All right, let's kick this shit. This is Straight Down the Middle, and this is Greg. And I'm Zach. And I'm Drug Free. Are you? That's really good. I do like that shirt, I'm not going to lie. Thank you. It's nice. I have no idea where it comes from. You know what? Green is a nice color on you, my friend. Thank you. It brings out my eyes. People want this shirt, Greg. Where can they get this shirt at? That's retired. Is it? It's retired. Hey dude, did you ever find with those people the vector art? No, I haven't found anything. Looking for an artist. What are we doing today, Greg? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Review! I was going to say you were going to do a turtle, huh? Which turtle would you do? Turtle head popping out of my asshole. You'd be going rock steady, wouldn't you? We're going to review Stern Pinball's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Do you know who designed this game? Yeah, John Borg. He did? Yeah. You're a Borg fan. Yes. Well, you know, I was. Oh, oh. Man, I'm mixed on Borg. I'm kind of like a Borg fan, but then I'm not a Borg fan. Borg wants to do things that are just brutal. That left out lane, the Borgie. Get Borg'd. That's why I got rid of my Guardians. Why don't we get a t-shirt straight down the middle that just says, Get Borg'd. Get Borg'd. And then have that left out lane. You've been Borg'd. I think they would buy that. That would actually be really awesome. Just the left out lane. Yeah. And she says, get bored. Get bored. Yeah. I like that. Who did the code on this? Or primarily did the code on this? Dwight Sullivan. Our boy, Dwight Sullivan. I do love Dwight. We do love us some Dwight. Dwight's only screwed me over one time with Munsters. But other than that, Dwight's still sitting pretty high. Right now, Dwight's shaking his head. He's like, how'd I hate these guys? What about the artwork? Oh, Zombie Yeti. The Zombie Yeti. We have a love-hate relationship with each other. You do. I have a love love with Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) No I still love him but I think he hates me That's where the hate comes in He may Who did sound on this game? Jerry Thompson Oh here we go with Jerry And we gotta throw something else in there Our good friend and pinball enthusiast Marc Silk Oh did the voice over A lot he did like five characters Which is one of the things that made me happy Because I always like it when pinball community Brings people in that you know their professions make it well he's a world-renowned voiceover oh yeah how can you not he's been in episode one star wars he's he did bob the builder here in the united states for years do you know that i did not know about the builder he did i think the europe you don't know who bob the builder i know who bob i didn't think he did he uh he also did uh but uh scooby-doo yeah and shaggy over europe i believe a lot of stuff he's profound i think he i think you're gonna hear him on uh on other games too in the future how could you not shout out to king cromwell for kind of Getting him into the pinball world. Yeah. Thank you. So, animations. Joshua Clay. Yeah. Oh, Joshua Clay. We love Josh. It's good. They're good. And Chuck Ernst. Yeah. Yeah. We like the whole crew over there. It's turning pinball. You know, they're about to destroy your game. Yeah. Wait until you see the score on this, guys. It'll be good. What were you going to say? No, I mean, it's kind of. Oh, you're looking at mine right now. Yeah, I'm looking at you. Sorry. It's so flashy. Like, you know, it's one of those all-star teams. It's like, you know, when you assemble a team of turtles, who else would you really put together? Who over at Stern Pinball would be Master Splinter? Who would be the Splinter? Oh, Gomez. Gomez? Gomez is Splinter for sure. I think it's a good call. Yeah, definitely for sure. What about Shredder? Who's the bad guy? I'll stay quiet on that. No, I would peg that person more as fucking Rocksteady. Yeah, do it! Bebop. Yeah, that's it. Shredder would be... I think we're going to give that one to Richie. Steve Ritchie. Oh, okay. That is good. He sounds like him. Yeah. Always dressing in black, kind of sinister. Let us him. Yeah, I think that. I could go with that. The Turtles are the designers and the coders. Dwight's a Turtle. He's one of our favorites. Dwight's... I don't know who Dwight is. Dwight's like Michelangelo and Don Telo mixed. Yeah. So we'll go there. That's fun. That's fun. We're going to review this game. They sold a lot of these machines, Greg. This was a really hot title. Remember whenever it was first leaking that this game was going to be a Borg, Sullivan, Zada, Yeti trifecta? Lots of hype. And it came out of the gates with a lot of hype, too. Sold a lot of units. A lot of people love it. Then it started tapering off a hair whenever Avengers came out. Yes. People said that this game is really difficult to shoot. Yes. And then Dwight sometimes just gets, he gets a bad shake for some of his coding. Depth and complexity. I think people have just a preconceived idea about his coding, and they don't really give it as much of a chance as they need to. Yes. Yeah. It's opening a book versus listening to a book. There's some subtle genius in all of his coding. That's why, for you and I anyway, we're big Dwight fans, most of his games end up staying in our collection longer than all the others. Yeah, very much so. Even the Lime and Sheets games. I agree. He's a moment maker. He is a moment maker. I agree. So why don't we kick it over to, I don't know if you or I are going to do the overview of this game. We'll teach you some of the basic rules and the concepts layout, and then we'll come back and we will rate each individual category. How does it sound, Boney? Fantastic. Wow. Here we are with Stern's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Give you a quick overview. a little bit about the shots and gameplay so starting over here to the left we have our left out lane which has battle again which is a ball save to the right of that is your left in lane and that is responsible for weapon which weapon is your second shot in this this inner uh in lane for the skill shot it's your second shot in your skill shot to the right of that starts your one two, three foot, which is a little mini sub bonus mode. Next is your layer target. Uh, this layer target is responsible for starting your training. So once you spell layer, then it will activate training, which is behind that left upper flipper, shoot it into that, and you will begin training. And then your ball, there's a post in there. You can see, uh, that holds your ball for a brief minute and then releases it down here into your inlanes. Up to the top of that is your orbit, which you can complete a full orbit all the way around, or you can go over into your pops. There's a cut out there in the middle for those pops. To the left of that is your left ramp. Left ramp goes up behind the backboard and returns back down to your left flipper. To the right of that is where you start your pizza multiball. And it's responsible for your ball locks, which locks up and underneath the truck and exits out back here into that orbit. It's kind of a tough little spot to see but that's where your balls exit during multiball on the pro now something to pay attention to here is right down in there you'll see it there is a target and that is your pizza stand-up target and what that target does is it corresponds to your pizza ingredients up here on your back glass the pizza ingredients that are in the green there that's outlined those are interchanged and the last one will drop off and will be replaced by the next every time you hit that pizza target. The ones outside of that correspond and change to your pop bumpers. So those will only change during your pop bumpers. The ones in the green will change corresponding to the hit on the pizza target. Now, every time you lock a ball, it locks in pizza ingredients. So on the first lock ball, it locks in the first two pizza ingredients. Then on the second lock ball, it'll lock in the next two pizza ingredients. And on your third and final lock ball, before you start multiball, it will lock in that last pizza ingredient. In each one of those pizza ingredients, do something different. They have a different little bonus tied into your multiball. So kind of a neat little bonus multiplier type thing during that multiball, all because of that nifty little pizza target back there. Next to that is your play field multiplier target that sits in front of that your pop bumpers with rollovers that are responsible for your bonus your well you're in bonus um and then you have an inner loop off the third flipper you have a upper ramp that goes around returns down to your right flipper then you have your pizza slices add time target next up is your right ramp which comes around which is kind of crazy because super fast actually comes around goes under and comes out into that left orbit does not return to either one of your flippers but returns to your left orbit to the right of that is your right orbit with a foot clan spinner. You also have, this is also where you pick up some of your training and where you pick up your third shot in your skill shots for your weapon. To the right of that is the April stand-up target. You spell April once and you will light battle again for your outlanes. Spell April one more time and you will start your April hurry-up on the right ramp. Then you have your single in lane, which is responsible for another one of your second shots on your skill shot. And then obviously your out lane. And that is the basis of your Ninja Turtles. Greg or myself, we did a good job on that overview. Fantastic job. Good job, Zach. Let's start with our first category, the one that we'd like to kick it off with. Let's kick it off with artwork. artwork again Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) aka zombie Yeti he is the king of pinball art and I think it's going to be that way as long as he stays in the industry yes can you picture an artist right now Greg can you picture an artist doing better in pinball art than Jeremy no it's crazy to even say yeah that's why I do get so much work Wow I do want to see another artist come in and it's nothing against it's nothing against Jeremy but he can't do it all no but I like to see a little variance in the pins too and the stylizing. But his stuff, for the most part, it's got a definitive look, especially with colors. He has a specific style. But it's not like... He's versatile though. That's what I'm saying. The style is versatile. It's not where you're just like, oh, get it. We do know that any time Packer comes out with some art, that's going to sell some units. It will sell games. Art will sell games. I don't care who you are. But we don't have, we've got a lot of games that are coming out that are not Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti) that I think another artist could go in there and be to his echelon maybe or at least close. Yeah. That you would then have every game coming from Stern to be a beauty. Yeah. In the art department. Right now we're still, people are mixed on Stranger Things. People are mixed on Led Zeppelin. Anything that Jeremy doesn't touch, people are mixed on. Right? Yeah. Well, you know, but I think it also, I think that it takes, like anything, I think it takes experience and knowing what works on a play field. I don't see a play field, even a back glass cabinet art, like taking something that fits, resonates, that's not overwhelming, that's not underwhelming, that's laid out. You know, I mean, you're basically creating odd collages of things for the most part. And having to make them be seamless and fit along with a rule set. And working with the designer because a lot of the new artists come in and we've heard Franchi talk about this and I think he's right. He said you think you have this blank canvas but then you've got to work with the designer on where the inserts are going to be. No art can be there. You've got to work around that kind of stuff. And sometimes the artist can even work with the designer and say, hey, I'd really like this focal piece right here artistically. Is there any way we can move around some of these inserts so they surround this image? It's a good teamwork over there. Where are you at on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles art? Now, to remind people, our grading scale. We do art. We weight these. So they're not all equal. So our weighted grading is 10% for art. Yes. Shots and layout, 20%. Rules code, 20%. Toys and innovation, 10%. Music and call outs, 5%. Display and animation, 5%. Theme is 10%. And just general enjoyability, how much we like it and how much we have fun playing it is 20%. most of them so when it comes to our 10% every damn art package on the whether it's the pro premium le for the purposes of this video we are doing the premium le version yeah right yeah so all of them are beautiful you I went a plus whoa I don't think Jeremy's gonna be mad at you no no probably not but you know It's not too red? No. It's not too red. I still backtrack on that. I eat crow so much on that because I love that game. Too green? Being turtles? No no That the great thing too It not So like this this to me like I always held Ghostbusters as like one of the most beautiful pins And it's very unique because you took representation of the actors, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, everybody. And you did something different with them on the back. So that's always going to be on the play field. And on the play field. You get that world. Yeah. Yeah. So you did everything. Rick Moranis, you did everybody, which is a very hard thing to get correct and to make resonate. This, you're in a sense copying an already popular franchise that we're familiar with, in a sense. But I think that the color and the renderings and what he did with these characters may beat Ghostbusters. Wow. I think Ghostbusters because of the theme is what most people are going to go no you're full of shit but I think that you're having a hard time separating the two themes from each other not the true artwork I think that this may be a better ensemble and a better art package than Ghostbusters and I know Jeremy enough I know his work enough he was doing kind of this and Avengers simultaneously or Avengers came right after but he put a lot of work into turtles yeah he put a lot of if if jeremy was being honest i know pinball enough if he was really being honest he put more into turtles than he did avengers i can for me artwork wise turtles reminds me of the same composition as ghostbusters that top down when you're looking into the world of the turtles on the play field yeah and even side art cabinet you get a lot of Ghostbusters. So you get top-down Ghostbusters, what everybody loves composition-wise from Ghostbusters, but then he meshes it with what worked so well for Deadpool. Yes. Right? Those villains right in the center there, all those characters. He did it again on Avengers like that too, where you get the character compilation down in the middle. So this is a nice hybrid in between the best of both worlds. Agreed. I'm an A. I'm an A. Solid A. It's one of... Super fair. Not only one of Jeremy Packer (Zombie Yeti)'s best pieces of work, Greg, but I think this is one of the best art packages in pinball period. I agree. I just really think it is. It's just solid. Whether you like the Turtles or not, looking at the use of line work and the use of color and just the blues and the pinks. Yeah. Like that's what we loved about Ghostbusters. I do. So I'm in an A. I'm trying to think negatives. It's vibrant, but it's not over the top like we've seen with some pins. The only negative I would have and if we're doing premium LE, the back glass layout, give me the pro or the premium with that mirroring that mirrored uh over the leo i don't even know if i can agree with that the leo is my least favorite back glass i like yeah i like them all but i like that le feels a bit crowded feels a bit crowded not bad uh but no art phenomenal turtles great job shots and layout now this is where borg shines shots and layout this is i've been telling people this feels like a hybrid to me. I like doing the hybrids because we know Borg worked on Tron. Yes. What else did Borg... Guardians. Yeah, I'm trying to think. I think I've been telling people... Walking Dead. Guardians and Tron. It feels like... Guardians and Tron is what I agree. Yeah, a combination of Guardians and Tron here. No, no. Well, I'd almost throw a little brutality and a little difficulty of Walking Dead in there. Oh, yeah. Okay. In a sense. Yeah. You don't have that... Man, I don't know. It's a three flipper. Yes. We've got three flippers here. Tron's probably. And Borg's known for, he does a lot of two flipper fans, and some people say they feel a little stale at times because Metallica feels like Guardians, feels like Kiss, feels like Aerosmith, feels like. But this, he does a three flipper. Yes. And it does feel that side ramp shot feels Tron, but harder. Yeah. And you've got two shots there. There's a lot of shots in this game. There's a lot of shots in this game. And this may be. Uh-oh. maybe what like whoa going the route that i touted with with uh jeremy careful here you really love this game maybe one of borg's best laid out games you can't really deny that either one of his best i won't say the best if you're going for expertise and brutality it's a shooter's game it is a shooter but it can have flow yeah if your reaction time is that of a freaking cat yes That's very true. Jesus. It's very true. You hit that inner orbit a couple times, good luck. But that inner orbit is smooth. The third ramp is makeable. It's very smooth. It's just more on the tip of the flipper. But like you said, with the post, where the posts are for the ramps, where everything is, it is one of the most brutally fast pins. And like you said, not just that inner orbit, the regular orbits, if you hit them smooth, they are super fast. The ramps are fast. Yeah. Like, it's insane, the speed on this game, which to me says, hey, this motherfucker had a good layout. Well, and Borg's not really, Richie's known for speed. Yes. Borg's not really known for that speed. Borg's known for an accessible layout, a bash toy, and familiarity in shots. That's what Borg's known for. He kind of strays away from that a bit. Yes. I think it's okay. Yeah, I do too. I completely do because I think that it's a hard thing. I'm not saying what Steve does is easy to create flow. That's not easy. But to be able to make it a pin that you kind of need to sharpshoot on but can also be a flowy quick pin, that's a hard thing to do. For me, Borg always puts that damn right ramp in places that make me angry. I like it where it's at because it makes me earn that shot. But the right ramp, man. I know people talk about that left ramp being difficult. that right ramp for me oh I don't know if it's because I'm predominantly right-handed yeah so that left flipper to that right ramp so was gonna be tricky I like that you can backhand the right ramp it might be sloppy but you can still back you can backhand both ramps well that's another guy because even my pitches set a little high and I didn't think I could at first I'm backhanding that left ramp I said you I can hit that what yeah high pitch aren't you but I can hit that I can hit that left ramp backhand. The right ramp, I don't like to try to backhand that ramp. Because I end up in those posts. If I hit that post, I'm done. That's every time for me. I'm done. But it's like you said. He created a pin that you have to shoot. You have to shoot it. But it's not like... I thought Guardians... Here was my problem with Guardians. Is Guardians, the shots... And maybe it was just me, because this pin speaks to me. Guardians was almost... Some of the shots were too tight. The ramps and stuff were too tight. I found myself getting overly frustrated. I guess maybe some people are feeling that with this, but it was trajectory or something with that pin. Then that left out lane was so brutal. It would just come off my rent and it would just pop out. I hated it. I sold it because I couldn't stand it. You still got a little of that here. I couldn't stand it. You still got a little of that here. One of the cool things about this game is Borg did something that he had it in Metallica, the area. the fuel area where you've got and he had it in Guardians where you've got that area here you go behind upper left flipper into the layer I like that I like that it's there I like that it's there I like that it's there but it's so the chances of hitting that shot it's a design it's a flaw in the design I think it's a flaw in the design that is the only thing that really holds me back from saying this is a stellar thing is because you even take somebody like Travis Murry. Travis, like, what did he say? I have a 30% shot, and he's a hell of a player. He's a high-ranked competitive player. And he can't get in there. Backhand, he said at 50%. And I can never. You told me to backhand that. Let it roll up your left flipper a little bit. I can't do it. Really? I cannot get that for some reason. No. So that shot, I just don't even mess with. But when you hit it with a forehand, how good is it to you? Oh, it feels great. It feels great. But I'm going to agree with you. I'm going to agree with you, Greg. and so much so that I'm going to back it up with my grade. It's precisely why I'm at a B+, and I'm not in the A, because that area, I like conceptually that area there, that layer area, but I do think it is a bit of a flaw. You should be able to hit it a forehand without relying on that flipper to pop it back in. But it's not even like you had Star Trek, and you did that on Star Trek where you would want to let the flipper simultaneously kind of close, but that was way easier. This is not, that's what I'm saying. You almost can't let that flipper down. The reaction time, it's just something is off about it. It's off. It is off. You're right. But I still gave it an A. Okay. But. You really like this game. I really like this game. And here's the point. You didn't even want this game. No, I hate it. Okay. Let's revolve all this back a little bit. So here's a quick story. We went over it, I think, on your podcast just a hair. So we unboxed this game. Did a cool-ass unboxing. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. So we did this unboxing of this game. We put some time on it there. I didn't like it. It didn't resonate with me. I'm like, I don't even know what to do. Like, I'm just shooting these ramps. I don't know what to do. It's kind of hard coming off of that back ramp. The more I thought about it, Zach had it. Kept telling me. I felt the same way. I'm like, it's not clicking. It's not clicking. Took him a minute. He started to really like it. He said, man, Turtles is really opening up. The more time I spend on it, the better. So, eh, get out of my head. He keeps talking about it. So, I'm like, well. I know. I get Avengers and I keep talking about Turtles. Yeah, I'm like, maybe I'll give this a chance. I'll give it a chance. drive to his house we're going to do some filming our buddy Joe Fox is in town hanging out with Joe and stuff I drive my truck I have a radiator leak I'm just filling that son of a bitch up what's a radiator leak we're talking about radiators no I had a radiator leak because I wanted to buy turtles so I was like I got a radiator leak I haven't got it fixed but I wanted turtles so I'm going to risk being broke down on the side of the road and just fill this son of a bitch up at Zach's house get here I flip his LE I said Zach I can't buy it yeah this game sucks yeah you weren't you still weren't into it I literally can't buy it, dude. What did I tell you? I'm like, no, I'm telling you. I'm telling you, you've got to own this game. Drove home, pumping radiator fluid into my... You even brought cash, too. Brought cash. I was ready for it. Yeah. I was ready for it. Bye, bye, bye. Bye, bye, bye. Bye, bye, bye. And so I go home, didn't buy it. Sitting there, he keeps touting it and everything else, and I'm just like, no, I can't buy it, dude. It's a shit game. So then, lo and behold, I walk into my basement, and Zach and my wife coordinated together to surprise me with an early Christmas present of Turtles. Merry Christmas! So now I'm stuck with a shit game that I can't stand. You're like, thanks, this is awesome, but why isn't it Avengers? Turtles. Why isn't it Guns N' Roses? Are these not selling? What's wrong? Why do I have this? And tell them why, though. Tell them why. Because I knew you would like the damn thing. I knew this is your type of game. I know you so well. I know. And I normally trust in Zach. He's never steered me wrong. So that's why I was like, okay, I'm going to be excited about this. It's a gift. It's a very generous gift. My friend worked hard to help surprise me along with the wife and everything. So I'm like, okay, whatever. So I'll put some time on it. I'll put 100 games and I'll sell it. Yeah. Maybe. No, couldn't do that. I'd get in trouble. So I start playing it. And, okay, I'm like, okay, now I know how to start a mode. This is good. I'm starting to study. Lighting is phenomenal. I gave you a couple goals. I said, try to do this. Try to get there. Yeah, lighting, yes. And lighting is phenomenal. So about, I would say, 20 games in, 15 games, 20 games in, I'm like, you know what? This is kind of good. I kind of like this. Code starts clicking. Code starts clicking, exactly. And the brutality, I mean, it was super brutal at first. That's why I knew you'd like it. I was getting the outling drains. It was just so brutally fast. I was just like, man, I like this. It gives me a little bit of a challenge, but it's kind of frustrating. Well, then the more that I started to learn the shots, the more I started to learn how you needed to control the ball on this. It's like any game. I loved it. I started to love it. Because here's a little tip for you. Dead bounces. Dead bounces are the key to this game. And people will complain about the long stand-up targets. To me, that is the key. Those are good. That's the key to ball control because the slings are so brutal and so fast. Those make sense They do because it'll come off the sling now You'll still get a straight to the outlanes sometimes all those slings, but that's that's any pin But if you let it come off the sling hit that stand up target come back and dead bounce off that flipper You're back in the control. It feels like it's part of the bottom third control. It's like here. Here's your here's your Here's your dashboard, right? You got your slings that are gonna cause chaos. You got your stand up targets, but this is your control layers down here. Yes, 100%. And those targets add to the control. They do. They get those slings back under control, and I think that that's what a lot of people miss, and that was the key to me to being able to tear this game up. These people may think, a lot of the pinheads here that are watching this, Greg, are going to think, no, I'd still like individual ones. I'm telling you guys, no. On this situation, you don't have time to do that. You don't want to shoot for one remaining stand-up target. And like I said, these... You've got enough stuff to shoot. And then what are you going to do? You're going to have a rubber or something behind there That's gonna cause your ball to get out of control more. There's so much chaos already Like I said to me and I don't know if Borg did it Strategically or what but to me those stand-up targets are there they're like bumper pads there. They are airbags That's a perfect one about that up and it helps but you're also gaining and what about the spinning disc? It causes some chaos You got a spinning disc with the magnet. It's always changing kind of the trajectory just a hair on an already brutal game. Are you okay with a spinning disc? I'm okay. There are some times... We'll talk about that in Toys, but... Yeah, there are some times it screws me, but it's probably one of the best spinning discs I've seen. It's pretty good. Honestly. Just because it does create... It creates a good... But not too much. But not too much. Not too much. But it's also not always straight down the middle. It's not always doing some weird straight down the middle. I will get those, but it's not nearly... Yeah, see, I'm going to B+, because I think the layer is a hair faulty I just think I think it way faulty I think a little more could have went into that I tell you what the uh the mode start shot that center stop shot I have a lot of trouble with that it man it a rattler well and I like ah god I just gotta always defend this like I thought so too that was one of my main complaints of why I didn't want it I'm like I can never get that shot the left flipper it's only right oh no you can't you're a liar you're a lying son of a bitch you played on my you're a lying son of a bitch so listen this is another one of those things there is a post there's a stand-up post next to what target is that yeah the uh yeah i know there's a post and you can hit it and i hit it quite often that's like the multiplier yeah you can hit it off of that post and it will do a direct ricochet telling you telling you i promise you think part of the design is hitting a fucking post greg i don't give a shit if it's a design or not it can be done it's you can get it off that left i hit plenty off that if i'm hitting it off now it's gotta be on a roll it's a roll hitting it off a stand up i'll call it part of a design but if you're telling me i gotta hit it off of a cylinder i'm just saying it's it's feasible i'm not saying that that's the design i'm saying it's feasible from left now right flipper it's it's a little lower i get good clean shots i can hit each ramp easier and i can hit that it's like i'm like you son of a mine's super clean i love it every time i'm like but it goes in but that's the thing too so look sometimes i think that's a bitch is gonna come over here it's gonna come back at me but it don't like it's it's such a low pitch and it wraps around there and locks those balls so easy is it all there's a lot of times i think i'm gonna get a rejection i don't have enough oomph on it or like you said i had too much rattle but it catches it it catches it it's a b plus for me i don't think it's borg's best layup that's not the best i think it's one of his best other than that layer shot i should have knocked it down probably you're in a you're more for that layer i probably should have went lower because of the layer let's talk about dwight sullivan rules and codes. Sorry, sorry. Rules and code. It's good rules. Deceivingly good. Deceivingly good. Deceivingly good. We know that Dwight always codes moments. And I do respect out of the, uh, out of the starting gate, this was at 1.0 code and it's only improved since then. Uh, it's, it has eight independent modes, right? You've got, uh, some wizard modes in there. I love that you have this big old cowabunga that you've got to get everything. Plus you've got to get all of these other jackpots and love the combo stuff. I love all the tasks. Everybody knows I'm a task guy. Then you've got these little side missions. You've got April hurry up. You've got the training. You have the one, two, three foot. One, two, three foot. You have skill shot. The skill shot, I'm going to give Dwight a lot of credit. He was really pushing this early on. I was like, Dwight, shut up on these podcasts about the skill shot. Who gives a shit about the skill shot? No, he was right. You pay attention to these skill shots. it's almost like it's not really a skill shot. It's almost like a little side mission. It's an extended skill shot. But once you get it, you can keep building up ball to ball. Then you collect the weapon. There's so many different damn things to do on this game for coach. But I think that if you focus on any of those side missions I don't think it's side missions. Don't hate on my side missions. I don't think it's side missions like Walking Dead. The way that you would do building stuff in that game. It's like, okay, I'm going to shoot for this today. I know that you try that. but I think you're crazy. Because I'm addicted to them. Because it's flashing. It's like, fucking give me, And they are. It is. It is. You want this. It does draw you, but I think that's kind of that risk reward. It's like to lure your ADD ass off to go do something else and it screws you in the modes themselves. But if you can stack any of that stuff, that's where some of your points come from is where you're stacked. You don't want to start a multiball when you're not in a mode. No, no. You really don't. That's two main multiballs in this. You've got your turtle power multiball or whatever. I love the code on this. I just love the code on this. There is one thing that I wish was a little more. The modes are a little deceiving, too, because I thought they were a little bland at first. But they're really not. They're very differentiated. When you get into mousers and everything, basically everything is lit. You've got to get a lot of shots, but April Target, Laird Target, a lot of those. Some of them will blink out and fade out, and new ones will get added and stuff. So that's a little different. But when you get into slash, like slash is pretty cool because you think you complete it. You think you complete slash. And I swear I could be wrong on this, but I think that if you don't hit the shots right, you don't go into the alternate dimension. I don't think you always go into the alternate dimension. I swear to one time. Because that's that moment, man. Yeah. When Dwight stops you and he says, hey, you think you're done here. You hit that last lit shot and then boom, boom, everything turns red. Yes. Oh, man, the coating and the lighting on this is phenomenal. But that's what I want more of is like that because it's really the only mode that does something like that There's some crane modes that are pretty good in there They're good But I'm saying like moment like that one really hands out and you got shredder we hit the shot and you gotta hit the the layer Target and then shred like it's a nice training how if you don't hit the right shots It all turns red the whole play field turn to hit the right ones all the screen. That's coding Yeah, and it's brilliant. It's an a for me. Yeah Dwight. This is this is great It is good is really really good stuff and it's smart Can we talk about this game Greg and code and why it's an a without talking about the co-op modes? I mean come on the co-op mode. I played golf yet. Neither have I and that shows this isn't a without it Yeah But when you can get two people on a team versus two people or three versus one or all four versus the entire game I keep forgetting about every single time a new stern pinball machine comes out there like but where's the co-op mode Is the co-op coming? Keith Owen is going to pull his GD hair out if he has to hear, hey, is Avengers going to have co-op mode? Everybody wants this co-op mode. Avengers would be cool for co-op mode. I'm just saying, this game brought it to Stern. We've seen co-op stuff with TNA and everything like that, but this game brought it to Stern. There's a lot of smart nuances in this. There's just a different variety of code here that I appreciate more than, I've got to stack this with this and place this over here, but then I've got to realize that this is a 2.58. And Dwight didn't do crazy multipliers. He didn't get into a bunch of weird stuff. No, it's all about stacking. It's all about doing well and getting. Now, your jackpots are worth a lot instead. It's obviously about doing good in your multi-balls. And if it is a little imbalanced there, whatever. Again, I'm the type of player that's trying to experience a game at home. That's my thing. I'm not competing with anybody usually. And here's one last thing that goes into that so we're not hyping on it too long. But I made it to the wizard mode. Well, but did you? I didn't make it to the wizard mode. The final battle is ready. It was lit, yes. Don't F this up. That's the second time I've done it because I got down to Baxter. Baxter was my last one. But I'll tell you what, even if I would have went into that wizard mode, there's so many times I think that us as pinball players, we get to a wizard mode and we're done with the game. We feel like we achieved and we saw everything. this to me has the feel that Deadpool does for me of where I'm angry at it I'm not angry at Deadpool get angry at this but I keep I want to play it again even playing a 20 minute game good song getting to the wizard mode 25 minute game I kind of want to play another one for me it's like shadow yeah like I get that final battle I just want to keep getting here because it was so difficult to do and the modes were so fun and it was a fun journey to get there I kind of want to relive that journey again it's like rewatching a good movie or good TV show. I've already been on the journey, but it's so nice. Now maybe the side missions. I still want to run through the modes again. It's so much fun. I like them. What about the toys and innovation in this game? You were a little lower on this. Now the toys that are there, I think it's got a lot of a lot of mechanisms, a lot of toys for a stern game. It's got your spinning pizza with a magnet on it. We've got a crane that hops up and down and hogs you miss we've got the um turtle van that holds balls and spits them out yeah we've got a lot of toys in this thing you got a diverter that you can you can change you change the diverter i'm in a minus because i think it is a one hell of a loaded stern when people walk up to my stern lineup they're like damn this is a loaded one but i hate basing it on a stern we are rating a pinball machine. We're not rating a stern pinball. So I come in at a B because those are all cool, but a diverter's a diverter. We've seen spinning discs with a magnet. And balls fall out of a fucking van. Nothing stands out. Nothing really stands out. And basically a crane on a pop bumper. It's cool stuff. I love the crane. It's cool stuff. You're jealous because your pro ain't got that crane. I'm not mad at any of it because it doesn't take toys to make me happy on a pin. I don't need toys doing that. But if I'm rating it as a toys and innovation, especially innovation, there's just not a lot there really. You don't like that diverter? That you can press and it... It's okay. I don't press it much. How much do you really use it? Sorry, I don't. Maybe if you're in a tournament and you need to get it back to a flipper or you need to do something. I guess it comes in handy at any point. It's cool looking. it doesn't do anything i i don't mess with the collider i'm with you on that and i don't mess with the fighter um and the ball's coming out of the van it's cool cool look it's cool cool look for me the toy in this is crank and it's probably the simplest one and i just love it just love it he lights up and he bounces up and down man i like it so i'm going to name minus you or at a b you said i've had better mm-hmm music and call outs that's where mark so comes in and they had what What I liked is, was it Mike Kisve? I'm trying to think. There was two Stern guys that did some of this voiceover, too. They did Krang, and they did Shredder, I believe. Oh, congratulations. They were like coders or something. Nice. Or animation guys or something. The wait is over. A revolution in LED lighting for your pinball is finally here. Fully customizable, full-spectrum lighting from PinStadium Lights. Order yours now at PennStadium.com. 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I wish I remember what he said at the end of the game, because that shit is just funny. Because it's all in one phrase, too. Put something else in there. But it touts me, and I'm just like, ah. I like all the Mark Stilson. Like, choose your turtle. Oh, so smooth. Leonardo. Donatello the whirling pizza and Baxter using call outs and they tried to reproduce the original song teenage yeah I think they did terrific that people knocked it but I thought I thought it was really good hell of an attempt to go at it yes believe it or not we're both a minuses yeah it's not bad stuff it's solid it is it is a solid just don't know what I would have done differently I keep thinking about, there's parts I'm kind of like, I'm not wild about it. I wish it had something to differentiate. I like that there's parts that are corny that I love, like the fire. But I think that's what's fun about it. I almost want more. I kind of wanted it cornied up a little bit more. That one sticks. But if I compare this to the generic feel of Avengers call-outs, night and day. Night and day. This one feels like it's got some soul to it. I like these call-outs. Sorry your game ended soon. What the hell is he saying? Something like that. A-. I think it's fantastic. What about display and animation? You like this one. You're an A-. A-. It's good stuff. All hand done. All 3D rendering, hand done. It was a lot of work. I can tell it was a lot of work. You know what? I like a game. I didn't think this game was this way at first, but I catch myself wanting to watch the scenes. I don't skip. Unless I'm literally just into it, trying to play. I'll sit there and I won't skip through a moment. like I want to watch the little scene. It's a fun little scene going on. And it sets the tone very well for what you're doing and makes you feel a little bit more relevant and into the game. And the regular interface is easily readable. If you just scan up and you've got to look at all the things that you're advancing. That looks good. You're in the lair a lot. You're in the living room area. Yeah, the sewer. All of that. So you're an A-. Any guesses as to where I'm at? I was going to say an A. You think an A? Mm-hmm. All 3D renderings. They did this all themselves. Maybe A+. You're getting too excited. A C. No, you're not. Are you fucking kidding me? You really did. I'm sorry, because the animators there, I consider friends, but I think they dropped the ball. I do not like this animation at all. Really? Because I would have done that on Avengers. I think it falls on its face. I do not like the animations. It looks dated, not in a good way. Really? I think it really brings out the limitations that you have with the lack of 3D rendering animation expertise, lack of time that they have to put into this. They're trying to create an entire cartoon, a 3D rendered entire cartoon. It just doesn't work. These turtles feel like they're rubber. They fake their I see behind their eye sockets Oh so you pay more attention than more attention than me work at all it doesn work and i think honestly man i gonna get some for this i being nice at a sea i'm really being nice it's just whenever i've seen somebody uh do the code where they had the 1987 code yeah and it's all and it's like a bad clarity from those cartoons yeah taking the place of yeah fixes the game and this is just bad 2d animation i've heard that too but see i i kind of didn't mind the stagnantness of it like i i again i'm uh houdini yeah like i'm from the turtles i don't know like i got character i felt like i'm a chucky cheese robo turtles yes i don't know i kind of like the direction they went with i need to pay more attention now like that please don't that makes me feel like i failed uh failed our reviewers no and And a lot of people like it. A lot of people are like, Zach, you're crazy. They did a 3D animation for a pinball machine? Like, this is great. This is what Stern needs to do. I'm saying my preference is, Stern, stop doing this. Stop trying to render anything three-dimensionally. Give me some 2D animation, and I'll be happy. I don't mind 2D animation. Like, I'm not mad at that. But now I'm going to have to pay closer attention. Try to take a 3D animated turtle and compare it to a zombie Yeti 2D illustration? Oh, yeah. It's laughable. But I need to go back in. Because I don't mind. I like the little snips. It's what holds me up on this damn game. It's that damn animation. Damn, I kind of like the way they set it up and did it. It almost reminded me, I guess, and maybe my brain's a little foggy, but it kind of reminded me of the way Alice Cooper would do the comic book insert things. I don't know. It felt like the way it's folded in. It was just meant to be that way, but maybe it was just bad work. Alice Cooper doesn't have as much work in it, but the work that they put into Alice Cooper is three times better than any of this. Man. It sucks, man. God. I need to get home now and turn it on and see. Theme. I'm sticking by my theme. Oh, theme. What did I get? B plus. I love turtles. Oh, clearly. I do. But it's something like, nostalgia-wise, I hold on to a lot of that stuff. I'm a very nostalgic person. That's why I'm surprised you're at a B plus. But that's one of those things I thought that I would encompass it more, but I guess over the years I've just kind of fallen out of love with turtles. I won't say I've matured because I like a lot of dumb kitty shit, but I don't know, man. Something like, because I was a huge Turtles fan. Well, for me, it's, I like the old Turtles. Turtles has went through so much of a transition between the films, between the new Nickelodeon. Yeah. I've lost touch with it a little bit. So I'm with you there. Yeah. I'm with you. And that, yeah. Like the new Turtles? No, I don't like any of it. No. I hate Turtles. And maybe that's what kind of killed it for me. Fat heads and, no. I remember riding in the backseat of my grandma's car when Turtles came out. And do you remember how, like, do you remember how, like, stuff you'd always catch? I mean still happens today, but it was really bad back then they were like our teenage mutant Ninja Turtles too violent Oh, yeah at 6 p.m. Our Ninja Turtles gonna be pulled from theaters. It was like Now kids are like damn up hookers on Grand Theft Auto. Yeah, this is a great game at 6 we review Grand Theft Auto 12 remember the toys. Yeah Let me tell you about Chelsea I wish Chelsea was here so she could poke her head in when me and Chelsea first got together I had a roommate sorry these stories. I like side stories for the room man I had a roommate and Chelsea like Chelsea was over does a human. Yeah, I was a human Okay, and so like I thought like my roommate like to party all the time and I'm a very I'm so surprised Greg I'm a very staunch asshole and I was like dude like stop letting your friends over here like something's gonna happen Yeah, so he had a buddy from like kindergarten who he knew forever Like come over and stuff and they got drunk and your roommate wasn't in kindergarten, right? No, okay No, and I woke up next morning and it was an Xbox 360 came out my Xbox 360 was gone and somebody went through my closet And stole my fucking box of Ninja Turtle toys from my childhood. I would rather have the Xbox Yes, I lost my fucking mind about my fucking Ninja Turtle toys. Wow Chelsea's the best one. She's like you cry over your fucking new turtle Bitch yeah Toys fucking pussy and I found part because he took he took my roommates car There was some Ninja Turtle toys laying in the backseat that fell out! But I recovered... You saw like a Sai and a Bowie like, no! Yeah! I was like, where did you go, Donatello? Where's the nunchucks? Oh man, I had all, I had the fucking like, ooze slinger and everything. So I recovered most of it. The police got most of it back. You followed the report! Hell yes! I'm into my fucking Ninja Turtle toys, man! That's awesome! That's what I'm saying about this game, like... I took my Ninja Turtle toys... And 20, like 24 years ago, I was like, I'm gonna get a new one. I'm gonna get a new one. I'm gonna get a new one. I'm gonna get a new one. I'm gonna get a new one. And 20, like 24 years old. They were like, do fucking life. Sir, we got a, we got a, somebody who just got beat and shot over here. Like, we're really not concerned about your turtles. I've been friends with you for a long time, and I've talked to you about the most sensitive things. I've never heard that story. Yeah, it's fucking great. Remember the, I collected the series of turtles. I don't know if Kenner made them or who made them. But you would like, each of them did a special thing. my Raphael, you'd put a bottle cap on his head and stick his head down and you'd squeeze a leg and he'd pop up. And then Michelangelo would do something with his spinning nunchucks. Yes! That's the thing. What other toy line has gone through so many things? You had Raphael in a space suit. No, you had Raphael the spy turtle. You did have all those. People still collect those. That's a big collector. And they do every year a new series and new variations of Turtles. Yeah. All right. Let's theme. I'm an A because I'm smart and I get it right. You're a B plus because you're wrong. And you still have a trauma associated with Turtles. I'm going to send you a picture of my cabinet. I actually got my Ninja Turtles set up in a cabinet in my closet, in my Jurassic Park room. My Ninja Turtles are in a closet in a little cupboard. That's awesome. It's so bad. All right. Let's close it out with our last category, Greg. Enjoyability. How well do you enjoy this game? Is it going to stick around? Do you just keep on pressing it more and more starting a game? We're both at the same thing. I'm an A-. We're an A-. Yeah. That's a high score. It is a high score. We're telling these people that this is a highly enjoyable game. Yes. They might think they don't believe us. Yes. They might think we're wrong. Yes. Are we wrong? No. We are not wrong. Never wrong. This is a damn fun game. But it's a game that's not for everybody. No, it's not. You take in some of our favorite games again. We're at Ghostbusters. We like the hard ones. We do. We like Walking Dead. Walking Dead. We like the tough ones. You throw in Star Wars. Stranger Things is a tough shooter. We love it. I like a challenge. I don't want an entire lineup of challenges like this. But again, it's finding a rhythm of a pin. And I think that's one of the things that makes a pin like this enjoyable for me. It's not just your common cradle, I do this. It's finding how to beat that pinball machine. Not the code. I'm talking about how to beat it from a flipper skill set. Like I said, about letting it dead bounce come off the target. It's like finding what works for that pin. I like it. I'm just looking at the right orbit with that spinner. I love that sound and that hit. It's so good. It's hard to hit that right orbit. What's your favorite shot on this game? Favorite shot. Oh, I don't know if I have a favorite shot. Honestly, probably just the ramps. Really? Yeah, I like the ramps. Mine's probably, I think mine's probably a combo. I like that left orbit, and I've said it to you on the phone. left orbit and it's coming back and it doesn't take much just a nice follow through uh right flipper hit and goes up that left ramp that's hard because it's so quick and i do like the feed out of the the back of the van that sets up that third flipper to that side flipper shot i really like it's not bad i do like it it's a fun game it is fun it's got a lot of enjoy but now i don't know how long how long will it stay i don't know but uh right now like i said it's fun like even running through it it's fun to come back and and go through the entire story i'll tell you this right now I've got a lineup of so here's my current stern lineup I've got a Jurassic Park premium an Avengers le stranger things le Elvira le turtles le and a Star Wars comic premium this would be one of my last turns of the leaf yeah it'd be one of my last pins to leave yep I would get rid of right now yeah I get rid of Avengers before this Oh easily very right now very much so this is crazy Greg I think I would get rid of Elvira before this I can see that cuz Stranger Things is too good. Stranger Things is just my jam. Right now, I would get rid of Jurassic Park before I would Turtles. You've played a lot of Jurassic Park. Yeah. And I think the code's a little flat. Honestly, this is a really good game. You've got to give it a chance. And like Greg said, it's not for everybody. If you are looking for a more wide-open shooter with the depth of that code, that's Elvira. Yeah. If you're looking for more of a combo and complexity and nuance of code, that's Jurassic Park. This is this is a shooter's game for those people who wanted at home that are just gonna jam on it And they're gonna get destroyed by it. Yes, they're gonna go to bed angry. Yes, but they're gonna wake up that next day I really want to play it again. Yep. I've been playing my agree. So cumulative cumulatively speaking Wow, it's another a game for Greg A minus. Greg, 3.74. No B for me. This actually ranks higher than some of your most coveted games. I know. I didn't want it to be there. We'll see what time does. We change value. I just don't see it changing. I'm going to B+. I don't. I think this is one damn solid-ass game. B+, 3.67, so I'm not far from you. It's a really high B+. I think that when I start exploring, this is why I'm hopeful. I'm not hopeful. This is why I'm optimistic. I don't want to say optimistic because I'm not out of luck. This is why I just don't think I'm going to get old. You're not optimistic at all? It's because I think that once I get a little tired of doing some of the mode stuff, and I'll start going on all those side missions, start going with those side missions, and it'll open it up even more for me. You'll see the score. If you can plate those and then start going through, whoo-hoo-hoo. That's what I'm saying. I think that there's going to be an ever-evolving thing. We didn't even talk about it. Like, the ingredients you get for the pizza, each ingredient kind of has its own little thing. I still don't understand those yet, fully. I know but I got to understand that's a lot there I heard there's some good exploitation to be able to really blow that down with that get the octopus Gotta get there. I gotta get the Lord of these people need to know between now and the next time Really need no nothing do they know just click like and follow us here on YouTube have fun on Facebook have fun or don't do it Yeah, right joyous. Don't be a turd out there If you've been a turd to us, stop being a turd. Yeah, just be happy. Don't be shitty. Watch Chuck Wirt on Straight Down the Middle. Yeah, or not. Straight Down the Middle. Straight Down the Middle. Watch Chuck Wirt's streams. Check out Kerry Hardy's videos on Straight Down the Middle here. Listen to me. I've got a podcast that you've appeared on called The Pinball Show. iTunes, your favorite podcast. You should check that out. You're going to be back on that. You're going to be more of a regular every month or two. I'd like to. Yeah. I enjoy it. So you can hear Greg over there. And for God's sakes, if people are like, you know what? Time to pull the trigger on Turtles. What should they do? Contact Flip N Out Pinball. Contact us. For all your Turtle and Turtle accessories. Yeah. And they're going to make this game for a while. We've got premiums right now. Pros are getting ready to go back online here in a month or so. So contact us. What about that topper? Quick topper. Topper is amazing. Zach removed the Ninja Turtle logo on there. game changer it's a little eyeball looks at you I had Chris over the other night and he was playing he was like did that eyeball just move yeah because he was like it was it was weird because I thought it was facing forward and he moved over there and it was like we love you guys thanks for the continued support Greg and I are not going anywhere we just now getting warmed up a little bit this channel may change a bit yeah so that we can really showcase all the love that we have not only for pinball we're doing a little print buffer for gaming and toys and anything fun straight down the middle a fun show fun show see you guys like That look great? Yeah. No. No cliffhangers? No. Bats in the belfry? Yeah. Alright, here we go. High energy. Here we go. Ain't nobody does it like us. No. Nobody does it like us. I think they do, but they don't. Try. I think it's cute. I always like it. Try, try, try. It's very flattering. Oh, okay. Ain't nobody got Chino, though. Ain't nobody making a man. For all those I've heard. I hope that... You can get my apology. I've tried to make amends. Really? Then get mine. I wonder who it was for. Who was he really amending to? We would be the one. If you're going to amend with anybody, maybe it's the person. When I know like 50 people that have been amending to him. How many people you piss off? I know, right? That's a question. I thought I'd be at the top of the list. No. Hey, nobody make amends with you I wouldn't go in that I was going Celine Dion There she puts on a concert those things I never do I get nothing they don't we sing right I might have that song It was longer than he lost it all Baby, baby If I kissed you like this And if you whisper like that It was lost long ago But it's all coming back to me