Stern Pinball’s Iron Maiden: Legacy Of The Beast Revealed

After a short teaser released on Saturday, Stern Pinball has pulled the curtain back on their latest table, the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. IGN received the goods first (as they have with several Stern pins of recent memory) which you can read about here; then let’s get into our own breakdown.

One interesting tidbit about this is that this was originally reported to be a design by John Trudeau but given his recent legal troubles (we haven’t heard an update on that yet as to whether or not he was convicted or released), his name is nowhere to be found in the article. Instead, Keith Elwin (who designed an Archer pinball machine for himself and joined Stern not too long ago) is named as the designer with Jeremy “Zombie Yeti” Packer as the artist. No idea if the table has been completely re-designed by Keith but it has been pointed out that this shares the Archer table design so it seems likely. We’ll probably find out more details on that down the road.

Iron Maiden Pro

OK, let’s focus on the game now, starting with the cabinet. IGN has only unveiled the Pro model at this point, we’ll update once details on the Premium/LE models come to light. I’ll also preface this by saying that I have never sought out for Iron Maiden music so am mostly indifferent about the theme. But that also means that I don’t ‘get’ the references here, which mainly gravitate towards zombie rockers ‘ n warriors and an Egyptian mummy theme. I like the vibrant color on the art and the detail seems nice. We’d need to hear from a real IM fan as to what they think about that portion of it:

Stern has posted the game Features Matrix, so let’s share. They’ve improved the look of this with some nice art but this file is so small that the text is pretty much microscopic:

Here’s the playfield, where players get to enjoy three ramps (with one being setup like one of the ramps in The Lord Of The Rings), four flippers, a 3-bank drop target and a captive ball. One of the more surprising parts of the build is that for a Pro, it has no plastic ramps – all metal. That’s not just nice for the ‘heavy metal’ nature of the game but also durability. The shot to a ramp through the pop bumpers is also an interesting touch. By appearances, it does look like it could be fun but one has to play to be sure:

Premium/LE Editions will reportedly have these extras (just going to quote):

• Interactive sarcophagus ball lock.
• Motorized secret tomb entrance.
• Controlled middle pharaoh laser-cut metal ramp that raises to reveal the underworld scoop.
• Dual sensing Newton ball (This is pinball firmly mounted on the playfield that, when hit, transfers energy to a captive ball behind it).
• Two custom Eddie sculpts.

Before getting to some other close-ups, here’s the track list:

• Aces High
• 2 Minutes to Midnight
• The Trooper
• Wasted Years
• Can I Play With Madness
• Number of the Beast
• Run to the Hills
• Powerslave
• Hallowed Be Thy Name
• Flight of Icarus
• Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Fear of the Dark

At this point, if an arcade or bar has all of the rock bad pins released in the past 10 years, they’d have a pseudo-jukebox to enjoy.

A couple of  close-ups:

What are your thoughts on Stern’s latest efforts from what we know so far?