go wrong picking this up no matter which one you choose So, you know sometimes you read things on pin side you start believing them I'm not really sure this whole sepia thing is real. I have a hunch that maybe Maybe it has nothing to do with the stern LEDs at all Maybe the white balance of people phone cameras that they using is slightly off and it can quite capture the black and white because i pointing my camera directly at this and i was like man i don't really see a difference at first i thought i was seeing the sepia tone but maybe you know when people just tell you stuff and you kind of start to believe that it's true i don't know man what do you guys think okay so we're over on godzilla 70th we're going to do some gameplay, but what I'm going to do is I'm going to focus on one of the really fun elements of the game, just for the purposes of having a little bit of fun with this video. So the Drake building is right there in front of us, and you can see there's a damage meter right below it. And what you want to do is you want to keep bashing the bottom of the building, and if you do that, the damage meter just keeps going up and up and up, and then eventually the building drops. At that point, you have the ability to lock all three balls in there. You have to go one after the other to get Godzilla multiball. So that's what we're going to focus on, just because I thought that'd be fun for this video. So we're going to log into Insider Connected, select our user, log in. And now I'm going to first start with trying to get the skill shot right here with the saucer. So you have to short plunge the ball. You don't want to go too hard. And if you can, you can hit that saucer and get a skill shot. If you miss the saucer and you go underneath it, you'll still get a skill shot. It just won't be worth as much. So I didn't hit the saucer, but I still got the skill shot. So now we're going to focus on bashing that building.

14:40

All right, but Kaiju Battle's ready, but here's the thing. this shot isn't always easy to get it's actually right i'll show you right really quick oh shit i missed it so you gotta kind of it's this angle shot right here and uh where my tokyo sign mod is you hit that and that will actually start a mode and you can start fighting other monsters and you have like a selection list of who you can fight so it's it's really cool so not bad for a first ball just demonstrating something did i go through two balls no that was my first ball so not bad. So 77 million, we still have two more balls left. Plenty of gameplay to do. Anyways, thanks so much for watching this short gameplay segment. I really enjoyed showing it to you. I wish I could have played a little bit better, but hey, you know what? It was a first take and I just did it live. So hopefully you guys enjoyed it. Now let's wrap things up. Before we wrap up this video, I wanted to thank my sponsor, Bob Rose, the producer, director of Token Taverns. The movie is actually available now for free on YouTube. So I'll have a link in the video description so you can go check it out. Support Bob Rose. It's a really awesome arcade bar documentary about the rise of arcade bars in America. It's very, very cool. I think you'll love it, especially if you're a fan of pinball and arcade games. There's something in the movie for everyone. Anyways, my final thoughts on the Godzilla 70th is you can't go wrong. It's Godzilla. Anybody that's ever played it knows it's a really fun game for both beginners, intermediate players, and experts. There's something in there for everyone, and if you were to buy a game like this, it's got a ton of replay value to it. So I can't really say that you can go wrong with either version of the game. Now, I was disappointed by a couple small things with my Godzilla. I still can't figure out if this back box is in my head or if it's actually real, because sometimes I look at it and it looks white. Sometimes I see sepia. I don't know, but it's a concern either way. Some people are saying it really looks like a sepia tone and others don't, but you don't expect something like that when you spend this much on a pinball machine. So hopefully Stern maybe has a fix for it or can at least explain the phenomenon. It's not like it totally bums me out, but it is something of concern. The other thing that's really weird is my coin box didn't come with the pin that holds it in. I'm not really sure what that's all about. You know, I'll talk to my distributor Game Room Goodies and they'll probably figure that out for me. It's not a huge deal, but still a weird quality control issue that they obviously didn't catch. Other than that, everything seems great out of the box. I didn't really have to do anything to the machine. Every now and then you have like little issues here and there, but I haven't had any other than some minor cosmetic things. But I'm very happy with the fact that I made this purchase. There's some other cool mods that are coming down the pike that I'm going to be doing for this machine. I'm actually going to be partnering with another company to do a sponsored video on a really cool black and white topper. That's all I'm going to say for now, but it's going to be worth the wait. There's also going to be a collaboration, hopefully, I'm trying to talk to him tomorrow and hopefully we can get it nailed down with Pinwoofer so we can do some really cool audio upgrades. Because the real limiting factor in these Stern machines isn't necessarily the speakers, although the speakers aren't great, the stock ones. But when you put no ones in, your limiting factor is the stock Stern amplifier. Pinwoofer has this really cool amplifier that actually attaches on to your spike 2 cpu board i cannot wait to check it out so hopefully i can iron out an agreement and we can do a video together too so lots of cool pinball content coming i'm loving the godzilla 70th i'm gonna go play and i will see you guys on the next