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LoserKid Pinball Podcast
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Ep 37: Talkin' Turtles with Dwight Sullivan

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 16 min listen
From the creator

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the hot new reveal and we have Dwight Sullivan to talk about it! We cover how TMNT came to be and everything it entails but we also dive into Dwight tenured history in...

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Highlights

  • The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game features 17 characters total, with 12 of 17 having full rule coding
  • Nickelodeon required the game use a specific theme song (not the original 1987 series theme) and had approval authority over all art, display, sound, music, and speech
  • The LE spinning disc features bi-directional spin (alternating directions with pauses), while Pro version spins unidirectionally for 2 seconds continuously
  • Pro and Premium/LE differ in ball count (6 vs 8 balls) and toy features: Pro lacks the Kring toy (substituted for earlier left ramp toy design), and the van holds different ball counts
  • Game features 6 initial episodes with 2 locked episodes unlocked through progression based on storyline dependencies (Baxter→Baxter Fly; Crane without body→Crane with body)
  • Four playable turtles (Leo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello) have meaningful mechanical differences affecting multipliers, ball save, timers, and mode access (e.g., Leo lights Training from start)
  • Voice acting for 17 characters required hiring multiple voice actors; original cast from 1987 series was not affordable alongside desired mechanical features
  • Dwight consulted with tournament players Josh Sharp, Tim Sexton, Keith Elwin, and Raymond Davidson for rule balance feedback due to not being a competitive player himself
  • The game was developed collaboratively starting with Nickelodeon approaching Stern, then Dwight pitching to John Borg, with core team of John Borg (mechanical), Elliot Eastman (mechanical engineer), and Dwight (code)
  • April O'Neill character design intentionally modernized to portray her as a news reporter pursuing stories rather than a damsel-in-distress, with her hurry-up stackable with other modes

Notable quotes

“My office is an unfinished basement down here in my secret laboratory, my secret lair.”
Dwight Sullivan
“I'm still waiting for something bad to happen and maybe never happen. But you know, just you have to plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
Dwight Sullivan
“From watching the Turtles episodes, I just wrote down all the things that they were putting on their pizza, and we picked out 12 that we liked and that's what we stuck rules to.”
Dwight Sullivan
“Softwareically I flip that upper left flipper. Softwareically, that's a word we invented.”
Dwight Sullivan
“The spinning disc is going to blow them away...it's more for casual players, then the spinning disc is going to blow them away.”
Dwight Sullivan
“I'm not a tournament player, so I always try to lean on whoever I can to help me with, well, is this stupid or should this be less random and so on?”
Dwight Sullivan
“Nickelodeon has been a dream to work with. They've wanted us to say in every single thing we did...but they were really easy to work with.”
Dwight Sullivan
“We wanted her...she's a story. We leaned into the fact that she's a news reporter...April Hurry Up is can be stacked with anything else going on.”
Dwight Sullivan

Entities

  • Stern Pinball· company
  • Deadpool· game
  • Game of Thrones· game
  • Star Wars· game
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles· game
  • Loser Kid Pinball Podcast· media
  • Nickelodeon· organization
  • Brad Hunter· person
  • Brothers Kizzabat· person
  • Dwight Sullivan· person
  • Elliot Eastman· person
  • Gary Stern· person
  • John Borg· person
  • Josh Sharp· person
  • Keith Elwin· person
  • Mark Silk· person
  • Raymond Davidson· person
  • Zach Menny· person

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