121 episodes tracked since 2023 about →
Episode 116 - Pokémon
PodcastAnalysis updated yesterday46 min listen
Highlights
- Pokémon is generating 1,000 plays per week at Wedgehead (roughly 53 minutes of play per hour)
- Pokémon plays in under three minutes on average based on their audits
- Pokemon licensing integration for collecting Pokemon is not yet in the Insider Connected app but is baked into the game mechanics
- This is the first true co-design credit at Stern (unlike Bond and Deadpool which were restarts after designer departures)
- Pokémon's two-flipper layout and friendly design was a deliberate choice to appeal to first-time players and new demographics
- The game is currently at code version .81 (or similar early version) with significant room for updates
- Pokémon is likely to become Stern's biggest-selling game, potentially surpassing Godzilla if licensing allows
- Early online criticism predicted Pokémon would be a commercial failure, which proved unfounded
Notable quotes
“Pokémon feels like a Pokémon game made to sell to Pokémon people. Harry Potter feels like a Harry Potter game made to try to sell to pinball people.”
“This game is fast as fuck to shoot. The shots are exactly where you want to be. They feel fantastic. I love every shot on the game.”
“I would rather that this layout is something we hate and is approachable by new players than something that's like a dream game for us that's a punishing, mean game. And they managed to give us a very approachable, new player-friendly layout that I am not bored at.”
“When Pokémon came out and it's got two posts and people are like, oh, Alan, are you going to disable the post on this? And you're like, I don't need to. I don't need to because they nailed this.”
“It plays short in a way that encourages me to play again. Yes. And I think they really nailed this.”
“This is a fucking game. Like this feels like proper. It just hooks you in. You want to catch the little Pokémon.”
“We would get a thousand plays a week on our Pokémon machine. It's insane.”
“It's not like you're only playing E.M.s and solid states. The main thing is I want a game that I can play as a flow player. I like to play on the fly. I like to combo shots. And if you're going to stop the ball, it better be for a big moment.”
Entities
- Pinside· community
- Stern Pinball· company
- Attack from Mars· game
- Bond· game
- Deadpool· game
- Dungeons & Dragons· game
- Foo Fighters· game
- Godzilla· game
- Harry Potter· game
- Jaws· game
- Pokémon· game
- The Addams Family· game
- Alan· person
- Alex the Waterboy· person
- Brian Eddy· person
- George Gomez· person
- Jack Danger· person
- Ritchie· person
- Trudeau· person
- Insider Connected· product
- Spike 3· technology
- Electric Bat· venue
- Wedgehead· venue
