Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray
 | |
| Manufacturer | Midway Games |
|---|---|
| Release date | August 1990 |
| System | Williams System 11C |
| Design | Dennis Nordman |
| Programming | Bill Pfutzenreuter |
| Artwork | Greg Freres |
| Music | Chris Granner |
| Sound | Jon Hey |
| Production run | 3,983 (approximate) |
Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray is a pinball machine designed by Dennis Nordman and released in 1990 by Midway (under the Bally label).[1] The theme of the game revolves around gaining coolness.
Design
Initially conceived before Elvira and the Party Monsters, the character name Dr. Dude was intended as a pun on Dr. Doom.[2]
The first part of the machine to be designed was the mixmaster where "kinetic energy of the ball is used to create new motion".[3]
The backglass art consists of comic book style panels with lenticular decals which shows both a nerd and a hip doctor. The artist was influenced by Mad magazine, and The Nutty Professor, with the storyline loosely based on The Nutty Professor from the perspective of a young person. In an early backglass sketch the game was called "Dr. Dude and His "Hip"notic Ray".[3]
George Petro and Ed Boon recorded the voices for the Gift of Gab rap.[4]
Gameplay
The ultimate goal of the game is to become a cool Super Dude by visiting the kinetic clinic with the excellent ray as a treatment. To achieve this, the player has at first to collect the ingredients of ultimate hipness to increase the Dude-O-Meter: the Heart of Rock 'n' Roll, a Magnetic Personality, and the Gift of gab.
Further gameplay features include the Excellent Ray to start multiball, Big Shot - a bully figure that insults the player, the Molecular Mixmaster - a spinning disc with a rubber post on it, surrounded by targets and a Gazillion point shot with scoring that potentially can reach multiple millions of points.[5]
Reception
Play Meter found the game to have attractive comic book style art and a good sound package, rating it 3/5.[6]
The game was reviewed in Video Games & Computer Entertainment who found it a game for everyone.[7]
In 2007, Pinball Wizard praised the playfield, sound effects, and speech.[8]
Digital versions
Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray released as a licensed table of season 2 of The Pinball Arcade for several platforms,[9] and was available until June 30, 2018, when all Williams tables were removed for purchase due to licensing issues.[10]
Zen Studios released the table for Pinball FX3 in 2020 with optional additional animations;[11] a remastered version released for Pinball FX on June 30, 2022.
References
- ↑ "Dr. Dude And His Excellent Ray". Ipdb.org. Internet Pinball Machine Database. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ↑ Shalhoub, Michael (2012). The pinball compendium: 1982 to present (revised and expanded 2nd ed.). Atglen, Pa: Schiffer Publishing. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-0-7643-4107-6.
- 1 2 "Dr. Dude". Pinball Magazine. No. 2. 2013. pp. 48–53. ISBN 978-90-816266-2-0.
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link) - ↑ Granner, Chris (December 2003). "Chris Granner scoring the silverball". GameRoom (Interview). Interviewed by Brendan Bailey. p. 15.
- ↑ Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray Operations Manual (PDF). Chicago: Midway Manufacturing Company. August 1990.
- ↑ Wolfe, Tom (November 1990). "Player's Perspective". Play Meter. Vol. 16, no. 12. pp. 156–157.
- ↑ "Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray". Video Games & Computer Entertainment. December 1990. pp. 171–172.
- ↑ Mills, Sean (Summer 2007). "Pinball review - Dr. Dude". Pinball Wizard. pp. 24–25.
- ↑ "System 3 is delighted to announce the release of Pinball Arcade: Season 2!". System 3. March 2015. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
- ↑ Lawson, Aurich (2018-05-08). "The Pinball Arcade is losing its classic tables; grab them while you can". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2026-06-18.
- ↑ Sheehan, Gavin (1 August 2020). "Zen Studios Announces Williams Pinball: Volume 6". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
External links
- Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray at the Internet Pinball Database