Cary Hardy provided some details on Cuphead on his most recent stream. He said the game is now on track to be released in July, the game has an upper right playfield similar to Foo Fighters, and a center ribbon shaped ramp similar to Hobbit. He also says it’s by far the best game AP has ever made.

This is exciting and hopefully the game is finally nearing release like he says. Will see what happens…

I think Cuphead would work well. I like the art and I could put it in my gameroom. I have little ones and I don’t want them seeing anything to violent or gory. (Evil dead, Predator)

Which July?

Yeah they buy their calendars at the same place CGC shops.
They both operate in an alternate Space Time Continuum.

As rough as the circumstances are for AP, and the horrible precedent they have leading up into Cuphead, I am somehow still very optimistic and interested in buying one if they don’t have catastrophic reliability issues at launch. The fact that it is a passion project with a phenomenal new designer with fresh ideas, paired with a licenser that 1. Loves pinball 2. Was active in the design process, and 3. Provided the art and music, which is most likely top notch like the game, gives me hope.

Even if the company is a wet fart, the people working on the game are not, and it’ll be great to see another product of passion in the market. I feel like only Spooky and BoF are pushing the bar forward at the moment, and although Cuphead won’t have any impact on the market, it can at least inspire other fans and designers.

Holy cow! Photos of American Pinball's new release have leaked, and it looks AWESOME!

American Pinball toy (resized).jpeg

For what it’s worth, I had been told the reason we haven’t had the reveal yet was due to Studio MDHR wanting to really lean into custom animations and music. That would not surprise me knowing how meticulous they are in their games. My brain says not to buy this, but I’m still going to.

I hope cuphead is a fast brutal game.

Yes, that's definitely the nice way to say "they got extra time due to Mukesh not wanting to make it until the old inventory of games is sold out"

The more I hear about this game the more it seems like it’s the studio wanting to make sure it’s ready, and not this “clear inventory” issue.

I had heard they needed to clear inventory to make room for new games, but I think they have moved a fair amount of those GTF signature models at this point given the price was borderline fire sale. I only see one SE on Pinside for sale, and it’s mostly some LE and some Deluxe ones. Can’t speak for their other games…

With that being said, if anyone is indeed looking for American Pinball machines I have some available. Sale lasts until July 7th (while supplies last).

NEW IN BOX!
Galactic Tank Force Signature - $7,995
Legends of Valhalla 'Classic' - $5,495
Hot Wheels 'Classic' - $6,895

Arcade Resurrection is Vermont's Authorized American Pinball Distributor. Contact Blake for shipping quote.

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Lol… what and work on the game at the hot pace they worked on every other of their releases?

If it weren’t for this thread, I wouldn’t even know what Cuphead was…(coming from a late gen-xer/early millennial/whatever).

American HAS the chops to make “good” games; every single one I’ve played is pretty stellar in the shots/layout/geometry department, and I have high hopes for Ryan’s hand at design that this thing will be awesome.

Theming is fickle however. 15 year old me walked past new Baywatch in the arcades to go play old T2. And now I have a Baywatch, and no T2.

But I’m old now, and recognize that 15 year olds don’t BUY pinball machines, but PLAY them on location. And old enough now to recognize that the dynamic has changed and those once 15 year olds will buy them for their homes, if the game is good, and if their family likes it. If it’s a truly popular theme, they’ll earn on location, AND be bought by home buyers.

Time will tell, and I’m cheering for Ryan/American!

Cary Hardy and others who have seen the game said it could end up surprising people a lot more than expected. The game is said to shoot very well, and has a mech that has never been done in pinball before. Combine this with a cool upper playfield, ribbon shaped ramp, and stellar animations with fun art on the screen/playfield.

I’m just excited to see what they have been working on for so long.

Even if it looks great, a lot of people won’t buy it due to concerns over future support in parts, firmware, software etc plus there’s so much competition/ choice right now

It seems like parts and people would be a top concern for API. In their current configuration as a company, it takes a lot of capital to fund the inventory of stuff needed to build machines, and then finding and contract employing skilled people to do the work would also be troublesome. If they do have a final design and prototype ready to build, it would be great to see it come to fruition as a new production machine, even if the Cuphead theme itself is not for me. Also, They might want to consider putting the code in an escrow account to minimize the buyers’ concerns about them possibly becoming insolvent, to enable software folks that have worked there in the past (like Josh) to help keep software bug fixes going if they had the time.

I love my two API pins. Just turned down a trade for my Oktoberfest for a modded Godzilla Pro.

I'm with you for not wanting to part with Oktoberfest. I think it's one one of my favorite pins to play. I did trade my Hot Wheels a while back and regret it a bit. I also still have Houdini and play it often. I even just plunked down some cheddar for the signature GTF. A friend of mine (who also loves his Oktoberfest) thinks I made a mistake grabbing a GTF with the company seemingly in turmoil, but I have been wanting one since it's release and couldn't pass up on the July 4th deal.

This 1000%

I would love a Hotwheels but I know the wife would be mad if I bought a new pin right now

I do regret selling my Oktoberfest. It was such an unbelievably fun, loaded game and I pretty much went to war with anyone who criticised it... I was seriously thinking about getting another, but there's just too many other games out there I really want to try.

They have all the money they need to build whatever they want as long as Aimtron wills it.

Since they went public last year, that might not be true. The bean counters really limited what David Fix could do, especially licenses.

Probably the reason that division is now doing contract building. Not necessarily pinball.

LTG : )

It's not 'their current configuration' that makes the above hard - that is true for all production of products. You have to spend money to R&D products, then you spend money to produce products, and then you try to SELL said product. All while floating your overhead the entire time. None of the above is optional. It's why ideas are cheap - but bringing product to market is not.

American has demonstrated year after year they want to be cheap. It should be no shocker that the posture caught up to them, bit them in the ass and they failed to reach critical mass for sustainability.

No company in their right mind is going market with a message of "Buy, because even when we fold up.. you are safe!". Nor is any company going to undermine their own asset values by promising to give it away.

I presume Aimtron is trying to eliminate inventory, reduce overhead, and somehow build Cuphead without sinking tons of new money into the segment. I'm sure the owners are trying to figure out how to get someone else to pickup the tab... but no one is going to pay top dollar for a design engineered on someone else's platform. Cuphead by AP is going to have to be built by Aimtron, or they are going to have to sell at a firesale price.

I know this ain't gonna happen. And way off topic. Thought of a cool pinball dynamic that'll never happen. You could place multiple identical machines side by side and play a coop game where both players games are in-sync and they're working towards the same objectives. That would be great. Could allow for opportunities like in Cuphead where when you play two players one player can save a dead player by hitting a target after that player drains. Or DnD could allow for a party of players. Could work like any arcade game where if you want back in just add more quarters and as long as your friend is alive you jump back in where they are.

If the bean counters say no, then aimtron won't be willing it, will they?

Friend has a LOV. He can't get anyone to help him. Can anyone willing to help pm me a phone number so he can call you? He is an operator. Right flipper stopped working. He was sent a new coil. 3 different fuses have blown. I don't know anything about American games...

Sounds like an issue with the board the fuses are on.

LTG : )

I expect it to be P-ROC driver boards like the rest of AP games were.. should be able to troubleshoot with P-ROC insights..

https://www.american-pinball.com/support/service/
There is a phone number to call for support.

Apparently they haven't been very helpful.

Support should be able to help him if he calls.

With that said, here is some help. If a coil continually blows on a fuse on LOV it usually takes the mosfet (transistor) with it. so the mosfet needs to be replaced. Of course you can test these transistors but its most likely bad if it continually blows the same fuse.

If you have 3 different blown fuses test the transistors.
For example you said the right flipper. The right flipper according to the manual is Q10 (on the pd-16 board under the middle of the playfield) and the right flipper hold is Q11. If one or both of these mosfets tests bad you would have to replace those bad transistors on the pd-16 board. Here is a nice video showing how to test and replace. Thanks to Dave Brennan.

If you have multiple issues with the pd-16 driver board, you might consider a replacement. Just ensure you set the jumpers correctly as per the manual.
https://www.pinballlife.com/multimorphic-pd-16-v2.html

And, if you don't have the manual, its here.
http://s4.american-pinball.com/img/support/2022-3/Rampage-Manual-10-19-2021.pdf

Thank you very much for this!

There is going to be a Cuphead Show panel at San Diego Comic Con this Saturday. It’s interesting that Netflix is hosting a panel for the show since it ended back in 2022 and it’s been a number of years now.

They could be announcing a new season or even a film, but could there even be mention of a new game at this panel?

Will be interesting to see if anything related to the pinball game comes out of this.

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Dropping a new show/game/movie would be a good reason for waiting on the pin announcement.

I wouldn't get too excited, A.P. should be able to find a way to screw it all up.

or maybe just do the bare min per the contract and then walk away.

Nothing but silence from my usual AP source on this now. Either they are gearing up for something or there could be new trouble brewing. We shall see if anything comes out of the weekend.

Does anyone know if the "new hires" Nate and Amanda are still at AP?

Yes.

LTG : )

PAGING @rms1977!!

My son and I have played it a few times. Very fun game. Not sure what the hang up is. Hopefully it gets released to the public soon.

You should ask API to allow you to release a "leaked" potato cam pic. Seems like you're there often enough, and on really super terms with the management. Could only help, right?

How recently did you play it?

Aside from it being a “very fun game”, is there anything else you can share? Does it appear finished?

Glad to see it’s still a viable product at this point. As I said before, people are now telling me it’s August. The date on this thing has moved so many times I don’t know what to believe anymore.

.

ÀP has one chance to make a good impression. A leaked photo would hurt them not help. Release in a dozen arcades and take orders. That would do it!

They did that with Barry's Barbecue in 10 locations. Scheduled for a Saturday.

LTG : )

Dude. Has anyone actually tried calling support? My buddy called for help, guy was like "I don't really know much about these games." WTF?!