I Still Think That Stern Pinball's Walking Dead Remastered is Delayed; Is a Special JAWS 50th Anniversary Topper Coming?; A New South Park Pinball Machine?
By knapparcade
Back on February 7th, I wrote the following on the Knapp Arcade website: "I'm calling this story a rumor because I have not personally seen this game with my own two eyes yet, but I am very sure that this is happening. In my 2025 forecast for Stern Pinball, I gazed into my crystal ball and said that a Vault or remake game is happening in the fall. At the time, I hypothesized that game might be Ghostbusters or Tron. Then I started hearing rumblings that the game wasn't a Vault per se, but a Remaster of a game, most likely one done by designer John Borg. I started speculating about what that could be and have now verified, as much as anyone can at this point, that the new Stern Remaster will be based upon Borg's 2014 pinball machine The Walking Dead. I have a fairly high degree of certainty with this one. Beyond the title, I have no additional information on a Walking Dead Remaster at this time other than it is tentatively slated in the schedule for October. Clearly, Stern will redo the game's fairly universally panned art package. I think that kept sales of the original lower than they should have been for a fun game with great Lyman Sheats code." This was the first time that a Remastered version of Stern Pinball's Walking Dead had been mentioned as a possibility. It's almost certainly coming. Despite recent statements to the contrary, I strongly believe that we will not see Stern Pinball's new Walking Dead Remastered pinball machine until after Halloween. I have now heard from multiple people that the game has been pushed back. Some have said that it was pushed all the way into 2026, but I don't know if it will be that far. I still kind of think that we will see it sometime in November. One way or another, I would be very surprised if Stern revealed the new TWD this week or next.
Another rumor that came out of last week's Chicago Pinball Expo is that Stern Pinball is going to create special accessories for its new JAWS 50th Anniversary pinball machine, including a special 50th Anniversary topper and new inner art blades. I have no idea if this is true, but it's definitely out there.
Back in 1999, SEGA Pinball (a precursor to the aforementioned Stern Pinball), released a pinball machine based on the Comedy Central television show South Park. I am hearing rumblings that a new pinball machine based on the show may be in the works (not from Stern). This is an early rumor about a game that wouldn't probably be released until 2027 at the earliest, but keep your eye on this one. That's all I have on the subject at this point, but if I am able to confirm this or find out more I will report back.
