“Oh my god, I tried this game when it got released and it was such a shitty, shitty experience.” – RETROCENGO on Batman ’66 (Stern 2016).
Sometimes I’ll mix it up with folks online that I don’t know that well personally. YouTubers, some (many?) are particularly easy subjects (not going to use “targets” because the intention isn’t to be trollish, it’s meant to understand the person’s viewpoint better) because these personalities love to dish, but often find it harder to take. It’s about much more than poking the bear, it’s trying to explore deeper their dimensions, if they have any, and whether or not their allegiance to brands can be swayed and perhaps most importantly to consider an alternative perspective. Also, I fully realize personal taste can’t be debated — and not trying that here.
Fact: a person likes, dislikes or is ambivalent towards creative works.
Me, you, we all react to our own personal tastes. Trying to argue with people on their opinions is pointless, because human beings are all different. Yes, some or maybe even a lot of us enjoy something, but there will always be others that dislike whatever that is and most will probably fall somewhere in the middle.
Pinball is no exception.
One such YouTube personality, is the uber enthusiastic RETROCENGO (pronounced “retro jango”, for those that don’t know this guy). He’s Dutch and if you’ve ever watched any of his streams (his YouTube channel link is here: https://www.youtube.com/@RETROCENGO), this guy is all-in — or seems so — with Stern pinball. I asked him recently if he ever disliked anything from Stern pinball and he replied with two videos, the first one we’ll talk about here is linked below and his second is the Star Wars LE he bought, which we won’t talk as much about. Will say I much more agree with him on Star Wars than Batman ’66, but it is what it is.
You’ll have to settle for a link to RETROCENGO’s Batman ’66 review (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_X5UFDUyfY) because he isn’t allowing embedding on this vid. I wonder if he does that with all his positive vids and only chose to block embedding on this one? Don’t know, didn’t test. Maybe he’ll appear and say something about it in the comments here.
RETROCENGO owns, or co-owns, arcades and operates them in Denmark. A place where a single game of pinball costs $3-4 per play. Ouch. Pinball is a worldwide hobby, and am glad to see enthusiastic people like him in the hobby. This guy just exudes personality and excitement. I wish all YouTubers could seem this genuinely excited about whatever they are talking about. I do believe RETROCENGO loves pinball. And Stern.
But he clearly does not like Batman ’66.
In a way, I get it. Batman ’66 the TV show is different than the Batman movies. I wrote about the TV show on my wife and my personal movie review blog once upon a time (see: 1966 Joker vs. 2019 Joker – Which Is Best? – Movies, Movies, Movies (wordpress.com)) Batman has mostly been a darker, more despondent figure and he wasn’t represented that way at all in the 1960s campy TV show. He is a wise-cracking superhero with enemies that are so over-the-top (Penguin played by the late, great Burgess Meredith and the Joker by Caesar Romero). These actors played up their roles in making this TV show that I looked forward to seeing after school. Even the fights are campy and oversold, intentionally shot at extreme angles with gigantic comic BAM! and WHACK! when they hit each other. This TV show is largely about having fun, not conflict.
It’s the perfect theme, in this author’s opinion, for a goofy, fun, avant garde pinball machine. You can capture the villains of Gotham City, shoot ramps and targets and even has this crane moving across the playfield that holds a captive ball. The artwork, music and LCD video clips scream fan service to the TV show.
But you have to like the TV show. Adam West (RIP) as Batman. He played the role with stoic wit that comes off as laughable as time goes. So much in 2024 that I can see why somebody like RETROCENGO that didn’t like the TV show doesn’t like the pinball.
Batman ’66 is not a perfect Stern pinball game, but it’s a lot of fun. Up until seeing RETROCENGO’s review, I haven’t seen that much bad said about the game (other than the scoring). He’s the first to really, really dislike it strongly, hence the leadoff quote in his video and it goes on and on for several minutes emotionally venting, but light on substance.
“Wow this one sucks! It sucks Donkey’s ass!” – RETROCENGO
It’s funny that he doesn’t mention the main thing I dislike about the game: the exploited multipliers. It doesn’t seem like he ever played it enough to realize how huge scoring could become. This was an issue in the March 2024 IC tournament, when Eric Stone from Florida and others were flipping scores into the trillions on Jaws (see: Human Programmers Make Mistakes, Customers Should Not be Unwilling Beta Testers) and once Stern patched those scoring issues, moved onto an older game: Batman ’66.
So, no, Batman ’66 isn’t the best Stern Spike 2 pinball game, but IMO it’s far from the worst. Probably I rated it too high in 2023 Ranking All 22 Spike 2 Stern Pinball Machines at #7 and after this year’s March promotion and further thought on the scoring issues that Stern doesn’t seem to want to fix, am dropping it. Probably out of the top 10. Also, Jaws is way better than Batman ’66, so where does that fit in. We’ll find out around Christmas time when the 2024 rankings are published. Batman ’66 is falling, RETROCENGO, you might like that.
Ironically, RETROCENGO in his 2021 “turbo” review of Batman ’66 talks about how the code update was underwhelming and yet recently mentioned another game and code he seemed (?) to like: John Wick.
The state of John Wick’s current code is abysmal (see John Wick Pro + Premium (Stern 2024 v0.81 code) Detailed Thoughts after Flipping On Location + Show), so yet another thing I disagree with RETROCENGO. In fairness to him, he said the following: “John wick is not that bad …”
“Not that bad” is what led me to comment in the Facebook group. It’s not a ringing endorsement of anything saying it’s “not that bad.” He likes the John Wick theme? I don’t — in its current code status, anyway, although it is getting better. I do agree that it shoots well and is fast. John Wick is not selling well, just like Venom didn’t sell very well. Jaws is a way better game than John Wick and Venom. Two of the last three games Stern has released have been duds.
I stop short of saying commercial flops because I don’t know the numbers. Locally, I do see a lot of Venom and Wick pinball machines on location and our vendor friend Candyman tells me John Wick is doing OK. He also said his Venom was doing alright not too long ago, so no idea how that compares to Jaws, which I see people playing more every time I’m at the arcade. I’m not watching the arcades 24/7, but when I’m there neither Venom or John Wick are being played much. I’ve heard tournament players like Venom, so maybe it’s getting some love there. Also, I’ve heard that people play machines on location more that they don’t own at home.
A game we don’t see much around here is Batman ’66. I wish more places had this game. Surely, RETROCENGO would disagree with this sentiment, but it’s a different pin. It might be the age, as Batman ’66 was one of the first Spike 2’s to be released and they are nearing the release of the first Spike 3.
Your turn. Do you like Stern’s Batman ’66? Dislike it strongly like RETROCENGO? Or are you somewhere in the middle on this title? Would love to hear your comments either way. Please keep it nice and don’t attack RETROCENGO, I do like the guy’s personality and appreciate his passion and enthusiasm, despite disagreeing with him on Batman ’66, John Wick, Munsters (yeah, he likes that too, or so it seems) and probably several other games. A world of echo chambers where everybody agrees with everybody is boring. It might even be … shitty 😉
I haven’t played Batman 66 enough to really know if it’s a good game or not. I do know that the few times I have played it has not excited me and I don’t have the desire to run out and find it to play.
It’s not out there a lot (older for a modern machine, too) and it’s one that I didn’t feel as good about initially as have with repeated plays. Some pins are slow like that to grab you. Did you like the TV show, Jason? If you don’t like the TV show I think this pin is harder to enjoy at first. I do like the show, but the game seems a bit simple at first, but there’s more to do when you play it more, which I think in part is what has drawn me more back to it. I only wish the stacked multiplier scoring didn’t get so crazy, because that ruins my enjoyment somewhat. There are so many villains to beat!
I haven’t even seen a Batman 66 in the wild, otherwise I would’ve played it. I get the low interest in John Wick and Venom versus games like Jaws. John Wick, much like the game Black Knight SoR, and Venom to a lesser degree, are “fast” games, as in they’ll eat your ball fast. John Wick and Black Knight especially with all of their close stand-up targets. I think they’re pretty punishing for newcomers. Venom has more of a standard fan layout, but thanks to vertical pinball locks (“symbiote vessel containment”) the game plays a bit quicker than other pins, which again might be intimidating for newer players.
If you’re going to coin drop, you’ll probably want more time out of your quarters?