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Dream Themes vs Unlicensed Games

JustLikeMe

JustLikeMe

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In the past few years we've seen a number of hugely popular themes come to pinball. Personally, the two I wanted to see the most became reality with The Big Lebowski and Ghostbusters, and I know that others are in a similar situation with Star Wars, Batman 66, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Metallica and others.

A recent post on Pinside has got me thinking about what themes are left that I'd like to see. In typical Pinside fashion the question posed was on the more extreme end of the spectrum, but I thought it would be interesting to see if there are still many themes that people are still hoping to see one day, or if others feel that licensed games are becoming slightly tiresome.

I used to have a list of themes I'd love to see in pinball, but if I'm honest there's now only two that I'd prefer to more original games - Harry Potter, which seems unlikely given Rowling's reported stance, and Parks and Recreation, which will absolutely never happen. Other than those, even themes that appealed to me previously have lost there allure; I'd much rather see more unlicensed games. At the moment, the only two new releases I'm interested in are Dialed In and Total Nuclear Annihilation, and I think a big part of the reason why is because they're original themes.

Is anyone else finding themselves a bit burnt out on licensed games?
 
Not many themes left for me, but Pulp Fiction would certainly get my attention :thumbs:

I'm willing to consider anything though, decent code is more important to me.
 
For me, and I know that I will be in a minority, unlicensed is the way to go ....

It gives the artist total freedom to draw what he wants
It gives the designer total freedom to design what he wants
The money saved on the licensing fee can be spent on toys/ technology

You don't end up with tepid art like the shadow or ac dc

Fathom v Flash Gordon ?
Medieval Madness v NBA ?
Dialed in v WoZ ?

The one thing that I would give licensed themes is a huge tick for modern music themed pins. Playing pinball to ac dc is a wonderful experience. Even if night prowler is not on there
 
As a video game developer I do find it really interesting that pinball machines pretty much live or die by their movie tie in's. Whereas in video games, licenced themes long ago became a bar of low quality (not necessarily in production values, but almost certainly in game design) and something to be avoided. Really it all comes down to marketing. I have to say, contrary to all logic, I do like and prefer themed pinballs.

Themed pinballs I would like: Iron Maiden, Breaking Bad, Thomas the ****ing Tank Engine.
 
Jay Walker said:
Well, there is a sequel on the way, but even if it was licensed, would that really scratch your itch?
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Hard to say. The original is such a classic with iconic imagery and sound. No doubt the sequel will be all flashy CGI.
 
Badly want a proper Back to the Future pin. Everything about that theme works for me. Great colours, potential toys (Delorean, Flux capacitor, clock tower etc) and amazing music
 
A proper universal frankenstein machine would make me moist. Westworld and loads of obscure horror themes that will never be made
 
Would love to see s proper James Bind pin, could do a huge amount with that theme. Would be interested in a Harry Potter pin as well. To be fair, must of my fav pin are original theme, like the look of Dailed in.
 
I'd like a proper Flash Gordon. That Queen soundtrack is the best soundtrack ever created. Brian Blessed and the hawkmen. The rotating spiked fight platform. The tree trunk game. The swamp monster. The wedding etc etc. There must be a million things you could do with that theme.
 
RobZombie said:
I'd like a proper Flash Gordon. That Queen soundtrack is the best soundtrack ever created. Brian Blessed and the hawkmen. The rotating spiked fight platform. The tree trunk game. The swamp monster. The wedding etc etc. There must be a million things you could do with that theme.
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I was only saying to my old dear the other day why on earth haven't they used Brian b in game of thrones or lord of the rings. He belongs in that kind of thing
 
ET or Gremlins have a feeling JJP will pick these up. Not much left to do. Maybe another Haunted house theme.

I'd definitely buy ET for the sound package alone :)
 
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My little Pony?

Probably:

Harry Potter
3 X proper Star Wars Trilogy Machines (New Hope, Empire and Return) with all the design and toys relevant to that movie only.
Sherlock Holmes
Prince (The greatest musician that ever lived and not Charles).
 
Well Ramones obviously, but that's been done As with most things in life everyone has different tastes- I would love Natural Born Killers with the awesome trent reznor soundtrack, but rather age limiting.Duke nukem 3d would be killer,but old licensr so will never happen,will probably just do my own.
About the only ones that I would like that would be semi popular are Monty Python and Iron Maiden
 
Rop said:
There is no Pink Floyd Pin, why not?
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Because Stern do not want a pinball player to have games that lasts the length of epic tracks.
They are designed to make money.

Themes can ruin a game for me - Iron Maiden has great shots but I can not stand the band. Disco maiden is great but it changes the music. Not the call outs, the artwork or anything else (obviously).

I love games like ToM, CV, AFM, RFM, TNA - so you do not need a licensed theme.
 
I want to see a game where the theme changes as you progress through it. think star trek tos, turns into tng, ds9, voyager etc. with big lcd screens and thin oled tech now you can probably do it- oleds to change the art on the pf, plastics, side art etc. will be a $25k a game 😂😂
 
Pick Holder said:
Because Stern do not want a pinball player to have games that lasts the length of epic tracks.
They are designed to make money.

Themes can ruin a game for me - Iron Maiden has great shots but I can not stand the band. Disco maiden is great but it changes the music. Not the call outs, the artwork or anything else (obviously).

I love games like ToM, CV, AFM, RFM, TNA - so you do not need a licensed theme.
Click to expand...
Funny how different everyone’s opinion is so different. I can’t stand playing iron maiden at flip out because of the disco music 😆
 
Legend of Zelda - would work so well and for me Ocarina of Time you could do something amazing with the three temples (modes) for young link, six for adult link sages, each piece of triforce for varying multiballs super wizard for all three. You could also do something around Din, Naryu and Farore.
 
Sinclair ZX81 - The Pinball ......... make it happen :cool:

ZX81 (1).jpg

Black and white art throughout - apart from RED ZX81 logo on flippers , which are black of course.
No sound (obvs)
Flipper buttons replaced by ZX81 keyboard style membrane
1 Ball Multiball - not enough memory for more balls.
The backbox is styled as the 16k RAM Pack - also acts as the Tilt. Just like the original if you jostle it the machine will crash and you lose everything :p
Video mode will be 3D Monster Maze

3D-Monster-Maze-zx81-screen-672x372.gif

Attract mode

Capture.JPG
 
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