Gameplay footage that's not fan-recorded is now up:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2n_-u9KWQTrailers:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78q_9-6PBSYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZetTOceSj4Description:In Pokémon by Stern Pinball, Trainers embark on an unforgettable journey across four distinct habitats, discovering, catching, and bonding with many of their favorite Pokémon. Players will shoot the illuminated, mechanically animated Poké Ball to catch Pokémon, build their ultimate team, and complete their Pokémon Collection. The playfield also features beautifully crafted Pokémon-themed ramps, spinners, and targets. Watch as the animatronic Pikachu reacts to your gameplay, cheering you on every step of the way! Trainers can battle their way through rival trainers and compete in the arena through dynamic, custom battle sequences. Danger lurks as Team Rocket and their infamous boss, Giovanni, plot trouble. The interactive Meowth Balloon toy swoops down onto the battle arena to challenge the Trainer. Premium and Limited Edition games include an interactive electromagnet that adds chaos to the battle arena.Price: 7000 USD for Pro, 9700 for Premium, Limited Edition is sold out.
>>59020592On a scale of Lord of the Rings (my favorite pinball), how good is it?
Where to find a place to play this machine near you:pinballmap.com(but they are just starting to ship out and I don't think any have arrived at arcades yet, or not many in any case)How does one play pinball skillfully?:https://www.deadflip.com/tutorials/ (techniques in gif form)https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-WQLGFMr97DnxeE1Rmi-wAwa-Vm7D-7iPSA: There are many scam pinball retailer websites. See here for more information:https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/beware-of-scam-game-seller-websites
>>59020596I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet but the central Meowth Balloon "playfield mech" looks cool. And it's on all versions of the game.But Lord of the Rings is such a classic...I just thought of something: the designer of LotR, George Gomez, co-designed this machine.
>>59020632>the designer of LotR, George Gomez, co-designed this machineI need to try it in person, just for the sound alone.
>>59020643Facts about George Gomez, the designer of Pokémon Pinball:Born in Cuba, came over to the US on a boat as a child. I think it was a boat anyway, I forget the details.Also has worked in video games, he was the lead designer for Spy Hunter and he was involved with the making of the arcade game TRON. I think he designed the cabinet or something.At Stern Pinball he was promoted from designer to overseer of all the other designers, so he offers notes and feedback on all their pinball machines. But he still steps back into the design role when the situation requires.Facts about Jack Danger, the other designer:Started out as a pinball streamer on twitch.Learned how to design pinball machines using a freeware piece of software called Visual Pinball.I think he was on G4?
Here's a Work In Progress fan-maintained rulesheet for the game. In other words, it talks about what the different modes of the game and how to navigate through them.https://tiltforums.com/t/pokemon-rulesheet/10092
>generalhuh?Anyways I dont have $15K lying around to get one of these
>>59020672Thanks for the info but the LCD screen ruins it, they picked the seasons with the worst animation and stock art, only the animation from the OG would save it. I would buy an LED screen version. Hopefully it's successful and they do a gen 2 version.
>>59020744To be fair you wont be looking at the screen much at all while playing
>>59020758It's just the aesthetics. For me pinball is all about repetition and appeal and just from the live stream I quickly grew tired of the low quality animations on the screen. Lets be honest, the reason to use an LCD is because it's easier to animate than an LED and the quality and effort (or lack thereof with the LCD) shows.
>>59020835When you say LED, do you mean the dot matrix displays that pinball machines has from 1990 to 2016 about? Cause those are called DMDs, not LEDs.PS: It kind of seems like most of the Pokémon you can catch in this pinball machine don't have much gameplay functionality that's specific to them once you catch them. Which is unfortunate, although it would have been tough to figure out how to give 185+ Pokémon their own implications for gameplay.We'll see how things go, the game's rules will "evolve" over time.
>>59020860Dot matrix in pinball machine displays is LED. I was seeing other LCD machines and they look much better than the Pokemon ones. They just cheapes out on the animations, maybe because the license was expensive. They could have gone custom 3D like some of their other machines.
>>59021216I think The Pokemon Company also has strict licensing requirements that make Stern more cautious with their visual style. But there's no reason their little pokedex animation has to look as bad as it does. Maybe they'll fix it later.
