Welcome to the Wild Dog Arcade. I am Ed
and I'm Gary.
And we are here at Stern headquarters ready to play Star Wars of the Empire.
Yes. And I can't wait to play it. I want to see what's different between this game and the previous Stern incarnation of it.
Are you ready, Gary?
I am ready.
Let's do this. [Music] All right. So Gary and I were invited back to Stern headquarters again to preview Star Wars Fall of the Empire. And as lifelong Star Wars fans, we were delighted and excited to be a part of this event. For me in particular, this was an enormous honor. In the days ahead, we plan to release a video showing John Borg and Raymond Davidson discussing the main elements of this new pen. But for now, we will first show you gameplay of the premium and pro editions of Star Wars. And as a follow-up, we will give you our thoughts on these machines.
Yep. Okay.
All right. All right.
Here we go.
All right. This is the premium edition of Star Wars. We had a couple plays on this game earlier before we uh jumped onto this uh setup. [Music] Oh, that was interesting. I advise you to aim at one of the
um what we're noticing at this point is this game is a lot easier than the original uh or the recent Stern release.
Yep.
That came out a few years ago where it's incredibly difficult.
Yeah. But this one uh feels a lot more forgiving, especially when you're missing your spots. A lot easier to recover on this game so far. I say that now, you know.
Yeah. [Music]
Yeah. We're we're good over here.
Yep.
All right.
Right. They got premium edition here.
Yeah.
Sounds really good. The auto quality is really good.
Yeah. That's the other thing that they were chatting a bunch is uh how much better the sound is on the spike.
Even even on the b the bass speaker system.
Right. There we go. Oh, come on, man.
Oh, do you?
Oh, I'm trying. If you don't do shot, maybe I can make it. Oh crap. [Music]
Come on.
3 2 1 No.
Oh dear. Come back.
Oh dear.
Oh dear. is a little uh very uh what do you call it? Sensitive on the buttons there.
Mhm. There you go.
All right. Yep. Going to be hearing a lot of that.
Yeah. We'll have to see how to uh handle the sound mixing with the uh
with the music playing here. But we're gonna hopefully talk enough so that it doesn't trip the uh
sensoring we might have to do because of the
So on the pre on the premium the center ramp uh is sort of like the rush one where it's down
and the rejects can are very dangerous when they when you hit it when they're when that ramp is down.
Right.
So keep keep a look out on that.
It's dangerous but I feel it's a lot more achievable recovering your shots when you miss them in this game versus the other Star Wars game. Um, I'm liking all the different toys. We'll hopefully be able to uh get to see the uh ball safe feature in this because Yoda does use the force and actually pulls the ball back out from the gutter. Nice. I didn't see any danger yet. So, that's what that looks like.
So, Death Star will reject it right down the middle when it's closed.
Ah,
be careful.
Okay. Be careful people.
Mine's open though at the moment thankfully. I know I might have to redo ball one cuz I noticed that on my last game I had ball two locked and then all a sudden because I lost the ball, it went back to locking ball one. It looked like so keep an eye on on the rule set and where we're at with that. The rules do seem to be uh well baked at the moment just from first glance.
I cannot backhand that shot. It doesn't look doable. There we go. Got it. All right.
Empire. Maybe it kept it.
The sellout.
No. Balty. Okay. So, it kept it black. All right.
I'm back down. All right.
Nope. That was way early.
I got a double. You got a double. Oh, the action buttons are controlling your Jedi powers.
This deal is getting worse all the time.
So, this one set up.
Yeah, this one set this one set up the other way.
Yeah.
Oh, the one is the right lane is out uh out lane post is pretty closed.
The left is is more open. That seems to be their default.
Okay, if that's all you can adjust. Nice save. and your little moon, too. Oh, wait. Wrong wrong wrong movie.
All right.
Um, other things about this game, uh, I mean, obviously there looks like there's a mode where you have to shoot a different shots here that are lit. Um, it definitely looks like it's using quite a bit of uh different features and different uh modes that you can use. Things have developed that will ensure security. I like all the different uh toys that are up there.
Yeah. So, this has the movable ramp or the droable ramp in the middle. So, that ramp drop is drop can drop in the premium and the LE.
It's got uh Jaba of the Hut, Vader's head, and a Star Stormtroopers head sculpt, which is not on the Pro.
So, this this and that are not on the Pro. Also has the collapsible ADAT.
Oh, yeah. I forgot. We need to try to do that, huh? Oh, yeah. The death star multiball. I was trying to get that earlier. Nicely done, Gary. Here we go. Watch. Wait. Yeah. He didn't get in danger. I don't think. No, I would not.
Very good glow of the red and blue.
Yep. Good use of the RGBs.
Yeah. All the different pull outs, all the different video assets right now are very very nice.
I think I got a I got a ball save ready. There we go. No, that was a ball saved. Okay.
Um I also because of the fact that they're using assets from both episodes four, five, and six. I'm I'm feeling this this is a bit more appealing to the the masses for sure. the nostalgia factor can be big with this,
right?
I mean, Star Wars is a kind of a cash cow for a lot of companies. So,
yeah, they were talking the numbers earlier in one of the meetings how much money
the Star Wars franchise brings in and merchandising.
It's pretty insane
just how big big of an industry in and of itself Star Wars is,
right?
But, I mean, you know, people want to escape nowadays, especially in 2025. I know I want to make it. Oh. Oh. Oh, man. So, if you get this ramp and it doesn't goes up, it doesn't. It's going right down the middle.
Yeah. All right. Here we go.
Got a good ball on that last one there, Gary.
Yes, I did.
Come on. Give me something to work with here.
Come on. There we go.
All shots are hurry up.
You know that little twirly thing? I'm wondering how I'm going to feel about it. Yeah, because it really takes a lot of time for that ball to suddenly finally
settle. Especially if you hit it cleanly up in there.
Yeah, it does take a while to drain down. So, feels like it needs to be steeper so it drains quicker.
Yeah. [Music] Now, you know how I asked earlier about last turn?
Like, I didn't even get the [ __ ] play yet.
When's it my turn? I want to get that t-shirt, dude.
Yeah.
You got comfortable and then
I was trying to watch where it was going and like Oh no.
160 million.
That was a good score, my friend.
What are you doing? I'm trying to make it fast forward buttons.
Yeah, full flipper buttons.
No, of course. Now I got very skillful indeed. [Music] Missions are hit. So many to [Music]
I can't do anything. There we go. There we go. Now we wait a minute. Now we wait for 5 minutes for this ball to finally go down. There we go. [Music] All right. I got something going on here. Where did it go? That was an airball. I don't know if it was supposed to do that, but it came back down anyway in the right positions. Yeah, the two ramps if you punish you if you don't hit them fully.
Yeah, they want they do want to drain down the middle. So, be on the lookout for that everybody.
Yeah. No, you can't hit you can't back in that.
Oh, okay. I got Darth Vader.
Okay, fast forward. Let's see. How do you postpass this sucker?
Little little more delay.
Little more light. A little more delay.
Yeah. A little
I don't know how to do that. [Music]
There we go. Finally.
Place the shock multiplier.
Come on. Come on. All right. Come on. Yo. Yeah, there's no way to hit that on on this side, unfortunately.
Hurry up.
I mean, maybe maybe I can, but
Oh my god. I would advise you [Music] so bad.
Well, this game seems a little little easier to shoot than the previous one. It's still no slouch.
No, not at all. You're still on your on your guard and I cannot hit this shot for the life of me. It's driving me insane right now.
Well, wrong turn, I guess. even though I shot it.
Here we go. Stuff's happening.
Jedi is now available at the action.
That's the uh magic one.
Drain it.
All right. Do take good care of yourself.
Oh, okay.
Oh, okay. Perfect. Thank you. All right. Here we go. Try it again. [Music] Come on. Here we go. [Music] that damn shot is so hard to do. [Music] Okay. Now, now it's apparently available.
All right. Death star shot is tight. So, uh, yeah, I haven't been able to hit it once, I think, in this turn. Anyway, there we go. I got some going on finally.
Oh, looks like we're done.
Oh, we are. Okay. Yep.
Okay. One more minute. One more minute. Got Keep keep going with your multiball.
Nice.
Got a couple more jackpots and I got my ball back. [Music]
There we go. [Music] It's going around so fast. [Music] Not quite.
Oh, well.
Okay.
Right. That's the uh Star Wars Premium Edition.
Yes, it is.
So, yeah,
that was a quite a uh quite a game to try to uh master really quickly.
Yep. [Music] It turns on it. Shoot one of the flashing.
This is also the pro.
Yep.
There's something alive in here. As your management just moved past my leg.
Fast compactor.
Morning. Hey, morning. How you doing today? Doing good.
Good. [Music] Super skill shot completed. [Music] Oops. Ball save. The eyes of the ball save. Yep. [Music] Ah, sorry to do that. There we go. Got the dark spider shot I wanted to get earlier. [Music] Very well done.
There we go. Finally got the hyperspace. Okay.
And I did it. Not quite again.
Moving on to the Jedi is now fully functional. I feel we need a game at last.
Okay. Early Use the action button to control your Jedi planet and save the guy.
Look out. The emperor's directed the attack. [Music]
Oh, I got it.
Nice random bounce up there.
Yeah. Yeah. I shall become possibly imagined.
Got it. All right. Just a reminder, this is the Star Wars Pro edition. Yes. Ball one is locked. But what I definitely can say right now is this is
a lot more forgiving than the uh other Star Wars
2017 Star Wars.
Yeah. Ah,
you've placed a short and
there's a lot of places to go. Even though it's a fan layout, I'm having a lot of fun with it because
Star Wars is meant to be casual and fun, right?
Yep. And it's not a giant wall.
Yeah, exactly. There we go. I got your promise now. Got a scratch.
You get going, you pirate.
Keep going, you pirate. Ball two is locked. Hope I can get all three. Where's it going?
Five. Four.
Uhoh.
Was very skillful indeed.
Oh, that was my last ball, too. It's under biscuit. Damn it.
Bless my son. You did it.
That was You'll be remembered throughout.
All right. Okay.
Still going on all the cameras.
Be commended.
DJ, you should.
All right. There we go.
All right. Oh, let's go for a full punch. What does it do? Right to the flipper. [Music] The orbits are decently.
Yeah. Engaged and droids will now be in the hands of the Empire. [Music] What are your first impressions now that you got a couple on it? I
think it's a little easier to shoot than the previous Star Wars one.
Yeah.
I mean,
that ramp's dangerous.
Yeah.
If you don't hit it clean all the way up,
right? Or rattle it.
Yeah.
Oh.
Oh, it rejected.
Yeah. If you hit it too fast, it
rejected.
I guess you got to be careful of that. And there comes rattled up there.
Yeah.
Oh.
Oh, wow.
Ball save is on.
Yeah. Don't forget to hit the uh action button when when you lose the ball when you have it available too. I think you have to acquire the ball save.
Yep.
Got some tight shots.
Yeah. Not not overly tight. I I feel like it's fair.
That one I was going for is is actually pretty tight.
Yeah. I'm going to go one more.
Yeah, it's fine.
Just getting the hang of the shot.
Yeah,
I'm able to
Oh, I guess I still have all three
cuz it doesn't shield.
That's some Jedi writing on the top of Jedi.
That's an interesting detail. Understand?
Oh, that was so seems to come out of this orbit likes to click the top of that swing.
Okay.
All right. I'm going to do
Yeah, go ahead.
In the event you do not match, I want you to know.
I want you to know.
All right. Sling to the Outlander thing on this game. very well done
as in a lot of games.
I suggest you don't want to miss.
Yeah,
I don't recall porks has designs are more prone to sleep the aliens or not.
There we go.
Two more for Falcon.
Backhanded in there.
Yeah. Yeah. Some crazy shots in there, too.
Is wondering about Master Luke. [Music] Don't look. Come on. Give me a sign here. There you go. [Music] [Applause]
I guess on Canon.
I'm trying to hit the center ramp.
Yeah. One shot for Falcon.
A little later than I keep thinking it should be.
Oh yeah.
There you go.
Oh dear. My circuits can't take this.
No.
Oh, get saved again.
No. No. No.
That was a better ball win though.
Yep. [Music] Wish I could see whether Is it getting everything in there?
Yeah, it's in there.
Okay, good.
You can get some of the playfield in that shot. I mean the back glass stuff.
Good. That means zoom it up then. What is my
choose a Vader mode? Whoa. The Holy One is here. The Force is with him.
No. [Music] Bored.
You've been bored. And there he comes. It's a slow shot. [Music] No, that wasn't what I was trying to do. I was trying to postp.
Oh, yeah. I didn't even think about doing that yet
cuz I have a shot lid on the uh right side, but I can't. It's not a back end one. That's the one I was trying to hit. It's sort of like pit.
Okay. Oh, this is kind of neat. Like goes through the different choices.
She keeps dancing. That's sort of like the Cactus Canyon launch thing.
Yeah. Yeah. That's a nice touch. Kind of takes a little while to get through there, though. Is the only thing, but that's all right.
Okay. Good. Yeah, it's doable. It's not easy to do a post bass, but it's doable.
Do you feel like this the flippers are a little more spread out?
No, I don't. Okay.
You can post fast fairly easy.
Okay. Yeah. You got to do it quicker than
I'm used to, I guess.
There we go. Have a snack. Yes. Good save.
All right. Get that multiball. I couldn't do it earlier.
Oh, nice. Lock is lit. Ah,
I'm trying to get my mode shot, which is the right.
Well, there's another one, too. The Death Star. Nice save.
There we go. That's what I was trying to do.
Okay.
Oo, that was close.
Nice. Fairly hit. Above that.
Yeah.
Another ball.
Grand Champion 121 million. Woo. Sink. All right. This is the uh Star Wars Fall of the Empire Premium.
Yep.
Got the mics.
Oh. There we go.
Excuse me.
Yeah, you were right. I think the shot the shots are tighter than I'm imagining.
Okay. Not quite. Hopefully with these that close to the speaker, they're picking them up.
Yeah. Oh, drop target got me down the middle there.
All right, so the premium we've got more sculpts.
Yeah, more addat.
Got job of the hood, Lincoln.
Yep. Job of the hut blink. Oh crap.
Lincoln cuz he's not even on the pro.
Yeah, did that.
There's no Darth Vader on the pro. little storm trooper head on the probe.
Yeah, I think this means that it's ready and when it's blinking, you can use it. Yeah, the action button. I think that's how that B works.
So, I hit it earlier when it was solid and nothing happened.
Didn't quite hit that right.
And the center ramp I think raises and lowers. So, like the difference on rush to premium.
Yeah. All right. Damn. I got that.
My brain is in love with this shot here.
Yeah.
All right. So, like pit takes a while, but it's the drain.
Yeah. It's not working right now, so it doesn't do anywhere. Rebel ship.
All right.
Oh, that was close. Okay, good. Got it. Mission complete. Cool. Oh crap, my hand just flipped off the thing. Another Got a multiball. Something was blinking. So I got that. Okay, I hit it. It was blinking for a moment. I hit it and I guess I don't know if I set up something or what I did.
Yeah. So as far as shooting, I think I like it a little bit better than the other Star Wars machine this one did by far. Um, this is a crowd-pleaser pen.
Yeah,
this is my impression. It is not a nonfun, you know, easier pen for expert
players, you know.
It's no TMNT. Keep
going. All right, that was close. All right. Dark sides mystery. [Music]
What is my video?
Oh, okay. I think you choose it with that on.
I don't know. They wasn't lit. They just shot all of a sudden. I was trying to
I guess that's my lo.
Yep. That's the one you're playing. [Music] Come on.
Yeah, I think the the ball trolling around might get a little annoying after a while because you're going to keep playing,
but I'm just impatient. That's all it is. [ __ ] I The moment I hit that, I was going to go down the middle.
Yeah. Damn it. Yeah. Come on. I do believe in the Avengers you. All right.
Wow. I know how I did that. [Music] All right. Come on. Oh my god. Hurry up before you do this. What are you going to do? Oh, don't do it too high. Come on, dude. Well, I had something happen out. [Music] Good save. Thank you. [Music]
There we go.
Finally got something.
Mhm.
Dig. Oh, that's it.
That's how you got to spell it. was born.
Oh,
they did that to you earlier, didn't it?
It did. Yeah.
Return.
That's okay.
I promise.
I promise.
that was a close call, but not quite. Oh, [ __ ] me. There we go.
Don't worry. I got it. Trying to hit the button. I forgot it's Yep. In the way. Okay. Nothing. Okay. That was for nothing then. There we go. problem is they define your wish.
Here we go.
Oh, it's so hard to get in hyperspace. Damn it. We're doing again. I did a weird bounce there. Okay. Well, she's locked. Come on. You want to get a shot? Not that one. The other one. I have to hit this one, right?
Yeah. Okay.
Yep. That's the one that's lit.
All right. I see this also lit, too. I think I can do a multiball that way.
Oh my god. Not
again. Star multiball. That's what I want. Yeah. I don't like that thing there. It's a little too slow. My for my taste.
Almost needs like a low power magnet in the middle to draw it down quicker.
Yeah.
Lane's got you.
Come on. I want the thing. I want the thing really bad. All right. Valkyrie. Here we go. Last chance. I want to do the thing really bad. No. No. There we go. [ __ ] Damn it, dude.
The Jedi save is now fully operational.
There we go. Oh,
last ball. What? What? I thought it was on two. Oh,
why did it reset after my turn? That sucks ass.
I don't like that. Fix that in code. Oh, maybe it's Oh, yeah. Maybe. Not for as long a play right now. Oh. Oh, there you go. No, it's right there. Look.
Yeah, I was thinking I was seeing if that was a like a Rick and Rick where you compuls it to time it.
Why did you Why did you chat?
All right, go ahead.
Can't believe I missed it so many times. So annoying. [Music] All right.
I got a super skill shot, but I put it right down the middle.
Yeah.
Wa. That one clipped the thing. No.
Actually made the hyperspace shot.
Yeah.
It looks like you have to really hit that thing not only clean.
Yeah. It's sort of like it reminds me of the uh Iron Maiden one where if you don't do it enough, it doesn't go all the way into Target in the back.
Right.
Except this one's actually a backbox subway.
Yeah.
All right.
See how many times I can hit it.
Yeah. Four. Oh. Oh,
sling to the out lane.
This one's a little bit more open. This one's closed down, but that one's a little open.
Oh, is it?
I noticed both orbits seem to sometimes come down right on top of the slings. I think they need a loop. Oh,
are they too wide?
No, they're just the geometry there. They come out when that's a slow roller. They hit the top of the swings.
Yeah,
geometry post. Yeah, I've done that. [Music] Let me turn you down a little bit.
I don't even know how to adjust that.
Jesus Christ.
Yeah. Watch your head. better than like move it? The hell did you do to that thing? Just
I just wanted to move it down a little bit or up a little bit so you can see more of you instead of like the ceiling. That's all.
Oh, I just If it doesn't matter then, it doesn't matter.
We can always zoom in.
Yeah, that's true. So, we'll have to put these multiple videos into an overlay like we did last time,
right?
Oh, backhand did that.
Nice. Yeah, I've done a couple backand shots like that, too.
Are you recording?
Yeah.
I guess they're still doing the
They are. Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh [ __ ] Right on top.
Oh, good.
Right before left. Left before right. Now he's running that. No.
Yeah. You know what's funny? I had to actually buy a new pair. Mine was
really after the
Yeah. So, what was crazy was this, right?
I had it connected,
right? Booed and then it's wireless, right? After like 30 seconds, this the mic,
right? So, when I was really weird though, right, was every So, it would connect like this. Well, once I get the
15 10 minutes over there.
Awesome. Appreciate the
update. Go to buy a whole new set.
There we go. University. This will be good. We have our camera gear already set up, ready to go for having nice. Yes, exactly. There we go. Got multi. Go now.
Yes.
Yay. Somebody got
I don't know if that was that doesn't Yeah, I don't know either. I did that earlier and it seemed to like do a photo shot I think. Oh,
I don't know cuz I did a I did a jackpot after that. I thought
but it has to be flashing.
So, I know it's more solid and it wasn't doing anything.
Now it's now. Okay. Flash and green them all.
Yeah.
So that's it. Just like the rush. Save it. You're almost ready during second blast if you get that.
Yeah. right.
Almost.
It's kind of annoying one cuz you're right. The more I was hitting missing it, the more I realized shot.
So, what happened was you you missed the save. I hit it. It r Lazarus and then it went down again.
Yeah. And actually gave you the save.
Yeah.
But then it went right down the middle.
Yeah. There's a little bit of a grace period when when the time it drains to the time you hit the pulled it back.
Do it at like I think you have to do it at the correct
Okay.
And it's kind of cool though. They're not It's not a gimme.
We thought it was going to be like that.
We thought it was going to be a little more like the Rick and Morty anti-gravity where you could feather it, do stuff with it, but no, it kind of just goes into and then chucks it up. So, it's all about timing,
right? I'm okay with that.
Wow. Star Wars indeed. That we we just played the game. We just played it.
Star Wars Fall Empire. We just got through playing a bunch of the game. Had several good sessions on that. So are, you know, we're going to give you our impressions of the game. So Ed,
game play.
Yes.
What do you think? Shots, gameplay, layout.
Yeah. Um, a lot more approachable than the earlier Stern pin. I will say that much. And I felt good about my shots. I felt confident with being able to recover from my shots. I didn't feel like, oh my god, it's going to go down the middle every time.
Yeah. I didn't feel like the game was unfair to us. Yeah.
Right. Exactly. Um there were plenty of opportunities for you to redeem yourself, meaning that uh the Yoda using the force to save your ball. That was uh great to see and use.
Yeah.
Um so as far as like general shot layout, everything seemed pretty intuitive. Um I mean
it's going to be a lot more friendly to a casual player and you know I don't but it's not a baby pin. It's not going to be like a cactus can easy cactus canyon easy shooter. Some of the shots are tight. The next start shot is tight and as you probably saw in some of the game play you just watched, Ed was having some difficulty hitting that at some of those points, it's tight. Uh it also when it's closed and you hit it, it comes back at you pretty fast. So be beed be ready for that one. Yeah,
I was going to say in terms of what the lay the layout itself, it is a fan layout, but and it is only two flippers, but I don't feel like I'm missing it because of all the things that I'm already enjoying with it. Um, the fact that the shots feel intuitive enough, still challenging enough and everything, I feel really good about everything.
Yeah.
Yeah. I I do think I mean, yeah. And some of them before one, it's not going to be an easy easy pin. So, like the right ramp, if you hit that right ramp all the way up and it comes back down, it's coming at you fast. Yeah. So, again, be ready for that one. But all in all, I think it was a definitely an intuitive layout, which I think
is going to appeal to the masses on that one. Some of the neat features of it, I did like the premium ramp, sort of like Rush, where the ramp, the time machine ramp go up, down. They have actually had a hyper warp or a hyperdrive ramp that will be down or up. When it's down, it can be a dangerous hit shot and then once you qualify it, it goes up so you can hit the hit that mode and stuff like that.
Yeah.
Um the at at the at however you want to say, however you want to say it, uh during the premiums and less will actually collapse during one of the Hoth modes if you defeat it, which is a neat feature,
kind of a neat feature. Um, but also the premium zales come with a Jedi ball save where it will actually pull it up out of or catch it between below the flippers and flick it back up into play. So, it's using the force.
Yeah.
So, that was that's a neat mech.
It is. And it's easy to use, too. Like Gary and I were thinking, oh, it's like the Rick and Morty thing. You got to like feather it and like make sure it goes up. But, no, it's fairly easy. You just more or less just hit the
button and then it flicks it up back into into play. you still have to catch, you know, swat it and keep it in place. So, there's there's a bit of work to do with that. Uh, one of the things I do like about this one compared to the previous one.
Mhm.
There is no pop bump uper clusters. You're not having to hit a shot through a cluster tight cluster of three shots. They've got it does have pop bumpers. They're on the sides. And there's actually some modes where you have to hit both sets of pop bumpers. One of the Darth Vader modes is that. So, I do think I do think the evolution of the the Star Wars design has worked well in this game.
Yeah, that's a very good point to bring up is um I was a little concerned that we might get another, you know, Borg special sort of thing where we're like, "Oh my gosh, what's
clusters right between them?"
Um but they the pop the pop bumpers themselves feel like they should be in there because of the fact that
they're out of the way enough, but they're also part of the game's uh you know, code.
Yeah. They're there to really like if you to hit them off the flipper, it's a very off the tip of the flipper shot to either side. So you you are purposely trying to hit them or if you miss it'll hit that instead of hitting like a dead piece of rubber. It actually does something with it. So it's a nice little addition to
Yeah, that's actually a good point. It's usually when you see those kind of things on a game on the edges, it's like a drop target or something
something unexiting. This one will
force it back into play.
Exactly. So, I I think all in all, I'm pleased with the layout of the game, even if it is a fan layout.
Uh we're not the biggest lovers of fan layout games,
but this one felt good. It's It felt like they took all of the lessons learned from like the previous Star Wars and from The Mandalorian and kind of did some good good things for them.
Exactly. Yeah. I mean, when I walked in here, I think that was sort of my main concern was, okay, is this approachable for everyone? Is this going to have some weird geometry that some of us might like at first and then as you play it more and more you realize h
this one I feel like it the longevity is definitely going to be there. I think that uh you know you can play it casual and have a good time and you can play it more
intense and still be good.
Yeah, if you're a big Star Wars fan in particular of the original trilogy, you're going to love this game. If you don't have one already, this is I think the one to have cuz what I did now it's going to now I'm going to go into the immersion and and the content in the game.
Um
it is focused more around some of the landbased planetary style battles or thing events that happen. You've got the battle at Hoth, Battle of Endor, uh Jabba the Huts Palace Tatooine with the uh
with the pit of Sarlock and stuff like that. And that that's just the tip of the iceberg because as we mentioned before there's a there's a thousand different, you know, clips and assets in there. So we don't know what modes are going to eventually happen.
Well, you got Millennium Falcon based stuff. You've got, you know, job of the hut based stuff, uh, Death Star based battles on the planets because this is Fall of the Empire, so they're focusing around. What I think I like like about it is it's didn't just rehash the same modes that were in the original. It's m they've built modes based around assets that were not used in the original pit like the battle of Endor. In fact, they've gone and themed each one of the versions of the game around a pivotal battle. Empire Strikes Back is the Hoff battle
and the lights are lighting the way that it should fit with the theme. Like when we when you had the Death Star multiball, everything was red and blue. It was so much like
Darth Vader modes, they turn a lot of the ambient lighting red, which is nice. So it gives you that.
It makes you feel like you were in the battle with the two lightsaber, you know, colors in the middle of it all.
I think they did a really good job with the inversion and the lighting on the lighting. They do a pretty good job for a casual player of explaining what to do once you've started some mode. It's brightly lit. It it it's like hit the shot. So So I think a casual player will walk up to this game and be able to do some stuff that they'll enjoy.
Yeah. Now, real quick, let's go ahead and talk about what we didn't like about the game or what we feel that might be improved later on or whatever. The one thing that I didn't like about the game, uh, specific shot that I'm thinking about is when it goes up the ramp and it goes through the little twirly troll thing that the Cactus Canyon,
the pit of the pit of Sarlock, I think, or whatever that is.
Yeah. It's so it's very cactus Canyon like if you remember if you play Cactus Canyon, you do the launch, it goes around that. The the reason why I don't like that only is because in when I'm in a game, I want to just keep going. Now, I'm a I'm a very much a flow player. I want to just keep going, keep going. And then when you're there waiting for that thing, especially if you hit it nice and hard, it's like this.
It takes a long, long time to drain.
It really does.
So, when you play that and you hit that you hit that mode, when you've unlocked the drop target to be able to hit in there, it's going to take a little while before that ball drains and comes back to you.
And you and you might like that at home if you're more of a casual beginner. You're like, "Oh my god, thank god. Now I have a break. I can relax. Grab a drink. Exactly. So yeah, you know, the counterpoint to that is you get do get a small break if you had a really intense game. But it did feel like it could be a little more convex and drain a little bit quicker. I think I think that's really the only thing really negative thing I can think of is it just takes too long to do that. Right.
And that's
whatever that vacuum whatever that uh vacuum form shape is. It's not quite conical enough.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, but all overall, geometry-wise,
geometry-wise,
integration wise, it they've used the assets well. Um, and the artwork package is actually really good on this machine.
Yeah.
Yeah. It looks the outside, all the versions look good.
Yeah. The the the back glass on each of the machines look great. Uh, even the side art is phenomenal. I the artist that did it, I guess, is new to pinball. Um but you know the one of the uh um I forgot who it was that was uh telling us in the meeting but they were talking about how he's an expert at lighting um really takes uh pride and care in uh all those elements and they it sounded like they did the research Stern did and and they found them.
Yeah. So aesthetically this game is pretty with between the light shows um and the artwork it it looks really pretty. Looks very on theme for that. They did say they were focusing on on the artwork, making sure the characters look right. Yeah. Because they are based around Luke, Han, Leia, you know, they're getting their likenesses right. Um in in a in a art style because it is it is an art. It's not Photoshop
top solo. It's actually handdrawn art, which is really cool. Yeah, like I said, all three packages look really good because they've actually themed each one. The pros are based around the battle of indoor. I think it's the uh is it the battle of Hoth on the premiums?
I think so. Yeah.
Yeah.
Hard to remember, but um
or is or is that the uh things? But either way, the art packages are actually done really well. So, I think all in all, this is a pretty good really good followup to the previous pin and definitely plays better than any of the other Star Wars
further in the past.
Yeah, we you know, when Gary and I played Mandalorian, at first we were we were digging kind of the weirdness of it. You know, we were thinking, okay, as we play it more, we'll kind of get used to it um and enjoy it more. But honestly, as we played that game more and more, we just didn't really fall in love with it. Um The Mandalorian Show is a great show. Gary and I both watched it, I think, all the way through. You
were really looking forward to the Mando.
Yeah, we were. Um, and I kind of feel like they redeemed themselves a bit with this particular um pin. Again, I don't feel like I'm missing out on on the lack of flippers. It's so weird to say this sentence now, but it seems customary almost at this point in pinball, especially in uh in 2025.
In 2025 where you have a lot of games that have multiple flippers, three and four flippers. um here it because of everything that's available and with Spike 3 kind of being you know the big big talk of the town and rightfully so uh the improved uh sound the improved um
assets everything.
Yeah. So it's good. So let's talk about a little bit of the the improvements in the SP 3. One of the most obvious ones to that's going to be obviously is a bigger high definition screen. They're actually they've upped the processing power of the CPU board so they could handle high quality video assets. So, it's like a 1080p larger screen, but it doesn't change the back glass size. So, for all you fans of Trans Light artwork, it's not reducing it down in size. It's still got the same stern size on it. They just played with the speaker panel to make it all work.
So, it's really good. So, that's that's one of the big improvements that you will see right off the bat. Second, sound.
Sound. Oh, they they were able to crank that puppy up and not have distortion. Yeah. So, the they've completely upgraded the sound system and even in the pros, the sound the sound system is better than the previous generation Spike 2.
And they did a demo with the limited edition machine which he has an even further upgrade and cranked that. So, it'll go way louder than you could possibly sit there and play it. So
yeah, I think George even commented there are times that you don't you want to make sure you're not turning all the way up and playing the pinball machine because you're probably going to go death.
Yeah, it's really the sound system's vastly improved.
And I think one of the other ones for a lot of home buyers and a lot of uh operators, they've improved the Wi-Fi in it. So it's got a good thing.
It's got a 2.4 and a 5G Wi-Fi chipset in there. So it'll actually probably connect to your router better. We've got a couple of of stern machines that don't really connect to the router very well. It takes a while and stuff like that. So hopefully that's improved. We've also got some uh operators that we've gone to a location, they're like, "Yeah, we got this real games and the couple on the left are closer to the router. They connect, but the ones on the right never connect." That'll be a nice improvement.
Yeah. I I I'm happy and excited about that aspect because nothing is more frustrating than getting to an arcade and you're like, I can't wait to update my scores on Insider Connected. you get to the game, you're like, "Wow,
oh, wait, it won't connect because it's too far away from the Wi-Fi." So, hopefully that will be a thing less and less uh happening.
Yeah, hope hopefully. So,
but yeah, all in all, so
all in all,
all in all, final thoughts there, Ed.
Um I am happy. Um, I am glad that it is not trying to aim for the stars and missing, meaning that, you know, it is a little bit of a safe bet with the fan layout.
But because of all the improvements in the machine itself, what they have to offer everyone, uh, whether you're a, you know, older player, younger player, experienced or beginner, um, there there's something for everyone in the game, and that alone makes me um, excited about it. Yeah, at the beginning I was a little lukewarm on another Star Wars pin, which I think there's that there's a lot of sentiment around the internet is, oh, it's a Star Wars pin. They're just going back to the feeding trough to get get money. Um, I think they, you know, obviously Star Wars is going to be, as you say, a safe bet as far as sales, but I think they did a good job of differentiating this game from the prior edition of their game by using modes based around things that were not present in the other game. So, I think all in all, so if you're a huge Star Wars fans, you probably already have the old one. You could probably go ahead and buy this one. They're going to be two different completely games. Yeah, I was seeing the CF more about the fact that it's a fan layout and that there's no other weird geometry, crazy geometry going on. But with that, despite that, um I think with everything that's in the game itself,
I mean that that to me is more of a more of a celebration of the nostalgia that it's involved and the love that everyone has for for this uh property.
Yeah. I think of all of the Star Wars games that have come out, whether it's, you know, the Data East or the Sega or the stuff, I think this assetwise, I think does the original trilogy probably the most justice.
Yeah, I think so
because it's using very iconic scenes and given the fact they nice have nice video screens to really do really show them to you. really good.
Yeah, I was going to say that's a good point to bring up is really the reason why Star Wars fall the Empire is a title is because and they even explained this a little bit earlier is they want to differentiate themselves. They want to make sure that
they stand out in the crowd all the different Star Wars things out there,
four, five, and six in one game, right? Movies, books, everything else. So, there's so many different TV shows. This is a celebration and an an ability to have those three well-loved movies into one one complete package. Yeah, hence the name. They showed us a graphic showing like all of the movies and all of the like like first person shooter games that have been based around Star Wars by calling it Fall of the Empire.
It's, you know, this is the pinball machine we're talking about.
Exactly.
So, that's kind of why it is still based around the original three trilogy, which is, you know, the most beloved. I mean, there isn't a Star Wars fan that doesn't love that one. There's a lot of Star Wars fans who hate the prequels and the sequels. So,
so this this
this goes for the most popular part of this IP. Probably the one with the highest nostalgia factor to it. So,
Exactly. Exactly. So, um I feel like you guys out there are going to have a whole lot of fun with it as well. I'm excited to see what you guys think out there. Uh be sure to leave a comment, be sure to subscribe, be sure to follow us, uh if you enjoy this content, and
and also give us a like.
Yeah. And all those good things, right? Um, so we definitely thank you for joining us. Um, again, uh, we want to thank Stern for inviting us as well. And, uh, yeah, we can't wait to see and play this pin, uh, again, uh, in the not so distant future, hopefully.
Oh, and if you like live p live game play, we play pinball live on Twitch and YouTube on Wednesday and Sunday nights. So, definitely jump on those platforms, come and watch us, say hi to us, and uh, all of that. So, exactly.
Hope to see you there.
Yep. Hope to see you there. Thanks everybody.
All right. Bye.
Bye. [Music]