Terminator Pinball Boasts Grenade Launcher

Thanks to RetroGames for pointing to a new review of the Terminator 3 pinball machine from sole remaining pinball manufacturer Stern, which features "a Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher in the backglass" as its chief gimmick. Unfortunately, there's no actual high explosives, as "..this interactive mechanism fires balls into targets for high score and progressive game play", but the official product page does point out that this machine was "..designed by Steve Ritchie, formerly of Williams.. [and creator of] Black Knight, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Firepower, and High Speed." The UK Pinball News site has a review of the pintable with plenty more pictures, but concludes that, though fun, Stern's previous release, The Simpsons Pinball Party was probably more enjoyable.

Comments

Michigan?

[XO]

Anyone seen one of these in Michigan? Or nearby?

So far, all the Stern pinball games have absolutely sucked since Williams and Gottlieb went away, but I do hold out hope that with all the Williams designers on staff (at least contracted in) they will actually get some quality games out sometime... Monopoly blew, the NFL one blew, and the only Simpsons Pinball Party I've seen was completely broken.

But, I do have hope.. as they are the only remaining manufacturer.

Steve Ritchie, the Beethoven of pinball

[Allen Varney]

I'm not a pinball aficionado, but among those who are, Steve Ritchie is revered as one of the world's great pinball designers. He designed the first two-level layout, Black Knight (1980), and holds several important patents. Some call him "The Master of Flow."

This interview with Ritchie isn't perhaps gripping in itself for the non-hobbyist, but it does show the veneration fans hold for him.

See RGP for more info

[Krellan]

The newsgroup rec.games.pinball (RGP) has been full of information and chatter about this game.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=T3+group:rec.gam es.pinball


In fact, as an in-joke, it is common to call T3's RPG mode "RGP mode" :)

About the RPG mode:

At various points in the gameplay, the ball will be held on the playfield and you will be required to play this mini-game in the backglass. There are 5 targets on the left side of the backglass, and a rotating cannon on the right. You fire the ball out of the cannon in an attempt to hit the targets. This is homage to the T2 pinball machine (made in 1991), which had a similar setup on the playfield itself.

It's good to have some action in the backglass. Recently, games have been made cheaper by just having a single flourescent light fixture in the backglass, instead of multiple smaller lights that would flash in pretty patterns. However, T3 has a retro-style backglass, that looks very sharp and impressive, which is good.

They are trying to make the games simpler and more mechanically reliable. Notice that there are no sensors at all in the rotating cannon! There's also no mechanism to feed the ball into the cannon. Instead, the ball is just expected to naturally roll into the cannon, since the bottom of the mini-game area is sloped this way. It seems to work quite well! Because the ball has to have a lot of airtime as it travels across the backglass, it is extremely lightweight (like a ping-pong ball, not a pinball). There were some concerns that the ball would roll back into the cannon slowly or get caught on something, since it is so lightweight. In the T3 machine I've played, however, it worked perfectly, which is good!