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Episode 40 - Die on this Hill: Hook
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago47 min listen
Highlights
- Hook was Data East's fourth best-selling game of all time, after Star Wars, Lethal Weapon 3, and Jurassic Park
- Data East only made Hook as a condition to securing the Jurassic Park license from Amblin Entertainment (Spielberg's company)
- Hook is one of the last arcade games Data East made with a small DMD screen; Data East rushed to market to beat Bally Williams
- The Chat Age code (by a coder referred to as 'Chat Age') finished the game, balancing the ruleset and adding call-outs and modes
- John Papaduke (Papa Duke) 'shamelessly ripped off' Hook's plunge skill shot arcade in his later Williams games
- Hook was designed by Tim Seckel with art by Paul Faris, music/score adapted by Brian Schmidt from John Williams' original film score
- Hook has an extra-tall backbox compared to other Data East machines, standing out visually on location
- The original playfield design had even taller stacked plastic trees (6 feet total or similar) but was trimmed down due to playtesting feedback about blocking visibility
- Most negative reviews of Hook are due to poor maintenance (burned-out incandescence, weak flippers) rather than game design flaws
- The left ramp (Bangarang/wind coaster ramp) is exploitable for 3+ million points when looped repeatedly, creating a dominant strategy that unbalances the ruleset
Notable quotes
“Hook is tall. Pete Davidson is tall. He fucks, and so does Hook. Okay? Put that shit to rest. Hook: tall, handsome.”
“Hook didn't take anybody's money and promise him all these fake games that he drew on pieces of pinball machine and defraud all these. Hook just delivered fun.”
“The Chat Age code finished the game. It finished what that game should have been. He took that game and made it a good game.”
“I feel like the left ramp is one of the coolest in all of pinball, and the score and sound effects are incredible.”
“It's one of those games that makes you play the whole playfield if you really play the game. We do like to play the whole playfield.”
“Paul Faris did it. He's a fucking legend. There's a giant crocodile eating the start button on the cabinet.”
“I'm an American Pinball fan, having an American Pinball machine with this license, perfect for me. Like, love the movie. Love pinball. Love this game.”
“If you spam it, I don't know. When I play Scared Stiff, all I do is spam the ramp. It's the same thing. Same exact shot. Any ramp you can repeat.”
“Once you know the one unbalanced thing, it's like, shit. But it's like, that shouldn't ruin the enjoyment of the game.”
“Data East was, I don't know what happened. They went downhill. Look at the shit they're pumping out now.”
Entities
- Amblin Entertainment· company
- Bally/Williams· company
- Data East· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Hook· game
- Pinside· organization
- Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
- AJ· person
- Alan· person
- Alex· person
- Brian Schmidt· person
- Chat Age· person
- Dustin Hoffman· person
- John Borg· person
- John Papaduke· person
- John Williams· person
- Paul Faris· person
- Robin Williams· person
- Steven Spielberg· person
- Tim Seckel· person
- Bite Me Cake Company· venue
- Portland Pinball Bar Wedge· venue
