I was pretty stoked as soon as I saw a Summer Game Fest appointment email mentioning Pokémon Pinball, since I had played the original Pokémon Pinball religiously on the Game Boy Color. As such, the prospect of a physical pinball machine themed around Pokémon was thrilling, plus the fact that there would be other pop culture-themed ones in the Stern Pinball area was just icing on the cake. I got to play a couple of games on each, and had a rousing time with all four.
The Transformers machine was pretty nuts, even for someone with minimal exposure to the franchise as a whole. From all of the different Transformers and Cybertron-themed objects across the board to the techy, 80s sound effects, it’s clear that Sterns wanted to make this an incredibly nostalgic and fan-oriented machine. I think my favorite part was how getting the ball into certain areas would trigger the screen to do an eyecatch like you’d see in the original animated series, with the short music cue and everything. If you’re a big Transformers fan, I’d definitely recommend looking for one of these Stern Pinball machines at a nearby barcade, as I can only imagine how thrilled you’d be with each little Easter egg and nod.
Then there was a King Kong-themed machine that really nailed the property. The highlight, as you can imagine, was the animatronic King Kong that bangs on his chest and roars. To summon him, I had to hit a huge gong, which was suitably cinematic and felt straight out of the source material. At one point, I triggered something that released a whole bunch of balls onto the board, creating a truly chaotic scene as they flew everywhere, making all sorts of wild noises, and even seemingly being magnetically grabbed by a large spider. I was consistently surprised by how lively the King Kong machine was, making it stand out in my book.
The main attraction of the Stern Pinball area for me was, naturally, the two Pokémon Pinball machines. I got to play on two – the Pro and Premium models. The Premium has a couple of extra features, like an electromagnet that makes battle scenes more lively and, from what I could tell, more vivid vibrations from the machine. The Pokémon-themed machines are primarily based on the anime, so you get wonderful features like narration audio clips from the unforgettable voice of Rodger Parsons and even the first theme song, which is a staple in every ‘90s kid’s brain. Jessie, James, and Meowth are part of the game, and you can smash the ball into the iconic Meowth Team Rocket balloon to get extra points and some panicked screams from them.
Stern Pinball nailed the “catch ’em all” feeling of Pokémon in its pinball machine.
The coolest part of these machines has got to be the catching mechanic, though. Once you’ve filled up a specific bar, you encounter wild Pokémon and can attempt to catch them by hitting the ball into the large Poké Ball on the board. I ran into Pokémon from all different regions, so it isn’t exclusively Kanto or anything like that, which is always a relief given the monopoly Kanto holds on nostalgia. Catching a Pokémon records it into a dex, saving that catch and the Pokémon’s data. You can even keep track of all the ones you’ve caught on the Stern Insider Connected app, which is an extremely cool way of carrying over the thrill of collecting monsters from the main titles and translating it into a totally different format of game.
I had a fantastic time playing each of the Stern Pinball machines, and I’ll definitely play them again if I run into any in Toronto. All of the machines I discussed are available for purchase on the Stern Pinball website, though if you find the price to be a bit steep, like me, then being able to locate places with these machines in your city through the aforementioned app is a slick feature that’ll definitely aid me in checking them out again. If you dig any of the series I’ve discussed, I recommend finding a machine at your local barcade, as Stern goes the extra mile to make pinball machines perfectly tailored for fans of their media.
