Austin Powers is an arcade pinball game designed by Lonnie Ropp and John Borg, and released in 2001 by Stern Pinball.
Based on the first two movies in the Austin Powers comedy series, the game has you accompany the British super-spy as he battles Dr. Evil and his forces across time. Foil Fat Bastard behind the toilet, spin Mini-Me into submission, then use the right loop to defeat the other Henchmen. Bash Dr. Evil to restore Austin's mojo, shoot the center ramp to activate the Time Machine, and fire the Big Frickin' Laser at Washington DC when it swings out from the bottom of the playfield. If you're groovy enough, you can stop the Subterranian Drill, take down Virtucon, and destroy Dr. Evil's Moon Base all while Austin dances away.
Austin Powers was released at a time when arcade pinball was fighting for survival, as the closure of Williams Electronics left Stern Pinball scrambling to stay afloat as the only remaining manufacturer. As such, Austin Powers is derided by pinheads for its simplistic rules, clunky flow, shoddy workmanship, uninspired backglass, and pixelated art. Despite all this, it remains popular with casual players and fans of the films, who just want to have fun knocking balls off of Dr. Evil's henchmen.
The Austin Powers pinball demonstrates the following tropes:
- Arc Number: Four shots are required to start each of the main game modes.
- Bald of Evil/Card-Carrying Villain: Dr. Evil.
- The Dragon: Both Mini-Me and Fat Bastard are prominently featured in the game.
- Fat Bastard: The Trope Namer himself appears in his kilted glory behind the playfield toilet.
- Flowers of Romance: Flowers are used to track the player's bonus.
- Groin Attack: An inadvertent female example; the left slingshot bumper has a plastic cover with an image of Vanessa Kensington in her Spy Catsuit. However, the lock-nut is located right on her groin...
◊ - Island Base/Deface of the Moon: On the backglass, Dr. Evil's volcanic base can be seen, with his face carved on one side of the volcano.
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Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition:- A number of games sold by the luxury retailer Hammacher Schlemmer featured alternated versions of the playfield characters — Mini-Me wears a blue prison jumpsuit, Austin sports a purple ensemble with a silver chain, and Fat Bastard is shirtless. It is sometimes misidentified as a "prototype" version by players.
- In addition, ten "Gold" Austin Powers tables were released as gifts for the movie's cast members. They featured gold-plated legs, lockdown bars, and metal trim, with each one was individually autographed and numbered by Stern Pinball CEO Gary Stern.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Austin.
- Man in a Kilt: Fat Bastard. Fortunately, only his upper half is visible, so there's no chance of seeing what he has underneath.
- Ms. Fanservice: Vanessa Kensington and Felicity Shagwell.
- Right-Hand Cat: Dr. Evil is shown holding Mr. Bigglesworth on the playfield. Also, a small, easy-to-miss plastic model of Mr. Bigglesworth is screwed to the inside of the cabinet, near the upper-right corner.
- The '60s: The playfield is decorated in rainbow colors, bright flowers, and groovy lettering.
- Skill Shot: Launch the ball into the flashing rollover lane for a bonus.
- Spelling Bonus: S-H-A-G starts Shag HurryUp, while M-O-J-O enables Mojo Multiball.
- Spy Catsuit: Worn by Vanessa Kensington on the left slingshot bumper.
- Stock Footage: If you successfully fire the Big Frickin' Laser at Washington DC, the display shows the White House being destroyed... in a clip from Independence Day.
- Time Travel: Shoot the center ramp up to the Time Machine four times to start Time Machine Multiball.
- Welcome to Corneria: The game's limited callouts get repetitive fairly quickly.
- Wizard Mode: "Virtucon Multiball" is the sub-Wizard Mode, enabled by starting six of the modes, while completing all six modes starts "Moonbase Multiball".
