The Great British Pinball Podcast Episode 29 - The Star Wars Fall of the Empire Special!

Neil McRae reviews Star Wars: Fall of the Empire and Spike 3, calling it the best Star Wars pinball ever made.

Highlights

• Spike 3 features a 35% larger screen (18.5-inch Full HD LCD), redesigned cabinet head by George Gomez, improved audio with separate tweeter and main speaker, HDMI output with audio, WiFi (2.4GHz/5GHz), sleep mode, and backward compatibility with Spike 2 node boards.
• Star Wars: Fall of the Empire uses a fan layout (not a typical John Borg fan layout like Guardians or Metallica), includes eight characters with three to four modes each, multiple multiballs including Death Star multiball, an AT-AT walker toy that falls over, a Sarlacc Pit, and a Force ball save mechanic.
• The game is not currently coming to Europe due to Disney Europe licensing restrictions; Neil advises European fans to email Disney Europe to complain.
• The game code is early (version 8.82 or 8.83) with Darth Vader scoop modes and modifiers still being developed, classic Star Wars one-liners included (e.g., 'Laugh it up, fuzzball'), C3PO call-outs by an uncredited voice actor, and call-outs still being coded.
• Neil claims this is the best Star Wars pinball game ever made by a significant margin, superior to Steve Ritchie original Star Wars, due to immersive audio, art, and storytelling rather than overlaying Star Wars onto a generic pinball design.
• The game will sell 'like hotcakes' due to: visual appeal (no AI art used), exceptional Spike 3 audio quality, and accessibility/fun gameplay for both casual and dedicated players.
• Limited Edition includes expression lights; Premium can add expression lights as an option; Pro cannot have expression lights added.
• Stern's business appears positive despite secondary market oversupply; they believe the market is recovering from COVID peaks and returning to normal levels.
• Jersey Jack's Avatar game is a 'missed opportunity' with poor lower playfield design and problematic code that doesn't prioritize fun gameplay, contributing to poor sales despite beautiful artwork.
• Barrels of Fun games have underpowered flipper feel; Dune includes a worm mech that swallows the ball (similar to Metallica Hammer) but has reliability issues; American Pinball appears to be shutting down based on factory appearance.