Delayed from their initial reveal in London last week due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, today Stern Pinball pulled back the curtain on their next release to the market, James Bond 007. Some leaks of the cabinet did find their way onto the internet last week and they are confirmed to be accurate but let’s see what Stern has for us now that the trailer and game page have dropped:
There are four models available – Pro, Premium, LE and a special 60th Anniversary LE that will be revealed soon. As opposed to what I guessed in the beginning, this is completely based upon Sean Connery’s portrayal of the world’s most famous famous spy…although I do wonder if that might be expanded upon in the 60th.
Here are the Pro features, which include an Aston Martin DB5 ball ejector, Spectre Bird One Rocket base that jostles around on a spring and has a ball lock mech behind it, two ramps with wireframes instead of plastic down ramps, three flippers, and clips from six 007 films:
Premium ups the ante, with artwork based on the film You Only Live Twice, all the features of the Pro with the addition of a Bond Jetpack mechanism that includes a magnet and a figurine of Bond, an elevator w/ ramp around the rocket base that leads to the ball lock, enhanced Underwater fight scene area where another Bond figurine resides, and much more. There’s too much to go on in a post but thankfully Stern has posted their Features Matrix PDF which you can browse here if you are interested.
As always, LE models feature the same playfield as Premium but it comes with different art and some other nice perks; It will also only be available in 1,000 units worldwide.
As to “why the Connery version?,” I’ve seen a number of “top Bond” lists and Sean Connery pretty much always comes out on top. Keep in mind too that most of Stern’s target market is older so they likely tend to agree with that assessment too. Even if he isn’t your #1, this machine looks to capture what makes the character so beloved.
What do you think about this? If you’re into pinball, are you getting one?
