Steve Ritchie (pinball designer)

Last updated
Steve Ritchie
Steve Ritchie at CA Extreme 2009.jpg
Steve Ritchie speaks during the Atari panel at California Extreme 2009
Born (1950-02-13) February 13, 1950 (age 74)
San Francisco, CA
Occupation(s) Pinball designer, video game designer, voice actor
Years active1974–present
Employer(s)Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc., Steve Ritchie Productions
Known for Black Knight , Flash , Firepower , High Speed
Relatives Mark Ritchie (brother)
Website Steve Ritchie Productions

Steven Scott Ritchie (born February 13, 1950) [1] is an American pinball and video game designer. His career began in the 1970s, Ritchie holds the record for best-selling pinball designer in history. He has been called "The Master of Flow" due to the emphasis in his designs on ball speed, loops, and long smooth shots. [2] [3] Ritchie was also the original voice of Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, serving as the announcer of Mortal Kombat II (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), and the updates to Mortal Kombat 3. He is the older brother of fellow pinball designer Mark Ritchie.

Contents

Biography

Steve Ritchie was born in San Francisco, California and moved to Pacifica when he was five. He first played pinball at a local bowling alley that he visited during his parents' bowling league night. Ritchie graduated high school early and joined the Coast Guard shortly before his eighteenth birthday. He trained as an electronics technician, serving in Vietnam, California, and Alaska. After leaving the coast guard, he worked odd jobs and played in a band. [4]

Early career

Ritchie joined Atari Inc. in 1974 and was employee number fifty [5] and first worked on the assembly line as an electro-mechanical technician. Two years later, he was promoted to work at their fledgling pinball division, where he worked on his first game, Airborne Avenger. [4] Ritchie developed a pinball machine that eventually because the Superman pinball based on the Superman comic book, but in the final stages of production of the table, left to join Williams Electronics, a major pinball company.

Williams

In 1978 Ritchie moved to Chicago, Illinois, the home of Williams' headquarters. His first game for the company, Flash (released in 1979), was noted for its revolutionary figure-8 design and the first pinball game to feature bright Flash Lamps and an ascending background sound that increases in intensity the longer the play lasts. It would go on to be his best-selling pinball game, having sold over 19,000 units. [6] In 1980 he designed Firepower (the first electronic pinball to feature multi-ball, as well as Lane Change), and eight months later, he designed Black Knight , which was noted for having the first two-level playfield and the patented "Magna-Save" feature (in which magnets help prevent outlane drains). [3]

After 1981's Hyperball, Ritchie took a break from designing pinball games to design video games at his newly formed company, King Video Design. Devastator was the first 68000 microprocessor video game and it was a spectacular 3D flying-shooting game with remarkable graphics. Ritchie pioneered automated conversion of video-taped color images into objects in the video game system. After that, he returned to pinball with 1986's High Speed , which was based on a true story about him being chased by the police in his Porsche. High Speed's bill of materials was higher than other games, and some rival Williams designers nicknamed it "High Cost". The cost increase was minimal, and the game sold 17,080 units. It was the major title that revitalized the entire pinball market. After that, he released F-14 Tomcat in 1987, and in 1989, he released the sequel to 1980's Black Knight, Black Knight 2000, which was acclaimed for having perhaps one of the best musical soundtracks ever for a pinball game (composed by himself, Brian L. Schmidt, and Dan Forden). It was also one of the first games to feature a "Wizard Mode", called "The King's Ransom".

Next up was Rollergames (based on the TV show of the same name which was cancelled well before game production), it was a game with a loud and rowdy soundtrack and the first solid state game to feature mainstream advertising. Ritchie designed Terminator 2: Judgment Day , which featured the voice and likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger. T2 was the first game by Williams to use a dot-matrix display (although Bally's Gilligan's Island beat it to the market, because T2 had a longer production schedule, and management at Williams felt that other games needed it first.) After T2, he designed The Getaway: High Speed II in 1992, a sequel to 1986's High Speed. In 1993, Ritchie released a widebody game, Star Trek: The Next Generation , which many pinball fans consider to be Ritchie's best game. For the game, Ritchie enlisted the entire cast of TNG, including Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Jonathan Frakes to reprise their roles. The game would sell 11,728 units. It was the last pinball machine to sell in the 5-digits. After he was finished with 1995's No Fear: Dangerous Sports , Ritchie left Williams, feeling that he could better serve Williams/Bally/Midway by producing video games at the newly acquired Atari Games. 1996 was the beginning of the decline of pinball with gradually diminishing sales, eventually leading to the extinction of all pinball manufacturers except Stern Pinball.

Video games and other contributions

Steve Ritchie returned to Atari Games in 1996 as a senior staff producer. There, he would design and produce the racing game California Speed, which sold 7,856 units for total sales of about $40 million, on a budget of $2 million, with a crew of 16 video programmers and artists. Ritchie is also known to be an avid fan of PC games, motocross racing, and a dedicated dirt and street motorcyclist as well. He was also on the design team for Williams' Defender .

He was a voice actor for many of his own games, as well as Williams and Midway's video games. He is best known for playing the voice of Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat series (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:SM), along with coming up with the name of Mortal Kombat, which was just called 'Combat' before his suggestion. [7] Ritchie was also the voice of the Black Knight in both Black Knight and Black Knight 2000, the Skull in No Fear, the announcer in Midway's High Impact Football, the monotoned voice of Firepower, and other small parts in many Williams, Midway and Stern games.

Stern

After designing and selling a few redemption games, he formed Steve Ritchie Productions (SRP) in 2002, and returned to pinball design contracting with Stern Pinball to distribute his games. For his first game for Stern, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines , he once again enlisted Arnold Schwarzenegger to lend his voice and likeness to the game, and also re-assembled the same team who worked with him on the T2 pinball, including software programmer Dwight Sullivan and music composer Chris Granner. After T3, Ritchie released Elvis, which was released in time for the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's first song recording. Ritchie's third game for Stern was World Poker Tour. World Poker Tour was the first game to use Stern's new hardware, S.A.M., which is the successor to their older Whitestar platform. He has recently revealed in an interview that he was forced by Gary Stern to design the game. [8]

In 2009, after completing 24, a pinball machine based on the TV series of the same name, Ritchie was laid off from Stern along with most of the company's other pinball designers. [6] A March 2011 press release from Stern reported that Steve had returned to Stern to design the next generation of pinball machines. [3] His first game released after returning to Stern was AC/DC . [9] Between 2011 and 2021, Ritchie designed Led Zeppelin, Black Knight Sword of Rage, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek. [6] [10]

Jersey Jack

In August 2021, Ritchie left Stern Pinball and joined Jersey Jack Pinball. [11]

He was the third pinball designer on staff, along with Pat Lawlor and Eric Meunier. [6] In an April 2022 PinCast interview with Pinball Magazine and Pinball News, Ritchie said that he was actively working on a game for Jersey Jack and that it would likely be produced in the second half of 2022. [12]

In 2023, Jersey Jack announced the release of their Elton John pinball machine, Ritchie's first design for the company. [13]

Personal life

As of 2017, Ritchie was diagnosed with Ménière's disease and has had his hearing slowly reduced over the years. [4] [14]

Steve Ritchie's games

Atari

Williams

Midway Atari

Stern / Steve Ritchie Productions

Jersey Jack Pinball

Voice work

Related Research Articles

<i>Mortal Kombat Annihilation</i> 1997 martial arts fantasy film

Mortal Kombat Annihilation is a 1997 American martial arts fantasy film directed by John R. Leonetti in his directorial debut. Based on the Mortal Kombat video game franchise, it is the second installment in the Mortal Kombat film series and a sequel to the original 1995 film, on which Leonetti served as cinematographer. Largely adapted from the 1995 video game Mortal Kombat 3, Annihilation follows Liu Kang and his allies as they attempt to prevent the malevolent Shao Kahn from conquering Earthrealm. It stars Robin Shou as Liu, Talisa Soto as Kitana, James Remar as Raiden, Sandra Hess as Sonya Blade, Lynn Red Williams as Jax and Brian Thompson as Kahn. Only Shou and Soto reprise their roles, with the other characters recast from the previous film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shao Kahn</span> Mortal Kombat character

Shao Kahn is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Depicted as emperor of the fictional realm Outworld, he is one of the franchise's primary villains. Feared for his immense strength, which he complements with a large hammer, and knowledge of black magic, Shao Kahn seeks conquest of all the realms, including Earth. He serves as the main antagonist final boss of Mortal Kombat II (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) and its updates, and the 2011 reboot, as well as the action-adventure spin-off Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005). An amalgam of Shao Kahn and DC Comics villain Darkseid also appears as the main antagonist and final boss of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008) under the name Dark Kahn. A younger persona known as General Shao appears in Mortal Kombat 1 (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shang Tsung</span> Mortal Kombat character

Shang Tsung is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. He debuted as the final boss in the original 1992 game and has remained one of the franchise's primary villains. A powerful sorcerer, he is principally defined by his abilities to shapeshift into other characters and to absorb the souls of defeated warriors. Shang Tsung is usually portrayed as the right-hand man of Outworld emperor Shao Kahn and the archenemy of Shaolin monk Liu Kang. He also appeared as the main villain of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), alongside Quan Chi as the eponymous Deadly Alliance, as well as in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath (2020) and Mortal Kombat 1 (2023).

Ermac Mortal Kombat character

Ermac is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Debuting as an unlockable character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), he is an amalgam of the souls of deceased warriors and possesses telekinetic abilities.

Characters of the <i>Mortal Kombat</i> series

This is a list of playable and boss characters from the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise and the games in which they appear. Created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, the series depicts conflicts between various realms. Most characters fight on behalf of their realm, with the primary heroes defending Earthrealm against conquering villains from Outworld and the Netherrealm. Early installments feature the characters participating in the eponymous Mortal Kombat tournament to decide their realm's fate. In later installments, Earthrealm is often invaded by force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitana</span> Mortal Kombat character

Kitana is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Debuting in Mortal Kombat II (1993), she is a royal from the fictional realm of Edenia. Her primary weapon is a pair of steel fans, which she uses for most of her special attacks.

<i>Mortal Kombat 3</i> 1995 video game

Mortal Kombat 3 is a 1995 arcade fighting game developed by Midway Games. It is the third main installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise and a sequel to 1993's Mortal Kombat II. As in the previous games, it has a cast of characters that players choose from and guide through a series of battles against other opponents. The game avoids the tournament storyline of its predecessors, as various warriors instead fight against the returning Shao Kahn, who has resurrected his bride Sindel and started an invasion of Earthrealm.

<i>Mortal Kombat II</i> 1993 video game

Mortal Kombat II is a fighting game originally produced by Midway for the arcades in 1993. It was ported to multiple home systems, including MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, 32X, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and PlayStation only in Japan, mostly in licensed versions developed by Probe Software and Sculptured Software and published by Acclaim Entertainment.

Reptile (<i>Mortal Kombat</i>) Mortal Kombat character

Reptile is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. He debuted in the original 1992 game as a hidden opponent, establishing him as the first secret character in fighting game history. Reptile became playable in the follow-up Mortal Kombat II (1993) and has remained a mainstay of the franchise. As implied by his name, he is a Saurian, a fictional species of reptilian humanoids. One of the last surviving members of his race, he aligns himself with the series' primary villains in the hope his service will lead to the Saurians' revival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonya Blade</span> Mortal Kombat character

Sonya Blade is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. She debuted in the original 1992 game as the roster's sole female fighter, a military officer with the Special Forces. In the storyline of the games, Sonya becomes involved with the eponymous Mortal Kombat tournament through pursuit of her archenemy, the criminal leader Kano. She subsequently joins the warriors defending Earthrealm and establishes a government agency dedicated to battling otherworldly threats. The series' rebooted timeline also depicts her as the love interest to martial arts actor Johnny Cage and the mother of their daughter Cassie. A mainstay of the franchise, Sonya has also appeared in various media outside of the games. Reception to the character has been generally positive, with respect to her role as one of Mortal Kombat's primary female fighters.

<i>Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3</i> Fighting video game

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, developed and released by Midway to arcades in 1995. It is a standalone update of 1995's earlier Mortal Kombat 3 with an altered gameplay system, additional characters like the returning favorites Reptile, Kitana, Jade and Scorpion who were missing from Mortal Kombat 3, and some new features.

<i>Mortal Kombat</i> Video game series and multimedia franchise

Mortal Kombat is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992.

<i>Black Knight</i> (pinball) 1980 pinball machine

Black Knight is a 1980 pinball machine designed by Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics. Ritchie designed two sequels: Black Knight 2000, released by Williams in 1989, and Black Knight: Sword of Rage, released by Stern Pinball in 2019.

<i>High Speed</i> (pinball) 1986 pinball machine

High Speed is a pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics in 1986. It is based on Ritchie's real-life police chase inside a 1979 Porsche 928. He was finally caught in Lodi, California on Interstate 5 and accused of speeding at 146 miles per hour (235 km/h).

<i>Terminator 2: Judgment Day</i> (pinball) 1991 pinball machine

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 pinball machine designed by Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics. It is based on the motion picture of the same name.

<i>Mortal Kombat</i> (2011 video game) 2011 fighting video game

Mortal Kombat is a 2011 fighting game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the ninth main installment in the Mortal Kombat series and a soft reboot of the series. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 systems in April 2011, and a PlayStation Vita port was released in May 2012. An expanded version of the game, titled Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition, was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in February 2012 and for Microsoft Windows in July 2013.

<i>Black Knight 2000</i> Pinball game

Black Knight 2000 is a 1989 pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics. The game is the sequel to the 1980 pinball machine Black Knight. It was advertised with the slogan "He rides again." and features a black knight theme. 30 years later, Ritchie would design a third game in the series for Stern Pinball, titled Black Knight: Sword of Rage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show</span>

The Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show is an annual pinball and arcade game festival held in Tacoma, Washington, United States.

Mark Ritchie is an American pinball designer and video game producer. He is best known for his successful pinball designs from 1982-1996. He has continued to work in the coin-operated amusement industry, currently serving as production coordinator for Raw Thrills, Inc. / Play Mechanix, Inc. Mark is the younger brother of fellow pinball designer Steve Ritchie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Forden</span> American sound programmer

Dan Forden is an American sound programmer and music composer. He has worked on video games developed by Midway and its successor NetherRealm Studios since 1989. Forden achieved recognition for his audio work on the Mortal Kombat fighting game series where he was part of the original design team. He is also recognized for his Easter egg appearances in the series. Outside of video games, Forden played bass guitar in the progressive rock band Cheer-Accident from 1992 to 1993.

References

  1. ↑ Schneider, Mark (2002-02-03). "Intervju med Steve Ritchie del 2 av 2". svenska flippersallskapet. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  2. ↑ Shaggy (2007-05-09). "TOPCast interview with Steve Ritchie" (MP3). TOPcast - This Old Pinball's Online "Radio". Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  3. 1 2 3 "He's Back - Again!". Pinball News. 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  4. 1 2 3 Sauter, Dan (2012-03-31). "Back in Black: Steve Ritchie". Music Life Radio. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  5. ↑ Video on YouTube
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Steve Ritchie joins Jersey Jack Pinball". Pinball Magazine. 2021-08-02. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  7. ↑ Arcade and Flipper Pinball Review (December 2001 & March 2002 issues)
  8. ↑ Topcast. pinrepair.com. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  9. ↑ "AC/DC Pro in production". YouTube . Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  10. ↑ Claiborn, Samuel (2019-03-26). "Black Knight: Sword of Rage Pinball Revealed: First Images, Video, Details, and an Interview with Creator, Steve Ritchie". IGN. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  11. ↑ "Jersey Jack Pinball Announces Iconic Game Designer Steve Ritchie as Newest Addition to the Team" (Press release).
  12. ↑ "Pinball News & Pinball Magazine Podcast: Pinball Magazine & Pinball News bonus PINcast: The Steve Ritchie interview on Apple Podcasts".
  13. ↑ Jason (2023-10-19). "NEW GAME REVEAL! Jersey Jack Pinball's Elton John". Knapp Arcade. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  14. ↑ "A Life Well Wasted - Episode Five: Help (t:41:17)" (MP3). ALifeWellWasted.com. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.