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Silver Ball Century ep. 55 - Early 1989 - Get Ready for Battle

In this episode: Earthshaker, Atlantis, Big House, Corsario, Black Knight 2000, Motor Show, Transporter the Rescue

You can do it you can do it! Black Knight 2000 is going to overshadow a lot of things in this episode, and let's not let that distract us from the unstuck-in-time feeling of Atlantis, the tactility of Earthshaker, the frustration of Big House, or the disorienting weirdness of Transporter the Rescue.

I'm going to come out and say it: BK2K is not one of the greatest pinball machines. It gets repetitive, it has fewer shots you want to make than the original Black Knight, and as a physical game, it becomes unplayable as its flipper strength wears down. It is, however, an iconic pinball machine -- it may be what you think of when you think of '80s pinball. It's also the hypest pinball machine. When you are playing BK2K well, the lights and sounds make you feel amazing.

The most iconic thing about it is, of course, the music. Steve Ritchie credits Brian Schmidt and Dan Forden for the music, and Brian Schmidt and Dan Forden credit Steve Ritchie. The way it's told in pinball lore is that Steve Ritchie brought his electric guitar to the office and shredded out some cool riffs on it, and said "Black Knight 2000 should sound like that", and Brian and Dan made it happen.

Silver Ball Century goes live Thursday at 8 PM Eastern, on twitch.tv/arborelia.

Tables in this episode

#pinball #silver ball century