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BlahCade 258: Table Speculation Time

Jared Morgan Jared Morgan Follow Apr 03, 2023 · 6 mins read
BlahCade 258: Table Speculation Time
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Here we go again, our favorite thing to do: speculation! Zen’s latest Pinball Show gave us lots to chew on, and chew we do.

  • Is South Park coming back?

  • Will we see a Harry Potter table?

  • Are Twilight Zone and Whirlwind next on the Williams collection?

But first, Chris declares his addiction to Oakley frames, and old-school watches. He will happily accept offers of any frames you might want to get rid of!

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Show notes

02:30 - Oakley frames and watch

Chris has an addiction, and it is Oakley prescription frames.

If you want to feed his addiction, you can send him any Oakley frames you no longer want.

12:00 - Pinball Bites

The Pinball Show has changed studio locations to Europe, and now Akos and Linne are running the show from the Budapest office.

The show features interviews from new Zen Pinball designers and punchy updates about the upcoming Steam release.

Mel came on the show to update us on what was coming up.

16:00 - Mel’s hints

Mel mentioned that we would get a "Legendary table surprise" in his update. Is this hint a nod to those tables that didn’t make it into FX3, such as Ms. Splosion Man, Plants vs. Zombies or even older ones like Street Fighter.

There will also be a Williams table released in April, along with a new partner that will surprise us.

Mel basically confirmed that Super League Football is set to make an appearance again in Pinball FX in the same breath as the following:

  • Fairly good chance of South Park appearing again.

  • Portal and The Walking Dead might even come back.

  • Aliens vs. Pinball and Balls of Glory

Generally, if Mel says something about a table pack franchise, the ink is already dry on the contract, and it is only a matter of time until we see them on the platform.

Five new tables are coming for April

It has been a while since the studio announced any new tables, so it makes sense that five are coming in April.

We both reckon that the Godzilla vs. Kong pack will be a three-pack.

The key point about the "Williams table" is that it is singular. So that would probably mean a Bally table.

Based on the back wall hint, the Williams table will be either Twilight Zone or Whirlwind. If it was Twilight Zone, that would be a $10 table. Oh, the enhancement possibilities in Twilight Zone.

36:00 - Terminator 2 skull in the backdrop of the previous show

The community alerted us to another possible hint of a T-600 skull on the back wall.

This would be a welcome addition to the platform, but we’d prefer The Twilight Zone.

38:00 - Designer dream themes

The last segment of Pinball Bites delved into the staff’s preferences for what their dream table theme would be.

Linne said, "Transformers". Zen already has a relationship with Hasbro, so that is a possibility. If a Transformers table is coming, Zen needs to go all in on a transforming table. Zen has experimented with a table that changes gameplay with Blade and its day and night modes that score differently.

Akos says he’s been nagging the studio to get a license for a Futurama table. Just think of transporter tubes instead of rails. Just hire the voice actors to do Fry and Leila callouts. Zen already has a relationship with Fox, so Futurama could be arranged.

Deep said he already did his grail table, which was Back to the Future. But if he could do another one, he’d choose Killer Instinct from Midway. Maybe you could retheme the Street Fighter II table with Killer Instinct art?

Anna said she would love to do a Harry Potter table. We wholeheartedly agree that a Quidditch table would be an easy sell. Then you could do a table that was all about spells and magic. And then a story-based table focusing on some or all of the movie storylines.

Gary wants to do a Jazz Jackrabbit 2 based pinball game. We had yet to learn about what this game is about other than that it is a side-scrolling platformer. The main character transforms into a ball when it jumps between platforms. Maybe that’s the idea behind the game designer.

Chris would like to see a Cowboy Bebop machine because of the excellent music and memorable sound bites.

I think exploring a Neon Genesis Evangelion table could work, particularly the whole battle scenes in that series. Use the combat scenarios as modes. Chris riffed on that and suggested Robotech or Voltron. But please don’t do Power Rangers.

60:00 - Gary said a title based on "Music"

Gary said that he was working on a music-themed table. The QA tester said that he is testing out a horror-themed table. That could be any Elvira pinball or even Dracula.

1:05:00 - What original music table could Zen go after

After joking about "The Barenaked Ladies" having their own pinball game, we speculate about what music license would have the most possibility.

Think about which artists have done Superbowl half-time shows, and maybe start there?

How hard would it be to decide what band to start negotiations with? Who would you start talking with?

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Jared Morgan
Written by Jared Morgan Follow
Technical writer, product person, VR junkie.