Banzai Run Pinball Review!

Here's one of the final videos I took on my last visit to my buddy Dave's basement arcade. His newest game he got for his collection is a beautiful Banzai Run from Williams that was released back in 1988. This game was co-designed by Larry DeMar and Pat Lawlor, his first design with the company. Pat had worked on a few prototypes before finally settling with the game's Supercross setting.

The game is well known for it's two tier playfield and it's also the game's major setback. There's A LOT that can go wrong with this game and for that reason it's very hard to find out in the wild. Even when I visited the Pinball Hall of Fame two years ago two of the workers where having a debate of whether or not they should even power the game on because they knew they'd be spending more time fixing it then operating it. I chimed in saying that even if they had the game on one dollar for three balls I'd still play it. For a game like this that's really hard to find and play one that's in good condition I'll pay a little extra to play it, same goes with other notorious games to fix like Haunted House and Black Hole.

Since the game came out in 88' it's pretty simple. Your goal is to become king of the mountain by defeating the other four racers in the game. On the lower playfield you need to complete four groups of target banks. Then if you can hit the ball at the top a little biker magnet will take the ball into the upper playfield. You then have to complete all four shots to "defeat" the other racers. If you're able to do that you can earn the game's two ball multiball mode. You might think it's only having two balls might make it lame or easy, but keep in mind, if you get into multiball BOTH playfields are active! I've only seen people get the jackpot a handful of times, but if you wanna see how it's done make sure to check out the video PAPA Pinball did with Bowen Kerins who makes it look REALLY easy!

Thanks for checking out the video! For all our friends in the US we hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Arcade Hunters Podcast Episode 45: Future Retro

This week we take a look at some of the arcade easter eggs that are hidden in Fallout 4. We also share some of our first impressions of the game and how it compares to Fallout 3 and New Vegas. In the second half of the episode we switch gears as Nick shares with us the sad news that the Nanuet Arcade in Nanuet, New York will be closing. This leads to a discussion on some of the various strategies that arcade operators use when running their arcade. All this and more in episode 45: Future Retro!

Red & Ted's Road Show!

Here's another one of the batch of videos I shot when I visited my buddy Dave. This time we're taking a look at 1994's Red & Ted's Road Show! This widebody machine from Williams was lead designed by pinball legend, Pat Lawlor. This game has not one, but two talking dummy heads, Red and Ted. Just like Rudy from Funhouse, Red and Ted use Williams' patented "Pinmation" technology where the eyes on the head will "track" the ball in the game. It seems that Williams still holds this patent because even up to games like The Simpson's Pinball Party other talking head toys have to move at random and can't really interact with the ball. Data East was planning on making a Mad Magazine machine with an Alfred E. Neumann talking head but the game never made it past the prototype phase.

This game was touted off as being so large in scope with so many modes that players wouldn't be able to see the whole game without having to use the buy-in feature. I've done it before, but it was with extra balls turned on, but even still the game's got a lot to do. Your goal is to tour around the United States on Red & Ted's construction crew visiting landmarks and collecting souvenirs that can later be traded in to add to your score. Red's voice is provided by country singer, Carlene Carter who also provides a song that plays during the Multiball and Wizard Mode. Ted was voiced by Tim Kitzrow who many folks might know is the voice of Midway's own, NBA Jam!

The one thing to note with this video is I shot this a couple of months ago. Well before Bowen Kerins amazing video he did over at PAPA TV where they actually went cross country with a Road Show pinball machine to a bunch of different locations! I had no idea about the "Magic Stand Up Target" that is under the top left flipper. All you have to do is not flip the ball and it'll hit a little target right in front of the right flipper and it'll count for many modes in the game!

The game is a lot of fun and well worth checking out. It's available over on The Pinball Arcade, so make sure to check it out!

Bally's Gilligan's Island

As a child of the 1980's if you wanted to play video games the TV had to be on channel 3. Growing up channel 3 was TBS Superstation so I got in a lot of classic TV reruns like The Brady Bunch, The Munsters, The Addams Family and Gilligan's Island. I had no idea this game even existed up to a few years ago. I never saw this game when it was originally released, only here at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas.

Gilligan's Island from Bally was released in 1991 and it was the first game developed by Bally/Williams that used a Dot Matrix display. However since this game took longer to create Terminator 2 came out first with Gilligan coming out a few months later. Some folks confuse this thinking this was the first ever Dot Matrix display game but Data East's Checkpoint has the honor of being the very first game released with the display. Although Data East used much smaller displays then Bally/Williams was using. They later went up to the normal sized displays but of course in the 90's everything had to be bigger and better so games like Frankenstein, Baywatch and Batman Forever used the super sized displays and also touted off having six player games,

Now you think I'm delaying the review...well I am. Other then the game being Bally's first DMD game the whole game is pretty boring and lackluster. It tries to play out like an episode of the show, you the player are Gilligan and you have to help The Professor to create a Lava Seltzer to give to the volcano god, Kona. The game has a cool little rotating wheel on the left ramp that will divert the ball around, but other then that the game is just very slow and other then collecting the stuff to make Lava Seltzer there's not much to do.

I had a chance to play this game shortly after Tim and the crew at the museum cleaned the game up and put it back in the lineup. Even with the game all cleaned, polished and with new flippers the game still played VERY slowly. The game you watch me play is actually my second time trying to get a video of and I just decided the heck with it and went with what I had. Many people consider this game Bally/Williams worst game of the era and I tend to agree with them. It's hard to believe that they where making this and T2 at the same time. Even without the T2 theme that game is still WAY more fun to play with trying to get the multiball, trying to re-lock the balls and shooting for the game's Super Jackpot. What do you do in this? Collect all the stuff and keep shooting the ramp for millions.

Not the worst, I'd still rather play this then a lot of the 90's era Gottlieb machines.

The Lost Arcade

The Lost Arcade Teaser from ArcadeMovie on Vimeo.

After many years of development the movie, The Lost Arcade is finally complete! This Saturday they'll be having their world premier and I'll be going! I'll have all the info about the flick after I get back!

For those of you new this is an indy film all about the final days of famed New York City arcade, Chinatown Fair. From the beginnings, to the 80's when they had the famous Tic-Tac-Toe playing chicken then to the 90's and early 2000's when fighting games ruled the roost. They also touch on the new owner of the arcade that has made the place a more family friendly, Dave and Busters type of arcade with tickets to go along with fighters and others. They also touch on "The Next Level" arcade which will sadly be closing soon.

If you're in the NYC area make sure you go and check it out! They have two showings so click the link above and make sure to check it out!

Arcade Hunters Podcast Episode 44: It's SPOOPY!

Halloween may have just ended, but we are extending it by keeping the scares going on All Saints Day! Join us as we discuss some of the creepier moments in arcade gaming. Digitized voices, animatronics, and creepy art make our list this week. Be sure to also check out our Games of Halloween playlist over on our youtube page as well as the plethora of pictures uploaded this month on Instagram as we counted down the 31 Games of Halloween. We had a blast this year and can not wait till the next Halloween season.