121 episodes tracked since 2023 about →
Episode 103 - Die on this Hill: Shaq Attaq
PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago53 min listen
Highlights
- Shaq Attaq sold 3,380 units in 1995, a moderate success for a down year
- Shaq Attaq is currently ranked 309 out of 316 games on Pinside 100
- John Norris himself acknowledged in the Pinball Compendium that weak flippers break Shaq Attaq playability
- The moving basketball hoop is comparable in design excellence to Medieval Madness castle
- System 3 Gottlieb flippers have inherent weakness issues due to older flipper technology
- Shaq Attaq has a hidden design flaw: game balls reward mechanic is imbalanced (15 game balls = 20M points vs 14 balls = double score)
- Shaq Attaq lacks NBA licensing, unlike NBA Fastbreak, making it stylistically stronger
- The game's most negative reviews correlate with weak flipper setups preventing basket shots
Notable quotes
“If you believe in something, you sign your name to it.”
“Once you go to Shack, you never go back. I love that immediately. You can't take your eyes off of it.”
“The flippers, look, they've got to be in good repair to make a basket. I found a Shaq on location that had weak flippers. And the problem is you can't make a basket.”
“If you do everything right, people won't know you've done anything at all.”
“The hoop is legitimately well done... it does exactly what it needs to do... it's balanced exactly as it needs to do.”
“A new player will walk away a hundred percent feeling like they played what they wanted to from the game.”
“You can't find the joy in Shaq Attaq. You got a problem, dude.”
“This machine is so bad that I had to play it multiple times just to make sure it's a real slam doo doo.”
“If the operator of this loan... you have one game somewhere in a town that's Shaq Attaq... you got to get those flippers working for our boy.”
“I hate the Gottlieb slander, dude.”
Entities
- Gottlieb· company
- Attack from Mars· game
- Championship Pub· game
- Frank Thomas (Big Hurt)· game
- Medieval Madness· game
- NBA Fastbreak· game
- Shaq Attaq· game
- Space Jam· game
- Stranger Things (Pro)· game
- Logan Arcade· organization
- Pinside· organization
- Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
- Alan· person
- Alex the Waterboy· person
- Bob Wilson· person
- Borgdog· person
- Constantino Mitchell· person
- Jeannie Mitchell· person
- John Norris· person
- Paul· person
- Rand Paulin· person
