The Rumors on Stern Pinball's Next Game and What it Needs!

Cary Hardy·video·19m 30s·analyzed·Jan 26, 2020

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

TMNT rumored as Stern's next game with Borg/Zombie Yeti; Hardy speculates on design direction.

Summary

Cary Hardy discusses rumors about Stern Pinball's next game being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with designer John Borg and artist Zombie Yeti. He covers four rumors (cooperative play, player control diverters, designer/artist) and speculates on ideal design elements including playfield toys, game modes, and turtle-specific perks. Hardy emphasizes this is speculation ahead of Stranger Things production issues potentially accelerating the TMNT release.

Key Claims

John Borg is rumored to be the designer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
low confidence · Hardy cites this as rumor #1 with information sourced from Kaneda; notes Kaneda is sometimes right and sometimes wrong
Zombie Yeti is rumored to be the artist for the TMNT game
low confidence · Hardy lists this as rumor #2; credits Zombie Yeti with work on Deadpool, Primus, Iron Maiden, Ghostbusters
The TMNT game is rumored to have cooperative play
low confidence · Hardy presents as rumor #3; describes it as logical given four turtle brothers theme
The TMNT game is rumored to have a player control diverter
low confidence · Hardy lists as rumor #4; compares to Shadow game mechanics
Stranger Things has been out approximately one month at time of recording
high confidence · Hardy states 'Stranger Things has been out maybe a month? I mean, we're probably right there at the month mark'
Stranger Things sales performance is weaker than expected
medium confidence · Hardy mentions 'the way Stranger Things is selling, or lack thereof' suggesting underperformance; indicates this may accelerate TMNT release
Data East released a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pinball game in the early 1990s
high confidence · Hardy states 'Data East did this game a while ago. Uh, I don't know the year it was early nineties'
The TMNT game will likely be the first Stern title with internet connectivity
medium confidence · Hardy states 'More than likely, this is going to be the first title with it' regarding internet connectivity

Notable Quotes

“I'm honestly done with Stranger Things. I'm ready to move on and I believe a lot of you are too.”
Cary Hardy@ 0:19 — Establishes community sentiment toward Stranger Things; motivates discussion of next Stern game
“So with that being said on john borg the designer i don't really have any concerns about that”
Cary Hardy@ 1:32 — Endorses John Borg as designer based on his game portfolio (Tron, Walking Dead, Kiss, Apollo 13, Metallica)
“Everything he's done is great, in my opinion... the style with it, is right up my alley for what I enjoy.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:00 — Strong endorsement of Zombie Yeti's artistic direction for rumored game
“This is what i'm talking about this is what i wish was implemented in more machines and that is giving the player more involvement in the game than just hitting flippers.”
Cary Hardy@ 2:58 — Expresses design philosophy preference for player-controlled mechs/diverters; indicates this would differentiate TMNT
“This is something that you almost have to try in order to mess it up... there's so many possibilities that they could throw into this title”
Cary Hardy@ 5:57 — Asserts TMNT is inherently strong IP for pinball with flexible design space unlike story-locked franchises
“I don't recommend that they use this [80s cartoon version] because one, it's already been a done really data East did this game a while ago”
Cary Hardy@ 7:36 — References 1990s Data East TMNT pinball; argues against nostalgic 80s cartoon aesthetic for new game

Entities

Cary Hardyperson John Borgperson Zombie Yetiperson Kanedaperson Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesgameStern PinballcompanyStranger ThingsgameData East

Signals

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business_signal: Stranger Things underperforming sales may accelerate TMNT release timeline
medium · 'with the way Stranger Things is selling, or lack thereof, that we might see this game a little sooner than late March'
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design_philosophy: Hardy advocates for player-controlled diverter/mech features to increase player agency beyond flipper play
high · Detailed section on player control diverters as underutilized design element; compares to Shadow, World Cup Soccer, Getaway mechanics
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announcement: Potential TMNT announcement timing at Texas Pinball Festival (early March) or sooner than late March
low · Hardy speculates: 'I think that would be great to be able to have Stern announce this game beginning of March or maybe the second week of March or something like that'
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rumor_hype: Four rumors about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Stern's next game: John Borg designer, Zombie Yeti artist, cooperative play, player control diverter
low · Hardy explicitly frames all four as rumors sourced from Kaneda; notes Kaneda's track record is mixed
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sentiment_shift: Rapid community disengagement from Stranger Things despite only ~1 month post-release; ready to move to next title
high · 'I'm honestly done with Stranger Things. I'm ready to move on and I believe a lot of you are too' and 'we're already kind of like just putting it on the back burner and moved on'
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Transcript

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0:00

What's up guys and welcome back to my channel where I talk and do everything pinball. So if that sounds interesting to you then hit that subscribe button down below. I'm going to be doing something different than I typically do on this channel. And that is going to be talking about a rumor. Why am I doing it now? Because I'm honestly done with Stranger Things. I'm ready to move on and I believe a lot of you are too. And there is evidence that speaks to this. but I'm going to go over that in another video. But the rumor I want to talk about is Stern's next release, and that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

0:52

Now, what info do we have? Not much. but let's go over what we have and then we can get into a discussion rumor number one is that john borg is the designer john borg's most recent design was the monsters and that came out around this time last year if not a few weeks ago it doesn't matter a year ago some of borg's other games that she may know was like um tron the walking dead kiss apollo 13 metallica uh yeah so you get the idea that he's like aerosmith yeah yeah so he's done quite a few other games and a lot of those games have done really well so with that being said on john borga the designer i don't really have any concerns about that rumor number two is zombie yeti as the artist jeremy has done fantastic he's he's one of the best in the business uh he's done games like Deadpool, Primus, Iron Maiden, Ghostbusters, and everything that he's done is great, in my opinion. Everything he's done, the style with it, is right up my alley for what I enjoy. So when it comes to what the art can potentially look like for this game, I've got some high hopes. rumor number three is that it's going to have cooperative play now in in my eyes this is kind of like a no-brainer this is something for a theme like this when you have four turtles that are brothers and they work together to accomplish a task or battle or whatever then yes cooperative of play should be a given in the game so that's the way i look at it is like yeah if you don't have it then that just doesn't make as much sense and rumor number four is that it's gonna have a player control diverter this this is what i'm talking about this is what i wish was implemented in more machines and that is giving the player more involvement in the game than just hitting flippers. So a player control diverter is very reminiscent if not what I'm talking about is like the game The Shadow. You have a couple of daggers on the play field and a couple of extra flipper buttons and those flipper buttons cause those daggers to divert the ball a different direction of your choosing. Having toys or mechs within a game that you the player control is a fantastic way to get the player more interested in playing the game giving them more control part of having a good theme integration is also being able to integrate the players into the game and having controllable mechs is a fantastic way to do that there's a lot of great games out there that have that little just that little finesse in there of doing that like for instance a world cup soccer you have the goalie assist eject hole right there that you choose when to kick that ball into the goal it's something so small and simple like that just to give the ability for the player to initiate that like the getaways shifter you can only switch gears by shifting the gear shifter down below little stuff like that god there's a lot of games out there that have those little things in there that make the game just better and i believe talking back again with stranger things there's a couple of those things that they could integrate into stranger things with code to give it that little extra things that a player can control and they may do it down the road but i just saying i already spotted what they could do to just kind of help out now it a matter of when or if they will do it now i don know if all four of these rumors originated from the primary source of kaneda or they got leaked somewhere else but all i know is that these leaks i got the information from kaneda sometimes he's right about things and sometimes he's wrong so take every one of these rumors with a grain of salt So is that all we should do is just give you these four rumors and just be done with it? I mean, what's the fun in that? Let's speculate. Let's imagine what this game could be or what rather what it should be. Now, before I go any further on things that I believe this game should have, remember, this is all speculation. So remember that this was just a discussion, throwing some ideas out there. and we'll see what we actually get in the near future. Firstly, let's point out that this theme is a very easy theme to nail. This is something that you almost have to try in order to mess it up. Like if you wanted to mess it up, you'd almost have to really just try to get this wrong. Because there's so many possibilities that they could throw into this title because there's not a set you know story per se i mean like you have the origin story that is there but that's not going to be relevant in pinball but you have so much that they could throw in here and add to later on and different kinds of modes and if they wanted to do a story arc and stuff like that then by all means sure why not but there's just so many options that's the thing that i believe is going to give John and the coders the ability to do so much with this title. They're not going to be hindered by a particular story or anything like that. So just throwing that out again, just instance, for instance, Stranger Things, they are hindered with the materials because there is a set story and that's just the way it is. They can't change things up too much in that game because it's not how it is in the show. But some of the options and coding that's going to go into this game really depends on the style of the turtles that they're going to be using. And I've just done a quick list of four different versions of these turtles that they could go about using style-wise. The first is the 80s cartoon version.

11:10

And April shouldn't be hot. She should be attractive, but not hot. I mean, Megan Fox has the, like, the obvious attraction, whereas April should be, like, she's attractive, but she's not like, oh my goodness, like, obvious, just can't take your eyes off her kind of thing. But that's, I digress. not to mention you'd have to implement all kinds of cgi explosions and all of the animations the animation team would be working overtime trying to get all those explosions inside that screen but like i said the safest if they were to resort to previous versions would be the 2007 version but i'm willing to bet that they're definitely going to do their own thing and i believe that is the best way to go about doing it and we could start speculating a little bit more on art but I'm telling you that with it being, you know, Jeremy or zombie Yeti, whatever you want to call them, it's going to be good. I think every version is going to be good in its own way. Um, but I guess the only thing I want to nitpick on and I'm hoping that it's implemented this way is just make the turtles eyes like a solid white behind their bandanas. Kind of like what I have on the art here on the screen and what you saw in the 2007 version. Let's go with that. And now let's talk a little bit about like, you know, play field mechs and toys, things that I believe that they should implement on the play field. I've got a list over here that I've just kind of been typing away at little things that they could do. And honestly, when it comes to play field toys, I don't really have a whole bunch right here because there's so many things that they could do. but some of the things I have listed and I believe they could do this is get the Technodrome in there but not the entire Technodrome maybe somewhere in the far back corner and have like maybe half of it like in the other half like it's coming out of the playfield type of thing and of course have things being able to either go in there whether it be a wire form or whatever but have it be interactive to some sort the eyeball on the top I don't know, do something but a little bit of interactiveness with that, that would be great and let's see here the turtle van that you could probably throw in there and the turtle van could maybe even possibly be what holds the balls for multi-ball, like you load up the turtle van and whenever it's time for multi-ball then the turtle van opens up like it does and then all the balls come rolling out on the play field, I don't know, just don't step out dude, we're just throwing darts and we'll see what sticks you know you could let me know if any of this thing sounds interesting to you let me know down in the comments and um obviously there needs to be a subway system in the game one of the methods i think that they could do and i really think that they should do this whether it be one or maybe even multiples of this on the playfield somewhere if any of you have played x-files you have in up or in the play field area that i could basically it looks like a manhole that opens up and then you aim the ball in there and it closes back i feel like if they had like multiples of those and they'd be like you know manhole covers that open up and you have to like enter the sewers or something of that nature and you can go in there and there be a subway system where balls can go in one way and then they come out somewhere else that would just be really cool and another playfield toys i had was basically turtle shells as your pop cap your pop your pop upper caps i don't know like i said throwing stuff out there top this up just a list of things off the top of my head there's just so many more things that they could do with this now when it comes to modes i've got a pretty decent list and a lot of that has to do with you know ability to do things when it comes to like let's say for instance take down the foot um save april defeat bebop save splinter defeat rocksteady enter the technodrome take down shredder destroy the technodrome and take down crane and of course all of those are particular things that you have to accomplish shots and stuff like that to you know accomplish those tasks and we are and since one of the rumors is is having a diverter somewhere on the game more than likely a ramp system and i really hope that the ramps in this game are wire forms please let them be wire forms don't cheap out on us and go plastic ramps down come on my next little section here is turtle perks now when i say turtle perks i mean essentially like it is on a lot of other games like let's say for instance you know Pirates of the Caribbean or whatever is that when you start a game you choose what turtle you want to be. Now obviously if you go to a multiplayer cooperative game you cannot select the same turtle as another player that's just the rules that I've made up but let's just say for instance each turtle has a certain perk and you can play as that particular turtle because you hit the pop bumpers more often or you hit the ramps more often but like this is just you know giving you an idea like for leonardo orbits are worth more uh mike the pizza targets are worth more uh don uh ramps are worth more i was thinking like donatello and ramps because he's on the skateboard and stuff like that um rafael pops are worth more i figured you know raf with his anger and rage and just I think that has something to do with the pop bumpers. I don't know. It's just in my mind. I foresee that him in there, the pop bumpers, you know, being worth a lot more because he's just raging out inside of there. And I don't know. This is all just mental images I'm seeing. And little stuff like that. And, of course, you know, I think I listed right here game perks with co-op. So if you don't do co-op, then I don't see a problem in being able to play as the same turtle as somebody else. But there's, like I said, there's so much that can be done with this title, and I hate already, one, talking about rumors. But two, Stranger Things has been out maybe a month? I mean, we're probably right there at the month mark, and we're already kind of like just putting it on the back burner and moved on, and we're already speculating and getting hyped up for a rumor for it to be this game. And the chances are, with the way Stranger Things is selling, or lack thereof, that we might see this game a little sooner than late March. I would hope that we might even be able to see this at Texas Pinball Festival. I doubt it, but I would hope. I think that would be great to be able to have Stern announce this game beginning of March or maybe the second week of March or something like that and then bring a good amount of these games for everyone to play. And more than likely, this is going to be the first game with internet connectivity. Now, what all that's going to give us the ability to do, we don't know yet, but more than likely this is going to be the first title with it. And I believe that's all the notes that I had for this guys, but like I said, this is a discussion. I want to know what you think this game might or what it should have. Do you agree with some of my thoughts? Do you disagree? Either way, let me know down in the comments below. If you haven't already, do not forget to smack that subscribe button down below. That way you can be notified of whenever I upload something for your viewing pleasure. And until next time, guys, peace out.