Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Something some other Pokémon news sources didn’t talk about: Stern Pinball has made a pinball machine based around Pokémon, but I’m guessing there will be more details in the Pokémon Presents that should be coming up at the end of this month.
It seems to be based on the early seasons of the anime, based around Ash’s travels through Kanto, featuring stuff like a replica of Team Rocket’s Meowth balloon that you can hit, collecting and evolving Generation I Pokémon, and a loop featuring a model of Pikachu. I don’t know that much about it right now, though it does seem to be a part of Stern’s pivot away from pop culture of the 70s and 80s (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Wrestlemania, KISS) and into the 90s. It does not seem to cover anything from Gold/Silver onwards though, and my impression of it is that it is one of the few projects where Pikachu is not voiced by Ikue Ohtani (pinball uses non-professional, in-house voices).
All in all, it doesn’t feel like I am part of the target audience of the pinball machine, but as I have experience playing them, I’ll still give it a try if I find one in public.
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: ハル (Hal)
Battle Court: Cabo Poco
Music: Titan
My Pokémon: Enamorus (Therian), Ford (Revavroom), Amanda (Weavile), Allen (Sandy Shocks)
Opponent’s Pokémon: グレンアルマ (Armarouge), オオニューラ (Sneasler), エルフーン (Whimsicott), ガチグマ (Ursaluna) (Bloodmoon)
I got off on the wrong start for this battle, having lost Enamorus on the first turn while failing to make much of a scratch on theirs, but by the end, I had just the right move for the occasion. That being said, I did predict incorrectly: having seen Miraidon and Calyrex Ice Rider on their lineup in Team Preview, I expected them to turn up right at the start (though Calyrex Ice Rider relies on Trick Room, which doesn’t go well with Miraidon’s 135 Speed), hence my selection of these two at the beginning. Both can use Protect in case one showed up without the other.
Instead, as you can see here, my opponent chose neither of their Restricted Pokémon.
I also expected Dire Claw from Weavile (which did turn up) but Flamethrower or Armor Cannon out of Armarouge—I had guessed Enamorus can withstand a Dire Claw, but I didn’t think to see Heat Wave. (I expected Fake Out from Sneasler though, targeting Revavroom.) Kind of surprised to see Armarouge still failing to outrun much of anything after Whimsicott’s Tailwind, but I attribute that to Armarouge being EV-traind defensively, considering High Horsepower from Ford (Revavroom) not even putting Armarouge’s HP into the yellow.
That move, by the way, is Throat Chop. I picked it as my 80-power Dark-type move of choice because of the additional effect of preventing sound-based moves. I rarely ever get to see this effect affect the match, but this time, it prevented Bloodmoon Ursaluna’s use of Hyper Voice, buying me the turn I needed to regain my momentum.
By coincidence, this battle also contained both Weavile (on my side) and Sneasler (on the opponent’s side), though not at the same time.
Something some other Pokémon news sources didn’t talk about: Stern Pinball has made a pinball machine based around Pokémon, but I’m guessing there will be more details in the Pokémon Presents that should be coming up at the end of this month.
It seems to be based on the early seasons of the anime, based around Ash’s travels through Kanto, featuring stuff like a replica of Team Rocket’s Meowth balloon that you can hit, collecting and evolving Generation I Pokémon, and a loop featuring a model of Pikachu. I don’t know that much about it right now, though it does seem to be a part of Stern’s pivot away from pop culture of the 70s and 80s (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Wrestlemania, KISS) and into the 90s. It does not seem to cover anything from Gold/Silver onwards though, and my impression of it is that it is one of the few projects where Pikachu is not voiced by Ikue Ohtani (pinball uses non-professional, in-house voices).
All in all, it doesn’t feel like I am part of the target audience of the pinball machine, but as I have experience playing them, I’ll still give it a try if I find one in public.
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: ハル (Hal)
Battle Court: Cabo Poco
Music: Titan
My Pokémon: Enamorus (Therian), Ford (Revavroom), Amanda (Weavile), Allen (Sandy Shocks)
Opponent’s Pokémon: グレンアルマ (Armarouge), オオニューラ (Sneasler), エルフーン (Whimsicott), ガチグマ (Ursaluna) (Bloodmoon)
I got off on the wrong start for this battle, having lost Enamorus on the first turn while failing to make much of a scratch on theirs, but by the end, I had just the right move for the occasion. That being said, I did predict incorrectly: having seen Miraidon and Calyrex Ice Rider on their lineup in Team Preview, I expected them to turn up right at the start (though Calyrex Ice Rider relies on Trick Room, which doesn’t go well with Miraidon’s 135 Speed), hence my selection of these two at the beginning. Both can use Protect in case one showed up without the other.
Instead, as you can see here, my opponent chose neither of their Restricted Pokémon.
I also expected Dire Claw from Weavile (which did turn up) but Flamethrower or Armor Cannon out of Armarouge—I had guessed Enamorus can withstand a Dire Claw, but I didn’t think to see Heat Wave. (I expected Fake Out from Sneasler though, targeting Revavroom.) Kind of surprised to see Armarouge still failing to outrun much of anything after Whimsicott’s Tailwind, but I attribute that to Armarouge being EV-traind defensively, considering High Horsepower from Ford (Revavroom) not even putting Armarouge’s HP into the yellow.
That move, by the way, is Throat Chop. I picked it as my 80-power Dark-type move of choice because of the additional effect of preventing sound-based moves. I rarely ever get to see this effect affect the match, but this time, it prevented Bloodmoon Ursaluna’s use of Hyper Voice, buying me the turn I needed to regain my momentum.
By coincidence, this battle also contained both Weavile (on my side) and Sneasler (on the opponent’s side), though not at the same time.
