Is this Halloween? Not just yet, but all this month I'll be writing about Horror/Monster-themed Pinball machines. Let us proceed. To the Altars Of The Beast!! (Part I)
Elvira And The Party Monsters (1989 Midway)
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| Art By: Greg Freres Photo: Philippe Thibault/ipdb.org |
Design By: Dennis Nordman & Jim Patla
Sound/Music By: Chris Granner
Software By: Mark Penacho
25 Halloweens ago, Elvira And The Party Monsters came blowin' in off the crispy winds of the coming Samhain into Arcades across the country. Lo, and the dudes all looked upon her cartoon tits of light and many quarters/tokens were offered unto her bosom…and it was good.
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| flyer: ipdb.org |
The art of Greg Freres has adorned some of Pinball's greatest machines. From The Harlem Globetrotters (1979), to the Rolling Stones (1980), to Star Trek (1993/2013), he more recently contributed art to the incredible Wizard Of Oz (2013) machine. You can be certain the name Greg Freres will come up again and again in future posts. He is one of the industry's heavyweights who understands how vitally important a games art is to its success. (See LINK)
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| flyer: ipdb.org |
Dennis Nordman is one of the more innovative minds in the world of Pinball design. Nordman designed Elvira and many other games which were the cutting edge in Arcades when they were released. He has remained on that edge. Since 2012, Nordman has worked as a designer for a company called Multimorphic Inc. out of Austin TX. Multimorphic is the think-tank that created the first modular, multi-game, Pinball platform, the P3. (LINK)
The hefty, almost 10k price tag of the Multimorphic machines seems to be a bit high. Although, when you think of how many hours of specialized labor and materials go into creating one of these info-age treasures, they can't be turning a giant profit from it. Nordman's P3 is one example of the current pinnacle of Pinball. (Other examples would include: Jersey Jack Guarnieri, and Stern's John Borg.)
Like any true artist, Nordman has sacrificed himself for his art. While creating the Elvira And The Party Monsters machine, he had a serious motorcycle crash. You can't keep a good Wizard down.
Creature From The Black Lagoon (1992 Midway)
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| Art By: Kevin O'Connor Photo: Jeff Ball/ipdb.org |
Design By: John Trudeau
Animation By: Scott Slomiany
Mechanics By: Ernie Pizarro
Sound/Music By: Paul Heitsch
Software By: Jeff Johnson
The phenomenal art for Creature From The Black Lagoon was done by veteran Pinball-art badass, Kevin O'Connor. Yet another artist who will undoubtedly be mentioned over and over in Balls Of Steel, O'Connor has a killer portfolio. His art emblazons Flash Gordon (1981), Robocop (1989), The Simpsons (1990), Dirty Harry (1995), Indiana Jones (2008) to name a few classics in his almost 5 decade career-array.
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| Photo: Allen Shope/ipdb.org |
The design, which included the righteous holo-piece above, a cool whirlpool, multiball, and a dot-matrix video mode, in classic orange, was the work of electro-artisan, John Trudeau. Trudeau's credits include: The Flinstones (1994), and Judge Dredd (1993), which both also featured O'Connor's artwork. Trudeau also designed the classic Rocky (1982) machine, Q*Bert's Quest (1983), and the rare and treacherous Excalibur (1988).
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| flyer: ipdb.org |
Most recently, he designed the beautiful Mustang (2014) game for Stern. Luckily, with a production of about 7800 units in 1992, Creature From The Black Lagoon isn't a hard guy to find. (In Denver? Check the 1-Up Arcade: 1925 Blake St.)
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| Photo: Christopher Wolf/ipdb.org |
See you soon...
-2014 Wielgorecki
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