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TALKIN PINBALL BABY!!! 1/30/26....WHAT UPPPPPPPPPPPP

Walt Wood Pinball·video·1h 0m·analyzed·Jan 30, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Walt Wood critiques remakes, advocates for original designs, and discusses pinball action/storytelling.

Summary

Walt Wood discusses pinball game design philosophy, criticizing recent remakes (particularly The Walking Dead remaster) for poor color palette choices and lack of clear player action. He praises original designs like Data East Star Wars for having defined objectives and complementary audio design, expresses frustration with Stern's focus on remakes over new IP, and speculates about Jack Danger's unconventional dual-flipper playfield design concept. He also reflects on his tournament experiences and playing practice strategies.

Key Claims

  • The Walking Dead remaster has a poor color palette with unnecessary green that damages the original's art quality

    high confidence · Direct visual comparison between original and remaster; multiple detailed critiques of green coloring

  • Stern has been remaking Borg's games repeatedly and rumors suggest Kiss remake is coming

    medium confidence · Speaker mentions hearing 'rumblings' about Kiss remaster, notes Stern has been doing Borg remakes

  • Operators dislike games with dual flipper sets because they extend ball times and player session lengths

    medium confidence · Speaker states 'I've noticed this and I've heard this from people' regarding operator preferences

  • Data East Star Wars succeeds because players understand their clear action (shooting Death Star) complemented by music and callouts

    high confidence · Detailed analysis of game flow, music design, and player feedback loop

  • Modern pinball games have lost the concept of clear 'action' that defines what the player is trying to accomplish

    high confidence · Extended discussion contrasting modern games with Funhouse and Star Wars examples

  • Jack Danger posted an image of a playfield design concept with unconventional layout featuring dual flipper zones

    high confidence · Speaker describes examining Jack Danger's posted design, identifying specific mechanical elements

Notable Quotes

  • “Like I think of all the ideas that we won't have because you chose to just remake [shit] game after game after game and they all don't play as well as the original, dude.”

    Walt Wood @ ~18:30 — Core criticism of industry direction toward remakes instead of original IP

  • “I feel like it's a therapy session, bro. Like, I'm chilling with him [Lyman Sheets]. You know what I mean? Because she's a beautiful person. It's like I almost feel like I did I have known him.”

    Walt Wood @ ~31:00 — Emotional connection to original designers through gameplay; tribute to Lyman Sheets' legacy

  • “You want another Borg remake or you want some cool [shit] like this? Answer me. Answer me. No, I'm serious.”

    Walt Wood @ ~42:30 — Rhetorical challenge to industry: originals vs. remakes

  • “We lost the action. We don't know what our action is... What are we doing? What are we as players, me and you, what are we doing in the game?”

    Walt Wood @ ~48:00 — Core game design philosophy critique; fundamental principle of player agency

  • “That's why the old shitty data east game still feels good because I know where I'm at. I know what my action is. I know what my player supposed to do.”

    Walt Wood @ ~58:00 — Validation of simplicity in game design vs. complexity without purpose

Entities

Walt WoodpersonJack DangerpersonRaymond DavidsonpersonLyman SheetspersonBugpersonJohn BorgpersonBrian SchmidtpersonThe Walking Dead (Stern Remaster)gameThe Walking Dead (Original)game

Signals

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Walt articulates core principle: successful pinball games require clear player 'action' (defined objective) complemented by audio/visual feedback; modern games losing this element

    high · Detailed comparative analysis of Data East Star Wars (clear action: shoot Death Star) vs. modern games (no clear action); uses Funhouse as additional example

  • ?

    leak_detection: Jack Danger posted unconventional playfield design concept with dual flipper zones; purpose/game status unclear but speculated as potential future title

    high · Walt examines Jack Danger's posted image, describes specific design elements (right ramp, standup posts, playfield routing), identifies as distinctive Jack design aesthetic

  • $

    market_signal: Magnet technology upgrades on Stern games (Metallica, Walking Dead) criticized as overpowered; negatively impacts gameplay feel

    medium · Walt states magnets on Metallica and Walking Dead Premium 'got upgrade...literally throws the thing right at you...I'm not crazy about it at all'

  • ?

    community_signal: Walt advocates for collaborative, room-based creative process over siloed team structures; suggests this could accelerate new game development and creativity

    medium · Walt speculates about Stern's internal organization: 'Maybe you guys could get more games out if everybody just attacked it like a group project...instead of like separate teams'

  • ?

    product_concern: The Walking Dead remaster criticized for poor color palette choices, specifically excessive green that conflicts with original art design

Topics

Game design philosophy (player action, narrative clarity)primaryRemake vs. original IP strategy at SternprimaryThe Walking Dead remaster art direction criticismprimaryJack Danger's dual-flipper playfield conceptprimaryAudio/music design's role in player engagementsecondaryTournament play experiences and elite player recognitionsecondaryPractice strategies (replay challenge, earbuds use)secondaryOperator preferences (dual flipper impact on session length)secondary

Sentiment

negative(-0.65)— Walt is frustrated with industry trend toward remakes, disappointed with Walking Dead remaster aesthetics, and critical of modern game design lacking clear player action. However, he shows appreciation for original designers (Lyman Sheets), enthusiasm for Jack Danger's concept, and genuine affection for the pinball community. The frustration stems from creative stagnation he perceives at Stern rather than personal animosity.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

What is going on, ladies and gentlemen? All the ships at sea, how are you? Good to see you. Hope everybody's doing good. What is going on, man? The world of pinball. What is happening, man? Let's get back to it. What do you say? Yeah, they gotta give us some more things, man. Do you think you do you think we got we like hit a high watermark with Godzilla and then maybe that was like the best like maybe that was like the best of the best. We flew too close to the sun and now we're just like I don't know, man. It seems like we can't top it. Nobody could top it. Like Beetlejuice is good, but it's missing some things. There's some modes in Beetlejuice that are a little boring if I'm being honest. Like the one where uh and don't get me wrong, like I love all those guys over there, dude. Bug and [ __ ] uh who else I meet? I think it was his sister. Was her name Morgan maybe? I don't remember. I'm horrible with names. They were just so [ __ ] nice, man. It was great to meet If you guys ever pee this, I don't know, but like great to meet them. Good spirit, you know? And um but there's just some modes that are boring to me. Like the [ __ ] one where you got to like it's like shoot a sling, shoot a standup target, shoot a pop bumper, shoot a [ __ ] you, you know, shoot a deryd, you know? Like come on, man. Like what are we doing, dude? We can do better. I feel like we could do better, you know? Like, dude, you always hit me up, dude. Get like I got some ideas. You can have them. I don't even care anymore. Like, dude, I'm like I don't even like really do tournaments anymore, man. I'm kind of like retired. But pinball is in my veins, dude. I'll always play. That's the thing with me. I I miss like doing tournaments. I wanted to see how far I could go. And these guys, like in my mind, I was like, "Yo, these are the best in the world." like Ray Ray Raymond Davidson, Asher, you know, Slovichek, Dalton, Dalton Ellie, you know, Zach is coming up, Eric Stone, you got what? Luke Luke Nhorniac, he's amazing. [ __ ] uh I mean, dude, like I can't even list them all. You got OG's Bob Matthews, bro. I just wanted to like I knew these people cuz I watched it for years and like like my first tournament was in disk where I just like hit a bunch of loops in a row and I thought like yo that's probably just lucky. I got lucky on that one. So in my mind I was like cuz I I've been doing that [ __ ] on Doctor Who for like for a million years, you know? It just so happened that the stars aligned and I could do it that day. But it's like in my mind I'm like, how can I stack up against the best of the best? And that was like I wanted to go down that road and see for myself. Like let's get them in a room, you know? And I'm here to tell you, man, these [ __ ] kick dicks in, dude. It's really humbling, man. I I advise anybody that you think like you're running your local tournament, the best thing is just get out to local tournaments, guys. Get out there and just put yourself in the mix. Don't be like intimidated, man. Just get in there. Get have fun. Meet people. [ __ ] earbuds, dude. Get some earbuds. These are uh called Between Pro. They're amazing, man. I love them. I use My girlfriend got me these. They're a game changer, dude. Like, I'll be playing pinball sometimes. I look up. I don't even realize I got like a billion something, dude. I'm like, whoa. And then, you know what? Just as a side note, a quick um just a thing that's a good practice. I'm going to tell you right now, if you play if you're on your first ball, right, and you get a replay, put that game in, okay? I'm going to tell you this is great. It It's time consuming, but it's so good pra it's such good practice because you know how you play, right? You know how you play. So, you know all your tricks. you're not going to be surprised. So, you put the credit, but you can only do it on ball one because that way you still once you have and this is like ideally like on location like two. You got to be like play on location like not a game that's on free play because then it doesn't matter. So, you're on location. I'm setting the scene for you right now. You're on location. You're on your first ball and you get a replay, right? put that put that [ __ ] in and now you got two players and now you have a game against yourself and either way like let's say you put it in and drain. Oh no. So second player is up and now you at least have a decent milestone to go for. It's like and now you have you're getting two games for one. It's like there's so many pros to this. You're you you're going to and and give it all you got too. Like don't go half speed. Don't go like, "Oh, I'm bored of this." Whatever. Like, give it all you got. I'm telling you, this is like working out at the gym. This is like putting in your hours. Like, I'm telling you right now, I do that [ __ ] all the time with earbuds especially, and I don't even notice like hours will go by. There'll be times when I'm on the same game for like like like two three hours goes by and I realize, yo, I dropped I dropped a [ __ ] a dollar $2 and I was here all day. That's why a lot of places here in Colorado are starting to go like daily pass like here we'll give you a wristband for 10 bucks. [ __ ] that. I say [ __ ] that. I mean, if that's what you got to do, bro, like, and you're if that's what you got to do, man, you do it up. But I'm saying [ __ ] that. Cuz my my feeling is I was when I was a little kid, my parents would give me like a dollar or two to go in the like I they take me to the mall and then they give me like a dollar or two. Yo, stay in the arcade cuz and they go around and go shopping, you know? They have to go to stores and go shopping. I didn't want to do any of that [ __ ] And I always complain. So they give me like a fistful of quarters. And then but once you run out of money, dude, you're just standing there in the arcade like a dumbass. So you got to like that's why pinball to me that's why pinball was like attractive. Pinball was like the only game in the arcade where if I tried hard enough I could get a free game and I could play again. You know what I'm saying? I could play again. If I apply myself I could play again. And to me that was like [ __ ] It's it I I don't know if it's the only one but it's one of the only ones in games in the arcade in the 90s where if I apply myself I could get a free game. This is dope. So to me as a poor kid it was like yo this is great. So that's when you start realizing what a replay is. You start wondering what the replay is. You start going okay I'mma go for that. I'm going to set that's my goal. I got I'm going to kill myself trying to get that replay, you know, or whatever it is. But you just set that goal in your mind. And for me, the inspiration was because I was broke. I didn't have any money. So if I ran out of money, if I ran out of change at the mall, that was it. So I was really needed to get that replay, especially if it was my last 50 cents. I really need to get that replay. They're not going to be back for another hour. I don't want to stand here for an hour with nothing to do cuz I ran out of quarters, you know, that's how important the replay was. So, I I digress, you know, but like I guess my point is with that whole thing, there's a little side note, if you if you find yourself ball one replay, put that up and then challenge yourself. Maybe you know what you could play player one you could play or play player two in a different strat than player one. Although, I'm gonna tell you right now, if you start getting extra balls and [ __ ] it's hard to keep track, but it's a good thing you could do. Like, you could play player two as like, yo, all right, and player two, I'm gonna go for like, let's say you're playing Jurassic Park, right? Player one was doing T-Rex multiball all day, right? Okay. And then you got replay. Player two, let's try the Raptor Pen. I'm going to try Raptor Pen on my [ __ ] ball one. And let's see how that shakes out, you know? Because that's a that's a good strategy. You could do either one. Like, I like to start with T-Rex on Jurassic Park. And I'm going to tell you why. Cuz it's a it's a quick two ball multiball and it gives you a chance to check the game out. How's the game flip? It's you just hit the captive ball, the truck a few times. It lights T-Rex. It's it's operator setting. So some copies of Jurassic Park. You can hit that thing once and it's already all your you can tell when it's going because all your orange lights will start flashing on each shot. The way that works is um uh you hit all the other shots. The the d the uh what do you call it? T-Rex is the cash out. So that's going to start the multiball. All the other shots are going to build jackpot value. So the idea is you want to try and pick off all the other shots, build up your jackpot value, and then cash out on the T-Rex. But you got to be careful because if the like you look on the LCD when the when the LC I'll just use that. Look on the LCD and when um the score like goes counts down to zero the mode's over. So you got to be careful. It's like a risk and reward. It's a great little mode. Great code. That's why Ray put it in Star Trek. Is it? Or no Star Wars. I'm sorry. I got that new shitty ass star Trek in my head. The [ __ ] fire the senses. the senses. Oh my god, it's horrible. It's so bad. Okay, sorry. But yeah, uh so that's why Raya brought it to Star uh Wars. So that's the hyperspace middle hurry up shot essentially. That's the shot that would be on T-Rex. Ray A brought it over to the middle. So all the other shots will build jackpot and cash out in the middle. It's a great little mode, but on Jurassic Park, I like to take that right away because you get a chance to um just flip the game. flip two ball. It's a quick two ball multiball, so you can flip the game around. How does this one flip? How are the flippers, you know? Feels pretty good. Your your payoff really in Jurassic Park is rap. I think Raptor pen. Raptor pen's a really good one, man. That's a really good one. Like that's the one in the Raptor Pen. Bring it down. Um, you get your ramps and then you spell chaos and then it's going to give you six balls and then there's going to be a right ramp and I think it's the right ramp and the inner orbit the inner loop I mean is jackpots but it's it gives you a multiplier based on how many balls you have in play. It's going to give you like six balls. So, it's going to be really all this traffic. It's going to be really hard to shoot those two shots. One's through the side loop, the one up the right ramp. So, that's why they do that. Um, they create all this traffic. But, if you can manage to pick those shots off right away, dude, it's huge. And not to mention, if you can stack together the double scoring standup target on the right, the purple standup target. You'll notice if it's going right above your left flipper, it'll be flashing double double scoring and you'll see a purple light and that that'll tie all that in. Plan it to line. You get paid. Sometimes I've seen some that are three, four, 500 million. I'm sure these kids know how to jack it up all the way. That's the thing. these these [ __ ] read the rules. That's another thing going back to my initial what I first started talking about. I know I ramble, but that's cool because I just want to talk about pinball. It's been a while, guys. And uh you know, that's what we're here to do, right? Talk about pinball. The world gets crazy, but hey, we're hanging in there, right? We're gonna we're gonna hang in there. We're going to make it. But um yeah, so like that's what I was saying in the beginning. I already distracted myself. What the [ __ ] was I talking [ __ ] was I talking about? Uh, but I don't know, man. I just been trying to Sorry. My my girlfriend's brother is freaking out. They gave him like this new medication, man. And he's like he just screams all night. Like he's just in a room like So I like I'm I'll be talking to you guys and then like I hear and it's like I forget what I was talking about. So I'm sorry. Like that's another reason why I haven't made so much content as well, man. It's just been hard where I live lately to It's just loud here. It's been kind of chaotic. There's a lot of people that live here and uh I don't know. It's hard to make content. It's hard to talk about things without and all this [ __ ] So, I'm sorry, man. I'm trying to keep I'm trying to keep at it, man. My life's just been kind of crazy lately. Um, but yeah, man. Let's uh let's just [ __ ] all that and let's jump on that. Let's see if there's any news, right? We'll take that opportunity to take a detour and we'll start. We'll go on and see. I I haven't really heard of anything new. I'm trying to think before I even look. I'm trying to think if I've heard rumblings or I I think I've heard of a Kiss. There might be a Kiss remaster because they're going down that road, man. They're just they're just doing it. They're doing it, man. They're just remaking all all these games, dude. It just bums me out. Like I think of all the ideas that we won't have because you chose to just remake [ __ ] game after game after game and they all don't play as well as the original, dude. It's just the [ __ ] art on The Walking Dead is ugly as [ __ ] I mean I mean look at I'll bring it up. You can look at it. Look at it. [ __ ] look at it. There's like green [ __ ] where there shouldn't be green [ __ ] It's like why? What are we doing, you know? I don't know. The Walking Dead remastered pinball uh, playfield. You guys will see what I'm talking about. It's like green. It's [ __ ] It's just has a weird like color palette, dude. Doesn't look good. Um, see, this is the OG. This one's amazing. That one's incredible. Like, why wouldn't you just run with that, dude? This is amazing, bro. What are we doing? Let's just take a moment to appreciate that. Yeah, I know it's hard to see it from my TV, from your TV or whatever. Cheers again. Thanks for tuning in. I get fired up sometimes, gang. Thanks for hanging in with me. Every time I go I log back into my channel, I notice like I lose subscribers every time I talk about some real [ __ ] It's just funny. But some a lot of you are still hanging with me and I want to say thank you because you guys are real ones, man. You know, I get fired up because I love the country and I love I love what I believe in, man. I believe in I believe in God. I believe in all these things. I believe in coexisting. Like, if you're Jewish, if you're Catholic, if you're Christian, if you're Mormon, I've met some Muslim people that were amazing in my life, dude. They weren't radical. They were they were they were chilling, dude. They told me about the Quran. They talked to me about [ __ ] like that. They didn't want to blow my head off, you know. But that's not everybody, unfortunately. You know, and you don't have roving bands of Jews trying to kill all of us. That's not happening, dude. So, it is it's coming from one direction. That's all I'm saying. All we want to do is coexist. That's it, man. But my point is, you know, I get fired up, man. I'm not going to go down that road on this video. I just want to say thank you to all those who hang in with me, man. And I like to talk about real things because I'm a real one, man. It's just the way I roll. Now, let's get into it. Can you see it? Look at it. Look how beautiful this art is. Look at it. I just want to take a second to admire it, man. Cuz it's [ __ ] beautiful, you know? It really is. It's a It's a It's a [ __ ] crying shame what they did, you know? Like, dude, if you're going to remake it, that's fine, but run with the same color palette, you know? Like, I I was under the understanding that the only thing they were going to change was like the video to make a bigger video and better code to let Is Ray on this one to let Ray go in because Ray is smart. he can go in and make things like tighter and better and [ __ ] like that. Like um like for example like when you drop the targets it's not obvious to the player that that adds time in the mode, right? So Rey can code some [ __ ] to make it like I haven't I haven't even really played the new Walking Dead cuz it shits on I feel like it's taking a [ __ ] on this one, dude. Like I love this game, bro. I love it. And like not a not a diss on Ray, but like I love Ray, man. I've met him. I played with him for years. I love the kid, you know? Well, he's more like my age, but you know, he's a little younger. But like when I play this old one, I feel a connection with Lyman, you know, cuz he was the only one on code. And it's like I never met him and I met Penny, so I feel his spirit through Penny. You know what I mean? Because she's a beautiful person. It's like I almost feel like I did I have known him, you know. So, I play this game. I feel like it's a I'm hanging out with Lyman, you know, like I'm having a like, dude, he's one of the guys I always wanted to meet, you know? But unfortunately, like I was kind of [ __ ] up on drugs 10 years ago, so I never had a chance. But, so I feel like it's like a like a therapy session, bro. Like, I'm chilling with him, you know? But now, like, I don't know. I know there's like all this updated code and but I just I don't know. I I love the art art package on this, you know. And then um so where's the new one? I guess I could just go to Stern, right? Stern.com or whatever. Um Stern Pinball. Is this There it is. The Walking Dead. So, I thought I thought I heard a rumor they were going to do Kiss, but it makes sense because they've been doing all of Borg's other games, you know. Um, God, dude, is this all the pictures we get? What the [ __ ] Where's the playfield picture? Come on, [ __ ] [ __ ] Oh my god. Why? I'm just trying to get a picture of the playfield, man. It's like they don't want to put it out. Like they're jamming it in the back or something. Come on. Like I'm looking for a whole playfield shot. They usually have it, bro. It's like right there. I don't I'm not getting a picture. I don't have a picture. Why is this so hard to find a picture of this, dude? The the new one. All right, I guess I'm going to have to watch the video and pause it at a certain point, bro. Like, they usually have a nice high def picture of this [ __ ] don't they? Or am I just [ __ ] going nuts? I could have sworn they did. All right, let's go here. Right. And then I'll load this up. And then I'll find a P. I'll find a spot. Pause. This quality is horrible though. Are we going to kill some walkers or what? We want our kind of see. Yeah, man. Like the colors all over the place. You can kind of see it here. There's like blue and orange and then there's green under the [ __ ] ramp. Purple. You got these [ __ ] heads staring at me. So look, I have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven dumb heads staring at my head. At my head. Quit looking at me. Let me [ __ ] do my thing, dude. Like, why are these seven heads staring at me? What am I, Joe Peshy? Eight heads in a [ __ ] bag. What is this? Come on, man. Is this eight heads in a duffel bag or is this [ __ ] pinball? What is it? One, two. You could count. It is eight heads. Look. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I'm counting this guy on the spinner. Eight heads in a bag. Eight heads in a bag. Joe Peshy called. Yo, you know what? I just don't like the colors of the playfield. That's That's all I'm saying. That's all. Like, I don't like the greens. I'm so used to the other one, you know? Like I'm so used to the old one that I just It's so hard to get used to. I don't like change. I'd rather you just make a new game with this playfield and maybe I'll warm up to it. But now you've you you want me to like memory hole the last one and get on board with this? [ __ ] you. I'm not doing it. Cuz I remember a time when the other one reigned supreme, man. Not this [ __ ] [ __ ] this. There it is. Look at the green, bro. Ah, why is it all green? Seem like you're holding it off. Woodberry fish dance for kids. I that's the one part about the premium I don't like is that [ __ ] crossbow. I feel like it just cuts into the flow of the game, you know? Jackpot, dude. That magnet is a dick. It's so strong. This one and Metallica, bro. The magnets got like upgrade upgrade. Magnets got upgrade. They got upgrade, man. I'm telling you, it's it literally like throws the [ __ ] thing right at you. Yeah. Not crazy about it. Not crazy about it at all. I just don't I'm not a big fan of the color. And where's the pictures at, bro? Stern's [ __ ] up. They usually put like nice pictures up there and [ __ ] What the [ __ ] dude? Why do I have to like take a shitty screenshot of a [ __ ] You know, what the [ __ ] dude? Help me out. Help me build you guys up, dude. Give me a nice photo and I'll sing your praises. You give me dog [ __ ] What am I supposed to do? You know, help me help you. Okay. All right. Now, here's Nap. This is Nap Arcade. Let's read the news. I don't know what's going on. Let's Let's see what's going on here. Where's the news at? Let's see. Uh, featured blog posts. Here we go. Let me start from like this. I remember this this. So, people Jack Danger put up this thing right here. And people were like wondering if it's like his next game. It might It's speculated like maybe it's his next game, you know? Um here it is. Let me open this up in a new Yeah, it's pretty [ __ ] cool looking. You could tell I could tell it's it's Jack. So ball goes out this way up here over there. But the only thing with this ball path is the only time it goes up there is at the plunge. That's the only thing. And but the look at this. It goes over here, over around there. Like that's the Jack Danger special, bro. But he put that up, man. It's got some cool It's really interesting to look at. But people are wondering what he's going to do with that, if he's going to do anything with that. Um, it's got a right ramp leading over there, bending back and coming over. It looks like it has a little playfield under there, but the only elements I could see are three standup posts on the they're like three posts and a r a rubber going around them on the left. That's all I could see. Um, I don't know. Oh, I like it. I think it's cool. Cool little design. I don't think he's going to do anything crazy with that cuz I don't know, man. The generally like operators don't like games I've I've noticed this and I've heard this from people. They don't like games with like two sets of flippers cuz it leads to longer ball times. like people people play longer when you can control the the uh game cuz you can pretty much like play you pretty much have like two balls in one. Like when you lose the ball up there, you still have a chance to fight it down there and get it back to the top, you know? So you could be if you're a skilled player, man, you could be over there for like 10, 15, 20 minutes, one ball, two balls, you know? So, but I like the design. It's really original. It's unique. I could tell it's it's Jack, man. I can tell it's not This is what we need, though. We need this. This is what I'm saying. You want another Borg remake or you want some cool [ __ ] like this? Answer me. Answer me. No, I'm serious. Would you rather have live in a world where they're going to make another they're probably going to make a kiss? I'm going to give you a crossroads right now in your life. Whatever life you lead, I God bless you. I hope everything's going well. This is the crossroads of of your life. You take one road and they're going to make a kiss. They're going to remake a kiss. You already know what they're going to get. You could go the other way. and run with this. And who knows what could happen. Maybe it could be right up there with Godzilla. Like you get in a room one day, you start running, ideas start flowing. Oh, dude. And then we can make we could put a ball lock over there and then it could Who knows? I don't know. You know, that's one thing I I learned about songwriting. Like I could come into a session with a simple riff and a drummer and go, "Yo, this is what I got." And then before you know it, I got a lead. I got a harmony. I got a vocal melody. You never know cuz we're feeding off each other. Oh, and then somebody else comes in the room and now it's, you know, that's what I'm saying. But this is where you start. This is where you start. This is where you started. Not remakes, [ __ ] like this, man. This is where you start. I think Stern should have worked this out, bro. Work this out with Jack. Get more designers on it, dude. [ __ ] Why are Why is everybody squirreled away in their own little [ __ ] teams? [ __ ] that. Maybe you guys could get more games out if everybody just attacked it like a group project. Yo, we're going to go work on this and then we're all going to go work on that and whatever. instead of like, "All right, this team is going to code that and this team is going to code that or whatever the [ __ ] you guys are doing." I don't know. I'm just speculating. I don't [ __ ] know what goes on in the Doors of Stern. I've never been invited. I won't go. Like, I probably won't invite me ever. I don't care. But [ __ ] I'm just saying this is how you get a bunch of creative minds in a room, people who are passionate about this. And you never know what you're going to get. But you'll never know that if you just keep remaking the same [ __ ] over and over again. That's my point. It's a small point. It's a simple point, but I'm a simple man. That's all I got to say about it. That's it, man. Because I want to flip this game. I do. I want to flip it. I want to see what's going on. I mean, I want to think of some character. like let's develop some characters for it. Let's think of a [ __ ] uh what's my action? What are we doing in the game? Right? What's your action? That's the problem with a lot of pinballs, man. We lose the action. We don't know what our action is. And you might be saying, Walt, what the [ __ ] are you talking about action? What are you, actor? No, no, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about action. What are we doing? What are we as players, me and you, what are we doing in the game? What are we doing? Funhouse, what are we doing? We're trying to put get the We're trying to [ __ ] around in the fun house and put Rudy to sleep. And we subconsciously know, yo, if this fun house goes to midnight, he's going to go to bed. So, our action is like we're trying to put um Rudy to bed, you know? That's like our action. It's like you could think about like a character actor. Like, what's my action in this scene? Okay, in this scene, I'm trying to get to the bank to deposit my check because um you know, like that's my action. That's my character's action, right? But us as players, we've kind of lost the action. Like we don't really know what our action is. That's why a lot of these games seem boring. Like at no point in the new Star Wars do I feel like I know what my character's action is. You know what I mean? like, "Oh, okay. This is what like even like that's what the thing with the with the data east, why the old data east one is so good at all times. I knew what my characters what my what my character's action like or me I don't even know what the character was, but me as a player, right, playing a game, I knew what my action was. I'm trying to get shoot the Death Star when the little thing goes down and blow up the Death Star." Like, I know what my action is. And I could tell because on the game the little standup target goes down and you could shoot it in. It starts a multiball. You can see the display the little guys on there and they're starting it all up and then you could tell like oh okay I started something. Okay. And then the music changes. That's another music complements it. The music gets more um interesting. It complements it. So also I know okay something must be going on. I must be doing something right because listen to the music. And then what happens when you shoot the ramp, right? And then he's like, "Shoot the dusta." And then what happens in music, right? It's like Lethal Weapon is a great example of that. Brian Schmidt was really good at this. He's like to create that moment of like, "Oh, dude, I need to hit this right now. Oh my god." And you feel like, "Oh, I got to do it." You know, like that adds to the action. Like, oh my, it's a franic thing, you know? And what happens when you shoot the Death Star? Great shot, kid. One in a million. The music changes. Yeah. And you feel as a player, what do you feel? What do you feel? Right. Yeah. I blew up the Death Star. Yeah. I did it. I completed my action as a player. Yeah. I did. It feels good. That's why the old shitty data east game still feels good because I know where I'm at. I know what my action is. I know what my player supposed to do. The music compliments it. The music adds anticipation. You know, it's it's it's simple, but we lost the way somewhere like we lost like the elements to make the the recipe. Like we lost the recipe and we're trying to we're trying to like put in different ingredients and it's not working right. And putting a bigger screen on the game isn't the answer. I'm going to tell you right now like we need to go away from that. Like that's my advice. I just want to talk about this for just a second. It's a public service announcement. [ __ ] video screens. The more you know. [ __ ] No, dude. Like, you know what's so fun about Pulp Fiction? Like, I don't have to look at a video screen, dude. Pulp Fiction. I could play that game every single day, man. It's amazing, dude. It's It's so good. It's such a good game cuz I don't have to stop and think and and look at the video. And there's some video assets that are cool, but like a lot of them, man, I'm just like, you know what? I'd rather be paying attention like to what's going on in the play field than paying attention to like video assets or or more importantly waiting for the video to end. So, cuz that's a that's a big thing as the better you get at pinball, you're you're not really watching the video assets, you're waiting for the animation to end because once the animation ends, that means the game code changes. So a lot of times like like if like I'll give you example like when you complete a mode like you have to wait for the animation of the mode like the mission complete like Star Wars is a good example like you have to wait for that to finish the animation before the code goes to the next step which is like I think an for example Star Wars would be like the force targets relight or something like that. I'm talking about the brand new Raya Star Wars, the brand new one. Like, so the mission complete animation goes mission complete. The thing blows up, whatever it is, and then it kicks the ball back to you, the game resets, moves on to its next game state, right? And then, but you have but you but it doesn't do any of that until the animation ends. So sometimes you have the ball bounce around. You got to hold it, wait for the animation to end, and then work on your next thing, whatever that might be, you know. Full fiction's great, man, because I don't have to worry. That's why I like it, you know? I like and you can get creative with the the dot matrix or no is it not dot matrix it's alpha numeric I'm sorry alpha alpha numeric display you could get creative with it so there's sometimes where like like in the clean the car mode in pole fiction there's like a little like they made a little car I think they made a little car that goes across and it's like that's creative to me like that's funny like there's a little like when when your [ __ ] is kind of crude like that and you're you're kind of limited uh technologically like they couldn't draw a car and put it on there, right? The technology won't let them. But you can get creative and make it look like a car with the lit bars, you know, and that's kind of cool. like that's has a certain charm to it, you know, then having just an emoji of a car going across like that doesn't have the same charm. If this I hope what I'm saying is making sense to anyone. Um, so to me it's like it's it's cool to see that like how you can kind get creative with alpha numeric and they were doing that in the 80s and 90s too. It's just a like I I it's cool to see that again. And and you want the your rules to not be the See, that's why Josh and uh Josh is really good at rules. Sharp, man. He's really good at rules because I don't need to look at the [ __ ] thing to know like like when I'm in the bumper mode. Okay, cool. The bumpers are going. I need to get the ball back up to the pops and keep All right, that mode can be big, by the way. I used to write that mode off. The dance twist or the twist contest mode. I used to write that off. That mode can be pretty good. I'm telling you, it could be pretty good. Um, and then there's uh what else is there? The clean the car. You could tell the spinners. And then you got uh bad [ __ ] which is the standup targets, you know, and the drops in the in the front. And then so we see clean the car. There's bad [ __ ] twist contest. What's the other one? There's one more. God, I don't want to look it up, dude. I should know this. I should know it. God, I should know it. So, okay. Twist contest. I'm gonna figure this out on the fly. I don't care. If it takes me five minutes live, I will figure it out. Twist. Twist contest. The uh God, what is it, dude? Clean the car. spinners. Bad [ __ ] which is the standup targets. There's one more. Oh, golden watch. I told you I get it. I told you. I knew it. I knew it. I'm so damn proud of myself. The gold watch mode. He stuck this hunk of metal up his ass. It's the [ __ ] uh the the standup target on the right. It's a tough one, but it can be really good. It starts going up pretty high after a while. That's one. And then once you get through all four of those, you go to the shot. The shot is awesome. It's like It starts off with a two ball. You hit the You got to hit the standup target that starts the mode like four times to give her the shot. Each time you hit it, it advances like uh one of the characters lines, right? Like, I'm not doing it. You got to do it. And then you hit it again right through a rib cage, man. You know, like it's advancing character dialogue to tell you that we're getting close to giving her the shot, you know? And then um so you do it like each time you hit it, it adds a ball. So it'll add like three and then you'll be at the four balls. So it's like creating traffic. So it's really hard to hit that shot through all the traffic, you know? But if you manage to do it, the last one she's like, you know, like when she wakes up, it's [ __ ] awesome, dude. It's like the best mode in the game. It's so awesome. It's so awesome. But most players don't get there because you got to get through the four uh you got to get through the original or the first four modes to get to the shot. So, it's kind of tough, man. But I love that mode. I love it. And I don't have to look at any dumb video screens to understand what I'm doing, dude. I get it. I get it right away. I understand everything right away what I'm doing, you know? So to, you know, kudos, man. Hats off. Rats off to you. [ __ ] uh Chicago. Is that what was that? uh play mechanics in company, right? Mark Ritchie, the rumor is hopefully he's working on another game. I remember bugging him, dude, before they kicked me out of Texas. I was like, "You got to make another game. Make another game, bro." I was out smoking, outside smoking with him. Mark, make another game. I was bugging the [ __ ] out of him, bro. He was just cool. Like, I was talking to him and Steve. They were just cool to talk to cuz for some reason like when you're talking to Steve Ritchie like it's really tough cuz he can't hear like his hearing's shot. But like Mark like when you have the brothers together Mark has a way to like uh like mouth to him to get him to understand what you just said what you just said to him. Like he's like he'll be like he just asked you if you did whatever like you know. So he he's like a like his own he's like his own personal translator, dude. It's it works out perfectly if you can get the brothers together. So I was bugging Mark. I'm like, "Please, dude, give us another one." Um, so hopefully that's the rumor is true. Hopefully it's true. I've heard Halo. Apparently the rumor is Halo, but it would make sense. It's right on line for like like like it they're not getting their finger on the pulse of hot [ __ ] so it would make sense. Like Portal. Portal is a good example. I loved Portal 15 [ __ ] years ago, you know? Not Portal. Portal in 2023 or whatever the [ __ ] it came out. Like, no, dude. Portal 20 years ago. In 2007, 2010. You gave me Portal back then, I'd be all about it. Like, they just they don't know how to strike when the iron's hot. It seems like they're just trying or they're just trying to hit nostalgia, maybe get sales that way. I don't really know. It's one of the two, I think. But again, what do I know? I'm just talking [ __ ] I don't really know. But [ __ ] um uh yeah, dude. So it if it's if it is Halo, it to me it would make sense cuz that's not hot right now. It was hot 20 years ago. So it would make sense if it was Halo cuz it's not a hot property right now, you know? So it would make sense. They're trying to just probably uh, you know, jerk us off for nostalgia or whatever. The cake is a lie. Remember, like the cake is a lie. And they got the same chick that sang the song and we're just, what are we at the house? LIKE, OH MY GOD, I'M JUST JERKING IT. You got the same lady. Ah, I can't even play the game. I'm jacking off all over myself so much. Cuz you got the same fat lady who sang in the first one. Who cares? Trust me. I'm sure she's a nice lady. I'm not like talking [ __ ] about her. I'm sure she's nice lady. You know, she'd give you a [ __ ] kidney if you need it, right? I bet, you know, whatever. But who cares? Like, we cared 20 years ago. That's my point. We give a We don't give a [ __ ] anymore. We gave a [ __ ] 20 years ago. Unless they're trying to like we're getting older and then they're trying to like please to our like nostalgia. That's what it seems like more to me. Like yo, remember when you were younger and you played [ __ ] Fallout? Remember when you were younger and you played Pokemon? Like all right, you want to talk about Pokemon? What do I got? 14 minutes. What? You want to talk about Pokemon? I got ideas for Pokemon. All right. I've been playing Pokemon since they put out the VHS tape to us. I was eight. I got the VHS tape from a friend to tell us that they're going to release a Game Boy Col. It wasn't even Game Boy Color. It was a to tell us that they're going to release this game in America. That was the cassette that I got. That's how long I've been into Pokemon before I knew about the game before they even released it in America. I had the tape. I remember. I'm going to tell you right now, start with generation one, okay? Do yourselves a favor. Don't bring in every Pokemon at the same time. You're gonna just you're you're gonna [ __ ] yourself over, dude. Don't do it. Start with generation one. Tie it into your badge [ __ ] so you get people coming out for, oh, there's a Charizard or there's a Zapdos here. Oh my god, we can catch a Zapdos. Have people able to evolve their Pokemon while they're playing the game. That'll be an incentive for people to come into the bar in on location, wherever to play your game. Oh, I want to evolve my Squirtle. And then you can evolve it in the game somehow. You know, I call it this. So, you can catch a po I can catch uh I can catch a Bulbasaur at the bar down the street at the Pokemon at the bar down the street and then I could come over to the Pokemon at the oneup and then load in my thing and then I can evolve it to a Ivysaur right there or, you know, whatever it is and then I get a batch. That's the thing that's going that's the most important piece of advice I give you cuz right now there's only like a few people that are going after these badges, man. Really. And it's kind of depressing when people come up like, "Look at all my badges." So, this is a I'm sorry, dude. It is. So, this is a good incentive for people to be like, "Yo, let's go. We can collect all the Pokemon and tie it into these achievements and badges." So, make the badges like the Pokemon, you know? That way you're it's all tied to all that [ __ ] I mean, that could be a thing. And then have them be able to evolve while you're playing. How about this? I can battle my buddy across the country in like let's say they're playing in Chicago and I'm playing in Colorado. I can battle them. Like there's a game mode where I could battle them with a Pokemon that I've been working up and training up. I could battle them with one of their Pokemon and they could have different effects. You could work in weakness and resistance, you know. Oh, well, he's got a Zapdos, which is a flying uh electric type. Okay. Well, I have rock, which is double weak or a flying and electric would be double weak to rock. See, that's the thing. Work in your weakness and resistances. Okay, I got grass. Well, grass would be weak to ice, fire, ice, and fire and bugs because bug eat grass. You got to think of your elements. That's the way your weaknesses in Pokemon work, the elements. What puts out fire? Water, right? What burns up grass? Fire. So, that's how your Pokemon weaknesses and resistance work. like the elements of the earth what burn what it's like superman can bend steel right so what's what's uh strong against steel fighting you know most fighting people who fight don't read or they don't believe in you know psychic mumbo jumbo right so what is fighting weak against psychic And you can make the argument that most meattheads don't read. And trust me, I've spent a lot of time in Jersey and Philly and New York. I grew up on the East Coast. I will v my people out there. I love you, but godamn. Why is there so many gyms in Jersey? Come on, put a library up. Please build a library between the [ __ ] gym that's on every street corner. Jesus, what are we doing? That was the hardest part of rehab. When I went to rehab, I went to rehab twice. The first time was 2017. The second time was 2019. That's the time when it stuck. Second time. And then my second time in rehab. I like Oh, we played we we played a joke on this dude. So when I got to the house, there was this dude everybody hated. He was like a total goon. Like he was like one of these like Chads. Like total jock, bro. Chad jock. just to always like, "Yeah, I'm rich." Like he would always brag about being rich and that he's like because he was like a trust fund baby. He would brag about being rich and how his dad can handle this and he's going to get him out of this. So he was in the it was like a halfway house I was in. So this dude was um he was just bragging about like, "Oh yeah, like my dad put me in here and I'll get I don't even have to work. I don't care." Like he's bragging about how he never has to work his whole life. and the rest of us in the house kind of developed a kinship. I didn't even know any of these people. And dude, me and a dude from Jersey, like the way I am now, when I was like when I was a kid, I was very similar to people on the East Coast. The way I am now, I'm very like open-minded. I read a lot. I'm thoughtful. I'm empathetic, sensitive. Um like I'm pretty in tune with my emotions and [ __ ] like that. Most people in Jersey aren't like that. Like, yo, [ __ ] you. Where's the gym kind of thing, you know what I'm saying? Most people in New York, same thing. Go [ __ ] yourself. Where'd you park the car, [ __ ] You know what I'm saying? Kind of thing. So, um, I was really into my emotions and [ __ ] So, we all kind of developed a kinship at this house, though. Even though we weren't alike, we would normally wouldn't hang out cuz this dude's talking about I never have to work this one, that one, the other thing. And we're all like, "What the fuck?" So, one day we're like, "Fuck this dude." It's a So, the house is a big house, right? out back. There's farm animals. There was pigs and chickens and cows. Oh my. It was a big property. There was horses in the neighbor's yard. Um, so one day this dude in the house got the big idea to grab a chicken and throw it in this guy's room. He's like, I'm going to grab a chicken and I'm going to chuck it in there. [ __ ] this dude. So the guy was sleeping. He grabs it, opens the door, throws the chicken in. freaks out, runs all over, shits all over the house. We, long story short, it's [ __ ] hilarious. But we all get in trouble. We all get done. He comes running out the Where the [ __ ] put this [ __ ] chicken in here? There's a goddamn chicken. Ah, it's [ __ ] It's the one of the funniest things I ever saw. Uh, fast forward, they group us all up. Who put the chicken in there? Now, nobody wants to fess up. I'm the new guy. I was like, you know what? It was me. I did it. Because I figure, you know what? I'm already so different than these people in this house. They already don't like me anyway. I don't care. I'll take one. I did it. I put the chicken in there. It was me, me, me, me. And I was starting to get mad. It was me, you know. And they're like, "Fine. You're you you're not allowed to leave the house. You can't go out." Like I was I had to stay in the house for like an extra week of pun punishment. But then after I did that, all the guy because we all did that. We It wasn't just me. I just took the fall. But then after that, the guys grab me up and they're like, "Yo, thanks for doing that, bro. Is there anything we can do to make it up to you?" Like, "Is there anything like we can do to say our thanks?" And I was like, "Let's go to Silverball Museum in Jersey." It was this uh this spot in Jersey. I think it's called Silverball Museum, Asbury Park, and it has all these old games, some newer games. Silver Ball Museum and uh that's where I first saw pinball machines for the first time I was in rehab and I was like you know what this is the thing that's going to get me sober and at that moment I realized yo pinball is my drug dude that's it is and I had to go all the way to Asbury Park to realize that but if it wasn't for those dudes going what do you want to do I was like let's check out this one spot and they they were like, "Well, we know this one spot." And it turned out to be Asbury Park. I'm like, "Yo, they shot episodes of The Sopranos here. This is [ __ ] like Bruce Springsteen, like Greetings from Asbury Park." Like, this is amazing, you know? I'm just like, "This is incred. The Stone Pony. The Stone Pony is right over there. This is amazing, you know?" But at that moment, I was like, "Yo, pinball is going to be the And a week later, I left the rehab. I quit. I can't I I I I flew back here and I I I had to prove to everybody. Nobody believed me. My girl, her family, no one believed me that I was going to be able to pull this off. No one. I had to prove to the world. But I knew that pinball was a thing, dude. I knew it. And as sure as I was then, as sure as I am now, I [ __ ] love pinball, dude. It's in my soul, in my heart forever. I love it so much I had to quit because these [ __ ] couldn't touch me, bro. Around here, these local [ __ ] would not come out anymore. And look at them now. Go look at the tournament uh turnouts in Colorado now. 20, 30, 40 people every time. WHOA. WHAT DO YOU KNOW? WOW. Look at that. I just think that's a bummer, man. I wish we lived in a world where people could not be intimidated by a great player, but look at that as like inspiration. Yo, like I'm going to be like that someday or like maybe I can learn. That's what I thought when I was playing Elwin. Elwin kicked my dick in 10 years ago, bro. What am I supposed to quit? Pack it up and quit. If I was like most of these [ __ ] here in where I'm at, they would have just quit. I would I would have quit just like them. [ __ ] that, dude. That's not how I roll. I studied these mother. Esher, Zack, [ __ ] Keith Elwin, Donovan Step. He was He was one of the cuz he was local. He's somebody I could learn from locally, which was great. So, I watched what he did. I watched a lot of [ __ ] from him, you know. Ryan Wanganger, another one. I learned a lot from that [ __ ] But yeah, man. It's like amazing turnouts now. And I'm glad. I knew it would happen. I'm glad. I'm just bummed. I miss it. I miss tournaments. But it's cool. I don't miss playing though cuz I still play. And I even I get even more into it now that I'm like retired from the tournaments cuz like I don't have the stress and like the [ __ ] the like Oh. And dude, having to wake up at 7 in the morning and play pinball, dude. That's the worst. That's the worst part. Like, dude, I think it's ignorant that you guys are so like you hog the time the the clock. Like, you always get to have your tournaments at 7, 8, 9 in the morning. [ __ ] you. Let's have a tournament at 12:30. It's 12:30 in the at midnight right now. Just past midnight. Let's start our tournament right now. Why not? Who says we got to start it at 9 in the morning? Why? Because society says so. [ __ ] it. Let's start it right now. You know, I'm ready to go right now. I'll play pinball all night long. That's the thing. You want me to play pinball at 9 in the morning? [ __ ] that, dude. I can't stand it. That's the thing I hate about these tournaments, bro. They want you to like get in there at 7, 8, 9 in the morning, bro. And it's like important match. It's like your finals, you know? [ __ ] I can't do anything important at 9 in the morning, dude. Maybe you people can. I can't, bro. Like, I could do I could do heart surgery right now. If you want me to operate on someone's like appendix, I'll get it out of there right now. I've been up for [ __ ] 20 hours or something. I don't even know. Maybe 18 20 hours I've been awake. I could do it. I'm I'm rested. I'm ready to go. Like, my mind has been running. Like, it's it's hard to just wake up and do [ __ ] You know what I'm saying, man? We're almost at an hour. My bad. I've been rambling. But hey, much love everybody. I'm going to talk about some pinball. Let's see the last thing. What's the last thing they say? Let's go. Sorry, I kind of like rambled and ran out of time. My bad. But hey, we'll get back into it. All right, so American Pinball's first game will be a reimagined B Williams title. Re re-imagined. So, the latest news I'm getting, re-imagined Bali Williams. Re-imagined. What does that mean? I mean, you got to take that with a grain of salt. Reimagine Valley Williams. I'm going to bet that it's Whitewater. It's probably a Whitewater, a variation of White Water. Whitewater 2, something like that. I guarantee you they're going to come out strong with [ __ ] Whitewater. That's what I think. I don't know. I'll be back at you soon. I don't want to take up too much of your time, man. I don't like to go over an hour. God bless you all. Much love. And uh I'll be back at you soon. Peace.
Star Wars (Data East)game
Star Wars (Stern, New)game
Godzillagame
Beetlejuicegame
Funhousegame
Jurassic Parkgame
Metallicagame
Stern Pinballcompany
Spooky Pinballcompany
Nap Arcadeorganization
IFPA/Tournament Sceneorganization

high · Extended visual comparison showing multiple instances of problematic green coloring in remaster; comparison to original praised as superior

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Kiss remaster rumored to be in development at Stern; part of pattern of remaking Borg's games

    medium · Walt says 'I think I've heard of a Kiss. There might be a Kiss remaster because they're going down that road'; acknowledges hearing 'rumblings'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community frustration with Stern's remake-heavy strategy; Walt represents perspective that original IP and creative innovation should take priority

    high · Extended rhetorical challenge: 'Would you rather have...another Borg remake or...cool [shit] like this?'; suggests collaborative design could improve output

  • ?

    technology_signal: Dual-flipper playfield designs (like Jack Danger's concept) extend ball times excessively; operators dislike due to longer session lengths

    medium · Walt states 'operators don't like games with two sets of flippers cuz it leads to longer ball times' and 'I've heard this from people'