Art is and will always be subjective. Some will like, some won’t, some will try to look past, if the underlying product/theme/whatever is worthwhile.
Have said this multiple times before: I play all pinball games — not just real pinball, but virtual pinball, any type of pinball-themed game (pinball board games, yes) –regardless of theme or art. The art can look like trash to me, have a theme I don’t like, but if it’s pinball, I’m giving it a flip. Barry O’s Barbecue, I played that not too long ago, and the theme — unless you are hungry for barbecue — is awful. The game? Not much better.
At least that’s in color.
Maybe just me, but I haven’t spoken to many pinball players over the years that have told me thy really wanted to play and buy black and white pinball machines. My favorite TV show of all time is black and white: Twilight Zone, and I don’t like as much the color versions of that show, but wouldn’t buy a B&W Twilight Zone pinball machine. Wouldn’t want to own one. If you gave me one, I wouldn’t stop it from entering my gameroom, however 😉
So, for whatever amount of people clamoring for mostly black and white pinball machines, hey, give it to them. Especially when the price is the same and it’s not devaluing the LE models, which is what upset those with last year’s Jurassic Park and Elvira House of Horrors Blood Red Kiss editions.
Stern listened to disappointed five digit NIB LE owners and they should be — and are in some places by some folks — applauded for that.
Friends have asked me what I think of the Godzilla 70th Anniversary edition? In person am sure it will look good, but I don’t live in a desaturated world. I like and prefer playing pinball in vibrant colors. The main character in pinball, the ball, is silver. That ball traveling around a canvas mostly in black and white, with few exceptions, reduces my excitement in the experience.
That said, I have played the Elvira Blood Red Kiss and that is my favorite version of Elvira HOH, so maybe Godzilla 70th will dazzle.
We must play a pinball game to know whether or not we like it
Godzilla was my #1 Spike 2 of the 22 ranked at the end of last year (see: 2023 Ranking All 22 Spike 2 Stern Pinball Machines), and for good reason: it’s a great game. The colorful art adds to the experience, yes, absolutely, but it’s the game itself that I adore. Just can’t see where a B&W version replaces my fondness for the colorized Godzilla version. Don’t need to buy, but if I’m blown away after playing it, then it’s the same price. We can choose.
Good.
Literally, the day before Stern announced the Godzilla 70th Anniversary edition, I was invited to join three others on InBeforeTheLock (https://inbeforethelock.com/) to discuss black and white pinball machines through history and a Godzilla B&W. That discussion in full is embedded below, but unfortunately it came off kind of dry, uneventful and underwhelming. I am grateful for the invite and mean no disrespect to all involved, but said privately and now publicly, paraphrasing, that it wasn’t as entertaining as it could have been.
Blaming this in part on the primary subject matter: black and white pinball.
The history of B&W pinballs is boring, sorry. I’d just skim through that part if you watch and move into the more interesting discussion that we had on Insider Connected (but also wished we had somebody on the panel that despises paid DLC to debate and contrast the group). Keeping it real.
One of the hosts, Davey, has made several cool Godzilla Stumblor (https://stumblorpinball.com/) mods that have been popular and well-received.
Oh my, these look amazing and all of course are in color, although he did show some mockups where B&W could be used. Personally, I haven’t done much with mods and looked that deeply into using any of them (a lone exception would be Add Animation Flair to Stern Spike 2 Speakers with Pinsound Pinvision Coming Summer 2024), but these are definitely compelling.
I don’t see a world full of B&W pinball, but can see it sharing a niche space in pinball. It’s good to be different, too, sometimes, but a long line of B&W pinball machines? Um, no. Maybe others see and want this, but the world of entertainment has moved past those days. There’s a good reason. People love color. They want TV and movies in vibrant color, in high resolution, 1080p, 4K, more, more, more. How many want 4k or 8K B&W?
But for those that do, give it to them.
How do you feel about B&W pinball? Yes, there is a touch of color, these aren’t completely B&W. In the case of Godzilla 70th, that red definitely sticks out, but it’s not doing it for me like Elvira Blood Red Kiss, at least from pictures and video. Got to play it. Are you excited for Godzilla 70th in B&W? Do you prefer the color version or this new version?