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Episode 96 - Pinball Composer w/ Chris Granner
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 21 min listen
Highlights
- Marcel Gonzalez created pristine audio archives of System 11 pinball soundtracks by isolating Yamaha chip output from mechanical noise
- Arnold Schwarzenegger initially refused to record voice lines for Terminator 2 pinball, saying he wouldn't do substitute voices
- Fred Young was selected as Terminator voice actor after responding to voiceover shop audition calls on a Saturday morning
- Addams Family soundtrack missed top five by one vote, placing at number six
- Pinbot was fundamentally important because it taught Williams that the job is 'to bring a machine to life'
- Twilight Zone was originally intended as first Data East game but hardware/software weren't ready
- Funhouse's Rudy head mechanism appeared on bill of materials at $35 but actually cost ~$100, a major cost overrun revealed only during sample run
- Fishtails is Granner's personal favorite game of all the soundtracks he composed
Notable quotes
“This is the most important game that we've ever made. This game is his pilot's gift to us. This is the game where we learned that our job in making games is to bring a machine to life.”
“Get the extra ball! My god! Fred, you nailed it! We all nailed it!”
“Fuck you, asshole! I don't know how many people have a T3? A T2? Got a C2? You have to fuck you assholes, you know?”
“If we don't get him, we don't have the Terminator's voice in the game. Why are we doing this again?”
“We have to like completely: we have to do it the other way. Have to make the other decision. We're gonna throw the kitchen sink at this thing. We're gonna make the coolest thing we can possibly make.”
“You're fucking kidding me? You're gonna make me spit? There was nothing he could do. They totally got him. They totally fucked him.”
“We're looking for something where if somebody goes, 'Ooh, bitchin,' that's what we're after. And if it's an if: like Funhouse, like Pinbot: that it's a machine coming to life, we do that.”
“This was the first game that I did where there was nothing about what I was doing where I was faking it.”
“I don't like it. Take it out. I'm like, 'Wow, okay, I can't remember even what it was like.”
“It's about lying now. Now we can do something with that, right?”
Entities
- Data East· company
- Williams Electronics· company
- Zynga Chicago· company
- Addams Family· game
- Dr. Dude· game
- Fishtails· game
- Funhouse· game
- Pinbot· game
- Taxi· game
- Terminator 2· game
- Twilight Zone· game
- Whitewater· game
- Arnold Schwarzenegger· person
- Bill Peraud· person
- Brandon Bailey· person
- Chris Granner· person
- Fred Young· person
- Kevin Fedesyna· person
- Lee Orloff· person
- Marcel Gonzalez· person
- Nick Woodmont· person
- Pat Lawlor· person
- Roger Sharpe· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
